Henry’s eyes fell to his cell phone and he grimaced. “I’ll be right in behind you.”

Rebecca held the door open to the church for us and lectured her kids. “Remember, Hailey, a prayer before and a prayer after for the younger kids. They need to learn.”

“Okay,” Hailey said, rolling her eyes.

“And, Ryan, with the older kids… Don’t worry about that Avery boy interrupting. He’s been pulled out of the class.”

“Why?” Ryan asked, his interest piqued.

Rebecca’s face frowned in disgust. “Let’s just say he did some bothersome things. His family moved to a different church service.”

Ryan arched an eyebrow but didn’t press for more explanation.

“And tuck in your shirt. You look like a slob. Remember, God is watching.” When his mom turned away and walked inside, Ryan pulled out his fake cigarette box. I eyed his strange habit and turned to Hailey.

“What is he doing?” I whispered, moving with her toward the class she taught.

She glanced to her brother for a split second and shrugged. “Coping mechanism.”

Coping from what?

Hailey must have read my mind because she gave me a small grin. “You’re not the only one with daddy issues, Ashlyn.”

Chapter 8

There’s two things I need you to see.

One lives in you and the other in me.

~ Romeo’s Quest

Monday marked the first day of classes of senior year. Hailey drove Ryan and me to school, and Henry promised me that he would do his best to not cross my path. When we pulled into the parking lot, Ryan jumped out and tossed his backpack on.

I climbed out, backpack straps on, and held a novel close to my chest. The plan was to always hold a book to my chest. Then maybe the guys wouldn’t look at me the way they had at my other school.

It was a lot easier to feel comfortable in my own skin when I had a built-in twin always at my side. Now I only felt lonely.

“Toss me your schedule, Chicago.” Ryan nudged me in the side with a smile. I guessed that was my new nickname from him. I handed it his way and he unfolded the paper, his eyes darting back and forth. “Ohh, you have Ms. Gain for first-hour chemistry. Harsh.”

Hailey frowned. “Ms. Sweaty. Her classroom smells like a horse’s butt.”

“And she grades like we are all supposed to be Harvard students.” Ryan rolled his eyes. “I’ll be lucky to get into community college.” It seemed like he was mostly saying that to himself so I didn’t comment. “At least you have third hour with yours truly. AP English with Mr. D. Easy A.” Why did he think he wouldn’t get into college if he was taking AP courses?

“That’s because he’s new. New teachers are always easy A’s.” Hailey smirked before hurrying off to find her locker.

Ryan handed me my schedule back and rushed off to class. I took a deep breath and looked up at the school building. So many people were moving around as if they knew exactly where they were going. Exactly what the next step was.

I moved slowly, searching, exploring, and hoping to get out with as little harm as possible. The first-hour class crawled by, and my new house buddies hadn’t been wrong. Ms. Gain’s room did smell like a horse’s butt.

“All right, students. Welcome to chemistry. I’m glad to see you all appear to be comfortable in your seats. Too bad. Assigned tables starting now. These will be your partners for the rest of the semester. So once you move, I welcome you to get comfortable again.”

The room was in an uproar with moans and annoyance, but I couldn’t care less. I already didn’t know anyone, therefore it wouldn’t matter who she sat me next to.

“Ashlyn Jennings next to Jake Kenn at table five.” I picked up my books, moved over to my table, and watched as a boy sat in the chair next to me. He gave me a friendly smile, but I noticed when his eyes traveled to my chest.

Their eyes always found my chest.

“Hi. Ashley, right?” Jake extended his hand my way and smiled.

“Ashlyn,” I corrected. Jake was a good-looking guy, kind of built—as far as high school boys could be built I guess. Blond hair, brown eyes.

“Well it’s nice to meet you, Ashlyn.” He put the stress on my name and that got a smile from me.

“You too.”

“So you’re the new girl everyone’s been talking about? The principal’s daughter?”

Everyone’d been talking about me? The thought of that sent a rumble through my stomach and I shrugged. “Assistant principal’s daughter. Everyone’s been talking about me? It’s the first hour of the first day.”

“You’ll learn fast… People talk here. That’s pretty much all they do.” He nodded, his eyes roaming over my body once more. “You look nothing like Mr. Jennings.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I smiled shyly and adjusted my chair a small bit away from him.

He noticed my move and chuckled lightly before he turned to face the teacher. “Trust me, it is.”

The class continued on, and afterwards, Jake asked me if I needed help finding my next class, which I declined with a smile. The next hour went by just like the one before—slowly.

Walking in the hallway, I felt trapped. My eyes darted to the clock on the wall. The loud ticks reminded us students that we must hurry along or we might blink and miss out on our lives. Six more hours. Six more long, dreadful hours before I would be able to escape the imprisonment of the building.

While I was walking, I saw Henry standing down the hallway giving me a halfway grin. I sighed and turned the other way, running directly into a person. My books and schedule went flying and I rolled my eyes.

“Watch where you’re going, melons.”

I looked up just in time to see that I’d managed to run into a guy wearing a letter jacket. A football player, and from how the followers huddled around him, I was sure he was the head of the team. I glanced over and noticed Jake standing amongst them, giving him a wary smile.

He shrugged with an apologetic grin and walked off. Thanks for the help, chemistry partner. A few of the guys remained near me as I started picking up my books from the run-in.

“Those aren’t just melons. Those are watermelons. I love my watermelons big and juicy,” a boy laughed as he walked past me, mocking the size of my chest.