Jake
Auriana ran her hand through her bright red hair as she listened intently to Emma's story. She and her friends were standing by the lockers, waiting for the first period to begin. Jimmy, Jeremy, and I stood a short distance away from the girls. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't keep my eyes off the group of girls. It was like a magnetic force, drawing my gaze back towards the girls.
"It's absolutely unbelievable!" I muttered softly. I thought they hadn't heard me, but surprisingly, I was wrong. Jimmy picked up on my mumbling.
"What is?" he asked, following my gaze to see what had captured my attention. You could almost hear the gears in his head turning as he raised an eyebrow at me.
"Yesterday she was still in the hospital after almost getting hit by a car, and now she's just walking through the hallway, as if nothing happened." Jimmy and Jeremy looked at each other, and their expressions spoke volumes. It was the same look she gave me every time I denied having feelings for Auriana. They didn't quite understand where this new concern for her came from. It was completely out of character for me to react like this for someone I'd always said I didn't care about. I didn't really know why I was being so compensatory... maybe they were right after all? Could I have feelings for Auriana after all? No, that's absurd. None of them dared to ask me that question again.
"The doctor said it herself, there is nothing serious going on, and I'm almost certain she knows what she's talking about," Jeremy said. Had he completely lost it? That had to be the biggest load of nonsense I'd ever heard. My expression visibly betrayed my thoughts because Jeremy shrugged and looked back at his phone.
"The doctor also said she should take it easy, so why doesn't she? Why does she have to be so stubborn?" It seemed she'd heard me, because just as I shifted my gaze back to the group of girls, our eyes met. Auriana gave me a stern look back.
"If you're not careful, we'll start think you care about her," Jeremy joked. I rolled my eyes at his comment. My friends didn't know about the conversation that had taken place between Auriana and me in the hospital. Since the accident, I'd been thinking I felt something slightly different than before, but I couldn't quite place it. It was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Jimmy startled me out of my thoughts by pulling me by my bag. Apparently, I'd been so lost in my own thoughts that I hadn't heard the bell. We entered the classroom and quickly took our seats. A little while later, Mr. de Laat walked into the classroom with two new students. At least that's what I assumed, because I hadn't seen these two walking through the halls before. The girl had purple hair that fell in waves over her shoulders. She was slightly shorter than the boy standing next to her and had brown eyes framed by black eyeliner and mascara. Her long lashes curled upwards and her lips shone with pink lip gloss. She was wearing a black skirt with an off-the-shoulder, white shirt, and white high-top sneakers with wedge heels. The boy next to her had brown hair in a quiff and brown eyes. He was wearing a white T-shirt that clearly showed off his muscles, a checked, dark green blouse that was hanging open, and dark blue pants with white sneakers.
"Good morning, class. As you can see, we have two new students today. This is Maya and Alex McKoy. Auriana, Brooke, and Jeremy, would you mind guiding them a bit and showing them around?" Mr. de Laat asked. Auriana was deep in thought. It seemed as if the names of the new students sounded familiar, but she didn't quite know where she'd heard them before. Maya and Alex stood uncomfortably next to our Dutch teacher, eager to sit in the two empty seats at the front of the classroom. It's always awkward for new people. Luckily for them, Mr. de Laat wasn't the kind of teacher who'd torture new people by making them introduce themselves.
"Sure!" Brooke immediately countered, too enthusiastic to discuss things with the others.
Brooke
After Jeremy, Auriana, and I gave the two a tour of the school, the five of us walked towards the auditorium. They hadn't said much yet. I could understand that; a first day can be overwhelming.
"So what do you think of West Field High so far?" I asked as we walked to our usual table in the auditorium, hoping to strike up a conversation. They both shrugged, as if they hadn't really formed an opinion about the school yet. We joined the others and immediately enjoyed the sun streaming through the glass roof. Maya and Alex stood awkwardly off to the side, so Renee gestured for them to join us.
"Tell us about yourselves," Renee said once the two had joined the group. Maya awkwardly ran an hand through her purple hair.
"I'm Maya, I'm seventeen years old. At my previous school, I was on the school soccer team, but that was a private school though." She looked at her brother, who was sitting on the other side of the table.
"I'm Alex, I'm also seventeen years old, and my hobbies are playing video games and singing." Jeremy looked from Maya to Alex in surprise, as if he were trying to solve a difficult puzzle but was missing a piece.
"So you're both seventeen?" he asked, surprised. We rolled our eyes. Sometimes we wondered if he was embarrassing himself on purpose. Luckily, Maya and Alex could laugh about it.
"Yeah, that usually how it works with twins," Alex said, laughing. Jake and Jimmy walked over and joined us. They listened attentively to the conversation.
"I'm going to get something from the cafeteria," Auriana said. As she stood up, she waited to see if anyone was coming with her. To her relief, I stood up too. She gave me a grateful smile. I knew something was bothering her.
"I'll come with you, I'm craving a muffin." Since the conversation at the hospital, Auriana hadn't quite known how to act around Jake, so she thought it would best to just avoid him for now. That way, she could figure out how to approach this new friendship. She hadn't talked to anyone about it yet and wasn't sure how to put it into words. I watched her from the corner of my eye and waited until we were out of earshot of the others.
"Tell me, what's bothering you?" I asked. Auriana looked at me, hating how transparent she was sometimes. She took a deep breath before she began.
"Jake and I have decided to leave the past behind us and start fresh. I just don't really know how to approach this new friendship." I understood that; they had been fighting for so long. It must be hard for them to just get along now. Auriana also had a tendency to make things much more complicated than necessary.
"Maybe you're overthinking it. Just approach it the same way you do with us." What we didn't know however, was that a similar conversation was taking place at the table as soon as we left.
Renee
"Dude, stop staring. People will start to think you care about her," Emma said, playfully poking Jake in the side. He rolled his eyes but didn't argue back. No witty remark or angry reaction, nothing at all…just silence. Something completely out of character for him. We exchanged surprised looks. Maya and Alex could tell from our looks that it wasn't usual. Jeremy decided to take a chance and took a deep breath.
"Jake…are you…in love with…Auriana?" he asked cautiously, afraid of another scolding. He quickly wrapped his arms around his head to protect his face from any punches Jake might throw at him. But to everyone's surprise, Jake remained silent and calm. We were completely at a loss. What had happened to him? Was this even Jake? Or had someone taken over his body?
"I…don't know, maybe? We've decided to start over, but I don't know how." To say we were stunned might have been the understatement of the year, while Maya and Alex couldn't understand our reactions. We couldn't blame them, after all, they hadn't experienced all the commotion that had happened between them over the past three years.
"Well, the thing is, Jake and Auriana have had a kind of love-hate relationship ever since Auriana moved here three years ago. Jake is finally admitting that he likes Auriana, not hates her," Jimmy explained. Maya nodded in understanding and ran a hand through her long, purple, wavy hair. I think it was a nervous quirk of hers. Jake rolled his eyes, while Jeremy nodded in agreement.
"What are we talking about?" Brooke asked as she and Auriana sat back down, each with something to eat. She took a big bite of the red velvet muffin she'd just gotten and looked at us expectantly. Jake looked away.
"Nothing, really," Maya replied. They might not have been very talkative yet, but something inside me told me that would change. Jake looked at her gratefully, glad we weren't throwing him under the bus right away.
"What course do you guys have next?" Emma asked, trying to change the subject. We'd just gotten a new schedule, and none of us knew exactly which courses we had yet. It also meant we didn't have all our classes at the same time anymore, because some of us had chosen different electives.
"Um...math, I think..." I said hesitantly.
"Scarlet, Skylar, Jimmy, Jake, and I have gym," Brooke said, after checking her schedule.
"You and I have art," Jeremy said. He held out his hand for a high five, which Auriana gave him.
Auriana
That afternoon, we all walked to the park where we collapsed in the grass by the pond. This was pretty much our regular hangout when the weather was nice and it wasn't too cold. The pond was decorated with a boulder and some reeds here and there. A family of ducks often floated in the pond, there was also a path around the pond, and an ice cream cart regularly showed up on sunny days. The tall trees in the park provided enough shade in the summer. Benches lined the path for people to sit on. We often avoided these because they were quite far apart and we couldn't all fit on one bench.
"Congratulations, you survived your first day at the infamous West Field High," Renee laughed. As the day progressed, the twins loosened up.
"Barely," Alex replied, laughing, giving Maya a playful shove. Maya rolled her eyes and returned the shove, only this one was a bit harder than Alex's, causing him to fall over in the grass. It looked so comical that we burst out laughing. These were the moments I treasured most. The moments when we were all together and everything seemed to be perfect. I thought back to what it was like before I moved to Westbrook. I'd been thinking about that time quite a bit lately. I don't know why exactly. Maybe it was because Scarlet is about to go through the same thing I did, or because the accident got me thinking…or maybe it was because I'm now realizing that things can be different than what I only knew three years ago.
"Auriana? Are you still with us?" Maya laughed, moving her hand up and down in front of my face.
"Huh? Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts for a moment. What did I miss?" Renee actually wanted to ask what I was thinking about, but a look from Brooke was enough to dissuade her. The others seemed oblivious and were themselves busy talking about other things.
"We were talking about how Mrs. Scheeps seems to be so grumpy in our music class these days," Emma explained, bringing me back to the present. Brooke leaned back, enjoying the sun warming her face. Mrs. Scheeps had indeed been quite grumpy lately, which reminded me of that strange dream I had while I was unconscious, but I quickly shook off the thought that Mrs. Scheeps might be trying to harm me. After all, none of the events leading up to it had happened. Except for the fact that Maya and Alex suddenly showed up at school. There were some differences from that strange dream, though. First of all, Alex wasn't a girl, but a boy. My parents are happily married, although my father can lose his temper sometimes, but he's in therapy for that. I followed Brooke's example and leaned back on my elbows in the grass.
Scarlet
The past three months hadn't been very eventful. Maya and Alex had become increasingly close to me and the rest of my friends and felt like they were truly part of our group now. We still had a month to go before the school year was over and we could finally enjoy our well-deserved summer vacation. I stood at my locker waiting for the others and couldn't wait to tell them the news. I looked around impatiently to see if they were coming my way yet, constantly switching legs. In the distance, I saw the familiar red and purple hair of Auriana and Maya coming up the stairs first, and I knew the rest couldn't be far behind. I swayed impatiently by my locker, trying to hold on to the last bit of patience I had, until my friends were all at their lockers. They greeted me, and before they could even open their lockers, I couldn't hold back any longer.
"I'm not moving," I blurted out. My friends looked at me questioningly. They probably hadn't expected this spontaneous outburst of news in the first place, and they didn't understand why it wasn't happening. After all, last month I had told them the move was only delayed by a month because all the paperwork hadn't been finalized at my father's office yet. The surprise party they'd planned was rebranded as a school dance because…well, there was no goodbye yet. We'd had a blast at the party and even sang some songs together.
"What do you mean?" Jeremy asked. Jimmy nudged him in the upper arm, intending to let him know he hadn't reacted with much empathy. I didn't really care; I knew he meant well.
"What Jeremy meant is that we're glad you're not moving, but we'd like to know the reason the move isn't happening," Alex said. Jeremy rubbed the painful spot where Jimmy had hit him and nodded in agreement. I couldn't help but smile, glad I wouldn't have to miss my friends and all their silly ailments after all.
"Well... that's the bad news. My parents have been arguing ever since my dad announced he got the promotion. He finally realized how unhappy my mother was at the thought of leaving the house—where we've lived since I was born and where my brother and I grew up. Despite this, he still wanted the job, and they decided to get a divorce. I'll stay here with my mom and my little brother, and my dad will go to Whittersville on his own," I explained. They exchanged a look of pity, which wasn't really necessary. As strange as it may sound for a child to say that they have peace with their parents' divorce, it's true.
"Oh, I'm sorry. This must be really hard for you," Auriana said, putting an arm around my shoulders in an attempt to cheer me up.
"It's okay, I have peace with it. If you ask me, it's been coming for a while. The constant fighting they were having was already a sign."