Chapter 2

The first three periods of the school day were pretty uneventful, lunch finally came. Bella was about to head into the cafeteria and greet her friends, when a thought struck her. She only gotten through half of her English homework last night, it was her next class so she couldn't just push it off. Her stomach grumbled "Dang it" she thought, "I have to skip lunch, and head to the library to finish". She turned around, and headed to do just that she held her gut "Once again".

No surprise Bella often had to bail on lunch, or stay up half way through the night to complete her work. It was horrible at times but she refused to let any her mother's alcohol fueled stupors get in the way of her life. As cliché as it sounds, her academics were very important to Bella, almost as almost more important than football. Was it difficult to juggle it all? Of course it was, but she hadn't survived this long by being weak, no matter her mother says.

She checked the time, she had about 35 minutes, more than enough time. The library for the most part was empty, except for a few wandering students and a couple of librarians. She waved at them both when they noticed her. Scanning the room for a good seat she decided upon an abandoned table near to back, shielded by shelves of books. Setting her bag on the table, she pulled out her binder and began to continue her work. The room was so quiet you could've heard a pencil drop from across the room. She enjoyed the peacefulness with a relieved bliss.

Her work described for her to SQUAS 10 Shakespeare plays. SQUAS was her teacher's acronym, for summarize, quote, analyze and symbolize. Meaning she had to comprehend the plays enough to explain them clearly. Freely quote a passage when asked and find/interpret symbols in them while applying them to other things in life. "I'm already on the sixth, Macbeth" she thought "Symbolism: The battle of light and dark is-" her gut growled again, she ignored it "-eternal, and while the conflict is needed disrupting it will-" her thoughts themselves were disrupted.

"Hey QB" she looked up in shock seeing Troy across from her at her table. "Oh hi" she said curiously, "What are you doing here, and how long have been sitting there?" she questioned. He smirked "Well Sophie and Pepper were worried about you not showing up to lunch-" he started nervously rubbing his arm. She was positive that he was also worried and no doubt Newt and Sawyer were as well, and thought it was incredibly sweet. "-So we all decided to look for you. And I was here for like 10 min" he finished "And you didn't say anything?" she asked, he shrugged.

"You just seemed busy, that's all" he answered, she realized she still had work to do and returned to it. Troy might have been fibbing a bit. He did show up 10 min ago, but she just seemed so concentrated and enveloped in her work he couldn't bring himself to stop her. Her focus was so mesmerizing and to be perfectly honest he found it pretty cute. It's almost like the look she gets when she plays football, the look of absolute determination is breathtaking. Bella had been continually sneaking peeks at Troy wondering what he was still doing here.

Troy didn't realize why he was still there as well or why he was grabbing her notebook right from under her and seeing what she still had to do "Hey! Give it back" she whispered. "You know I wouldn't have pegged you for someone who didn't do homework" he commented. She tried to snatch it back but failed and sighed. "Well I couldn't get it done last night" she said annoyingly, "And working through lunch doesn't seem very healthy" he stated nonchalantly still keeping the notebook away from as if it were a game. This time she stood and grabbed it out of his hands, more roughly than she had meant "Would you cut it out!" she said not to quietly.

She received a loud shush from those around them while he raised his hands up in defense. She sat down embarrassed and slightly ticked off. He frowned, she really was trying to work. They sat their in silence as she continued. She had thought he had left by now, but she was proven wrong when she saw him carefully slide her, what looked like a wrapped sandwich. She eyed it and looked at him "What's that"? He straightened "You should eat something". She smiled a bit "I miss lunch all the time, it's no big deal" she said continuing to write. "Come on, you look hungry" he said waving it in front of her look he was taunting a stray cat.

She was indeed starving so she snatched away, and proceeded to eat it. Yes she was hungry but she also knows he probably won't go away until she did. It tasted so good, she finished before she knew it "Dang girl, when you're hungry, you're really hungry" he exclaimed. "Thank You" she said wiping her mouth. "Is there anything else you need?" she asked noticing he still didn't leave. "Mind if I help you?" She didn't expect that from him and she knew better than to assume he was doing this out of selflessness. "You want to help me with school work?" she questioned, skepticism laced in her voice.

"Well you know how generous I am" he said arrogantly and knowingly lying. "Sure you are" she said, he sighed. "And I really don't get this symbolizing stuff" he stated truthfully, she nodded understandable. Their teacher thought relating the literature to symbols in our own life or metaphors could help us understand what we read more. It did make things simpler to learn, but when we had to do it on our own that became a problem for some, not Bella though. "Its not that hard, why don't I help you out" she offered.

He smiled, "Well if you really want to" he said. "Ok, but now how about I come over tonight and help, I'm already coming over to tutor DJ" She said gathering up her things. He stood a tad too eagerly "That would be great-" she smiled at him "I mean the Troy doesn't need that much help" he said his usual arrogant self. This time she glared, he gulped "Thanks" he whispered. She liked it whenever he would realize his place.

She looked at him for a long moment. But now she wondered, he was the most caring she'd ever witnessed from him. He left lunch to go look for her, gave her part of his lunch and even offered to help her out. It's strange how she never noticed how he's changed in these short months. When they met he was a self-absorbed, misogynistic, irritating showoff and now. Well now it doesn't bother her as much as it used to, and it even seems like he working on those attributes.

Troy was having similar thoughts when they locked eyes. He considered Bella to be so different and by that he meant strange. In his world, girls did one thing and boys did another, and he was the best. But here goes this girl, this seemingly girly girl comes in and completely destroys everything. She actually plays football and replaced him as well, at that point he was mostly just mad at the fact she wasn't what he expected before and after she joined. She just had to be so...so great. It would have been better if she despised him, which she did in the beginning, but not as much as he hoped. Caring, sweet and honest it made it so hard to dislike her.

Eyes still locked, she smiled moving some of her hair back, and he smirked. Then the moment was gone, "There you two are!" Bella turned her head seeing Sophie and Pepper approaching. "What's up with you ditching lunch again" Sophie said crossing her arms worryingly. "Hey give her a break, she was doing homework" Troy said defensively, surprising the three girls. It stayed pretty awkward at that moment until, "You guys are harder to find than a needle in a haystack" Sawyer said suddenly joining the party with Newt. "Hey Bella you alright, I say walk out of the cafeteria" Newt said. "Thanks Newt but I'm cool now we should probably leave before we are late" she stated, Newt was like a loving little brother at times. "With friends like these" she thought as they left.

Until Next Time!