Chapter 6

The younger Wright has very lively expressions, and the girl's lips immediately press together in hurt. She tosses her long dark hair behind her back and smacks her fist against her knee.

- I cannot stand that Alicia Parks! Fat cow! First she was all over Carter, and when he did not bite, she snatched Nick for herself! What did he even find in her? Big deal, she is on the cheer squad! Her laugh is like a stupid chicken's, she has a fake ass, and no boobs at all! None!

- You just said she was fat, - I point out. Vic is very emotional, and this is not the first time I have heard her criticize my brother's girlfriends.

- So what? - she lifts her nose. - I would not be surprised if Alicia stuffs her pom-poms into her bra to get guys' attention! Otherwise what is there to look at? - Vic's face suddenly turns sad. - Lena, - she asks, - do you think she and Nick are already sleeping together?

I do not think. I know, though that is exactly what I do not care about at all.

- Listen, I think Oliver is a good guy. You two are dating, aren't you?

Vic looks surprised and sighs with disappointment, as if I have asked her about a vacation spent with elderly relatives, and waves it off:

- I dumped him! We kissed a couple of times, and it got boring. Such a drag! God, Lena, - she returns to the subject that interests her. - I swear, if Nicholas asks that idiot Alicia to the Winter Ball, I will die! What did he find in her? Have you seen her Twitter? It is all cats. Gross!

Victoria keeps talking and talking, but I lose the thread of the conversation. It is as if something is pulling me to turn around and look at Carter, sitting several rows behind us. Yes, I know he is not Alex, that he is a different person, but I cannot keep myself from looking. I have not been able to for almost a year.

I turn my head and glance carefully at him over my shoulder. He is sitting with his hands on the back of the seat in front of him, looking out the window. Tan skin, a clear forehead, a straight nose, and the stubborn, strong line of his mouth that drives the girls at school crazy over handsome Wright. His features are sharper than his brother's, but each of them is still familiar to me, painfully familiar, and my heart is ready to believe in the impossible again.

I have time to think this, but not to look away, and Carter notices. Suddenly he catches my gaze and turns. He presses his firm lips together in displeasure, looking straight at me.

As soon as the bus pulls into the parking lot and the driver opens the doors, I grab my backpack and hurry to jump out among the first students so I will not run into him again and hear something rude.

Near the school entrance, I notice Nicholas standing nearby with his friend Peter Sullivan, a big redheaded guy, and both of them are laughing. I hurry past, knowing Victoria will definitely stop to flirt with them.

The moment I enter English class, a tall, pretty girl with intelligent eyes and a thick, curly ponytail on top of her head calls to me from her seat: Pilar Mendez, my closest friend.

- Lena, finally! Come here already, I am waiting for you! You have no idea how badly I am dying to tell you the news!

Pilar waves to me and bounces impatiently in her chair, which means she definitely wants to surprise me. After many years of friendship, I know her well enough to guess that.

- Pilar, what happened? Did they really approve you?

- Hi! Yes! - the girl cries joyfully and, jumping up, hugs me. - Of course, it is only a bit part in a juice commercial for now, - she explains. - I will be dancing in the background in a mango costume, together with a banana and a pineapple, but they promised to pay me three whole hundred dollars, Lena, can you imagine! Tell me that is awesome!

Pilar has a dream: to become a movie actress or a dancer in some famous Broadway company. To move after college to California or New York (she has not decided yet) and absolutely become famous! And honestly, she has every chance. She has not missed a single casting call in town for a long time. So I am sincerely happy when I learn that luck has finally smiled on her.

- That is wonderful, Pilar! - I smile. - Congratulations!

- And did you hear the other news? We have a new history teacher now, Miss Edwards. They say she is an old maid and terribly picky! She will teach us not only history, but an extra law course too. Oh, I can feel it, I am going to fail her very first test! Why did I choose that Law class?

- Exactly, boring and useless! - Vic puts in as she passes by. - And I warned you girls! You should have chosen Painting like me. You would not have gone wrong!

- Easy for you to say, Wright, - Pilar snorts. She and Vic do not get along very well, but right now they have a truce, and both are smiling. - I cannot draw at all!

- Big deal! Surrealism is in fashion now, baby! And anyone who does not get it can take a hike!

Mendez usually never shuts up, but I am used to her chatter, and while the classroom fills with students and there is no teacher yet, my friend and I talk, and the sad thoughts recede.

Four modules pass like that, combined into two classes, English and chemistry, and during lunch break Kevin Lawrence sits down at our outdoor table: a nice fair-haired boy Pilar and I consider our friend.

After Alex was gone, Kevin was chosen as editor in chief of the school paper, and now he is constantly searching for interesting topics for articles.

- Hi, girls! I have a question for you, - Kevin starts right away, sitting down beside me on the bench and unpacking the lunchbox he brought in his hand. - What do you think about ideonomics and its aspects? Is that topic interesting to you?

A second before he appeared, Vic and I had been listening to Pilar's story about the cute guy who would be playing the banana in the commercial, the foam mango costume, and the phone number he was definitely going to ask her for, so we do not manage to switch to Kevin right away.

- About what? - Vic chews her sandwich and raises her eyebrows. - Can you say that in normal words, Lawrence? - She pokes a pinky at him. - You are always ruining people's appetite with your smart little terms!

- Well, how do you feel about life and self-development? Are ideas about that interesting to you?

- Lame and boring! - Vic frowns.

- I think yes, - I answer. - It is interesting.

- Get to the point! What else have you come up with? - Pilar asks.

Kevin nods, sets his lunch aside, and takes a pen and notebook from his backpack. Opening the notebook, he slips into the role of a sharp reporter determined to get a scoop at any cost.

- I want to write a motivational article and conduct a survey among high school students! Enough drifting idly through life! We are already at the age when it is time to think about important things!

- Like what? - I ask.

- Life philosophy, at least, and our own identities, - Kevin answers readily. - But first we need to answer a few questions.

- What questions? - Pilar loudly bites off a piece of apple, and it crunches brightly in her cheek.