AP Lit.

I didn't know where I was going. Brittany was yet to complete the school orientation for me because of classes, but I barged through the stone-walled hallways, still clutching the poor girl's hand in mine tightly.

Finally, we came to a door that was left slightly ajar, and I barged through without pausing to wonder where it led to.

We stumbled out into an open field, and a blast of the cool, autumn afternoon breeze rushed at my face.

"Jade," Brittany called gently, her voice sounding slightly out of breath. I realized I was out of breath too as I inhaled a chunk of the air and turned to look at her.

"Are you okay?" She asked, her voice tentative.

I let out a deep breath, inhaled and let it out again, then I nodded slowly. "Yes. Yes, I'm fine. I just got a bit worked up." I answered and finally let go of her hand.

Brittany stepped closer, a worried frown on her freckled face.

"That was so weird," she began, searching my face as if to check if I was truly okay. "I mean, I've always known Charlotte and the rest of 'The Eight' are weird, but that was on a whole other level."

I nodded as we fell into a synchronized walk along the gravel walkway.

A few more insidious looking stone gargoyles lined the walkway, and I realized we were probably somewhere at the back of the school grounds as I noticed a ginormous weeping willow tree, standing several feet from us.

The elegantly drooping leaves of the willow had already begun to turn yellow, announcing the glorious arrival of autumn, and a lone stone bench stood perched beneath it.

The sky above was grey and moody, and a melancholy fog hung over the school.

I let out a sigh as I paused to listen to the willow tree whistling softly in the breeze, then I began walking over to the stone bench that was perched underneath it.

Brittany followed me.

"Are you really okay?" She asked once we were settled on the bench, and I turned to look at her.

Her bright emerald eyes had turned the dark green shade of seaweed under the greyness of the sky, and they were filled with deep worry as she looked me over.

"Yeah," I nodded and tried to give her a reassuring smile, but failed.

"I've seen loads of high school bullies in films, but it's my first time actually interacting with one in real life." I frowned heavily. "I should have known she was up to no good from the moment she invited me to sit with them in such a snarky tone. She seriously reminds me of Regina George from 'Mean Girls', except she's scarier and meaner."

Brittany stared at me for several moments, then she burst into a soft, tinkling laughter.

"What?" I asked, wondering what was funny about what I said.

She shook her head. "Nothing, it's just...you're so unusual,"

My frown deepened, and she quickly shook her head. "Not in a bad way," she added before continuing. "It's just, you're very unlike most people with the way you talk and act. It's refreshing to see someone be themselves so effortlessly, and say things in such a stark and honest manner,"

She gave me a smile and her emerald eyes twinkled.

Her words caused a strange warmth to flood my chest, and I wanted to tell her that she was wrong. That I didn't know who I was, or how to be myself.

I didn't even know how to be a proper human.

But before I could gather my words and speak, the bell rang.

•

•

•

Brittany stayed with me through the rest of the day, and through all of my remaining classes. That wasn't surprising, since Principal Fernsby had claimed she made sure our schedules matched, but she stayed with me even during the breaks and free periods.

I almost asked in genuine curiosity, if she had any friends, but when I thought about it critically in my head, I realized it would probably come across as insulting. Even though I genuinely was only curious.

I still didn't see Vasilis in any of my classes, and I was almost convinced he had ditched school for the day, until he showed up in my AP literature class—my last class of the day—with a bruised lip.

Worry flared to life in my chest immediately he walked in and I noticed the blood on his bottom lip, but his eyes found mine, and my breath caught in my throat as I watched him take his bottom lip between his teeth to suck on it softly, before releasing it again.

And then the blood was gone.

I simply stared, my mind befuddled with confusion at the strange sensation pooling in the lower part of my stomach at how incredibly...sexy he had looked sucking on his lip. But also at how the cut had simply...vanished.

Maybe I'd seen wrong.

Maybe his lip hadn't been bruised at all, and I'd just assumed wrongly.

His gaze remained locked on mine as he walked further into the class, then took a seat directly next to me. Brittany was seated on my other side.

I cleared my throat and forced myself to snatch my gaze away from his, and I stared ahead at the white board in front of the class instead.

I was still salty he'd cold-shouldered me, and if he was going to act like that, then I was willing to play the same game.

Brittany launched into a funny story involving one of her triplet brother's while we waited for the teacher to show up, and I kept feeling eyes on me, but I continuously ignored because I knew who it was.

The seconds stretched into minutes, and the teacher still hadn't shown up, and Brittany was now telling me a story of how she had eaten an entire bar of soap one time when she was a toddler.

I could still feel eyes boring into the side of my head as I laughed at a funny part of Brittany's story, and I finally gave in and turned to look.

I was instantly sucked into a breathtaking abyss of Tartarean darkness, and my breath caught in my lungs as my gaze melded with his.

His lips curled slightly into a hesitant smile, and I willed myself to look away from his eyes, but found I couldn't.

"Hey," his mouth moved in a soft whisper, and I swallowed.

"Hi," I heard myself say breathlessly.

Someone walked in at that moment, and I watched Vasilis's face immediately freeze and fall back into a mask of prickling indifference as his gaze left mine.

"Jade," a deep, goosebump inducing voice drawled, and I finally tore my eyes away from Vasilis to glare at Roman as he sauntered pompously into the class as though he owned the school.

It was almost comical, watching him glare at the boy seated in front of me, until the poor kid scrambled out of his seat and practically flew miles away. Then he sat down, straddling the chair with his back to the board, and his gaze focused on me with a smirk dancing on his lips.

"It was so sexy of you to stand up to Charlotte like you did earlier during lunch," he began in that deep, drawling voice of his. "It's nice to finally have someone who can match her fire," he grinned.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not interested in your patronage, Roman. Turn around." I bit out sharply, my anger returning as I recalled Charlotte's words earlier during lunch.

Roman opened his mouth to speak, but the door burst open at that moment.

A man that appeared to be in his mid-thirties, with a large brown leather suitcase and a bundle of papers in his hands stumbled in.

"So terribly sorry I'm late, guys! An emergency came up and I actually can't stay for this lesson. Do not fret, however, I've prepared your activities for the next lesson in advance. Here, Georgina please hand these to the respective correspondents, according to the names on the pages,"

He handed the bundle of papers in his hands to a brunette girl seated at the front of the class.

As the girl began passing the pages around, the teacher continued.

"I've been informed we have the pleasure of welcoming a new student into our midst," his eyes darted around, as if searching for something, until they landed on me and he smiled brightly.

"Ah! There you are. I'm Mr. Dartmouth. You can just call me Mr. Dart like the rest of your peers do. I know it sounds quite absurd, funny if you will, but it's stuck over the years," he shrugged and laughed lightly.

A few of the students laughed too.

"I apologize though, I can not make proper introductions right now, as I'm in a bit of a rush, but we'll get to that tomorrow," he gave me an apologetic smile before gathering up his suitcase, and a few papers that had fallen from his arm.

"Right. Thank you, Georgina. Once everyone's gotten their notes, you'll be properly informed. I'll assume the instructions are simple enough to be understood without any further explanations from me. Okay? Alright then. I must leave now. See you lot tomorrow!"

And then he was gone.

I looked down at my desk as the brunette girl named Georgina dropped a paper document on it.

The words, {Introduction to AP LIT} were printed at the top of the page in block letters, and my eyes skimmed the rest of it slowly, pausing on the second line as my eyes widened slowly.

{Miss Jade Eadwald, you are required to partner up with Mr. Vasilis Wang over of the course of your AP Literature classes this term, to work collaboratively on a literary project that will serve as your final and overall grade points at the end of term, and also an integral portion of your college applications.}

{See section 2.0 for further instructions.}