Chapter 2

Maya's P.O.V

After I told Leah that I could go, she made it a tradition to talk about the trip every lunchtime, or realistically, any time she could. When she managed to convince me, it was about over a month until the trip. But before I knew it, time flashes right in front of me as I prepare to head to the auditorium for the final meeting before the actual event.

We walked into the auditorium to realize that nobody was here. The room was pitch black. It didn't surprise me that we were the only ones here as we were always punctual. Well, most of the time.

Putting our bags on the floor, we got comfortable in our seats before pulling out our sandwiches. A couple of minutes later, a group of people walked in, and nosiness filled the room. I frowned at Leah, wringing my hands together. She knew I didn't do so well in big crowds, so she held out her hand as a sign of reassurance.

When we heard the sound of Ms. Wilson's voice enter the room, both of our eyes widened as we hurriedly shoved the food down our throat.

There was a strict rule of no eating in the auditorium after the principle found a bunch of trash under the chairs.

A loud whistle came from the stage that made us all turn our heads. Standing in the middle of the stage was Ms. Wilson, dressed in a floral dress and cardigan with a microphone in her hand.

She cleared her voice. "Everyone in this room has given me a slip of approval signed by your parents, which means that you are coming on the trip to Europe."

A tall blonde boy yells out "fuck yeah" and all eyes were on him. My gaze then fell onto Ethan, who sat next to him, shifting in his seat and filled with embarrassment because of the scene his friend caused.

Ms. Wilson sends a frightening glare that makes everyone remain quiet. Leah scoffed, unimpressed by the lack of maturity that these boys had. She was one of the very few people in school that didn't view the jocks as another form of God.

The rest of the female population can't help but gawk and drool at the sight of these boys, especially when they were shirtless and playing football.

Every time they made an impressive move, it would result in a loud cheer. And I was more than positive that 90% came from girls. I mean, you could tell by the high pitch sound.

Ethan stood up and excused himself before walking out of the room, leaving his seat empty. Almost immediately, Leighton takes his spot and turns to the blonde guy. 

He was whispering something into her ear, which made her giggle while covering her mouth with her petite hands and perfectly manicured nails. Her eyelashes were extremely long, which added a hint of flirtatiousness to her constant batting.

She flicked her thick platinum blonde hair that cascaded a little bit past her waist to one side. As the captain of the cheerleader squad, she was the epitome of beauty to most, if not all guys in our school. She had the body of a Victoria Secret model and a golden-brown complexion that you could only achieve after a long sunny vacation - but somehow, she manages to stay like that all year round.

If you were anyone else, you would probably think that she was flirting with the blonde guy next to Ethan, but I knew better. She was waiting for Ethan to come back so she could get his attention, maybe get in a flirty joke or two.

Despite sleeping around and making out with other guys, everyone knew she had a soft spot for Ethan. The thought of those two flirting made my stomach twist. They would be a perfect match, both being captains of the most prestigious sport in our school. And on top of that, both incredibly good looking.

She had the art of getting guys mastered like the back of her hand. I guess obtaining the attention of the male population was easy if you looked like Leighton.

The back door of the auditorium opened, and Ethan's presence blessed the room once again. While making his way down to his seat, I could tell that he realized Leighton took it as his pace slows down midway. Ethan's expression remains blank as he stood on the steps, backing up against the wall.

I looked over to Leighton, her mouth slightly hanging and her face clearly annoyed at the fact that her plan had failed. I had the same expression, except I was more shocked that he had just turned down the most beautiful girl in school.

I tried to come up with countless scenarios and reasons why he would turn down someone like Leighton, but couldn't come up with anything rational. Except for the fact that his mind made no sense at all.

For the rest of the lunchtime, we all sat and listened to Ms. Wilson going over the itinerary of the trip. Everything was going as expected until she said something that made me almost gag my sandwich back out.

"Since you all are so inclined to the idea of social construction, this trip is going to be about opening up to new people. So don't expect to be with your friends as I will be the person picking your travel groups."

The sound of whining and groaning filled the room as I stared at Leah with wide eyes.

"This cannot be happening," I said.

She shrugged. "It's not that bad Maya. It's just travel groups. We still get to hang out during free times."

"Hopefully we'll be in the same group."

Ms. Wilson told us all to be quiet. "I'm going to read out the list of groups now. You're all going to meet up and get to know each other before the trip."

I didn't move a muscle, a sea of anxiety curling into my stomach. This was it. The next few seconds of her reading out names was going to determine whether I was going to survive this trip or not.

I can feel my palms begin to sweat as negative thoughts consume me. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't pay attention to what Ms. Wilson was saying until she read out my name.

She points to the left side of the room, and I see that I'm the last person being called out to join that group. I turned and faced Leah with a sad look. She wasn't in my group.

"The remaining people will join together and make one group."

Everyone stood up and gathered together as I made my way down.

A broad-shoulder, tall, with blue eyes guy came to us with a grin on his face. "Welcome to the cooler group!"

"Let's learn more about each other by stating your name and one fun fact about you," he says, "I'll start."

He sits up straight and clears his voice. "My name is Connor, I'm part of the football team, and I'm student council president."

Honestly, he didn't have to introduce himself, and everyone would still already know who he is. Deemed as the nicest guy in Eastwood High School, he still hung with the popular kids and played the Fullback position in our football team.

"I'm Maya Conners," I mumbled under my breath.

"How about that interesting fact about yourself?"

"There really isn't anything interesting about me." I sent a small smile at Connor, hoping he'd spare me the embarrassment and move along.

"I disagree," Ethan said, "she's extremely smart and getting straight A's all the time."

Wait what. He notices me in class?

I wanted to thank him, but I ended up stuttering my words, unable to come up with something to say. So instead, I stay quiet, trying to hide my red hot face behind my hair. He chuckles at my nervousness and shoots me a wink.

The introduction game continued as Connor interrogated everyone in the group.

"Ethan, my boy," Connor exclaimed, "You're the last one, remember to make it interesting!"

His face was relaxed as he greeted everyone with a smile, revealing his dimples. "My name is Ethan, and I'm the school's quarterback."

"That's not a fun fact, we all know you're the captain of the football team," said Conner.

"Okay," Ethan started, "Bubbles is my favorite power puff girl."

His answer made most of the girls in our group melt and giggle. Just when I thought it wasn't possible for him to be any cuter, he always seems to prove me wrong.

Once we finished the introduction game, everyone sat with their friends and talked amongst themselves until the bell rang. I made my way to the last class of the day, sitting down in the last row as always. 

There were five minutes left until class started, so I put in my earphones and turned up the volume, trying to avoid the disturbance that the jocks were creating. They were huddled up together, all looking at the same phone.

"God, she's so hot." One says, and they start high-fiving each other.

"I'd tap that."

"Look at that ass!"

"I hope she posts more bikini photos."

I spot Ethan sitting with the group of jock boys, scrolling through his phone and paying no attention to their discussion about hot girls on I*******m. My eyes widened in shock as he looked up, our eyes meeting.

I panicked. What if he thought I was staring at him like a creep?

Well, aren't you?

No, shut up.

Slightly slouching on the chair, he smiled at me. He moves away from the crowd and joins me at the back, sitting on the chair besides me.

"Let me guess. You want to major in Art?"

I stopped drawing and shook my head. "No, I'm not."

Considering that I've never joined an art class or displayed my drawings in school, I didn't know where he got the idea of an art major from.

He let out a chuckle, pressing his lips together in shyness. "Oh, I just assumed because you seem to like doodling so much."

A dazzling smile appears on his lips as I notice that he's referring to the cover of my notebook. It had all sorts of doodles on it, mostly drawn with my black ink pen.

Oh, so that's why he thought it was my major. Whenever I found myself in boredom, I'd sketch whatever came to my head. There was a cupcake, a flower, a clock and some random hearts scattered around the page.

Thank god I didn't write his name with a heart.

I lightly let out a small nervous chuckle at him while he continued to flirt his eyes at me. His eyes were a steel blue color, protected by a dense layer of lashes.

"Well, have you heard of the phrase, don't judge a book by its cover?"

"Touché," he smiled, "what are you majoring in then?"

"English."

His eyes grew wide in surprise at my answer. "I'd never take you as a literature girl."

"Apart from the 99% of the times my face has been buried inside a book?" I joked.

"Touché again, m'lady."

We both laughed at the same time, his face turning a light shade of pink. "So, we're in the same travel group."

"Yeah, we are."

"Well, I'm glad you're in my group, Maya."

Something about the way he says my name makes me grow a sudden liking to it. His voice is so deep and low. We don't say anything else, but his eyes hadn't left mine.

The bell rang, and the teacher told us to take our seats. Ethan breaks the trance as he stood up and walked back to his place in the front right-hand side, and I was able to let out a breath. He's greeted by nobody other than Leighton who happens to be sitting on the desk beside him.

As the polite person he is, he gives her a small smile and nods. She tries to talk to him but her attempt fails as the teacher tells Leighton off for talking while he's explaining.

For most of the class, I tried to keep my eyes on the board, but it was like Ethan had some sort of gravitational pull that always made me look at him. Even though I was only able to see the back of his head, I was mesmerized by the way his defined muscles would tighten whenever he laughed or moved.

I checked the vibration in my pocket and saw that Leah sent me a text.

"Want to go to Rise & Shine after school?" it read.

"Is that even a question?" I typed back and shoved my phone in my pocket before it got confiscated.

The remaining fifteen minutes of the class went by quickly as I continued the battle with my attention as it seems always to be directed towards Ethan.

The moment class ends, the view of Leah's head peeking through the door had me laughing. Wasn't her class on the other side of the school? How could she have possibly gotten here so quick?

Her car was parked right in front of school. It was where all the expensive cars were parked so the guards could keep a closer eye on it.

A small smile crept onto my face. I was actually going to ask her to go there, but she knew me too well. I looked over at Leah, and her forehead crumpled up as she concentrated on driving. She just learned how to drive not so long ago and wasn't that confident in driving. But it was still better than taking the bus.

"Leah, that grandma just walked passed us," I teased.

She exhaled a quiet laugh. I turned on the radio and heard Senorita by Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes playing for the thousandth time. I wasn't even surprised anymore. This song played everywhere I went.

Usually, it only took about an eight-minute car ride to get here. But considering that Leah was driving at walking speed, we finally arrived at Rise & Shine ten minutes later. It was a small but cosy coffee shop with a bunch of warm colors and mostly wooden decor. But it was a great place that's perfect for doing work or reading. 

We made our orders and not long after, two cups of caramel macchiato with an additional layer of frothed milk appeared on the other end of the counter. Grabbing our drink, we headed to a table.

"Can you believe that the trip is in two days?" she started, "we just have to get through the weekend."

"Yeah, the one month flew by so quick."

"Our first ever trip together!"

"We aren't in the same group, though." I frowned.

I couldn't imagine myself going anywhere with a bunch of strangers without Leah's support. She was like my backbone.

Her eyes perked up, and she turned to me. "You have a better alternative."

A better alternative?

My whole group was full of jocks, and people I didn't know. How could that possibly be a better alternative to my best friend?

She noticed my confused expression and rolled her eyes. "Ethan Morrison."

I groaned. "We don't even talk."

"You can just stare at him."

"That's just creepy."

"Only if you aren't subtle about it." She joked.

"But we talked today."

She dropped her mouth, and a goofy smirk appeared. "About what?"

"He said I was smart and was glad that we're in the same group."

We giggled at the same time as we continued on talking about the trip. I must admit, never in a million years would I think Ethan Morrison would talk to me, let alone be glad that he was in the same group.