Dating : Awakening

Chapter 2

On the way to school, Maddy had to stop by and pick up her best friend Dillon.

They had been friends for 10 years after they both were assigned to the chorus in the 3rd-grade play. Dillon was 5’6, and unlike Maddy, she loved wearing bright colors. She had long green hair and dark brown eyes. She was captain of the cheerleading squad and the debate team. Two totally different worlds. She would never let you forget how she managed to win both a regional cheer and debate competitions within the same 48 hours. Looking at her and then taking a glance at Maddy, you wouldn’t think that they’d be friends. They didn’t even know why they were friends, but it worked.

When Maddy arrived, Dillon was waiting for her on the sidewalk like she usually did. She always waited here for Maddy because she refused to ride with her mom.

Dillon’s mom was the type of mom that talked so much that you’d want to pull your ears off and never reattach them, and she was so overly sarcastic. You never knew when she was being serious.

Dillon HATED talking to her mom, but little did she realize, they were just alike. She wasn’t as bad though.

Dillon got into the car and immediately began complaining about her mom’s ridiculous antics. Maddy wasn’t really listening. She had taught herself to drown people out, but still pick up on the important parts of the story. “Can you believe her??” Dillon yelled as she turned to Maddy with a look of disgust on her face. Maddy began to laugh. Dillon started to apply her lip gloss in the mirror as she went on and on and on about how her mom was trying to ruin her life. She didn’t stop talking until they had pulled into the parking lot of the school.

When Maddy and Dillon arrived at school, Maddy was so excited because she could finally park in the senior parking lot. The senior’s parking lot was where all the cool kids hung out before and after school.

This day, the parking lot was filled with excited seniors who were ready to embark on their last first day in high school.

As she looked for a parking spot, Maddy drove passed her other friends Ashley, Todd, and Mitchell. Ash and Mitch were making out in Mitch’s car when Maddy pulled beside them, and Todd was in the backseat.

Maddy had become friends with the three of them during her freshman year of high school. She met Ash and Mitch at a football game after she had bumped into Ash and made her waste her chili dog all over Mitch’s jeans, and she had met Todd in their Honors Chemistry class. Maddy and Todd were lab partners, and Todd, though he didn’t look it; was very smart. The fact that they spent so much time together was the reason they became such good friends.

Maddy beeped the horn loud and scared Todd. Ash and Mitch continued making out. The tardy bell rang not too long after, so Maddy hurried to park so that she wouldn’t be late to her first class.

“I hope you all read the required reading over the summer because you have a 25-question quiz!” shouted Mrs. Strauss as she entered the classroom.

Maddy looked back at Dillon in shock because neither of them had read the book. Neither of them even knew they were sure supposed to be reading a book. Maddy liked to read, but not when she was forced to. She liked to read things that she felt were interesting. Dillon just laughed and raised her hand to ask, “And exactly what will happen if we didn’t read the book?” Mrs. Strauss turned around from writing on the board and sneered, “Well Ms. Lacey, I guess we will just have to see, won’t we?”

Dillon gave a sarcastic smile and sat back into her seat.

As Mrs. Strauss passed Maddy her test, Maddy clinched her pendant in her hand and began.

After taking her test, Maddy went to second period, and from there third. After third period, the school day seemed to speed by. It was eventually lunchtime, and Maddy was already tired of school.

When Maddy arrived in the lunchroom, Logan Finster was on the stage shouting into the mic for everyone to cast their votes for the senior class election positions. She had been on social media campaigning all summer and she wasn’t even running for president. She was running for vice president. The students had submitted their names to be on the ballad at the end of the previous school year. Maddy had put her name up for secretary because the secretary was important, but it wasn’t as complicated as being the president or anything else. She felt as though the other positions yielded too much pressure.

Just as Maddy made it to the table, she heard Dillon going on another verbal rampage. “OMG! I CAN NOT STAND THAT DAMN GIRL!” Dillon yelled. Dillon and Logan had been enemies ever since Logan got the lead in the school play in 3rd grade.

“Shut up Dill,” Maddy said as she laughed and sat down at the table with her friends.

Everyone at the table knew of Dillon’s hatred for Logan, so they just laughed.

“Hey guys, make sure you vote for me next period and don’t forget to tell all of your classmates as well!” Maddy said as she stuffed her mouth with cheese fries. Her friends nodded in agreement and assured Maddy that she was going to get the position.

The loud sound of high heels suddenly headed toward the table. It was Logan.

“Here you go, guys! There’s chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and regular sugar!” She said as she reached in between Maddy and Dillon. She was passing her election cookies out to everyone. They had her face on them and they read, “Don’t Be Shy, Give Logan a Try!”

“Dillon, you look pretty famished! Maybe you should try one of my cookies?” Logan said as she placed the cookie in front of Dillon. Dillon tried her best not to react, but she couldn’t help it. She took the cookie, crumbled it up, and threw it into Logan’s face. The whole table began to laugh as Logan furiously ran away.

“I’ve got to go,” Maddy said as she gathered her books and ran out of the lunchroom as well. She was rushing off to her 6th-period class so that she could remind her classmates to vote for her.

When she made it to class, Maddy passed out her last few flyers and headed to the back of the class because she hated sitting in the front. She chose the seat next to Lucas Grey, or Luke to those who he was close to, which wasn’t many people because he was so mysterious.

Luke was 6 foot 4, and his dark brown skin was as smooth as a newborn baby’s. His hair, jet black and shaved on the sides, was kept in a coiled fade. He had deep-set eyes that shined a light brown in the sun, a defined jawline, and a small scar under his lip that added to his mysterious appeal. Though he was mysterious, Luke was very popular. He had transferred to the school in the middle of sophomore year, so no one really knew anything about him. He was popular because he became captain of the baseball team within his first semester of being at the school, his GPA was one of the highest in the senior class, and he had the face of an A-list Hollywood actor.

Ever since he’d been at the school, Maddy had had a weird attraction to him, but she never knew why. Luke was attracted to her too, but neither could act on their feelings because Leslie Streisand had had her vicious grip on him ever since he had transferred.

Leslie, of course, was the most popular girl in the school. She was tall and was most recognizable by her giant brown fro of soft coils. Leslie did EVERYTHING! On top of being a supreme bitch, she was co-captain of cheer squad, captain of the girl’s lacrosse team, chess club president, and she was a shoo-in for class president.

How she found the time to maintain her popular social life and relationship, no one knew.

At one point in time, Maddy, Leslie and Dillon had been best friends, but unlike Dillon, Leslie started to change when she became a cheerleader. Maddy’s grandmother never liked Leslie for some reason anyway, so it wasn’t hard for Maddy to stop being her friend.

“Hey! Are you coming to my back to school party tonight?” Luke asked Maddy.

Maddy looking surprised and almost unable to speak muttered, “Uhm… yeah? I mean I didn’t know anything about it until just now, but yeah.”

Luke gave Maddy a smile and nodded his head in approval.

The bell rang, and Dr. Prior began class by passing out the voting ballads.

“You got my vote,” Luke said as he turned around to smile at Maddy once again. Maddy tried not to smile, but she couldn’t help it.

Maddy knew that she was going to win. She wasn’t as popular as Leslie, but people liked her because she was nice and very smart. Maddy was always smiling which also drew people to her. She smiled and clenched her pendant again like she’d done earlier that day before her test as she watched the class fill out their ballads.

Class was over soon after, and as Maddy was walking down the hall she heard Dillon yelling. “FOR THE LAST TIME, MY NAME IS DILLON!” she snarled.

Maddy turned the corner to find Dillon standing in the hallway arguing with one of her teachers. Her teacher had called her by her real name. “Luellen.”

She hated it.

Maddy walked up to Dillon. “Hello, my dear Luellen,” Maddy said as she tried to keep from laughing. Dillon gave Maddy fake laughter as Maddy laughed even harder.

Maddy began to tell Dillon about the party and asked if she wanted to go. “Of course,” Dillon said excitedly as the two walked to their last class, which ended as quickly as it had started. Maddy and Dillon then rushed to the parking lot so that they could meet up with their other friends. As they approached Maddy’s car, the two girls saw Ashley standing at Mitch’s car waiting for him to come out.

“Girl, are y’all never not together?!,” Maddy said jokingly.

Ash laughed and said, “Nope!” She wasn’t joking though. “Are you two going to Luke’s party?” she asked.

Maddy nodded her head and asked, “Are you?”

Ash nodded.

Maddy looked up and saw Mitch heading their way, so she got into her car where Dillon was already waiting. She quickly drove off because she didn’t want to see Mitch and Ash’s PDA session and because she needed to hurry home so that she could prepare for Luke’s party.