Second Semester

Cheyenne pulled her crumpled schedule out of her jeans pocket to check her next class. It was the first Monday after the breakup and the first day of the new smemester at school. Could things get any worse?

Yes, they could, if she had any classes with Kevin. Hopefully, her day would be Kevin-free.

She perused her schedule. The only thing that'd crossed over from last semester was art. Next hour was US History.

Boy did that sound like fun. Yeah, right.

Although, she had to admit, it was kind of sexy that George Washington was a colonel in the US Army and led 300 men by his early twenties. There was just something about a man in a position of power. Like Kevin being the captain of the football team.

"Aw, crap," she muttered, remembering the breakup. She promised herself she wouldn't think of Kevin today.

Hey," Kayla said, coming up behind Cheyenne, metal bracelets clanking on her wrists.

"Hi," Cheyenne said, slamming her locker shut as Star sidled up.

"I need a scrunchy," Star said, "do you have one?"

After checking her backpack, Cheyenne came up empty-handed, which wasn't surprising. She hardly ever wore her hair up.

Kayla leaned against the bank of lockers, hugging her bag to her chest. "I don't have one either, sorry." she said as she tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear. She pursed her thin lips, which accentuated her high cheekbones.

"You talk to Kevin yet?" Star asked tentatively.

"She's going to talk to him today. Right, Cheyenne?" Kayla answered and pushed away from the lockers, straightening her back.

"Maybe. He just needs time to cool off." Cheyenne said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah." Star wished Cheyenne would just open her eyes and see the truth. They were broken up and, from the sounds of it, Kevin was in no hurry to make amends.

"I should probably go before the bell rings." Kayla hoisted her bag higher on her shoulder. "See you later." She headed in the opposite direction and disappeared around the corner.

"I gotta go, too, see you at lunch?" Star said, veering off in another direction.

"Yeah, see ya."

Cheyenne headed for the C hallway where the history classrooms were and nearly ran into someone as she rounded the corner.

"Oh!" the girl said, then, "Chey-Chey! I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Hey, Tara," Cheyenne said.

"I heard what happend with Kevin over the break." Tara scrunched up her nose as she pulled on her long, sandy hair hanging down her shoulders. "Sometimes my brother can be such a jerk."

Cheyenne shrugged. She totally agreed, but she didn't feel like discussing Kevin right now or his lack of respect. Especially with his little sister. Tara was a good friend of Cheyenne's, but Tara had a hard time keeping anything from Kevin. Those two were practically best friends, which was way weird if you asked Cheyenne.

"Anyway," Tara said as Cheyenne started to edge away. "you should come by and we can watch Alice like we always do. Kevin will be at practice after school, anyway."

"I don't know." Cheyenne shifted her weight from foot to foot. The bell was going to ring any second. "I don't know if it'd be a good idea."

 Tara swatted the air. "Are you kidding? It's fine. Kevin is supposed to be home around six. You could come by right after school, watch the show, then bail." She stepped closer and lowered her voice. "Please?"

Cheyenne was starting to feel coaxed, but she wasn't sure how to get herself out of it. She and Tara could still be friends, right?

"Okay. But i don't want to see Kevin."

Tara nodded emphatically. "Totally, i'll make sure he isn't there."

The bell rang overhead. Cheyenne scowled at the annoying sound and the tardy that was sure to come.

"Oh, better go!" Tara hurried off, waggling her fingers over a shoulder. "I'll see you after school."

"Yeah, okay," Cheyenne muttered and ran to her history class.

The teacher, Mr. Banner, pushed his glasses back by the nose bridge and eyed Cheyenne with irritation. "You're tardy."

"Sorry. First day, you know?" She shrugged and flashed a nervous smile.

Mr. Banner tipped his head toward the classroom. "Sit down."

She breathed a sigh of relief. She hated to start the new semester off with a tardy on her record. two tardies earned you a detention, and Cheyenne hated detentions. She'd had her fair share last semester because Kevin always made her late. The good thing about that, though, was he usually served detentions with her and they'd pass notes to eachother.

Cheyenne scanned the room for an available seat and saw one near the back. She moved to take it but froze when she noticed the person sitting in the next desk over.

Michael.

Her heart went from a silent-and-steady beat to a loud hammering in only two seconds. Suddenly she felt light-headed and clammy all over.

She hesitated at the front of the room, searching for another empty seat even though she knew there wasn't one. Why did this room have so few desks? Her last-hour English class had five empty seats, giving people the option to choose.

"If you'll sit down," Mr. Banner said, "we'll get started."

Cheyenne muttered, "Sorry," again, and hurried down an aisle of desks to slide in the empty one. The chair squeaked. She crossed one leg over the other and tried to regain her bearings.

"The spots you're all in now," Mr. Banner said, his voice loud and commanding,"will be your seating arrangments until further notice."

Several girls near the windows smiled and turned to their friends sitting next to them. Cheyenne slid a glance to her left and looked at Michael. He smiled that sheepish grin of his and ran a hand through his hair.

♥♥♥

Beneath her desk, Kayla's knee bobbed up and down. She put her index finger to her lips and started to try and chew on the already nonexistent fingernail tip.

She felt like she was wasting time by sitting here in the middle of Creative Writing, listening to the old and deaf Mr. Simon drone on in his monotonous voice about their next writing assignment.

She thought the first day of a new class was supposed to be laid back while the teacher explained a few ground rules and passed out textbooks.

Of course, that sounded boring, too. Particularly when she had somewhere else to be. Or rather, someone she needed to talk to.

The rest of class dragged on. She hoped it wasn't going to continue like that for the rest of the semester. She actually liked writing, but Mr. Simon was ruining the experience. Probably he could make skydiving sound as interesting as watching paint dry.

When the bell rang, Kayla scooped up her things and hit the hallway at a fast pace, heading toward B hall where Cheyenne's locker was. She waited for her to show, but within minutes the hallways thinned out as the students headed to their next classes. There was no sign of Cheyenne.

Then she spotted Mamie rounding the corner up ahead. "Mamie!" she called, jogging to meet her. "Hey, have you seen Cheyenne?"

"Yup. I just talked to her in study hall. Hey, Kayla, i gotta go before the bell rings," Mamie said. "I've already got a tardy today." She started running off, but turned halfway. "Hey, tell Cheyenne i'm sorry, you know, about Kevin. It's a bummer."