Chapter 3

          “C’mon! Wake up! We've only got 45 minutes to get ready!” Gwen abruptly opened the door of Lizzy’s room. “C’mon, get up!” Gwen shook her to wake her up more.

          Lizzy opened her eyes in a rather slow manner, trying to figure out why she was getting woken up at seven in the morning.

          Then she remembered.

          Today was her first day at Birchwood Secondary School. In England, not to mention. At the thought of that, Lizzy shot out of bed and immediately opened her closet doors. She had picked out the perfect outfit for the first day of school. She quickly pulled out her olive-colored short-sleeved wrap, her dark straight leg jeans, and her favorite brown velvet ballet flats. She decided to straighten her very curly hair, and wear it up in a twist. She applied her make-up, spritzed on her perfume, and was ready to go downstairs.

          Lizzy made her way downstairs to the island table, and got out grapefruit juice and chunky raisin granola bar for breakfast. In the past week, Lizzy had memorized where every dish was and where the food was kept, mostly. The overly polite factor between her and the Cadwell family still existed, but had gone down some since she arrived, including Rosie’s shyness.

          “Well you sure dress quickly.” Gwen commented as she walked past Lizzy on her way to the stairs. Sylvia was right behind her.

          “Good morning, darling,” she said as she swiftly poured herself some water.

          “Good morning, Sylvia.” Lizzy said as she was taking a bite from her granola bar.

          “I’m lucky you’re so easy to wake up, or else I’d have two cases of sleepy teenagers. Braden is impossible to wake on school mornings. It’s almost as if he doesn’t want to go school.” Sylvia said as she fastened one long, gold earring on her left ear.

          Lizzy laughed, but then quickly realized that Sylvia wasn’t being sarcastic. And with that, Lizzy marched upstairs to go brush her teeth.

          When she got to the top of the stairs, Braden was moving at the pace of a sloth to the bathroom in the middle of the hallway. When he saw Lizzy, his eyes lit up a little.

          “Hi Lizzy,” he croaked. This was the saddest state Lizzy had ever seen an unbelievably cute guy in before.

          “Hello Braden,” Lizzy said. Even though she had been saying his name every day for a whole week, it still sent tingles up and down her spine when she said, “Braden”.

          And with that, he shuffled slowly into the bathroom; right after Lizzy snatched her toothbrush.

          Lizzy practically skipped to the half-bathroom downstairs. And with every step she took, she was even more anxious to get to school. Only about twenty-five more minutes and she’d be in Birchwood Secondary.

          Ten minutes later, Gwen, Braden, and Lizzy were all standing by the front door waiting to leave. Jerry was on a wild search for his keys, and Lizzy couldn’t help laughing--- this is what her dad did every morning, too.

          “Ughhh, c’mon dad, just go in mom’s car. School’s only, like, two minutes away.” Gwen said, obviously agitated.

          “Gwen, my dear, you already know that your mum’s car and I don’t get along. Every time I use it, something happens: the battery dies. The seat rips. One of the windshield wipers breaks off. You know the situation.”

          Gwen sighed, like it was his problem.

          After about five more minutes of searching, Jerry finally came to the door.

          “I just can’t seem to find them,” he said, very confused. “I guess we’ll have to walk.”
             Another heavy sigh came from Gwen. “Good thing Hanna walks to school.” She then picked her brown purse, opened the door, and started walking on her own.

          “Bye then,” Braden said sarcastically to Gwen after she was outside. Lizzy laughed.

          The three of them started walking to school, which was, in fact, only two minutes away in car time, but about fifteen minutes away on foot.

          “Good exercise,” Jerry puffed. “Keeps your mind awake for school.” He winked at Lizzy.

          About twelve minutes later, all three of them approached the school. Jerry ran ahead as they got closer to the steps in front of the school.

          “Can’t be late on my first day!” He paused as he opened the door. “See you after class!” Jerry said as he walked into the school building.

          “Sorry about that,” Braden said, turning to Lizzy as they climbed up the steps. “Sometimes he forgets we aren’t his students and doesn’t say goodbye like a normal parent would.”

“Oh, it’s okay. What grade does he teach?” Lizzy asked.

“He teaches fourth year students. They like him a lot, too. With them, he has so much energy, it’s hard to tell if he’s my dad or not.” Braden said, smiling. “He always tells me stories about them and stuff and he always seems so excited about them.”

 “Yeah,” Lizzy said. “It must be cool having him work here though. My dad’s just a banker, so I never hear any interesting stories.”

“Wow, a banker.” Braden sounded impressed. “Does he like his job?”

“I think. He’s pretty smart with numbers and things, so I’m pretty sure he enjoys it.”

“I like math, too. That’s pretty much the only subject I like.” Braden said.

“I’m more into biology,” Lizzy said.

“That’d be my second favorite. The only one that I can’t stand is world studies. It makes me want to pull my hair out, you know? I never really get the concept.” Braden smiled as they approached the door.

“From what Bridget wrote me, it seems like she loves world studies.” Lizzy said. 

“That’s why I’ll miss her this year. She always studied with me.” Braden then opened the door for Lizzy.

“Thank you,” Lizzy went in the school building.

“You’re welcome.” He said.

          “Now we just go into the administrator’s office.” Braden said. They took a long right turn, and then a sharp left after that.

           As they entered the office, the secretary greeted them. “Hello students. Your swipe cards are in your file drawer by the water dispenser. And I trust you have your schedules with you?” She asked.

          “Yes,” Braden said. Lizzy simply nodded.

          “Wonderful.” The secretary said.

      Braden and Lizzy both walked to the file drawer. They both reached for the handle, but to Lizzy’s surprise, he said,

          “After you.”

Lizzy looked in the file drawer labeled “A-M” under H.

          “Hunkele, Foster, Hunson, Joseph, and…Hunt, Elizabeth.” She murmured to herself. She pulled out the file and her swipe card slipped out. Thankfully, she caught before it reached the ground. Also, there were health and information sheets about the students in there, but Lizzy knew that wasn’t needed, so she put the file back in the cabinet. Braden swiftly took out his file, under “C” and quickly put it back in after taking his newly issued swipe card. Lizzy decided to take the first step towards the door of the office into the hallway.

          Many students, still by their lockers, swarmed the halls. Lizzy and Braden were in plain sight as they walked down the hall from the office, in relative distance to each other.

          “I’ll see you at lunch then?” Braden said, smiling warmly at Lizzy as he walked to his locker.

          “See you then,” Lizzy said.

As she walked to her locker, she saw many people eyeing her. She was just another new student, what was the big deal? It’s not like she was a celebrity or anything.

Lizzy opened her schedule, which had her locker number and combination on it, as she approached her locker.

          “13-09-32,” Lizzy whispered to herself as she was trying to open her locker. There was a girl next to her that had honey blonde hair and very tanned skin. When Lizzy was just about to say hello, the girl spoke.

          “I have one question for you,” the girl said as she put her blue and pink-splotched bag in her locker. “How in the world did you manage to get a walk to school with Braden Cadwell?” She looked at Lizzy in surprise.

          “Oh, I’m staying with his family in an exchange student program,” Lizzy said simply, trying not sound like she was bragging---even though she wouldn’t know exactly what she was bragging about. “The girl I exchanged with is Bridget, his sister.”

          “Oh, so you’re the girl,” she said. “You are so lucky.”

          “Why is that?” Lizzy asked, curious.

          The girl looked at Lizzy with a ‘you-must-be-kidding’ expression on her face. “First of all, he is basically the star of the football team, but that isn’t why he’s so popular.” The girl paused for a moment while she zipped up her backpack. “He gets extremely good grades, he’s really funny, and,” she paused for dramatic effect. “He is sooo nice and,” she paused again, “Tremendously hot.” The look on her face was typical of a girl in love. “You’ll be the talk of the school once everyone finds out who you are.” With that, she picked up her notebook and pencils, and left to go to her first class.

          Lizzy considered what the girl had just said. She would be the talk of the school? She had never been popular at Concord, in fact, her school was just normal. Everything about her town was normal. Pretty much all of the houses were the same, the people all went to company picnics, and played in the local parks. And most of all, everyone knew everybody. If she ever said a name to her mother about a person in her grade, she’d know exactly whom she was talking about. It was almost annoying, having your parents know every single solitary individual in the town.

          Lizzy slowly stepped to her first class, which was Spanish 2. She was one of the four people left in the hallway, so she figured she’d better speed up. She finally came to a stop when she saw room 18. It was a lot larger than her other classrooms in Concord, but it was still very nice, and very clean, too.

          Lizzy tried to enter the room unnoticed, but several of the students, already sitting in their desks, didn’t recognize her unfamiliar face. Plus, her swipe card made a small beep when she ran it through the machine. As a result, much staring was going on. She tried to glide into the classroom, and find her seat, which she suspected was somewhere in the middle. Now, every eye was on her, except for the teacher’s, who was facing the white board, writing something in Spanish at lightning speed. Finally, Lizzy found her desk and set her small pile of books on her desk. A boy was sitting in front of her.

          “Are you the new American girl?” He whispered. He had brilliant red hair that was very fluffy looking and stood up in every direction. Lizzy could already tell he was short, from the way he was sitting.  

“Yes,” Lizzy looked up at the board to make sure the teacher was still writing. It was extremely quiet, and Lizzy had to check if anyone was listening. “I’m Lizzy Hunt.”

          The boy smiled. “Evan Hayden. I’m guessing you’re the exchange student?” He asked.

          “Yes, but how did you know?” Lizzy asked in surprise.

          “You have an accent.” He replied, grinning. But before Lizzy had the chance to laugh, the teacher turned around, and faced the class.

           “Hola, me llamo Senora Nelios.” She greeted, obviously in Spanish. “What I want to know is, how many of you know what I said.” She looked at the class in amusement.

          A boy wearing a navy shirt shot his hand straight up into the air.

          “You said, ‘Hi, my name is Mrs. Nelios.’ Right?”

          “Correct.” She raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed. She snaked through the rows of desks, while scanning all of the students’ faces. Finally, she stopped at the desk closest to the doors. “Now, we’re going to play a little game to get warmed up. You will get into groups of four, and all four students in your group will think of Spanish words that you know. And after five minutes, I will tell another group to get with yours, and for every word your group has that the other group doesn’t, you will get a point. But if any of the words are the same, cross it out. Whichever group has the most will get a bonus point.” She paused. “Now count off by fives.”
          The student in the first desk started counting off. Lizzy ended up being a three.

          “All of the ones by the door, all of the twos by the white board, all of the threes by the window, and all of the fours by my desk.” All of the students hopped out of their desks and scattered to their groups. Lizzy wandered to the window, in hopes that she would have some decent people in her group. When she looked over there, she saw a very tall girl with a jean skirt on, a pretty girl with wavy blonde hair, and a boy who was medium sized and had square glasses.

          “Hi, I’m Kristine.” The girl with the wavy blonde hair said, with an overly phony smile. She reminded Lizzy of one of those flirtatious beach girls who were always in music videos. 

            “Maddie Humphrey,” the tall girl with the jean skirt said, as she looked at Lizzy.

          “Malcolm Perry,” The boy said as he pulled up his sliding glasses.

          “Hi, I’m Lizzy,” Lizzy looked at all of them when they were finished saying their names.

          “Well,” Malcolm said in a nasal voice, “I know I few words, but they’re not very good.” He stood there.

          “Well, say them!” Kristine said, obviously annoyed.

          “Well, I know muchacho is ‘boy’ and muchaca is ‘girl’. Oh! I know another one: gato is ‘cat’.” He stood there proudly. Lizzy had just noticed that Maddie was vigorously scribbling down the Spanish terms.

          “Anything else?” Cara said, in a hurry.

          “OH!” Malcolm jumped up from his slouching position. “Hombre is ‘man’!” It was clearly important to Malcolm that his team would win. As time went on, Malcolm was communicating the words to Cara as she was recording them. Kristine rolled her eyes and obviously thought this was nonsense. Finally, Lizzy decided to speak up in all of the excitement between the two.

          “Doesn’t camino mean ‘road’?” She asked, trying to contribute a little to this miniature competition.

          “Yes!” Malcolm said, very happy at the fact that someone else besides him was participating. “Jot that down!” He commanded to Maddy. She scribbled it on her piece of paper.

          After what seemed like forever, Mrs. Nelios called ‘time’ and everyone sat down in a desk nearest to their group.

          “Okay, I was hearing some good palabras espanolas ---Spanish words---out there, so…” She looked at the four groups. “Group one with group four, and group two with group three.” She clapped indicating that the groups get together and start exchanging words.

          Group two immediately walked over to Lizzy’s group, so she didn’t have to move. Three of the people that were with group two were guys and the other was a girl, who instantly went to Kristine’s side. She whispered something in her ear. Suddenly, Kristine’s eyes widened and she got a brighter look on her face. She whispered something back to the girl. They looked like they were agreeing on something, and Lizzy didn’t know what it was. She decided to pay more attention to what was going on with Malcolm and Cara when they were exchanging words.

          “Do you have gracias?” A boy with spiked, white-blonde hair asked.

          “Yes,” Malcolm said in dismay, clearly disappointed. “Do you have hombre?” He asked inquisitively.

          “No.” The white-blonde answered.

          “YES!” Malcolm nearly shouted. “Point for us!” He said excitedly, as he punched a fist in the air, almost hitting Cara. Group two said three more words, and Lizzy’s side had them also. At last, Mrs. Nelios called the groups to stop and add together their points.

          In the end, the other side had seven points. Lizzy’s group had nine. All of the students returned to their desks, as Mrs. Nelios stepped to the front of the classroom.

          “Group one, how many points do you have?” She asked.

          “Eight.” One of the group’s members announced.

          “Group two?”

          “Five.” They answered.

          “Group three?”
          “Nine!” Malcolm said, in an overly ecstatic voice.

          “And group four?”

          The white-blonde haired guy sighed. “Seven.”

          “Alright!” Malcolm put his hand up the air to high five Cara. They both snickered in excitement.

          “Looks like group three will receive the bonus points! Congratulations!” Mrs. Nelios sat down at her desk. “We only have about ten minutes left of class, so you may talk quietly.” She said, getting out her grade book to add in the points.

          All of the students started to chat, and Lizzy realized that she had no one to talk to. She looked around to see if anyone was like her: all alone, with no one to converse with. Everyone she could see was holding conversations.

          Finally, the bell rang for students to be released from first period. Lizzy quietly made her way through door out of the room.

          Lizzy paced silently through the many packs of girls and guys, and found her locker, where she could look at her schedule without getting in the way of anyone else. She opened her planner, and then took it out.

          She read that next that she went to English. She looked at her locker, wondering if she should open it up to see if her hair managed to stay in place. Before she had the chance to unlock it, a hand touched her shoulder.

          “Lizzy?” She heard a voice say. She whipped around. Standing there, as bright as the glimmering sun outside, was Braden.

          “Hi,” Lizzy said. She realized that her voice came out rather breathy, and made her sound totally entranced in Braden’s masculine beauty.

          “All right?” He said simply. Lizzy was shocked that he was just plain talking with her, not trying to inform her of something. Guys never did that.

          “Um, I’m just heading to English. Spanish was fine though. I mean, you know, nothing really happened, but that’s all right. It’s the first day, so…yeah…” Lizzy said, as she leaned up against her locker.

          “Cool,” Braden raised an eyebrow, amused at her long, confused response. “I’m glad that everything went well. Do you want to walk to English with me?” He smiled at Lizzy.

          Lizzy offered a wide grin. “Sure!” She answered. And with that, they were off. Lizzy couldn’t believe he had actually asked her to walk with him---and that she had actually agreed without fainting. And on top of that, almost every female eye was watching jealously from the sides of the hall as they both glided straight through it.

          After about twenty-five heavenly seconds, Braden and Lizzy finally entered the English classroom. And just as Sylvia was hoping, they both got George---or, Mr. Libby---as a teacher.

          About ten students were in the classroom as Braden and Lizzy strolled in. Mr. Libby smiled in their direction when he saw them. Then he walked over to the door, where they stood.

          “Braden, so nice to see you! Your mother was hoping I’d have you,” Mr. Libby said, in a thicker British accent than most English people Lizzy had heard.  Since it was before class started, other students held light conversation. “And, you must be Lizzy,” he said as he looked her way. “How do you like it at Birchwood so far?”

          Lizzy looked at him. “Oh, it’s great. Very, uh, clean.” Lizzy tried to sound 100 % satisfied.

          “Fantastic!” Mr. Libby said as he was starting back towards his desk. “I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day, Lizzy.”

          “Thank you.” She squeaked.

Thankfully, the bell rang a few moments later, so Lizzy could go straight to her desk, without having an awkward “See ya later” conversation with Braden. Instead, he gave her a warm smile and they both went to their seats.

Just as Lizzy was sitting down, Mr. Libby began to speak.    

“Hello, class, my name is Mr. Libby,” he said with a charming smile. “I see some of you are not seated yet.” He looked at several students who were standing at the end of the room. They immediately sat down in the nearest desk, and Mr. Libby spoke again. “Instead, I’d like all of you to get up out of your desk, and spread out around the room in a circle.” Mr. Libby waved his arms around to emphasize what he was saying.

All of the students jumped out of their seats and made a circle around the room. As soon as the movement died down, the students looked at Mr. Libby expectantly.

“I assume all of you have heard of the game ‘duck, duck, goose’, correct?” Mr. Libby asked.

          A mix of replies came out, with a few nods.

          “So, what I am going to do is call out one person’s name " randomly " from my class list, and you are to go around in the circle playing the game ‘duck, duck, goose’. Then you will pick any person you would like, and they will have to tag you before you get in their spot.” Mr. Libby paused. “But this is where it changes. If the person who is tagging tags the person who is being chased, they will pick out the seat of their choice, and sit down. But if the person who is tagging does not tag the person, they sit back in the circle. In a nutshell, this is just a way for finding seats.”

          The class nodded, while a couple of people remarked, “Cool! Awesome!”

          “All right, then let’s begin,” Mr. Libby opened what looked like his planner, and pulled out the class list.

          “Let’s start with…” Mr. Libby scanned the room as the students listened intently in anticipation. “Belle Reiderson!”

          Lizzy looked around the room to see who Belle was. Finally, she spotted a girl with wavy brown hair. Belles sauntered around the circle one time, and finally chose a guy who was short, and had sandy blonde hair.

           Belle ran around quickly, trying not to let the tiny, but speedy, little guy catch her. But before she reached where she was sitting, he tagged her.

          She laughed, sitting back in the circle. The sandy blonde haired guy sat down in a desk right in the middle of the room.

          Before Mr. Libby chose another name, he added another direction into his seating arrangement game. “Oh, and when you sit down, please say your name, so the class knows who you are.”

          “Anthony Fronners,” he said to the class. A couple of people replied back by saying hello, even though some already knew him.

          “Alright, who’s next…” Mr. Libby looked up and down his list. “Kevin Enkerman!”

          Kevin got out of his sitting position. He was rather chubby, and had light brown eyes, Lizzy observed. He tottered past three people and chose a guy who was very tall, and had bright blue eyes.

          Naturally, the tall guy tagged Kevin within a couple of paces, and Kevin didn’t look the least bit surprised. Kevin sat back in the circle, and the rather tall guy sat in the first row, second seat.

          “Gary Chapman,” he said in a deep voice, looking around at the class.

          As the game went on, a lot more of the people being chased didn’t get tagged. Lizzy was waiting nervously for Mr. Libby to call her name, or for someone to choose her. She knew it would have to come eventually.

             “Okay,” Mr. Libby looked at the remaining people in the circle. Lizzy counted that there was about four people left. One of the people left was a very pretty girl with straight black hair that was styled in a bob, and very clear skin. By the looks of her, Lizzy knew she was Asian. The guy sitting next to her was stocky and very muscular. He had very plain features though, and Lizzy was almost positive that he was a major jock. Then, sitting next to Lizzy, was Braden.

          “I think I’ll choose…” Mr. Libby paused, like always, to make things more dramatic. “Braden Cadwell!” Lizzy exhaled very quietly, silently praying that he would not pick her, so she wouldn’t have to try to chase him. But on the other hand, she was hoping he would pick her, so she could chase him. 

          Lizzy watched attentively to where Braden was going and to see whom he was going to pick.

          “There is so much variety, it’s so hard to choose,” Braden said sarcastically while the whole classroom laughed. Suddenly, Lizzy felt a slight tap on her shoulder, and without even thinking for a second, she got up rapidly and bolted after Braden. As he was making his way to her seat, he turned back and winked at her. In that moment, Lizzy nearly melted and almost came to a stop. But she kept going. Trying to impress Braden with being a fast runner, Lizzy sped up and got about two inches away from him and tagged his arm.

“OH! You got me!” Braden smiled in a cute, boyish manner as he sat down in the circle. The class laughed again. Lizzy felt a gigantic rush of happiness; she was associating with undeniably the most popular guy at Birchwood.

Though there was not much variety, Lizzy chose her seat in the front of the class, in the third column down.

          “Lizzy Hunt,” she said to the class. All of them said hello.

          It turned out that the stocky guy (who was named Justin Hughes) was called next and he ‘goosed’ an Asian girl. Surprisingly, she got him and she sat down right next to Lizzy.

          “Anna Chen,” she said quietly, Lizzy saw that she was very petite. A mix of “hi’s” and “hello’s” came from the class.

          Braden was called again, and he tagged Justin. Justin sat at the very edge of the classroom, and Braden sat two seats back from Lizzy.

         

          “Great,” Mr. Libby chuckled. “That was fun, eh? You may all talk quietly in these last five minutes of class.”

          Instantaneously, all of the students started chatting with the person next to them. Lizzy sighed. This was the situation she had last class. She decided to make something of it, and start talking to someone. She turned to her right. She looked at Anna, the girl who was sitting next to her and, since she already knew her name, decided to compliment her on something.

          “I like your hair. It’s very shiny.” Lizzy said to her.

          Anna looked and Lizzy and beamed. “Oh,” She looked very surprised. “Thank you, I try to keep it like this. Sometimes it can be right difficult to get it go the way I want it to.” Anna ran her fingers through her smooth bob. “Sometimes it goes in every direction.” She laughed.

          “Well, it still looks very nice,” Lizzy commented.

          “Thank you,” she said. Anna then looked at Lizzy. “Are you the exchange student, then?”

          “Oh, yes, I am,” Lizzy replied, surprised that she knew. “How did you know?”

          “You have an accent,” Anna remarked.

          “Ha, that’s what someone said in my Spanish class, too.” Lizzy said.

          “Wow,” Anna said. “So you’re from America, then?”

          “New Hampshire, actually.” Lizzy added. “And you’re from England, obviously.”
          Anna nodded. “I’ve spent most of my life here. I was born in China, and when I turned two, my family and I moved to Florida. Then, we moved here, to Oxford, when I was five, and I started primary school here.”

          Lizzy’s eyebrows shot up. “So you’ve actually been to the states?”

          “Only for a little while…I just remember Florida being very hot and sunny!” Anna replied.

          “It’d be really nice to visit some time, I’ve actually never been there.” Lizzy said.

          Then there was a small silence as Lizzy tried to think of something else to say.

          “Well, it was sure nice to meet you, Anna,” Lizzy said. Just then, the bell rang.

          “It was nice meeting you too.” Anna said, smiling docilely.  

          “Yes,” Lizzy rose from her desk. “Bye, Anna!”

          “Bye!” Anna grinned at Lizzy as she went out the door of the classroom. Lizzy then gathered her things, and went out the door through the flurry of students.

The next two classes, humanities and science, went by extremely slow for Lizzy. If she knew some people in those two classes, they might be easier to get through. But unfortunately, they weren’t.

After fourth period, which was science, Lizzy made a beeline to get to her locker. Finally, she thought, I may be able to see Anna or Braden at lunch. I’d be very lucky to even have someone ask me to sit with them. Lizzy decided to get her lunch anyway, and head towards the cafeteria.

Moments after that, Lizzy saw Braden leaning up against the wall, having a conversation with two other rather good-looking guys. One had blonde hair and green eyes, and a rather trim build, and the other had very dark eyes and hair, and, from the looks of him, was Spanish. But Lizzy didn’t have to guess; she could hear his accent rolling out when she neared Braden.

“And so, I wanted tell him to back off, and find a different field...but I really ended up saying, ‘Man, you just really don’t know how to play a good game of futbal.” The dark haired one said to Braden and the blonde and green-eyed boy.

“Do enjoy making scenes, Alejandro?” The blonde-haired boy said.

But before whom Lizzy guessed to be Alejandro got the chance to respond, Braden noticed Lizzy. He straightened himself up, and smiled at her.

“Hey, nice to see you again,” Braden said, stepping closer to Lizzy. “How’s it going so far?”

Lizzy blushed. “Pretty good. Things are really nice here.” She said.

 “Ace.” Braden said. “Well, uh, these are my two best mates…Alejandro Vasquez, and Tim Robbins. This is Lizzy.” Braden introduced to them casually.

Alejandro smiled dashingly. “Nice to meet you, Lizzy,” He said, his accent rolling off his lips. A flirtatious subtlety gleamed through his smile.

Lizzy laughed. “Nice to meet you, too,” She said.

“Hey,” said Tim, politely, but not too boisterously, like his friend Alejandro.

Lizzy smiled at him courteously.

“So, you going to lunch?” Braden asked,

She nodded. “I was actually just…” Lizzy stopped talking when she felt someone tap on her back. Lizzy whipped around to face the girl in her Spanish class, Kristine, and the girl who was talking to Kristine when the groups were exchanging words. They smiled with gritted teeth towards Lizzy.

“She was just on her way to meet us, and we already made plans to sit together, right Lizzy?” Kristine asked.

Lizzy was very confused. She and Kristine had barely even talked. And she didn’t even know this other girl’s name. Since she had no one else to sit with, and could barely even think of how nervous she’d be if she sat with Braden, she went along with their little act.

“Yeah, um, right…” Lizzy tried her best to sound convincing. “See you around, then, Braden,” Lizzy said after an uncomfortable pause. She was about to turn when Braden started to speak.

“Hey, uh, do you have art after lunch?” Braden asked, sounding like it was very important that he know.

“Yeah, do you?” Lizzy said.

“Um, yeah, I was just wondering if we had another class together, you know, so maybe we could sit together.” Braden suddenly didn’t sound like his normal, carefree self. Lizzy thought it must have been because he was around his friends that made him not want to sound so comfortable around her.

“Sure, that’d be great.” Lizzy said. “See you then.”

“Meet me after lunch by the art room so we can sit together, so we won’t have to worry, you know, about other people taking seats. Okay?” Braden shifted awkwardly.

“Sure, that’d be great. Bye Braden!” Lizzy had to turn quickly after he said bye, so no one saw her blush. But unfortunately for her, Kristine was right behind her and must have seen her flushed face. But from Kristine’s expression, she didn’t look distracted. 

“How about we eat outside today.” Kristine said in a demanding voice. She looked at Lizzy straight in the eye. Then she turned a sharp corner, and they walked several yards to a door that went outside onto a big grassy area, where several other students were eating.

Kristine filed through many other groups of people, until she finally sat on a patch of grass that was nearest to the sidewalk, under a very large tree.

All three of them plopped down on the grass. Then Kristine began to talk.

“So, how do you like it here so far?” She asked, peeling the foil top off of her fat free yogurt.

“It’s great.” Lizzy said. She expected Kristine or her friend to say something after that, but they didn’t. So Lizzy continued to talk.

“I, uh, really like how we can eat outside in front of the school. In New Hampshire, we always had to eat in a plain cafeteria.” Lizzy said, hoping they would start talking soon.

          “Nice.” Kristine said flatly.

There was an awkward pause. After a few moments, the other girl finally spoke, as she leaned in close to Lizzy. Kristine did the same.

The girl raised her thin eyebrows. “So. We have to know,” she said. “What is living with Braden Cadwell like?”  She widened her eyes in extreme interest.

Lizzy was a little taken aback at this bold question, especially since she didn’t know this girl or Kristine at all. But, she had to admit, she saw this coming. She knew some Braden-obsessed girl would have to ask what life was like with him at one point.

 So, Lizzy pretended to ponder the question so it didn’t seem like she was boasting.

“Well, it is pretty normal. I mean, the week that I spent with the family before school started was pretty eventful; we went to a really cool restaurant called “Fuchsia Rendezvous”, and um…oh! Jerry’s niece had a wedding reception and I got to go to that. And the rest of the time, we shopped for school, and went to the really awesome mall called…” Lizzy paused; she couldn’t think of the name of it.

“Covenson Hills.” Kristine and the girl next to her said simultaneously.

“Yeah, that’s it. And Sylvia and I went to an art museum, and Gwen and I went shoe shopping. And, um, that’s about it.” Lizzy looked at the girls, hoping they were satisfied by her lengthy answer.

But unfortunately, Kristine looked at Lizzy like she hadn’t said anything at all.

“Yeah, but what did you do with Braden?”  She sounded very impatient.

Lizzy furrowed her brow. “Uh…nothing, really, I mean, we watched a couple movies and stuff, but…” Kristine cut off Lizzy.

“Wait. You watched films with Braden? Alone?” Kristine stared at Lizzy, half shocked, half jealous.

Lizzy tried to make a modest face. But it just came out as confused. “Yes.” Lizzy answered, arching one eyebrow.

“You mean no one else was there?” The girl sitting next to Kristine finally spoke up.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t catch your name.” Lizzy was trying desperately to change the subject. The last thing she needed on her first day here was these girls telling everyone else her meaningless experiences with Braden.

“Nadine.” She said her name quickly. “But what about you and Braden?” Nadine insisted.

Lizzy started to pick up her things. “Listen, uh, I need to go. I forgot my… schedule in my locker and I need to know which class I have next.” Lizzy got up from her sitting position and turned to them once more. “Bye,” Lizzy said, as she scampered off to find somewhere else to sit.

Both of the girls sat there with semi-offended expressions on their faces, but Lizzy didn’t care. She couldn’t take their questions anymore. If they started telling everyone about Braden and her, she would be mortified. He would think she was bragging about it. And that would be beyond embarrassing.

Finally, Lizzy found Anna over by the door leading back into the building. She was in hopes that she wouldn’t ask her about Braden, too.

Lizzy stepped up towards the door and greeted Anna kindly, hoping that she could sit beside her.

          “Uh, hi, Anna,” Lizzy said as she approached the entrance.

          “Oh, hey, Lizzy,” Anna said She didn’t seem to mind Lizzy marching on over. “I saw you over there by the sidewalk. I was going to say hi, but you were talking to….” Anna made an unpleasant expression.

          “Nadine and Kristine?” Lizzy asked.

          “Yes,” Anna looked downward. “They aren’t exactly the kindest lot,” she said, looking slightly towards Lizzy.

          “Well, they are a bit pushy, and they seem sort of fake. They kept asking me questions about…” Lizzy paused. “Anyway, I just came over here to sit by you, if you don’t mind.”  

Anna immediately scooted over and made room for Lizzy. “Oh, of course. I usually eat inside, but it’s just such a nice day, you know?” Anna said, looking up at the sky for a moment.

          “It is a nice day,” Lizzy agreed. “Thanks for letting me sit with you.”

          “You’re welcome.” Anna said. “You know, I saw you in Spanish class, but at the time, I didn’t know you. So, I didn’t say anything.” Anna said, as she was taking a bite into a slice of cucumber.

          “Oh really? That’s great! Now I know we have at least two classes together,” Lizzy said, taking a spoonful of her peaches.

          Anna reached in her bag and pulled out a blue and white polka-dotted binder. She opened it. “Do you have your schedule with you?”

          “Actually, yes,” Lizzy reached inside her plum colored tote. She pulled it out of a zipper pocket.

          Anna looked at her schedule and began reading it. “Let’s see here…Spanish first period, English second, science third, art fourth, humanities fifth, and physical education sixth.” Anna promptly faced Lizzy after she finished reading.

          “Oh!” Lizzy turned around her schedule so Anna could read it. She excitedly pointed to sixth period. “I have Physical education sixth period too!” They both grinned widely.

          After a slight pause, Anna spoke up again. “I forgot to tell you, we have usually have a break between second and third period that is about twenty five minutes long. But, we didn’t have it today because we aren’t doing anything but fun activities. But tomorrow, we have it, since we’ll actually be doing real schoolwork. And, we usually have it outside on the grass where we are right now…at least when the weather’s nice.” Anna folded her schedule back up and put it in her binder.

          “Yeah, that’ll be fun!” Lizzy was genuinely excited for this ‘break’. Back home in states, she only had one choice: study hall. Unless, of course, you took band or chorus as an extra electoral. But no one did, so everyone took study hall. Since so many people took part in it, the whole cafeteria was filled with students, and it was never fun because the teachers were always yelling. As a result, you never got any work done. And as a result of that, study hall was virtually useless.

          “Where do we go when the weather is rainy or something?" Lizzy asked. She was silently praying that her answer wasn’t “the cafeteria”.

          “Oh, when the weather is wet, or just plain out awful, we have it in the Secondary’s library. It is close to the year ten and year eleven classrooms, and it’s enormous. Wait until you see it. There are tables, chairs, couches, a couple of cushy chaises, and computers everywhere. It is really nice. I actually almost prefer it than to be out here doing work. Unless it is clear and sunny, like today. Then I love it out here.” Anna admired the cloudless sky.

          “Wow. Sounds like royalty for students compared to my school in New Hampshire. We had to have study hall in our freezing cafeteria. I kind of feel bad for Bridget, that she has to go through that, since she’s so used to being in this school.” Lizzy took a bite of salad.

          “You had to have study hall in the canteen? That is…odd.” Anna looked truly alarmed about the whole situation. “No offense.”

          Lizzy shrugged. “It’s actually more the environment and the huge amount of kids in there, rather than the teachers. But all in all, yes, it’s pretty bad.” Lizzy half-laughed and popped a grape into her mouth.

          “Is your school smaller than Birchwood?” Anna asked.

          Lizzy laughed quietly. “Let’s just put it this way: if Concord was a small shack, then Birchwood would be the Empire State Building.” Lizzy said, giggling at her little analogy.

          Anna’s eyebrows rose. “What is the Empire State Building?”

          “Oh, um, well, it’s this really tall skyscraper in New York…let’s just call Birchwood the Buckingham palace, then.”

          Anna laughed now that she realized what Lizzy meant. “That small?”

          “Pretty much.” Lizzy said. “In our senior high, there only about 400 people total. Compared to your school, that has what… close to seven hundred people in each grade?” Lizzy responded.

          “Eight hundred.” Anna said, giggling. “But isn’t New Hampshire one of those tiny states?” Anna asked, curious.

          “Yeah it’s pretty small,” Lizzy replied.

          Anna nodded. “So,” she said, after a small moment of quietness. “Did you hear about that new tea café on the corner of the main street?”

          Lizzy nodded brightly as she was swallowing a piece of food. “Sylvia, Bridget’s mom, told me about it. I think it’s called ‘The Tea Leaf’ or something like that,” Lizzy said.

          “Yeah, ‘The Tea Leaf’,” Anna insisted.  “Anyway, my cousin got a job there, and you should see how many different types of tea they serve! Blueberry, orange zest, banana vanilla, green mint, cranberry, etcetera. She invited me to come after school sometime this Thursday, but she has to stay after school to help set up a mural for the ‘Fine Arts Night’ on Friday. So my father said I could invite a friend instead. I can barely ever get out with friends, so I figured I’d invite you.” Anna smiled kindly at Lizzy.

          “Wow, thank you so much, that’d be tons of fun,” Lizzy said.

          “So basically, we’d just walk to the main street and go from there.” Anna said. “Hopefully it’s good!”

          “It probably is,” Lizzy said happily. “Do most British people drink tea every day? I’m just curious.” Lizzy asked.

Anna laughed. “No, not really. I think that a lot of foreign people think that most Brits still wander around in top hats and wear corsets. But it’s not that way at all. It’s pretty much just like America. The only reason we have a tea shop is because it’s the new ‘thing’, that’s all.” Anna replied.

Lizzy giggled. “Wow, seriously? No offense, but I thought everyone drank tea and scones here.” Lizzy said.

Anna laughed. “Not usually. We have scones and tea just about as often as you.”

“Well that’s nice to know. I guess it’s the stereotypical view of British people.” Lizzy commented.

 And just as she was finished saying that, Lizzy heard a loud voice coming from the doors of the school.

          “Students, please file neatly back inside, please, and go to your fifth period class!”

          And with that, all of the students, including Lizzy and Anna, walked back into the building. As Anna and Lizzy began to part ways to go to their lockers, Anna spoke up.

          “I’ll see you in P.E., then?” She said.

          “Yes, I’ll see you then. Have fun in humanities!” Lizzy said.

          “I will. And you have a good time in…art, was it?” She asked.

          “Yes, I just hope I won’t be too nervous about…” Lizzy cut herself off. “About meeting the teacher.” Lizzy finished.

          “Oh, don’t worry about her. She’s very nice. You’ll have a good time, trust me.” Anna remarked as she walked to her locker.

          So she wouldn’t be in the way of the flow of students coming in, Lizzy stepped towards the wall.

She knew she was most certainly not worried about meeting the teacher. What made her uneasy was meeting Braden only a few moments from now. No boy ever showed as much eagerness to be around her back in New Hampshire. Still, despite her state of being a ‘totally infatuated nervous wreck’ Lizzy pulled together the strength to close her locker and walk to art, where she would face her indescribably handsome fear. Lizzy pondered while she was walking. Was she more afraid of liking Braden? Or Braden liking her?

No matter which way she thought about it, it was impossible to tell.

Reviews

[compositionc]

Braden and Lizzy would be cute.

[Short.Nerd]

I really like Braden and Lizzy:) I don't like Kristine and Nadine at all. O.o They seem like such fakes like Anna? said. This is really good so far and I'm enjoying it:) Keep up the great work and read request me:D