Chapter 33

As I walked away, I looked over and watched Nora before she disappeared beyond the crowd of students. I breathed deeply and let it out in a proud sigh while waltzing into the main building. I had a big grin plastered on my face as I headed into first period. I took my seat and began to withdraw my supplies from my backpack.

After the bell rung, we were given a fairly simple reading assignment of just a few pages from our textbooks. Thoughts of my kiss with Nora continued to circle around in my head as I stared at the pages. I couldn't believe how awesome it felt knowing that she was so into me and how cool she thought I was. I loved having shared a really great kiss like that with one of my female friends—and to have her love it just the same.

With my interactions with Jennifer, Talia and Nora, I was elated by how intriguing I was to the opposite sex. All the time I had spent throughout the year daydreaming and keeping to myself, contrasted with how playful and rambunctious I was, seemingly made me something of a mystery. Add to that my newfound confidence and charm, and suddenly I had become a point of fascination.

I was feeling pretty damn good.

My good spirits showed. I was more than happy to complete my classwork and jotted down my homework into my organizer. After class was done, I practically strutted into my second period right next door.

Algebra was more of the same from yesterday, unsurprisingly. I was being quite studious in my work, not a care in the world and nothing to bring me down. Once I was done with my work though, I felt a tap on my shoulder. There was, of course, only one person it could be. I was more than happy to talk to her.

"Hey again," Tamara said with her usual, pretty smile.

"Hey, what's up?" I replied, grinning.

"It's really good to see you in such a good mood lately," she remarked.

"Yeah, well, I'm just enjoying life, I suppose," I said as I playfully flexed my biceps at her, a very confident look on my face. She giggled quietly in response.

Class finished sooner than later. I bid my farewell to Tamara with a polite bow that drew an amused laugh out of her and I headed for the door. I took my time heading out into the hall, turning around and slowly walking backwards. Out came Elizabeth who quickly spotted me and shot me a mirthful grin. She trotted up to me with a playful punch to my chest.

"You waited this time," she remarked as the two of us began to walk to class together.

"I didn't want to make you mad again," I said with a smile.

"That was a good decision," she responded, haughtily holding her head up high.

"I enjoy walking you to class. It's always nice to have a girl to talk with."

She seemed surprised by my remark. "You being pretty honest lately. Seems you're, like, opening up and stuff. I like that. Be yourself."

"I like it, too," I said, heading into the stairwell together. "By the way, who was that girl you ran up to yesterday when we got to class?"

"One of my girlfriends," she casually replied. "She got transferred to our Biology class."

"Nice," I replied with a laugh. "Someone else for you to talk to. Like you don't have enough of those, huh?"

She shot me a smirk as we walked down the second floor hallway. "Funny, papi."

After we walked into class together, Elizabeth let out a quieter squeal than she did yesterday as she once again ran up and hugged her friend. I smiled and shook my head as she jumped up and down in excitement. I took a detour as I headed right past Talia's seat.

"Hey," I slyly said to her.

"Hey there," she replied back with a playful smile.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm doing really well," she said as she cutely played with her hair. "Thanks for asking."

I then slipped by, a couple of rows back, to take my own seat. I just sat down and settled in, with my books and pen ready to go, when I saw Natalie walk into class. Every time I laid eyes on her became an exercise in keeping my jaw from hitting the floor. Natalie had the most developed, matured body I'd ever seen of any student in school. She was ridiculously gorgeous, with a full body, great ass and a huge pair of tits that I'd only ever seen porn stars have.

And no, I'm not joking.

I kept myself from staring as she walked down the adjacent aisle to her seat on the other side of the room.

Pretty soon, I realized that Eve wasn't around yet with about a minute left for her to get to class. I thought that was pretty odd since she was always very punctual. It was possible she was home, but then I noticed Lila was also missing in action. There was no way both of them were absent. Right after I'd finished that thought, I noticed both Eve and Lila walking into class together behind a small group of other students.

Something was off. Eve didn't look like herself. For some reason, she looked like she was crying.

I watched as Eve said something to Lila.

Lila had concern in her voice as she replied, "No, come on..." Eve just shook her head and suddenly walked right back out of class.

"Eve!" Lila called out just before the bell rang. As per usual, Jennifer then walked into class and gave Lila a curious glance, wondering why she was standing around.

Something was clearly up and I just had to find out. I gave zero fucks as I got up out of my seat and dashed past Jennifer and Lila, both of them looking over at me before they headed to their seats. The halls were nearly empty as the door closed behind me.

"Eve?" I called out as I went off in search of her. Almost immediately, I heard quiet sobbing from the nearby restrooms. I quickly headed for the source.

"Eve?" I uttered more quietly as I peered around the corner just outside the entrance to the girl's restroom. She was leaned against the wall, a hand covering her eyes as she sobbed incessantly.

Boldly enough, I treaded into the girl's section of the restroom and walked up to her.

"What happened?" I quietly asked. She sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes before she shook her head again.

"My boyfriend," she softly replied. "He's a bastard." It didn't take me but a second to figure out what had her so upset. She shakily sighed, lifting her gaze from the floor and up to me.

"I'm sorry," I said, unsure of what else I could say. She shook her head in disagreement.

"Forget it," she replied as she pushed herself off the wall and glared at me. Her dark eyes were welled with tears. "Men are all assholes... just like you." She punctuated her remark by shoving me away and then rushing into the restroom.

I stood there in shock and dismay. Her remark hurt pretty badly. I didn't know if she was just lashing out or if she meant what she said. Was it something I had done to her in the past? Did I say the wrong thing to her? Well, it was probably best to just let her be.

I heard her crying from inside and I felt horrible. I couldn't think of anything I could've possibly done or said to make her feel better. I figured there was nothing left to do except leave and so, I did.

I headed back into class, clearly deep in thought. A few of the other students looked up at me, including Lila who eyed me curiously, as I walked by and took my seat. I sighed quietly and looked up at the board to read our assignment written out on it. I opened each of my books and calmly got to work.

Although the good mood I'd been basking in all morning wasn't gone, it certainly was diminished. I expectedly kept thinking about Eve while putting my pen to paper. I wished there was something—anything—I could do for her.

A few minutes later, the door opened again and Eve quietly walked in. She didn't make eye contact with anyone as she slipped into her seat and began to take her books out of her backpack.

"Are you okay?" Lila whispered. I looked up and saw Eve casually nod to her. She opened her books and glanced up at the board before settling into her schoolwork. I gazed at her for just a moment before focusing back on the work myself. I was still certain that there was nothing I could do or say to help her, just to give her space and time.

Time, I suppose there were certainly advantages to letting it run its course.

Not long after, I just barely noticed the sound of paper tearing. I looked over to see Eve carefully ripping the paper in her notebook down the perforated lines. She then folded it up a few times and nudged Lila to get her attention. She whispered something to Lila as I turned back to my work.

"Seriously?" Lila quietly asked. She then sighed and turned around, dropping the folded paper in front of me. It caught me off-guard and I quickly looked up at Lila who went back to her work without saying a word. I unfurled the paper and read it.

"Anthony," it read, "I wanted to apologize for how I acted earlier. I was just really upset, but that's no excuse and I shouldn't have taken out my frustrations on you. I'd like to talk to you some more once lunch begins. I'm really sorry and I hope you're not upset with me."

Suddenly all that diminishment in my good mood went away. The note was like a breath of fresh air. I was just glad she wasn't actually mad at me. I looked up with a smile, raising my eyebrows curiously as I noticed Lila glancing back at me. She was being quite nosy, almost as though she wanted to know what was in the letter. With a quiet humph, she turned her head around and went back to work.

My heart skipped a beat with excitement when I heard the bell for lunch, knowing that I was going to get to spend time with Eve again. I just hoped I could say the right things to her and help her feel a bit better.