"God. There they go again." The girl in front of me winced, turning her head to face the other senior girls of the swim team. Crystal, I think her name was.

"What do you expect from the captain of the cheerleading squad. She's always all over those popular guys." Elizabeth replied, turning to look in the direction of the other girl who had also been looking. "You'd hope Xavier and Becky would at least come clean about the fact that they're dating or that they're sleeping with each other at the least."

"And would keep the PDA to a minimum. Some of us are still eating." Another added.

I looked to see where they were staring. At the center table, I spotted a girl almost on some guy's lap running her finger across his cheek. She was laughing at him while he looked a little sheepish.

"So, who are those two?" I asked, a little curious.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you're new here. It's not normal to have a new senior enrolled." Elizabeth turned back to me. "Anyway, let me introduce you to the slut and player of the school – Xavier Winter and Rebecca Sol or Becky as everyone calls her."

I frowned. "Aren't you being a little harsh? I mean don't judge a book by its cover."

"Well, normally you would be right but those two are always all over each other and other people. There's no better term for those two." Elizabeth shrugged. "Honestly, they deserve each other."

"Yeah. If it's not Xavier then Becky's all over Crayden. Although I don't know what she thinks is going to happen there. I mean the guy's gay so why even bother."

"Wait what?"

"Yeah." The first girl groaned. "You see that big guy next to Xavier. That's Crayden."

I looked to where the girl was pointing and saw a huge, muscular guy sitting next to Xavier. Becky was reaching over the table to grab a piece of bacon from some guy's tray and Xavier put an arm over her butt, covering her short skirt.

"Oh, for f*ck sake. They're really doing that so early in the morning." The third girl muttered. "They get worse every year."

"What are you talking about?" Roset asked, sitting down next to me.

"Oh, just about the 'IT' couple of our school." Elizabeth said, using air quotes at 'IT'.

"They're official?"

"God no." The first girl replied. "You know how both like playing the field. I mean Becky is trying to get everyone's attention today. Even Crayden's. I still don't know what she expects there though."

Elizabeth and the other girl cracked up at what the first girl said. Roset however dropped her fork and glared at the trio.

"I see you guys are still b*tches. I think with all the gossiping you do, you'd know Xavier and Becky are childhood friends. Maybe what you think is going on isn't."

"F*ck off Roset." The third girl glared back. "You're the b*tch here. Been one since last year."

"You bet I am getting out of here. I don't need your toxic behavior this early in the morning." Roset replied, standing up. Picking up her tray, she turned to look at me. "You coming?"

"Yeah." I replied, standing up.

The trio had been really harsh. I'd get it if they were upset about the PDA but still to spread rumors and say things about people they didn't know well. That was sh*tty. I didn't need to be around people like them, even if they were on the swimming team.

Roset and I walked away from the group and went over to the other end of the table.

"Hey Kevin." Roset said. "Mind if we join?"

A guy with red-hair sitting at the end of the table looked up from a book and sighed. "Start another fight with Crystal, Elizabeth and Jessica."

So, one of them was Crystal. I just wondered which one was. Probably the first one like I had originally guessed.

Roset simply sat down across from Kevin before replying, "They were being b*tches again."

"You know you could try being nice for once. I know they're a little mean but please try and get along with the rest of the team." Kevin turned to me and smiled. "So, Frayah, how was your first day of practice?"

"Not bad." I replied, taking a seat next to Roset. "Coach had us do some extra laps."

"That's good. I hope you keep enjoying it. This season is going to be rough with the competitions and training."

"Sounds good to me." I wanted good competition to show everyone that I was back in the game and could swim professionally. This was my last chance.

"By the way, I'm Kevin, captain of the swim team." Kevin stretched a hand across the table. "The boy's side of course. Roset here is captain for the girl's side but you know that already."

"Yeah. Roset's been showing me around and everything."

"Good to hear." Kevin turned to Roset. "Anyway, Roset you ready for the speech?"

"I am but I am still hoping you do it alone. I can stand for moral support."

Kevin replied dryly, "No way. I already have to do the speech as part of the student council so you're helping out."

"You're on the student council?"

"He is, president and everything." Roset replied before Kevin could say a word. "He's Mister Goody Two Shoes."

"Roset really?"

The two continued to bicker and I decided to finish eating, a little too hungry from practice to listen to what they were saying. I thought back to earlier this morning when Kai and Nicolas had dropped a massive bomb shell on me.

We were standing outside the reception office after the nice secretary had given me my timetable and other important stuff for campus life.

"You're what!" I exclaimed, not knowing how to process what the two had just said.

"Yeah, I'm going to be teaching at this school and staying on campus..." Nico said with a wide grin on his face. "Teaching the junior English class to be exact."

Kai continued, "And I'm going to be training here to get my teaching degree."

"You guys seriously majored in education? No way. Kai you're a sports nut like me. And Nico you like should be working in an office or something..."

Nico flicked me on the forehead, my two brothers looking down at me. Damn their tallness. Why did I have to get mom's genes and be normal sized?

"Did someone forget who got them through their schoolwork and did tutoring on the side?" Nico said.

I rubbed my aching forehead and muttered back, "Okay so you were the smart one in the family. But I thought you only did it because you were getting paid and tutoring Madison because you liked her."

Kai choked back a laugh and Nico went slightly red, blushing at my words. It took him a few seconds to recover.

"Look, it wasn't like that. Madison was having a hard time with learning and the money was a bonus. I love helping people learn new things."

"Right..." Kai muttered. "Just like how you love falling into her lap half the time during high school."

Nico glared at Kai. "It was one time. I tripped okay."

Kai was about to respond but I didn't want to hear it. This was getting too off topic.

"Okay fine, Nico I kind of understand. But you Kai, what's your reason for becoming a teacher?" I questioned, curious to find out my brother's reasons.

"Well Fray, I decided to become a coach and make stars out of sports fanatics like myself and you." He paused momentarily, " I wouldn't dream of anything else."

"But coaches don't need teaching degrees?"

"It's complicated." Nico answered. "I don't even understand half the things that go through Kai's head."

"Okay.." I replied. The two did weird things sometimes but I was happy they were doing something they loved. "Seeing as you both look very happy, I'm happy for you both!"

"Freyah" I heard my name being said suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, what's up?" I turned to Roset, facing her.

Roset stared at me, her brown eyes giving me a look of concern. Pulling back her purple hair, she replied, "I called you multiple times. You seemed to have dazed off."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that."

"Okay..." Roset stood up, standing next to Kevin. "Well, we're leaving now for Assembly."

She paused for a second. "We can walk with you halfway but then we have to leave you to get to the stage on time. To prep or something. You coming or want to keep doing..."

She twirled her hand at me, not able to describe the daydreaming I had been doing. I got up, grabbing my tray and said, "Oh okay, thank you for waiting."

"I wasn't..." Roset muttered before quickly turning away.

Kevin and I followed her out the cafeteria, dropping our trays at the cleaning station on the way out.

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