“Not much has changed, I still feel the same, but I’m slowly making progress.”

---

I stood in front of my open locker and picked up my calculus book. Lynn was leaning against another locker waiting for me to get my things for class and talking about some party or get together or something at her house this weekend. I wasn’t really paying attention.

“Hello, Earth to Kellin. I’m gonna need you to respond to me.” I blinked a couple times after seeing her snapping fingers in front of my face.

“Oh, sorry,” I said sheepishly.

“It’s okay. You ready to go?” I nodded and closed my locker. Lynn and I had calculus together. She may have been a junior but she was on track to graduating early so she was taking all AP classes along with some duel credit. She and I had two classes together today.

“So, do you think you can come hang out? You’d love the girls.” She was referring to her group of girlfriends who we sat with at lunch.

“I don’t know. Being the only guy there would be kinda weird.”

“Weird how?” she questioned.

I thought about it. “Okay, maybe not weird but maybe uncomfortable?”

“What, are you scared of catching cooties?” she teased.

“No you dork. I just don’t wanna impose or something.”

“How is it imposing if I’m inviting you over?”

I thought about it. “Okay so that was dumb,” I said with a laugh.

“Yeah, maybe a little,” she chuckled. “But you should totally come over this Saturday. You can make friends and hang out with me, your favorite person in the entire world.” I laughed and shook my head. Lynn and I had only known each other for a little over twenty-four hours and she was talking like we’d been best friends since birth.

“Okay, okay, I’ll ask my mom.”

“Yay!” she squealed. I chuckled and shook my head as we entered our classroom.

Class dragged on but with Lynn there passing me notes and dumb pictures it was bearable. An hour later we were headed to lunch.

We stood in line and picked out our food while making small talk. Mostly Lynn talked about the homework assignment we’d just received.

“I mean seriously, forty-five problems? Can you believe that?”

“She said to just do the evens so technically it’s only twenty-two problems,” I said. She rolled her eyes at me playfully.

“Still a lot,” she mumbled.

“If you want we can work on them together,” I offered. Her eyes lit up.

“Seriously? Wait, are you any good at math?”

“I figured out that we only had to do twenty-two problems so yeah, I’d say I am.”

“Jerk,” she mumbled with a smile. We sat at our table that was filled with more people than yesterday. Lynn greeted them and explained to me that they had a different lunch period on A days. Today was a B day. That was still something that I would have to wrap my head around, different days with different classes. We didn’t do that in Michigan.

“So, Kellin might be hanging out with us this weekend,” Lynn said happily. I smiled shyly as the table looked at me.

“Hold on there pint-sized,” the red-headed chick at the table said, “we don’t even know this guy.”

“Oh shut up,” Lynn said. The red head laughed.

“Okay well obviously Lynn likes you enough to invite you into our circle so we might as well get acquainted.” I nodded along to what the red head said.

“Uh, well I’m Kellin. This is my second day here and Lynn has been attached to my hip.” I added the joke for good measure. The table laughed so I guessed that was the right thing to say.

“Hey Gunn, I like this one,” the red head said while looking at me. I smiled at her. “I’m Savannah and this is Tori and Ashley.” She gestured to a girl with burgundy red hair and a brunette.

“Who are we, chopped liver?” I looked behind me to see two guys and a girl approaching seats at the table.

“Well you weren’t here,” Savannah said.

“But we always are,” one of the guys with light pink hair said.

“Whatever,” Savannah said. “Before these guys get their panties in a bunch, that’s Tyler, Trent, and my smol little baby Kortney.”

“Do you have to keep introducing me like that?” Kortney said in amused disapproval.

“Yes,” Savannah said sternly. Lynn and Jenna looked at each other and laughed.

“Anyway,” the guy with pink hair started, “I’m the one they call Tyler. What do they call you?” I noticed a hint of a southern accent that made me feel immediately comfortable.

“I’m Kellin.”

“Nice to meet you, Kellin.”

“You too,” I said with a nod.

Our table fell into easy conversation after the introductions. Turns out Savannah was from Oregon too, but she lived up north near the coast. Still, it was nice to know someone who shared that boring Oregon life with me.

“Uh, what’s he doing?” We all looking in the direction Tyler was staring.

“He’s…looking at us,” Ashley said.

“No, I think he’s looking at Kellin.” I looked at Lynn before going back to the table we were staring at. Sure enough, Tony smiled and waved at me. If I wasn’t confused last night then I sure as hell was at that moment. Why was he looking at me? Why was he smiling? Why did he just wave? More importantly, where was Vic to stop him? Surely Vic wouldn’t approve of his friend being friendly to the guy he wanted to hurt. I gave him a hesitant wave back before turning around.

“You know, he approached me last night,” I said. The table turned their attention back to me.

“What do you mean he ‘approached’ you?” Tori asked.

“I was getting pizza last night and he came up to me to talk,” I said with a shrug.

“Talk about what?”

“Vic.” They all looked at me. “He said that Vic isn’t as bad as he seems and that I shouldn’t take what he says or does to heart. He said that if Vic were really a bad person then he wouldn’t be friends with him.”

“That’s bull,” Savannah said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean that that boy goes around like he’s the shit. He doesn’t care about anyone unless they’re in his group of friends. Everyone else is disposable.”

I sat and thought about what she had just said. In the last day I’d learned more about Vic than anything, and it was all bad. I wondered if I would ever hear any concrete facts that proved that Vic was as good as Tony said.

The table had gotten over Tony and was talking about their weekend plans. Funny that it was only Tuesday and they were getting the details together now. Apparently Lynn and Ashley liked structure so they always planned ahead. Savannah didn’t seem too into the plans so she talked to Tori, Trent, and Kortney. Tyler and Jenna took more interest in me. They asked me so many questions about my life that at first I thought was weird but it turns out that it was the southern hospitality in Tyler and just how Jenna was raised in Australia.

Soon lunch was over and we were all heading out separate ways. Lynn, Savannah, and I had AP environmental science together so I let them lead me to class.

“So what’s the plan for tonight?” Lynn asked.

“Detention,” I said. She and Savannah looked at me.

“You didn’t tell me you had detention. Why didn’t you tell me you had detention?”

“Because it’s kinda dumb. Who gives the new kid detention on their first day?”

“He’s right about that, pint-sized.” Lynn rolled her eyes at the name.

“Whatever. You should’ve told me.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I care about you.”

“Because she’s nosy and wants to know everything.” I giggled.

“Bitch,” Lynn mumbled.

“Play nice you two,” I said. We entered the classroom and sat together, me sitting between the girls. They filled me in on what I had missed in the last month and soon I was engaged in a conversation about the status of the polar ice caps.

The girls and I parted ways at the end of class. It was time for detention. I dragged my feet as I went down the large hall to the front office. Dr. Johnson instructed Vic and me to meet him in his office so he could assign our duties. From the looks of it Vic hadn’t shown up yet so I sat in the waiting room as the receptionist said and waited for Dr. Johnson to call me in.

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” I rolled my eyes at the smug tone and comment but didn’t acknowledge the person who had just spoke. “Oh come on, I missed you.”

I scoffed. “Fuck off.”

“Ooh feisty. I like that.” I rolled my eyes.

“What do you want?”

“I’m just here to get this detention done that you got me into.”

“Me?” I scoffed. “You’re the one who threatened me. You’re the one who took my notebook. I was merely defending myself.”

“And how did that work for you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re in the same boat as me. Somehow we’re both guilty so I suggest you get over it.”

“Get over it?” I almost screamed.

“Yes,” he said simply. My blood was boiling. I wasn’t a violent person but at that moment I wanted to punch Vic Fuentes in his smug little face. Thankfully Dr. Johnson walked out before I lost my temper and actually went through with it. The thought still stayed in my mind though.

“Sorry for keeping you two,” Dr. Johnson said. “Let’s get this done.” He gestured for us to follow him out of the office. We walked down a hallway until we reached the science hallway. He led us in a classroom and reached under a sink for a bucket.

“Uh, what’s this?” Vic asked as he was handed the bucket.

“Your punishment,” Dr. Johnson answered. “Since the regular detention doesn’t seem to work I thought this would instead. There are beakers and test tubes that need to be cleaned as well as burners. You two will clean them until they’re shiny. I’ll be back in an hour.”

“Wait, what?” Vic asked with wide eyes. “You’re making me do manual labor?”

“Yes. Hopefully it’ll keep you from screwing up again. Like I said, I’ll be back in an hour. If you get done with this room you can go next door and clean in there.” Without another word he left Vic and I alone in the room.

Vic huffed like a child who’d gotten his toy taken away. It would’ve been funny if I didn’t hate being around him. Instead I took the bucket off the ground and went over to a sink to fill it up.

“What are you doing?” Vic asked.

“What I’m supposed to,” I said simply. I put some soap in the bucket and reached for a beaker. I gently placed it in the bucket as well as some others and let them soak as I wet a sponge.

“You’re really gonna clean this room?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He chuckled. “Well, good luck with that.” I looked back at him to see him pick up his backpack and walk out the door. I would’ve stopped him but he wasn’t my priority.

I spent the hour cleaning the equipment and just thinking. I wasn’t fazed by Vic leaving. Honestly, I was surprised that he stayed as long as he did. If I were him I would’ve left as soon as Dr. Johnson did.

My mind went back to what Tony had told me last night. I had no reason to think about it other than the fact that I needed something to take my mind off of the menial task I was performing. So far Vic hadn’t proved that he was a nice guy, but then again he wasn’t a total jerk to me today either. I guess it helped that we didn’t have any classes together. Detention was the first time I had interacted with him all day.

That was another thing that puzzled me. You always saw the bully torture the poor kid in movie by his locker. He’d stuff him in there, knock his books out of his hands, dump food on him at lunch. Vic hadn’t done any of that stuff to me. Was it because I was too new? In the movies that never mattered. Maybe he realized that picking on me for sitting in a chair was stupid. Then again bullies never used reason or sense. Maybe I had to stop basing my life off of movies.

Vic casually strolled back in ten minutes till our punishment was supposed to be over. I rolled my eyes as I finished drying the last beaker.

“What?” he asked. I shook my head. He didn’t deserve my attention, yet I was giving him some of it. “Seriously, what’d I do?”

“Nothing,” I mumbled. I saw him shrug from the corner of my eye and sit in the seat he was in before he left.

“You hate me, don’t you?” he asked after a period of silence.

I sighed. “Why, afraid of my answer?”

“I just wanna know.” I shook my head and turned back to my task. Why did he care if I hated him? He wanted me to fear him, right? Guess he couldn’t handle not getting any attention.

“You know,” he started, “I’ve been meaning to tell you…” I turned to face him.

“Tell me what?”

“That-” He was cut off by Dr. Johnson walking into the room.

“Hello boys, how’d it go?”

“Great,” Vic mumbled.

“Wonderful,” Dr. Johnson said cheerily. “Same time tomorrow?” We knew we didn’t have a choice so we didn’t say anything. Dr. Johnson nodded and left the room. I turned to Vic.

“So I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said. I probably shouldn’t have said anything but he hadn’t moved since Dr. Johnson walked in. That didn’t change in that moment. He blinked a couple times before gathering his things.

“Wait,” I said, stopping him from walking out the door. He turned to look at me with a blank expression. “You had something you wanted to say to me?” He blinked a few more times.

“Oh,” he said like I’d surprised him. “Uh, nothing. It was nothing.” Without saying anything else he walked out of the room, leaving me standing there wondering what the hell was wrong with Vic Fuentes.

Notes