ᴀᴅ ᴍᴇʟɪᴏʀᴀ ~ ᴅᴘꜱ (ꜱᴛᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴍᴇᴇᴋꜱ)

12 - old news

A sea of halfhearted pardons and call-outs leave my mouth as I trudge down the hallway. My arsenal of textbooks and workbooks and normal books (and every other type of book, at this point) has grown to be intolerable. Paired with my already puny height and arm strength, it's not a good combination.

"Hey- sorry!" I shout as I bump into yet another person. My arms ache under the weight of my various projects and required readings.

Midterms are really taking a toll on me, mentally and physically.

The crowded hallway finally thins out as students dodge into their final classes of the day. My teacher canceled lecture today to give us time to work on our upcoming essay, the only godsent and break I've gotten all week.

There's only one thing that has kept me motivated to make it to Saturday: The party.

On top of my work, I've been doing a bit of research into a particular girl, one named Chris Noel.

Out of the three main schools in Montpelier, Welton is the most secluded. Their campus is a ways from the city, the rules and curfews are very strict, and the students travel from the farthest to attend. Saint Constantine School for Girls comes in second, in my opinion. We have similar rules to Welton, but due to our downtown location, it's easier to sneak away and get involved in the social scene, if Amy is any indication. That leaves Ridgeway High, the biggest and only public school on the list, in first. Who could have guessed?

Because of this, there's much more social overlap between Constatine and Ridgeway students than there is with Welton and anyone else. It didn't take much asking around to find someone who knew Chris. She's a popular girl, it seems, and pretty well-liked. The same can't be said about her boyfriend, Chet Danburry. They're the classic popular-football-cheerleader-cliche. It's so sweet, it's almost sickening (or it would be if Chet was actually a good guy). Apparently, he comes from a long line of money and Welton students. Why he doesn't attend Welton now, I couldn't find out. The overwhelming consensus seems to be that Chris is a sweet, considerate angel, and Chet is the antonym of each of those traits.

Knox has a real struggle ahead of him.

I readjust the stack in my arms, leaning to the left to get a clear view of the hallway.

"Hey!" I call out to a girl a few feet in front of me as she approaches the door. "Can you hold that, please?"

She glances back at me as she walks through the door, circling around to hold it for me as I teeter through.

"Thank you," I sigh, finally getting a good look at her face. It's the girl who passed me the broccoli at dinner so many weeks back. I consider mentioning it, testing to see if she remembers me as well, but stop myself. There's no way she does, and I can't fault her for that.

The girl nods and continues walking, completely unphased by the slight nuisance I was in her day.

What are the odds of that?

Maybe this school is smaller than I think...

THUD!

A sharp collision pulls me out of my head. I fall backward, sending my books flying. Swerving out of the way, I narrowly avoid the airborne textbooks as they hit the ground. Some of the various papers I stuck in the stack get picked up by the wind, carrying them to the edge of the courtyard and onward. It's a catastrophe.

"You've gotta be kidding me- shit-" I mutter, snatching my things from around me.

"I'm so sorry-"