Chapter 14: New student?

Leslie P.O.V( Aria bestfriend)

''UUurggh I swear I'm gonna tear her apart, how can she do this to me'' I said to Mary who was sitting beside me on the bench

''You're exaggerating again, she might be catching up with her cousin and stop spamming the chat I'm tired of feeling my phone vibrating for no reason also they will be here in no time and it's not like Aria will let you put your claws on her cousin hehe'' said Mary making fun of me

''Humph I'd be a good catch I'm pretty I got good grades I'm.. I'm'' I was trying really hard to find other things who could be attractive for a man but I was stuck

''You're lazy, hate sports and if he's as tall as he looks in the photo Aria sent in the chat you are 2 times too short for him he would look like he's going out with a child'' said Mary without pity

'' Shut up who would take me for a child with those and also if I remember correctly he likes anime and manga just like me'' I said grabbing my breasts and squeezing them upward to show my assets to my friend

''But I must say it's impressive how much someone can change in the span of two months'' said Mary completely ignoring my last comments

''Yeah, do you think he changed that much because of what happened'' I asked her with a finger on my chin thinking about what other reasons could push someone to change this much

''Well it could be but there's got to be more to it if not This guy would just be shallow and petty but from the fact that Aria is the closest to him among all her cousins I don't think that's the case, you know Aria as well as I do she would never like someone like that'' Mary said without even thinking for 2 seconds she had always been most observant between us three

Before I could respond back to Mary I could see a pretty jeep parking just in front of us well calling pretty wouldn't be quite accurate more classy I had never seen a jeep like this one wasn't a jeep supposed to be dirty with no doors and flashy colors I thought

''They are here'' said Mary beside me standing up while saying so

''Ugh where I don't see them'' I said looking left and right searching for Aria and her hunky cousin

''You really are hopeless sometimes you were looking at them not even a second ago, You looked at the picture Aria sent since the beginning and the only thing you looked at was Stephen. Sigh in the picture Aria sent we could see the steering wheel of the car and at the bottom of it it was written Mercedes AMG so it was either the sports car AMG or the Jeep but if you look at what was in the back of the picture you will notice that you can't see peoples legs nor the road so his car must be on the higher side so I knew it was a Jeep'' said Mary like she was the next Sherlock Holmes 

'' You know I'm glad I am your friend you are scary sometimes but it's not fair, your Dad owns a car shop of course you would know cars more than me'' I said sulking a bit

Stephen Rose P.O.V

After finishing our little banter Aria began to walk toward her friends and I soon followed but my gaze lingered toward the baseball field every 3 steps 'god I hope this day can pass by faster' I thought. I felt that the day would feel really long for me classes hadn't even started yet and I was already thinking about what I would do at the end of the day 

After taking a last look at the baseball field I finally came beside Aria and her friends Mary was the taller girl of the group and probably the most studious too as she was always one of the best in her classes from what Aria had told me Leslie was even shorter then Aria which was really a feat in itself if you look at Aria petite frame she also like anime and manga I remember Aria saying so when she had come to my house last year and complain about how could I have so much stuff like her friend Leslie

''Hi girls how was your summer, sorry for the wait'' I said approaching them with a smile

''I failed my driver's license test besides that nothing worth telling compared to you, nice car by the way'' said Mary with a small wry smile on her face

''I...I...I just spent my time catching up on animes I hadn't watched yet and read new mangas'' said Leslie putting her head down a little ashamed of herself for saying this out loud

'' Sigh, you're lucky I didn't have the time to watch anything this summer I bet I will have a lot of catching to do say if you are watching One Piece please don't spoil me. That's a shame was the test too hard or you got nervous, humm or maybe you got an instructor who would nitpick at everything because his life is shit?'' I said to both Leslie and Mary in that order

'' Humph doesn't encourage her she really needs to slack a bit on the Anime stuff and as for Mary I think that your third guess is the right one even if she didn't say anything to us I just can't picture her failing for no reason ... really suspicious, anyway we better start walking if we do not want to be late on the very first day. Wait you also got your left ear pierced WTF are you hiding anything else or is that all for today?'' asked me Aria since she was sitting in the passenger seat she could only see my right side and I had pierced my left ear but since I was now walking the closest to the road like a gentleman she was now on my left side 

''Hehe, this is the last thing I promised looks pretty neat from afar it looks like any silver earring but if you look closely ... look it's a baseball ball hahaha awesome right?'' I said tilting my head in her direction so she could get a better look at it

''Say, how did Aunty react when she discovered your new... look and did you get your ear pierced at the same time you got your tattoo did your big sister do this too?'' asked Aria 

''No, I got my ear pierced like 2 weeks ago with my mother after discovering my tattoos she wasn't tough to convince hehe as for how she reacted well let's just say that she barely talked to me for 3 weeks straight'' I said to her shaking my heads at the end

''If it was me coming back home like that my Dad would flip the house and probably disowned me'' said Mary with a smile

''My Mom would kick me straight out of the house but I'm too scared of needles anyway so I wouldn't be able to do it, it must have hurt right?'' asked Leslie

'' Yeah, you didn't tell me about it those are not small tattoos either how long did it take?'' chimed Aria after hearing Leslie's question

'' And you didn't see everything yet maybe my Mom would have been less upset if I had just been getting the tattoo I have on my right arm like what it was supposed to be at the beginning'' I said with a wry smile

'' What do you mean I didn't see everything?'' asked Aria 

''Well besides the whole left arm and my right forearm, I also got my chest and my right shoulder tattooed, and it took a whole freaking day 18 hours on the table from 9 in the morning to 3 the next morning, it did hurt but after 1 hour I just became numb to it especially since two people were tattooing me at the same time the pain was way worse I'm telling you, girls, if you want yourself a tattoo you better get ready'' I said wincing a bit just thinking about it

'' Are you serious, wow I kinda want to see it now... no wonder Aunty was this mad at you then hahaha'' said Aria before bursting into laughter

''Well you will be able to see them at the end of my baseball practice since I'm not on the team I can't use the team locker room yet I'll need to change in my car because I absolutely don't want to use the bathrooms of the school, I'm going now my first class is Science and it's a new professor I don't wont to make a bad impression'' I said when we got inside the school

''Good luck with that mister street gang, see you later I'll wait for you beside the car at the end of the day'' said Aria waving at me

''Alright, have a good day girls'' I said before walking toward my Science class on the second floor

Aria P.O.V

once Stephen left I could feel the gaze of my two best friends almost drilling holes in the back of my head, we were again in the same class this year so we were all walking toward our first class which happened to be Math. We still had 10 minutes before the start of class luckily for us senior all our class were on the first floor so 1 minute later we all entered the classroom and took our seats since we were pretty early we got the chance to choose where we wanted to sit like usual Leslie took the first desk on the side of the window I took the one right behind her in the second row and Mary the one behind me on the third row

after placing their bag on their desk they surrounded mine and continued looking at me with the same gaze as when we were walking here

''OK, enough what the hell do you want to say stop looking at me like that'' I said feeling really uncomfortable 

''What was that about the baseball practice and you waiting for me thing'' asked Mary while Leslie was nodding at the side agreeing with Mary

''Oh that, well Steph is aiming to make the varsity team so he will have a 2 hours practice every day after school and I don't want my Mother to pick me up every day after school so Steph suggested that I could watch his practice while I doing my homework. You guys can also come I asked him if he was good with driving you guys back home and he said it was good so if you want to we could all do our homework together and watch baseball when we are done'' I said to them 

''Can't believe he made you agree to that since when is your homework important to you, but I'm in that's a good idea and that would make me avoid the school bus just for that I would have said yes'' said Mary with a disgusted frown on her face

'' I will need to ask my mother but if I tell her that it's for a study session she won't say no and I don't want to be the only one left out hmph'' said Leslie with a pout

''Just say that you want to see him barechested, you horny rabbit'' I said to her

''Hehe I won't deny this but I can't say that to my mother hihihi'' said Leslie with her perverted laughter

''This girl is hopeless'' said Mary while I could only nod in approval

''HEY!!!'' exclaimed Leslie while we just both ignored her

Layla Smith P.O.V

The start of the school year arrived before I could even notice it, I barely had any break this summer sure winning the volleyball state championship was fun but it was way too much work I didn't plan to play volleyball professionally so for me it was just a hobby and I felt bad for the people who hadn't made the team who's dream were to go further in their volleyball career. So at the end of the season, I told Coach Sparks that I wouldn't come back this year but that I could help with the training volleyball practice was from 4 pm to 5h30 so I would be able to move my body around and play the sport I like but without losing all my free time with tournament and weekend games

Today I really had forgotten my head at home first I forgot to tell my parents I wouldn't take the school bus and that I would help the volleyball team practice and to make matters worse I didn't have my cellphone with me since my mother had broken hers and she needed a phone for her job so she took mine until they sent her a new one so I couldn't call anybody besides my Grandfather but I knew he was working and that my Grandmother never like driving, I could have called my mother but I knew she was not in town today... sigh 'such a hassle' I thought. I'll need to figure something out I thought

While I was trying to think of a solution, people started whispering louder and louder i could hear people saying 'Who is this' 'Is he a new student?' 'I don't know I've never seen him before' 'Have you seen his tattoos' 'The school might expulse him when they learn about this' 'What's the problem with his tattoos the school has nothing to do with it' 'If even his parents let him get tattooed the school can do nothing about it' 'He is so handsome' 'Surely a new student I would remember seeing someone like him'

All the chatter disturbed my thoughts and made me lift my head up to look at the guy everyone was talking about the first thing that came to my mind was probably what all girls in the class thought at first 'So Handsome' but then I got a feeling that I had seen this guy before but how was that possible a guy a striking as him would have for sure left an impression on me but those deep emerald green eyes I'm sure I've seen them before 

The 'New student' looked around and then looked in my direction before a small smile appeared on his lips before he started walking toward me ' Oh no did he catch me looking at him so blatantly' I thought blushing and looking out the window praying for him to just pass by and sit in the back, since we were in Science class each desk was share in pair and I was still alone since all my friends were on the volleyball team and they were all a year older than I was, unfortunately for me my prayers weren't answered and the 'new guy' sat right beside me.

''Hey, nice to see you again I heard that you girl won the state championship, Congratulations. Those extra practices on Friday seem to have benefitted your team'' he said clearly knowing me I looked closely at his face and then it hit me

''OMG, it's you how is that possible wow hahaha I knew I had seen you before, thank you we did win, and yes those practices helped but it also was very time-consuming so I don't plan on making the team this year'' I said half expecting him to react like everyone who I had told this to before (disbelief, disapproval and pity)

''Hahaha I would have loved to see Coach Sparks' face when you told her this hehehe she must have been mad to lose one of her best players'' he said laughing without asking me why or saying I was silly to leave when I was this good .. his reaction was refreshing but it also left me puzzled

''You're not asking me why or trying to convince me to go back in the team?'' I asked him really curious about his reactions

''Do you want me to ask you why? As for convincing you to go back, I would never do that without knowing your situation first and even if I knew I doubt I would try to convince you. We are old enough to know what we wanted also when I saw you play last year you were the only girl on your team who played with a smile on her face all your teammates were so serious that you kinda stood out so I looked at you more than the other and I came up with a theory'' he said looking at me with a slight smile

'' I'm all ear'' I said even more curious now

''You like volleyball... not love I know that sounds like the same thing but it isn't how do I say this ..humm I feel like you enjoyed playing volleyball but you do not want to do a career out of it so no I'm not surprised you decided to quit the varsity team and I won't convince you to go back but if you tell me that you will stop playing altogether I will for sure convince you otherwise... so I'm I right?'' said the guy who I still didn't know the name yet

He was right he watched me play only once but he understood me better than all my teammates and friends how was that possible was he stalking me all summer I thought quickly before immediately ruling this possibility out since he would stand out anywhere he goes. Knowing someone who finally understood me was feeling really good 

''Yes hehe you're right and don't worry I won't stop playing, in fact, I volunteer to help the team in practice, which would leave my weekends open to do what I love as you said haha, by the way, what is your name?'' I said a big smile on my face 

''Stephen Rose hehe sorry I hadn't introduced myself yet and neither did you when I think about it and it's a good alternative Coach Sparks and your teammates must have been happy to hear this right? What do you do on weekends if it's not too much to ask?'' ask me, Stephen 

''Layla Smith haha I don't mind telling you, I work in an animal shelter on weekends I want to be a veterinarian when I grow up I really love animals. Coach Sparks was not happy just less angry I think as for my teammates they still don't understand why I decided to quit so I'm not sure about them either, well ill know later today I suppose. Damn it that made me think of my current problem now'' I said clutching my head with both hands with my forehead resting on the desk

''What problem... your ex-teammates?'' asked Stephen confusion all over his face

'' Hahaha no sorry your confused face is really funny .. cough cough no I'm talking about the fact that I do not have a ride to take me back home after the practice I forgot to tell my mother I would stay here and she got my cellphone since hers broke down last week so I'm stuck here, urgh I'm such an airhead'' I said loud enough for him to hear 

''If it doesn't bother you to wait for my baseball practice to end I can drive you home. Where do you live?'' asked me Stephen with a kind smile

''Nolensville I know it's not in the city so you...'' I started saying before Stephen chimed in

'' No way hahaha I live there too so you don't have to worry about bothering me, you have all day to think about it if you need a ride just wait near the parking space of Coach Terry. Our practice ends around 6 so you might have to wait a bit or you can come directly to the baseball field... Oh the new professor is here'' said Stephen cutting our conversation short and looking at the front of the classroom