four

Olivia stared at the smaller girl in shock. Why would someone who had previously hit her and not want anything to do with her ask her to come over now? She probably expected the other girl to make her do all the work.

"Y-yeah. Sure,"

What surprised the green-eyed girl even more was that the brunette didn't scowl when she answered her question.

Instead, she smiled widely. "Great, I'll see you at the front gate after school?" she asked, confirming that Olivia was actually coming over.

Olivia nodded her head slowly.

Emma said a quick goodbye and left the classroom, leaving Olivia sitting alone at the back of the class, confused as ever.

•••

"Oh my god. Did I just ask her to come over? Oh shit, what am I supposed to do now?"

Emma couldn't think straight. She couldn't get the fact that the girl of her dreams — despite the fact she's only known her for a few hours — was coming over.

God, the things they were going to do together...

"Emma!" It was Ashley.

"Hey," the brown-eyed girl addressed her friend with a nod.

"Where's Kate?"

"Ditched school," Ashley answered halfheartedly. Neither of them cared to talk about the other girl anymore.

"Lunch?" Emma nodded at her friend's request.

They walked to the cafeteria and got in line.

"So, I heard there's a new kid in school," Ashley started.

"Yeah, the one Kate made me slap this morning. Oh god, I felt so bad." Emma groaned.

"Did you realise she was staring at you in amusement after you hit her, instead of anger?"

Emma nodded slowly.

"Yeah. I wanted to leave it at that, but I knew Kate wouldn't like that. So I had to lay down a few 'ground rules'," she spoke, using air quotes to further emphasise her point.

Ashley eyed her intently. "What?"

Emma nodded once more. "I told her that she couldn't talk to me, couldn't look at me, couldn't even think about me,"

"Then what happened?"

"Get this," Emma paused for a moment and grabbed her tray and a banana.

"We're in the same Spanish class. She's sitting beside me," she paused again and grabbed a water bottle a few chicken nuggets.

"And...we're partners for a project," she finished.

Ashley looked at her in surprise before she felt someone bump into her from behind.

The two girls turned around and their eyes met the green ones of the girl behind them.

"I-I'm really sor—" she caught herself. Olivia wasn't supposed to be talking to them.

Emma and Ashley scowled. They didn't want to, but they had to. Everyone else was looking.

They turned around and walked away. Emma threw her an apologetic look before they were out of sight.

•••

Olivia sighed heavily as she picked up the bottle of water that had fallen off her tray when she bumped into the two girls moments before.

She stood upright, straightened her clothes and scanned the cafeteria for an empty table.

She spotted one.

The table was at the far corner of the cafeteria. Olivia knew that if she sat there, no one would notice her. That was exactly what she wanted. She didn't need another beat down like the ones she had gotten at her previous school.

She hurried over to the table and set her tray down. Grabbing the brown paper bag that was in front of her, she tore the top open and grabbed the sandwich inside.

Instead of eating it immediately, Olivia studied it intently. Food from a school's cafeteria never meant sat well with her.

Just as she was about to take a bite from it, someone hit her on the back. Did no one at this school have any manners?

Did people finally find out the reason why she had transferred here from her previous school? Were they here to give her a piece of their mind? To beat her, punch her and throw her to the ground?

She dropped her sandwich and turn around, deciding once and for all that she wasn't going to let that happen. She did the first thing she could think of and slapped the person who had hit her before she could change her mind.

Instead of getting hit again, Olivia heard the person cry out in pain.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

Olivia's eyes widened in realisation. This person meant no harm.

She quickly stood up and brushed the crumbs from her sandwich off of her pants.

"I'm so sorry!" she said as she help the person up.

She realised that the person she slapped was a guy from her Spanish class.

"What's your name?" she asked him, feeling embarrassed that she had already forgotten his name when the lesson had ended only half an hour ago.

"Seth. Seth Miller," he answered, his hand on the side of his face, cursing in Spanish. Olivia couldn't help but laugh before she apologised again.

Seth brushed it off. "It's fine. I shouldn't have hit you...just wanted to get your attention," he said, pulling a chair out and taking his seat beside her. "Why you sitting here alone?"

Olivia shrugged. "I don't know anyone here. I don't suppose you want me to walk up to some random people and sit down with them at their table, do you?"

Now it was Seth's turn to laugh. "Right, right. That makes sense. Hey, wanna meet a few of my friends? You know, blend in a little?"

The green-eyed girl nodded.

"Well, there's Ally. If her name sounds familiar, that's because she's from our Spanish class too. She's Mexican-American. And we have Ava, who is Polynesian. And also the loud, crazy one of the group. Well," Seth shrugged. "Besides Mia, of course. Mia....she's from Atlanta."

"Where are they right now?" Olivia asked curiously.

"Oh, they're still in class. Only freshmen and sophomores are having lunch right now. Juniors and seniors have their lunch one period after this, so...another hour. We could always see them after school, unless you see them in your other classes or something. Well, now that you know their names, just look out for them," Seth told her.

Right after he had said that, the bell signalling the end of lunch sounded.

Olivia groaned. "I didn't even get to eat!"

"I'm sorry....not." Seth laughed and pat her on the back.

Olivia shot him a playful glare.

"Here," he said, digging through his backpack and handing her a sandwich, just like he one she had been about to eat previously.

"Thanks," she took it gratefully and put it in her bag.

"What do you have now?" he asked curiously.

Olivia thought for a moment.

"AP Math," she told him and he pouted playfully.

"Smartass," he muttered under his breath, but of course, purposely loud enough for her to hear.

Decided to play along, Olivia flipped her hair dramatically. "Of course,"

When the other students hurried to get to their respective classrooms, Olivia and Seth said their goodbyes, parting ways.

•••

Olivia walked into the classroom and found that since this was an advance placement class, she was going to be with very few of the students her age, the rest of them being juniors and seniors.

The teacher saw her standing at the doorway and smiled. He motioned for her to come in.

"You must be our new student. Olivia Jauregui, right?" the teacher confirmed.

Olivia flinched, but nodded. She hated being addressed as the new kid, but she would just have to bear it.

"Please, take a seat at the back. We're still missing a few students," he nodded and pointed to the back of the classroom.

He was right, most of the students weren't here yet. The ones that were here were either freshmen and sophomores. Olivia guessed that the juniors and seniors hadn't been released from their previous class yet.

Five minutes later, the older students started piling into the classroom.

And finally, behind them, so did the all-too-familiar face of the brunette that had been on her mind the whole day.