"Elle!" A voice called for me from downstairs. The voice matched that of my father's. His voice called out to me along with the sounds of pots and pans clinking around in the kitchen. My guess was that he was trying to cook breakfast. Yes I said trying. My dad wasn't that of the best cook, but ever since mom died, he really tried his best.

"I'm leaving dad, just give me a minute please." I call back to him. I run to my closet to look for another shirt to wear, since my current one looked a little too stained for my liking. The clock to my left read 8:45, and a small part of me knew that I would be late to school, that was, without a doubt true. I had woke up so late this morning, my hair looked like bed hair and my face looked like I had just died and decided to come back to life just only seconds ago. Quickly, I rummaged through my closet, only to find a shirt in the back.

"Elle, you're going to be late!" My father warned again. I groan to myself and slipped the shirt on, leaving my dirty one spayed across my bed. I give myself one last disappointing look in the mirror before I run downstairs. As I bolt downstairs, I make the effort of fixing my tie on my neck, nearly tripping on the last step. My car keys clinged in my hands as I sped past my dad and out the door.

"Bye Elle." he calls out to me before I shut the door.

My Ford Escort unlocked it's doors the minute I pressed the command button and I slipped into its grey leather seats. After putting my keys in the ignition and starting the car, my phone binged. My heart sped up a beat as I turned to look at the notification bar. I couldn't help but feel my heart drop just a little when I see Lee's name as the owner of the text. Not that I didn't love Lee. His company was always needed, no matter the circumstance.

Are you driving yourself today? I text back a quick "Yes" as I shift the gear and pull out of the driveway. Lee and I had kind of made a schedule for school pick up and drop offs. Usually, either he takes me, or I take him, but today, since I was running really late, I decided to take Cleo out for a spin. Yes I had decided to name my escort Cleo, and to be honest, it's really a long story. Even then, I'm driving to a school that's 10 blocks from here, might as well pass some time by elaborating. Cleo the name, comes from the fact that my dad bought this off from someone that had egyptian relatives, so when I actually went through the car, I found some interesting things in the trunk and back of the front seats. So I named this pretty darling Cleo, short for Cleopatra. I could remember telling Lee the story and how hard he laughed at my reasoning. I couldn't help it though, it's not everyday you find some egyptian artifacts in your car that your dad claimed was not "pre-owned". I take a sharp right into the school parking lot and shut off my car. My phone went off again and I got butterflies in my stomach. They left just as quick as they came when I saw that Rachel texted me.

You're coming to school right? I heave a sigh and slam my head into the wheel, a little to hard for my liking. My car cries out and I shoot up, my nerves raging. I almost scream at how loud my car honked. I exhale and lean back into my seat, sinking as far as I could in it. There weren't any people out, but I just felt like I needed to hide. I had been like this for what seemed like weeks, so jumpy and on edge, everytime my phone rings… I shake out my thoughts and step out with my bags, heading to class. "Yes." I reply back to Rachel.

School started about 2 months ago, hence it was late October, and senior year wasn't that much off from junior year. The only difference is that teacher's stop giving a fuck about you. The only thing they care about is you walking out the door and on the stage to graduate and get the hell out of here. And that's just what I plan on doing...I think. I walked into my first period that I shared with Rachel. Her hair was curled and the front of it was pulled back into a black little berret. She smiled at me as I walked in, watching me take a seat next to her. Mr. Reed was in the middle of a lesson, his body pinned to the whiteboard, scribbling something on the board. I placed my bags on the table and pulled out my journal, eager to just mold into whatever we were doing. I start writing whatever lines Mr. Reed had previously.

"Tardy pass, misses Evans?" I look up in confusion and bite my lip. Mr. Reed shook his head a little, waiting for my answer. I slowly shake my head. "Then, I suggest you go and get one then." Mr. Reed spoke in his nasally tone, looking up at me through his glasses. Those stupid glasses that give me enough anger to fuel a train. The way he looks and acts, just irks me, and I certainly don't know why. I groan and hop off the stool. My shoes echo on the floor as I make my way out the class and shut the door behind me. I had only been late about 4 other times, this year, and with each time, I had to go and get a tardy pass for Mr. Reed. I don't know why I even tried to sneak in class and thought I could get by with it. The tardy pass rule was something that started this year, you know, since us students could never get to class on time in the morning and after lunch. After a certain amounts of tardies, kids will have to go to Saturday detention. It's supposed to be some new disciplinary measure to keep everyone in check. The only flaw I can say that comes with the tardy pass rule, is the fact that you are missing class, just for the purpose of getting a slip of paper that your teacher is just going to trash. Not only that, but it left me alone with my thoughts, which I can say, was a very dangerous thing right now. I walk down the quiet empty hall, comforted by only my thoughts. I don't want to leave my subconscious in control, because I start to think of things that I don't want to. The mind starts to take over if you leave it unoccupied, and that's what happened as I walked this long hall to the office. Things start coming to mind that I wished not to talk about and memories flashed by me. I start to think about h-.

"What room number?" The head clerk pulls my attention back to the now. I hadn't even realized I had made it to the front office. It's things like this that terrify me. I don't even know my surrounding when I start to get lost in thought. When I start to think about him.

"Uh 304." I answer back smally. The lady typed on her computer, counting me late in attendance and printed out in a sheet of paper, my tardy pass. "Miss Evans, you have had five official tardies in one semester, which means saturday school for you missy." She looks at me through her glasses, like Mr. Reed does. I place my palms on the counter clearly in shock.

"What?"

"You have been late for five times, I suggest you watch what time you wake up."

"I can't have saturday detention, I was going to the fall fest with a couple of friends tomorrow." I plead out to her, my voice coming off as a whine. The lady still has no sympathy for me.

"Sorry, don't be late anymore." She said as she printed out another sheet, my detention slip. She placed it in front of me and I watched with an open mouth, her stamp a red detention mark on it. "See you tomorrow at 9am." She holds up the paper and my body takes it, my mind not having enough time to process all of this. How could I have been so clueless and ignorant? Ugh. I slowly turn around and walk out of the office, the hot air of the hallways welcoming me.. In my mind, I knew that it was my fault, but I blamed the new stupid school system. Not only was I late and missing parts of my lesson, that could potentially have a pop quiz over next week, but now I was going to detention. What a fun Friday for me. I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Lee. "Can't go to the fall fest tomorrow." I speed walk back to class, focusing on thinking only about Chemistry. I must have been really desperate, because I hated chemistry with all my stinking guts. In fact, I hated just about every class here at the High School, well except for soccer. But I was desperate, not only did I not want to delve into this detention case, but I didn't want to let my subconscious take control of my delicate thoughts. I walked back in class while Mr. Reed was in the middle of a lecture. He paused to look at me as I walked up to him. I forced a smile as I held out the flimsy piece of paper. Mr. Reed took the sheet and read over it, as if he was actually absorbing what it was saying. Then he crumbled it up and threw it in the trash. I winced to myself, attempting to not make my anger known, I will say this once again, tarcy passes are worthless and irrelevant. He inclines his head towards my desk and I take my seat next to Rachel. She looked down at the red stamp on my detention paper.

"You have detention tomorrow?" She asked shocked. I look up at her with her goggles on her head and shake my head.

"Yeah. Looks like I won't be going to the fall fest with you guys after all." She handed me a pair of goggles.

"Don't worry, there won't be anyone but a bunch of couples there anyway…" she trailed off as she read my body language. I don't know if she meant it as a comfort thing, but for some reason, when it came out, it didn't make me feel any better.

"Yeah…" was all I said and we went back to looking at reactions if the elements.

My day had taken quite the downfall after that. It always did for my second period. My counselor must have thought it was a funny joke, but it was just plain cruel. She decided that it would be wise to put me in art. Art. Art! When have I ever picked up a pencil to do anything but scribble down some notes or problems? When have I ever used a paintbrush to paint on my "canvas"? Not only was I terrible at art, but my teacher was just despicable. Her name was"Ms. Nelson", she told the class to call her. I remember my first day in her class, coming in and not recognizing anyone in the class, so I took a seat in the back. By myself. The older woman in maybe her late fifties, walked into class and gave us a big smile. She seemed nice, but something about her was just off to me. She gave the class an enormous lecture about how art was a form of expression that was losing it's form, or in her terms, "withering away at the sake of the intolerable." She went on about how she expects everyone in the room to progress and grow from their art form. At some point in the class, it began to be amusing just how dedicated to art she was. She passed out some paper and told us she was going to play a song, and while that song was playing, we would sketch whatever came to mind. When she passed out the papers and played to songs, she pulled on her goggle glasses and walked down the aisles. Giving pats on the back or even kissing some of the girl's cheek. Something about that just screamed sexual harassment, but I'm not going to cross that bridge. By the time the music stopped she forced every single one of us to walk up to the front of the class and share what we drew and why. See that's where I ran into a problem. As the song played, I heard nothing that made me want to draw. I just held my pencil on the paper and waited, patiently for something to come to mind. Student after student came up to share what they drew. Since the song had tropical theme, Matthieu decided to draw a rainforest, no not Matthew, but Matthieu. Matt is a foreign exchange student from France, that came here for an entire semester of school. As much as I'd like to talk to him, and ask about his culture compared to here, I never get the time. Anyway, going back to his piece, it was a tropical rainforest with rain droplets clouding the paper. It was as if the paper was the camera lens drenched in the rain. I had to admit, it did look really good. Ms. Nelson even loved it.

"Yes!" She cried out. "Now, that is art." She turned to the class. "This is what I mean, I want to see growth, I want you to walk out of that class everyday, feeling something amazing and new." She expressed. Then it was my turn. I had to go behind him. I had to follow behind the kid who basically outdid everyone in the whole class. I hold my hand up.

"Uh, can I just go next time?" I ask. Ms. Nelson shook her head.

"No!" she exclaimed. "I won't extend time for you but not your fellow students!" Something in her tone not only scared me, but made me really nervous to say anything or do anything in the class furthermore. I swallow and slowly nod. Well here goes the embarrassment. I walk up to the front and show the class...my blank...sheet of paper. Ms. Nelson frowned and I looked over to her. I swallow and start to speak, honestly.

"I didn't get any inspiration from this piece." I explain to her and turn to the class. "Honestly, me being in this class is a mistake because I don't really like art." There was a small gasp in the room, and my stomach sank. Those words changed how Ms. Nelson felt about me from then and until now. Even Miles, the guy who never says anything in any class I have him in, joined in with the gasp.

"Well, if you don't like this class…" Ms. Nelson started walking to the door. "Then get out!" she exclaimed. I jumped at the sudden use of tone and almost bit my tongue.

"There will be a 0 in this class until you transfer out." Quickly, I grabbed my stuff and scurried out of the class. She didn't hesitate to slam the door behind me. "And don't come back." She added as the door comes into contact with my butt and I yelp. My books fly to the floor and I rush to pick them up. Gosh, leave it to me to say the wrong things, I know I didn't like art, but now I have a vendetta on my back. I sigh and fix myself up and my dignity. There was a black figure crouching by the lockers across from the room. I glance up at him and we make eye contact, a grin spreading on this young boy's face.

"Wow." he started. "You really must've fucked up." I roll my eyes. The boy looked my age, he had the typical looks, blond, blue eyes, straight pearly white teeth. But he had a punk rock look to him, a tight black shirt, black jeans, black booties and a pair of black ear piercings.

"What makes you say so." I say raising my eyebrow. As he spoke I looked for a tongue piercing like Conor's, but I couldn't find one.

"Because you got your ass spanked by the door Sherlock." He shakes his head and starts walking the opposite way of the front office.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" He looked back and pointed on of the drumsticks he had in his hand to the classroom I had just come out of.

"Yeah. Art." He admits. "But now that I see you, I think that I'm gonna change my judgment." He jokes dryly and turns his back to me. So mysterious, to think of it, I have never even seen that dude before in my life. He had to be a new student.

I make my way down the halls to the counselors office feeling frantic. I needed to get out of that class, not only was Ms. Nelson a nutcase, but she was ruthless about getting her point across. God forbid anyone that ever crossed her path (me). However, I only said I didn't like art, what if someone criticized her painting, or called art a waste of credit and time. I shiver in my seat as I wait outside of Ms. Shirley's office. The front office was always cold and quiet. No one spoke and if they did it was always in a whisper. There were background sounds of copy machines making paper, and computer keys typing away. I hold my arms wishing I brought a jacket, but why would I, it was still summer outside. Ms. Shirley's door creaked open.

"Ms. Evans?" She calls in her, doll like voice. Ms. Shirley had been the school counselor for as long as I could remember, that being freshman year. She was incharge of getting our schedules in track and making sure that we all graduate in one piece. She looked up at me as I walked in. Cracking a smile and setting aside a stack of papers.

"Good morning Ms. Evans, what can I do for you?" I smile.

"Well as you know, school has just started and it's my first day, but there is a problem with my schedule." She gave me a look that urged me to continue. "I was placed in Art V with Ms. Nelson, and I have never even taken art." Ms. Shirley reached out for my schedule and took a look at it.

"Oh yeah." She placed it down. "I had to do that Ms. Evans, or you wouldn't have been able to graduate this year." I open my mouth and she smiles. "You need at least one fine arts credit to graduate. And you hadn't gotten one."

"What about introduction to expressive arts?" The dumbest class you would ever have to take as a freshman, you basically just sat in a circle with your desks, and talked about your feelings.

"That doesn't count." She concluded. "If art is not for you, you can look to other forms of the fine arts credit, like dance and theatre art-" I raise my hands up in surrender.

"N-No, no, no can do." She nods her head and sighs.

"Well then I'm sorry, but you have to stay in Ms. Nelson's class." my stomach sinks.

"Why Art V, can I take Art I?" I question, looking for any solution but walking back into Ms Nelson's classroom.

"It won't make any difference, Ms. Nelson is the only Art teacher on campus." She expresses calmly. I widen my eyes in shock and grip the edges of my seat.

"Please, she's just so…" I start, my voice cracking.

"Passionate." Ms. Shirley finishes for me. "Yes we know." She smiles and hands me back my schedule. "Don't worry, she's always tough at first, but you'll learn to love her." Ms. Shirley walks around the desk to help me out.

"Ms. Shirley the school really does have a problem then." She looks up at me concerned.

"What is it?"

"You only have 1 art teacher for all grade levels." I cry out, flinging my arms around. "I mean, you induce accusations about the high levels of tardiness, but yet you still have one teacher to maintain that one subject, t's simply cruel." She laughs quietly and gently guides me to the door.

"You are one funny child." She says and send me back to class. But I didn't go there, I could never. Instead I hid out in the bathroom, contemplating skipping every class period I had with Ms. Nelson. The only fault is that I wouldn't be on track to graduate after a certain number of absences. God, what was I going to do when I walked back into her class, what would she say?

Flash-forward to the now. Art went by smoothly today. And by smoothly I mean Ms. Nelson gives a lecture and yells about how much Art is needed in this world, how this class has prepared so many of her past students and how much you have to put in to see the growth. I sat in the back and did nothing. Ms. Nelson doesn't even acknowledge me, in fact she gives me a 0 for everything that I turn in, even if I actually tried. There's not even a point to me showing up to class, because my grades sure aren't proving anything. Today the boy who I'd met on the first day decided to join us. He comes to class at least once a week, all the other times, I'm guessing he simply skips. When he does come, he sits next to me in the corner, kicking his legs up and sleeps the whole class. I always have to be the one to shake his boots to wake him up when the bell rings.

"Oh thanks, Sherlock." He groans and rushes out of class.

"Sherlock?" I whisper to myself. He could at least do for a better nickname.

After having class with Connor, I had officially declared myself as exhausted. He literally talked my head off. The weeks following the first day of school, we've seemed to develop some sort of friendship. By some sort, I mean, he talks my head off the whole class, he gives me the answers whenever I need them and I agree to whatever he says. We walked to lunch together, and the whole time he talked about this concert that he was excited for. I zoned out for a bit until he called for me.

"Elle?"

"Mm." I say and slowly turn my gaze to him. He smiles and messes with his backpack straps.

"I asked you a question." I kindly smile to him.

"Oh I'm sorry Connor, what is it?" He looked down at his dirty white Chuck Taylors.

"I was saying that I had 2 tickets and I asked everyone else if they wanted to go and they said were busy." He started, and when I didn't say anything he just continued on. "I was wondering if you would like to...you know...come with me?" He finally got the courage to look up at me. I gulped and started to fiddle with my fingers. A date? I think my face went pale white, because Connor started to freak out. I didn't really know what to say at this point. Me, go out with Connor, again? "You know, it doesn't have to be a date, I know you still talk to Flynn and all." Wince. I love how he said it in present tense. Not "Talked" but talk. "We can just go as friends." He tried to defend. I look up to him and give him a wry smile.

"Uh…" There was a sudden shift on my right, the side Connor wasn't on. Lee was at my side in a heartbeat and I couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Hey Elle!" He smiled and looked at Connor. "Hey Connor." he said to the brown haired boy with the tongue piercing next to me. Connor just smiled and waved. Lee nudged me.

"So I got your message." He started as we made our way down the hall. "Why can't you go?" I rolled my eyes and pulled out the detention slip for him to read. He handed it back to me in seconds.

"It's my fifth tardy." I say slipping it in my bag. Lee looked at me incredulously.

"You know, if you keep this up, you might be in danger of not graduating." I smile.

"Yeah. Which is something I can't let happen." Lee smiles as we approach the green themed cafeteria. I hadn't realized that Connor was still walking to my left and I felt a little bad for him, so I let him go through the line first. He smiled and reached for a tray, giving me one too in the process.

"Thanks."

"So, it's October…" Lee starts as I shift to the salad bar. Immediately as he spoke the rest of his sentence came to mind.

"Halloween party." I finish for him and we make eye contact.

"Yes!" He said with a smile, his dimples showing a little bit. "And it's going to be the best Halloween party known to man."

"Oh yeah!" I agree and the skinny lunch lady smiled at our little interaction. "Just a romaine salad and cheese." I said to her. "Oh and don't forget the ranch." I watched as she fixed up my salad for me. "So what are we thinking, are we going to go for a theme or just stick with the classic costume party?" The lunch lady places my salad on top of the metal bar. I grab it and nod in thanks.

"How about the classic costume party, but we can also make a haunted house section too." Lee elaborated.

"Okay I can see that. It will be like two parties at once like a mini carnival."

"Exactly." He assented as he side stepped to the entrees. "See I knew that I could believe in my trusted assistant to assist me." I roll my eyes and smile.

"Can I please have the spaghetti?" I ask another lunchlady. She nods and hands me a pretty large plate of spaghetti. Lee turns to me making a pleading face. "I have to it's not only senior yes, but we have to live it up." He walked to the cashier as I follow him.

"Plus all the bad blood is gone between us and we're both happy now." he finishes for me. Happy now since he's gone. He forgot to add. My mood starts to grow sour. I grab a water and pay the cash lady before we walk to tables.

We find Rachel off to the corner, getting questioned by a bunch of girls I never knew. They have told me their names at some point, but I always forget them. I just call them Blondie and Red. But of course not out loud. Lee took a seat next to Rachel and she greeted him with a kiss. She smiled when they broke away and looked between us two.

"Okay, Lee looks too giddy and you Elle look like you are about to pass out of exhaustion." Lee set his bag down and opened his bottle of water.

"Elle and I are going to plan the Halloween party of the century." Rachel raises her eyebrow and teases Lee's shirt.

"Sounds fun, I'll be there."

"I look forward to it." Lee flirts back and I watch as they go into their own little world. They start to whisper to each other and Lee leaned in to kiss her. I Look away and start to mess with my spaghetti. I zoned out again, lost in my fairly good spaghetti and looking around the cafeteria. I found Conner off with some jocks and I felt bad again. I feel like I use him, and he doesn't even see it. He looks my way and waves kindly at me. I wave back. For a second, I even think about going to the concert with him just to give myself something to do, but it seemed like Lee was going to keep me busy for the next 4 days. They pull apart as Lee starts back up conversation.

"So did Elle tell you?" Lee nodded.

"Yup, she's spending a beautiful Saturday here in this jail cell." Rachel informed with a laugh.

"Hey it's not like I planned this you know." I defend. "I would love to go and hang out at the fall fest with you guys." Lee changes the subject.

"So next Saturday, we're going shopping right?" I nod my head.

"Yup. I have nothing else better to do anyway." I counter and bring the fork to my mouth. Suddenly, the table vibrated and I gazed down at my phone from the corner of my eye.

"Ah ha!" Lee called out and I jumped out of my seat.

"What!" I gasped breathless, my eyes full of alarm.

"You did it again!" I shook my head and looked away. Rachel looked at Lee confused, but I knew what he was talking about. For awhile now, he's noticed me be a bit too clingy to my phone. Simply saying, he claims that I check my phone way too much, but I don't think I do. So one night, I dared him to call me out anytime I did it. I had only set myself up for this.

"She says she doesn't check her phone that much." He said pointing a thumb at me. I turn back to them.

"I don't." I claim. Lee laughs to himself and I launch a grape at him. He tilts his head to catch it in his mouth and we three laugh in unison. I had forgot that Blondie and Red were there until Rachel turned to start a conversation with them. I didn't care to meddle so I looked down at my phone to see that message I was receiving. It was from my school app. I had received an F on one of my art pieces.

"Ugh!" I cry out. Lee looks at me.

"What?" I show him my grade on the phone. He folds his lips in. "Oh." I groan and set my phone down.

"And I worked really hard on that expressive piece." I whined. I folded my arms on the table and dropped my head onto them. Lee starts rubbing on my hair.

"It's okay."He comforts. "Just go talk to her." I look up to him and crease my eyebrows.

"Talk to her?" I ask. "Oh yeah. Like she's actually going to give a care about my graduation plans." I sigh and push my food away. I needed to go somewhere to take a breather.

"I'm...gonna go to the bathroom." I tell him. He smiles and looks between me and my phone about 3 times.

"You sure you aren't going to call Noah?" He challenged.

"What no?." I claim, as if that was an insult that he asked. I hadn't talked to him in about 3 months, and I wasn't planning on being the first. We made awkward eye contact along with an awkward silence. I broke it off after seconds passed, and I walked over to the bathroom. After reading over the graffiti in the stalls and unlock it and head to the sink. I get 2 pumps of soap and wash my hands just as another stall opens. Jaime then came up next to me to wash her hands.

"Hey, Elle." She smiled.

"Hey." I say as I shake my hands to dry. It was awkward between us, considering the only thing I talked to them about was him. But now, there isn't a him to talk about. "So...how have you been?" I shrug and reach for the towel dispenser.

"Okay I guess." I reply. "How about you?" I turn the conversation back to her.

"I'm doing great." She fake smiles to me and I smile back.

"Well that's good." Jaime fixes her hair in the mirror and turns to me.

"Yeah." I mess with my lips before I blurt out.

"Lee and I are having a Halloween party, next Saturday." I start. "You should spread the word and come." She nodded her head, looking impressed.

"Totally, I'll be there." Then she laughed and walked out of the bathroom. Since I had gotten back to school, I had this strange sense that people actually cared about me. I don't know how to explain it. It's just that I feel like not only do they care about me, but they want to know me one way or another. Sometime I feel like I'm walking on needles everytime I walk in the halls. I try to ignore the fact that people look at me and I try to act like I don't hear the whispers, but I do. And they all say the same thing.

I heard Flynn dumped her.

I heard that he just stopped talking to her.

I thought she cheated on him.

No he cheated on her, his new girlfriend is SO hot.

He left her behind with all his other ones.

The last one really got me. I hadn't wanted to think of it like that. But I had to say it was true. He told me that I was different. He told me he had changed. He told me he loved me. That had to make me at least a bit more different than all his other girls right? Right? I hadn't noticed the tear pooling at my eye until I looked in the mirror. I swiped it away and tried to fix my red face. On my way out of the restroom, I questioned my sanity. I had told myself that I knew this was going to happen. I had even thought that I prepared myself for this. I prepared myself for him to grow up and leave me behind. It was apart of my deal that I came up with when he left me. I had promised myself that I was okay. And I was.

But I couldn't stop that sinking feeling in my heart, that reminded me that I would eventually have to face him one day.

That's what I wasn't prepared for.

What would I say?

And more importantly, what would he say?