(7) The Girlfriend

"I'll see you tomorrow class," Mrs. Dubowitz announced as we exited homeroom/chemistry class around nine in the morning. It took every ounce of Makennah's will power not to march down to the office and demand a new class schedule - one that didn't involved chemistry or one Mrs. Dubowitz at eight am every day.

Mrs. Dubowitz's saving grace was the fact that she completely ignored all of the eyes trained on Makennah (the new girl) and pretended that she didn't even exist. During roll call, she glanced over Makennah like any other student. It made her feel a little less gorilla-in-a-zoo-behind-the-glass.

Carting her new heavy chemistry book back to her locker, Makennah marveled at the newness of her school book. At all of the other schools that she attended, the school's couldn't afford new books and rarely received grants from the state. As a result of lack of funding, the last president that her previous history book reported was President Nixon...before Watergate.

"How was class?" Grace asked Makennah when they reached their lockers beside one another.

It made her heart warm up that Grace was willing to still try to be her friend even after all that weird stuff with Theo and her. She couldn't even think about that right now.

"I had Mrs. Dubowitz." She thought that might be all the explanation she needed.

Grace burst out laughing. "That bitty old witch. I bet that was fun."

"Yeah, that coupled with chemistry this early in the morning almost did me in."

"You know some actually think she's a real witch," Grace whispered as she closed her locker with her new book inside. Makennah did the same and propped her shoulder up in the cold metal while crossing her arms.

"Really?"

A new voice from a new girl that Makennah had never seen before piped into their conversation. "Totally. When I was a freshman, I heard her reciting a spell during lunch time when she thought she was alone in the teacher's lounge."

"You're kidding!" Grace kept talking as if the beautiful creature in front of them was someone she knew and conversed with often.

"Dead. Serious. It was all in Latin." The girl's long chestnut waves gracefully fell over her shoulder and cupped her round cheeks. Her rosy cheeks and rounded cheekbones gave her a youthful inviting glow. "Anyways, I actually came over to say hello to you." The girl turned towards Makennah.

Well that was weird.

"I'm Cassandra. Matt's girlfriend. Don't worry he didn't tell me to come over here or anything. He told me you were coming to school here so I wanted to introduce myself. I was the new girl here when I was a freshman, and I didn't assimilate so well at first." She made this face like it might have been the worst year of her life but she laughed it off. "I wanted to let you know that you can ask me any questions you have at all or even sit with us at lunch! The more familiar faces you know, the better. Plus, I'm sure I'll be seeing you around at the house."

Well first of all, she didn't even know that Matt had a girlfriend. But she really wasn't that surprised that Matt landed himself a stunning fairy-like girlfriend with an endearing personality to match her gorgeous looks. "Wow, thank you! I appreciate that. And it's so nice to meet you."

"Of course!" Cassandra flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I have to get to class but I'll see you later! Grace, green is such a beautiful color on you. See you around!"

"Thanks, Cassandra," Grace politely said as Cassandra floated down the hall towards her next class, hugging classmates and waving to teachers as well as staving off the boys who jokingly flirted with her. It was like watching a famous movie star try to fit in at a normal high school, the way people fawned over her. "She's very popular, I know. If that's what you're thinking."

Makennah craned her neck back to Grace. "Well, she's very nice so I'm not surprised. To be honest though, I didn't know Matt had a girlfriend."

"They tend to keep things low key unlike other couples in the school. Almost nobody knows their business. And those who do know would never spill the beans," Grace explained.

"Hmm," Makennah hummed thoughtfully. "Do you know where classroom 422 is?"

"Senior hall," Grace answered pointing in that general direction. "See you later?"

"Caio." Makennah tossed up the peace sign like a twelve year old and instantly regretted that decision. Her cheeks grew warm with embarrassment.

However, Grace laughed with genuine humor and returned the peace sign with confidence. So maybe she should keep Grace.

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For lunch, Makennah sat at a table with Grace and her friends who she finally got to me. They pretended they hadn't witnessed the whole interlude with Theo. Makennah minded her business when they girls started chatting about their summer and the secret hook ups they had. She laughed when appropriate and spoke when spoken to, but otherwise didn't overwhelm anyone with her presence. She was just thankful to have somewhere to sit.

Speaking of Theo, or rather thinking of Theo, the man himself sat at the table in front of them so that he faced Makennah. Or more than one occasion, she looked up to find him staring at her in an inconspicuous way where no one else would notice. He laughed jovially with his friends and acted like he wasn't looking at Makennah.

His attention unnerved her. She really didn't like how his attention affected her. When she realized that he wanted to play eye games all lunch long, Makennah couldn't help but drag her eyes up and hopefully expect to see him looking at her. It was like...like...like he liked her. Which was absolutely silly. They didn't know each other at all.

He was also Matt's best friend. She had never been put in this kind of situation before, but she was pretty sure it was an unspoken rule that she couldn't like or date Matt's best friend.

"You're joining the soccer team, right?" Meredith, a girl with a messy jet black braid, multiple piercings, and a hipster vibe, sat beside Makennah while Grace occupied the other side. Meredith was fairly quiet but chipped in with lewd jokes every now and then that had the table doubling over in laughter.

"Well, I'm thinking about it. I played soccer at my old school," Makennah admitted while peeling open her banana. Along with everything else about their fancy school, the lunches were better than whatever her old schools scrounged up for their students - not in the least bit nutritious.

"That's pretty cool. I don't play but my sister does. They were talking about how a new girl was possibly joining the team. I just wondered if it was you." She shrugged and avoided eye contact.

Makennah appreciated her unobtrusive nature, as well as her trendy boyfriend jeans and hunted green silky shirt. "Oh...did it sound bad...that I might join the team?"

Meredith looked at Makennah with a funny look. "Not exactly. They're just really good. Won state championship. They don't want anyone to slow them down."

Makennah nodded in understanding. "Thanks for telling."

"Don't stress it. They're not mean. They're not gonna try to get you off the team or whatever." Meredith snorted in laughter. "Since you're still on the fence about joining, you should go visit the head coach in his office when you have study hall. You're pretty much allowed to do whatever you want as long as you're not causing any trouble. Just don't make yourself seen."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah I smoked out by the dumpsters last year with this guy I was seeing at the time and literally no one ever found out or asked me about it."

Meredith's admission almost made her mouth fall open. "Okay, noted." The fact that Meredith smoked shocked Makennah. But also that the fact that someone like Meredith even existed in this school surprised her even more.

As Makennah processed this information and planned her next move, she looked up and caught Theo's gaze long enough for him to wink and turn away to laugh at something his friends said. Furrowing her eyebrows, Makennah viciously snapped at her banana to give herself something to focus on other than Theo's annoying adorable face.

Taking Meredith's advice, Makennah waited for the halls to clear after lunch to wander the aisles looking for the sports administration wing where all of the coaches held an office. She wasn't sure what she expected to find or what to talk about, but she figured this was a good move int eh right direction to help her decide about whether to join the team or not.

The halls were entirely too quiet, but it gave Makennah a sense of peace to be able to find her way around the school without anyone watching her.

She turned down several halls until she started seeing more sports achievement trophies and pictures in glass cases or mounted on walls. A big gold plaque hung on the wall over the doorway of the Marigold Franklin Theatre which stopped Makennah in her tracks. She didn't know that this school had their own theatre. She wondered if they offered theatre classes to the students or how often they put on productions.

One of the heavy intricately carved cherry wood doors was propped open by a peg on the floor. Inside the theatre, it was dark and quiet except for the slivers of light from the hallways that illuminated the red carpeted aisles between the rows and rows of brand new chairs.

She was about to turn and leave until a sound halted her dead in her tracks.

Was that....moaning?

Okay it really wasn't her business.

But...she really wanted to know what that was.

Tip toeing forward, Makennah peeked her head into the theatre and glanced around.

In a far corner in the shadows, Makennah spotted a couple making out. The girls back faced Makennah, and heavy male hands pawed at her legs and butt. Makennah slapped a hand to her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

Seriously, were they in high school or something? How childish.

Oh wait, they were in high school.

The tall man suddenly turned and pressed the female to the wall while molding his lips to her own. A window in another door not he far left side of the auditorium filtered light over their faces for a split second.

Makennah gasped.

The girl locked in that embrace was none other than Cassandra.

And that was definitely not Matt.

Just to be sure, Makennah stepped inside once more and peered closely at them. Yeah that wasn't Matt. The man wore professional attire with slacks and a button down shirt tucked in and a tie around his neck that was slightly loosened from all of their extracurricular activity.

He looked old....like not a student. More like a teacher.

This was such dangerous territory. The two could stop at any second and see Makennah spying on them.

The truck smacked Makennah over the head like a pile of bricks.

Cassandra was cheating on Matt. Possibly with a teacher. The severity of the situation made Makennah spin around and run in the other direction.

And fall straight into the arms of someone else.

Theo.

"Kennah, what are you...?" He started but Makennah slapped her hand over his mouth. With his arms around her waist to steady her from their collision, Makennah forced her weight into his chest to cause him to back up and round the corner away from the theatre.

"Sh!" Makennah said before she removed her hand.

Theo kept his hand on her hip while the other rose to cup her shoulder. "What's wrong?" He asked in a very serious concerned tone.

It threw Makennah off track to see the worry in Theo's eyes and his genuine interest in whatever was causing Makennah to act so strangely. She shook her head to make herself stop thinking about him.

"I...I just saw someone making out in the theatre."

Theo's concern was replaced with a quirky smirk. "Who?"

Makennah gulped. If she admitted what she saw, there was no stopping the truth from coming out. Theo was Matt's best friend. Surely, Theo would tell him about what Makennah saw.

"Kennah." Theo shook her shoulder gently to arouse her from her thoughts.

"If I tell you, do you promise to keep it a secret?" Makennah asked, tilting her head back to look up at him. It was then that she realized she had both of her hands plastered to his chest while he still held her close in a somewhat romantic embrace.

Instantly, Makennah pushed away and cleared her throat.

Theo smirked again and tucked his hands into his jean pockets. "I guess. Is it that big of a deal?"

The more she thought about it, yeah it was a big deal. If that really was a teacher that Cassandra was kissing, he could go to jail. "Yeah."

"Okay tell me. I promise not to tell anyone."

She didn't know Theo from Adam but in that moment she had to trust that he was telling the truth. She didn't think she could keep this secret to herself. Besides, Theo knew Matt better than anyone else. He would know what to do with this information.

"It's...it was Cassandra," Makennah whispered. "And not Matt."

Theo seemed to hold his breath as a dark look looked over his face, drawing his eyebrows together and his mouth into a deep frown. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah I just met Cassandra this morning. It was definitely her. And the guy....kind of looked like a teacher." Makennah glanced all around them to make sure no one was listening.

Theo cussed the hallway up and down all the way from heaven to hell. "I knew she was cheating. I knew it!"

"Shh!" Makennah said, slapping him on the shoulder. "We don't want anyone to hear us."

"Hey guys!"

"Speak of the devil," Theo whispered under his breath.

Cassandra waltzed around the corner with a huge smile on her face while she smoothed down her skirt. Makennah knew that seconds ago, another man's hands had been up that skirt.

"How's it going?" Makennah said casually.

Without lingering to hold a conversation, Cassandra walked right past them and continued on her way. Theo watched her walk away until she turned another corner.

"So who's gonna tell Matt?" Theo asked.

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I know the first couple of chapters weren't super fun because they were setting up the story. But I hope you're ready for things to really start happening.

Please vote and comment!!

Xoxo

W. Carolina