"The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."
Third Person's POV
Lucas enters the class and the first thing he does is, head for Cam's table and place a card in front of her, an inscription in it. She opens it to read.
I thought I needed no one till I met you.
-handsome
She raises her head to look at him, and all he does is wink at her, shoot her an award-winning smile before heading towards his seat. Red coats her cheeks as her heart responds by fluttering. Ash who was seated next to her snatches the card from her hold to see what's written in it that's making her friend blush like crazy.
After reading it, "Ouuuh!" She teases, "Your boyfriend is so romantic. Wow!"
"Oh puh-lease," Cam rolls her eyes, "Like yours isn't."
She shrugs, "I'm not complaining, am I?"
Cam's gaze wanders the class, "By the way, why isn't he in yet?"
"Of course he is, who else drove me to school then. He said he had something to do so I came to class alone. I'm sure he'd be here any moment from now?"
Cam furrows her brows at her, "You don't even sound sure."
"He'll probably be here soon."
"Mmh..." Cam drawls.
"Why?" She asks, biting her bottom lip.
"Nothing, I'm just super excited, that's all. See!" Cam motions with her finger and she turns her attention to the direction of Cam's finger.
Grayson who was oblivious of their stare enters the class. Ash was so excited that he arrived just in time and was about to call out to him but her words stuck in her throat at the sight of the person that trailed behind him.
Anne!
What was she doing here?
Wait a minute! Is she perhaps going to attend this school? She isn't joining the school right?! Or, is she?
But Grayson never told her anything about Anne joining their school or anything pertaining to that so why is she here. A frown mares her features just by watching both of them walk into class. Her gaze trails after them till they take their seats, Grayson in his seat and Anne, an empty space at the back.
The teacher enters right after.
"Good morning class."
"Morning." The whole school chorus.
"Remember, yesterday isn't ours to recover but tomorrow is ours to..."
The class adds the answer.
"Exactly!" Her lips lifts up into a smile, "So before we start today's class, we have a new student joining us today. Her name's Anita Hamilton. Miss Hamilton, please stand." Anne stands, a smile plastered on her lips, "Please treat her nicely and be hospitable towards her. You can take your seat, Miss Hamilton."
"So today we're going to talk about......" She turns her back to them as she scribbles something on the board.
_ _
As usual, Grayson and Ashley held hands while they headed for the cafeteria, the rest trailing behind them
When they enter the cafeteria, they find a table to sit.
"I brought you grapes." He whispers into her ears and places it in front of her.
"Thank you." She mutters.
"You're welcome." He says and pecks her cheek. She blushes, feeling shy all over again, like it was the first time he was publicly displaying this kind of affection towards her. Anne on the other hand was not pleased one bit, she wished it was her that that kind of affection was shown towards.
"So....." Dylan starts, pointing to Grayson, "Are you going to introduce this beautiful damsel to us or not?" reffering to Anne.
Anne giggles at Dylan's statement , tucking her hair behind her ear, and Cam immediately snorts inwardly, a frown on her face. She didn't like her one bit, not for a single second. Ashley told her everything that happened yesterday and she bets the girl is a pretender.
Lucas whispers in her ears, "Smiling makes you prettier", squeezing her hand that was entwined with his. She turns to look at him briefly, yet ignores him, returning to shooting daggers at the girl, an ultimate dislike for her.
"The teacher already introduced her, were you not paying attention in class?" Pierson asks.
"Well..." Dylan starts but gets cut off. By Pierson.
"Anita. That's her name you can call her Anne, that is if she's okay with you calling her that."
Anne giggles again, before saying with a sickly sweet voice, "I like Anne much better. I prefer that to Anita, so everyone can call me that." She smiles.
Lucas pecks Cam's cheek, lips lingering for a few seconds, before pulling away, the action taking her unawares, she wasn't expecting him to. The frown immediately vanishes from her face as a smile eventually tugs at her lips, she turns to look at him, a look of content of her face. He was already staring intently at her and she squeezes his hand reassuring him that everything was okay, that the frown was nothing. He smiles, motioning towards her snack. "Eat up."
Everyone else eats their snacks and when the bell rings for the next lesson, they get up to head for the class.
As they head for the next class, "You didn't tell me she was attending this school." Ashley asks.
Grayson looks at her, brows slightly furrowed, "Who? Anne?"
"Yeah!" She responds a bit annoyed.
"I just found out this morning, actually."
"I see."
"Yeah. Why, is there something wrong?"
"Oh no! I was just asking."
"Okay?" He sounded uncertain, he wanted to probe further, why the sudden question.
_ _
"Guys, what do you think about a major sleepover?" Cam suggests as they were all seated having lunch.
"In!" Pier says and Cam smiles in amusement.
"You don't have the details and you're already in on this." She raises a brow at him.
He smirks, "Well, I'm up for anything at all so I'm definitely in."
"Whatever!" She flips him off, "On Friday."
"I'm in!" Luc says.
"In." Ash, Cole, Dylan and Grayson say.
"I'm in too." Anne adds, her pink glossy lips lifting up into a grin, and everyone stares at her for a nanosecond before going back to whatever they were doing.
Awkward!
"Let's have it at my place this time around." Cam says and they all agree.
"Ask Yvie to join us, Gray. I'm sure she'd be happy."
"I will."
_
Finally! Classes were over and it was closing time.
Anne hugs Grayson swiftly and pulls away "Bye!" She waves both him and Ashley before entering her car and leaving.
Ash and Grayson enter the front seats, Grayson in the drivers'. Yvvie was already in the backseat blasting music in the car but when she notices their presence she reduces the volume.
"I can't believe she's back." She mutters, "Anita!" She spits, "I do not like her."
"Why?" Grayson and Ashley mutter at the same time. When they realise they're lips moved saying the same thing, they immediately turn to each other and smile at their coincidental crush.
Yvie huffs out a breath, crossing her arms on her chest defiantly, "I just do not like her. She's overly sweet, it feels fake. I watched on today as she kept smiling to everyone like the nice person she's not."
"But how do you know she's not a nice person, you knew her while we were kids, and that's like eight years ago?"
She rolls her eyes, "Exactly, so I know her. When we were kids she was nice but only to you, just you, and was mean to everyone else, which you failed to notice. You kept thinking she was nice to everyone else like she was to you but truth is she wasn't and now that she's sweet and nicer to everyone else, it's even more scarier."
"Yvie, you're just delusional and probably misinterpreting everything, I guess. You claim she's way nicer now than when we were kids, what if she's a better person now? Shouldn't you be happier?"
"Pftt. Better person my foot."
"Yvie." Ash turns her head back, she could detect a probable argument imminent any moment from now, she wouldn't let that happen. Anne shouldn't be the reason why two cousins fight, "Cam invited you to a sleepover." She passes on the information that was meant to be passed on by Grayson.
"Really?!!!" Yvie's eyes glint immediately, "When?" excitement laces her tone, suddenly forgetting about a few seconds ago.
"Friday." Ashley smiles.
"Omg!! I can't wait." She looks at Gray in the rear view mirror, "You'll help me with my parents, won't you?" She wiggles her brows.
He pauses, "Wait, are they still on to those rules?" He asks amused.
She sighs, "Yes, they are."
He chuckles, "That's crazy."
"I know right, sometimes I feel like strangling them. Ugh! It gets so infuriating at times."
"I'll help you..." He trails
"Yay!" She grins.
"...but promise me something." He adds.
She cracks her knuckles ready for whatever he was about to say, "Shoot!"
He studies her for a second long, "Promise me you won't try to pick up a fight with Anne."
She pauses at the sound of Anne's name. Ridiculous!!! "Can't promise you nothing, I don't do promises." There was no way!
He raises a brow at her, "You don't seem to want to honor Cam's invitation. I thought you really wanted to go."
"I do want to go."
"Then it's simple, don't try to pick up a fight with her."
She frowns, eyeing him. Her head was just spinning with thoughts. She groans, "Okay, fiiine."
He smiles, "Sounds like it."
"Yeah, yeah whatever."
"You know I'm only looking out for you right?! I don't want you getting into trouble."
"Piss off!" She yells before shuffling for her air pod and placing it in her ears.
Just because she needs his help, she wouldn't, but to hell with it, she's not promising to not do anything after the freaking sleepover.
Strength!!
He sets the car in ignition and drives out of the school grounds, hoping she'd listen to him.
*******
Hey!
Lucas or Grayson? Who'd you choose? And why?
Why do you think Yvie dislikes Anne? What do you think is the problem?
Does Gray trust her too much? Or is he's just trying to be a friend?
Remember to vote. And add 'His Smile' to your reading lists. Do!