“Hey.” Lance said in greeting, giving yet another person a high five. It was just like any other day following a vacation, loud greetings in the halls, rushed catch ups with friends, and tons of gossip to sift through. Really, the only way the first day of the year stood apart from the end of every other break from school was that there were new ninth graders wandering around, confused and lost.
“How was your summer?” Lance glanced to his right when Nicole fell into step beside him. As usual, her hair and makeup were perfect. She had gotten a haircut over the break, and Lance thought he smelled a new perfume coming from her. As was expected of the returning head cheerleader.
In response to her question, Lance shrugged. “Nothing special.” He said casually. He stopped in front of his assigned locker for the year. It was in a remote part of the school, and he scowled when he realized how far from his classes it was.
“You can’t just give me that and leave it.” Nicole complained as Lance opened his locker and placed his gym bag inside. “I haven’t seen you in almost a month!”
“That’s still more recently than almost everyone else in this place.” He mumbled, pulling a handful of notebooks from his backpack and sticking them on the top shelf of the locker.
Suddenly, Nicole’s arms were around his neck and she pulled him into a kiss. It caught Lance by surprise and he pulled back quickly. Nicole pouted at him. “But I’m your girlfriend!” She continued to complain. “I shouldn’t have to wait for school to start again if I want to see you.”
Lance sighed. “Fine. I’m sorry I didn’t make time to see you.” He returned to unloading his backpack. “If you want, you can come over to my place whenever you want.”
“Yay!” Nicole grabbed him again for another kiss. This time he didn’t pull away. Nicole was the type of person who liked to show her feelings for someone to the world, and that meant a lot of PDA.
Nicole only let him go when someone cleared their throat loudly behind them. Lance turned back to his backpack, slightly embarrassed. “Um, you’re blocking my locker.” A girl said to Nicole.
The girl didn’t sound very confident, and Nicole instantly turned on her. “Really?” She said in a sugary sweet voice, clapping her hands together. “That’s great! Switch lockers with me.” She threw an arm around the front of Lance’s shoulders, hitting him in the throat. “I want the locker next to my boyfriend’s.”
“Um… Uh…” The girl stammered. “I’m sorry. The locker assignment sheet says that it’s forbidden to trade lockers with anyone.”
Lance was surprised when he thought he recognized the girl’s voice. As Nicole huffed and walked away, he turned around to look at the girl. He thought his jaw had hit the floor when he recognized Holly stepping up to the locker beside his.
She looked at him and must have recognized him too, because a large grin spread across her face. “Hey, neighbour!” She laughed. Then she glanced in the direction Nicole had gone. “So that was your girlfriend, huh?” Lance thought he heard disappointment in her voice.
Then she quickly turned back to him. “So, what classes do you have this semester?”
It took Lance a moment to register what she was asking. “Um…” He dug around in his pocket for his schedule. “Let’s see… English, Gym, a spare, and Personal Fitness.”
“In that order?” Holly asked. Lance looked up and saw her staring at him, so he nodded. “Huh.” She turned her attention to pulling a stack of books from the bag slung over her shoulder. “I think Fletch’s got Gym that period too.”
“Yeah, right after Philosophy.”
Lance turned around and recognized the strange haired boy behind him as the boy Holly had introduced as her brother. “Hey.” He said in greeting, nodding at the boy and giving a slight smile. Then he saw what his shirt said and the smile faltered a little.
“Did you find your locker?” Holly asked happily, closing her own and slipping a little lock onto it.
“Um, yeah.” Fletcher said to her, although he was looking at Lance.
“Great!” Holly grabbed her brother’s arm and started pulling him down the hall. “Then help me find room 127.”
Lance watched them disappear into the crowd before he turned back to his locker. As he closed the door and placed his combination lock on the door, he thought about what Fletcher’s shirt had said. So… Does that mean he’s gay? He wondered.
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