Chapter 5

Claire's POV

I was woken by my alarm clock the next morning. It was going to be Jennifer and my first day at school. Thankfully, we were only a month into the school year, so we should be able to catch up if needed. I wasn't worried about myself. I was an honor roll student and a quick learner. However, Jennifer needed extra reading help because of her dyslexia. She wasn't dumb and very good at math and science; she just didn't read at the level she should.

I got out of bed and went to the attached bathroom in my room. I had never had my own bathroom before and was very happy that I wouldn't have to share it with anyone. I took a shower, brushed my teeth and hair, and got dressed in a pair of my old blue jeans and a blue t-shirt. I put on my old pair of Nikes that were a size too small and then left my room and knocked on Jennifer's door. 

Jennifer was coming out of the bathroom when I walked in. She was wearing the same thing I was except her t-shirt was pink. 

"You ready for school?" I asked her

"I guess I have Stacy there, so at least I have a friend now," She replied

Jennifer was fourteen and a freshman in high school. At our last school, she would get bullied by the students her age. I was happy that she finally had a friend to talk to in school. I combed her hair and left it down. We walked downstairs to see Sean and Stacy already in the kitchen. 

"Are you two ready to go?" he asked, and we nodded and headed to his car.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you two?" Sean asked 

"Yes, you said they already have our schedules at the office, so that we will be fine," I said

"Okay, have a good day; the twins said they will bring you two home after school. They wanted to take you on your first day, but something came up, and they will be late to school," Sean said, causing my heart to beat fast

After yesterday's events, I decided to stay away from the twins and Gwen. I didn't like the way they made me feel when I was around them. It wasn't normal to have feelings for three different people. Two of them I knew were in a relationship with someone already. I didn't know if Steven had anyone, but I was sure he did from his looks. 

"Okay," I said, and Jennifer, Stacy, and I got out of the car and walked into the school. 

Stacy showed us where the office was and then walked to her class.

"Hello, how can I help you." the lady at the front asked

"We are here to get our schedules," I said

"Of course, you two are the new students," she said and picked up to schedules.

"Claire and Jennifer Grey, right?" 

"Yes," I said smiling, and she handed me the schedules.

I gave Jennifer hers and then looked at mine. My first class was calculus. I made sure that Jennifer found her class, and the bell had rung by the time I made it to mine. I walked into the room to see a man that looked to be in his mid-fifties sitting at his desk.

Everyone turned to look at me when I walked inside. I was sure they hardly had anyone new at the school because the town was very small. 

"Hello Dear, you must be the new student, Claire, right?" he asked

"Yes, I am sorry I am late," I said

"Nonsense, you can take a seat over there by Gwen. Gwen, please raise your hand," he said, and I froze.

I looked over to the person holding their hand up, and sure enough, it was the same Gwen from yesterday. Her brown eyes stared into my green ones, and I felt tingles inside me. I walked over to the table and sat next to her. Every group had four tables to them. The other two were empty in our group.

"Hello, again," Gwen said, smiling at me

"Hello," I replied

The teacher began to teach, and everyone became silent. I tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying, but it was hard because I could feel Gwen's gaze on me throughout the class. Once the teacher was done, he told us to work on pages 35 and 36 and that it would be due at the beginning of class tomorrow. I looked at the pages and was relieved that I had already learned how to do those problems at my old school, so I decided to do it when I got back home.

"Are you feeling better?" Gwen asked 

"Huh," I asked, confused

"You left dinner early. I just wanted to make sure you were feeling better," She said

"Oh yeah, I was just tired from the long trip," I lied, not wanting to tell her that I was so upset that she have a boyfriend that I couldn't stand seeing the two of them together. And I feel the same about the twins, and seeing Stephen with Monica pissed me off. She would think I was crazy; hell, I already think I am going crazy.

"Stephen and Steven normally sit over there, but they had something they had to take care of," she said, pointing at the empty seats across from us.

"They will be back later today though to pick us up from school," 

"Yeah, Sean already told me this morning after he dropped me and my sister off," I said

"Do you like it here so far?" 

"It's alright, I guess way better than where I was living before," I said

" Sean and Tanya told us that you're parents passed away and you were in foster care," She said

"Yeah," I replied sadly

"You know they have been looking for you and your sister since they found out about their deaths?"

"That's what they told me though I didn't know anything about either of them," I said

"It must be tough living in foster care," 

"You have no idea," I said

"Well, you don't ever have to worry about going back there," She said, and I smiled. I was not going to get my hopes up because it would be more challenging if Tanya and Sean decided to take us back.

"Let me see your schedule," she said, and I handed her my schedule.

I couldn't help the gasp that left my lips as I felt the same tingles through my body from her touch. She looked at me and smiled before taking the schedule from my hand.

"We don't have any more classes together until after lunch. You have lunch with me, Stephen and Steven, so you can sit with us if you like," she said

"I don't think Stephen's girlfriend would like that," I said

"He and Monica are not together anymore," She said

"Oh, that must suck," I replied though I felt like jumping for joy

"What do you mean?" 

"Wouldn't you be upset if your boyfriend dumped you," I said, hating the thought of her being with someone

"Boyfriend," 

"Yeah, the guy you were with last night," I replied

"We are not together anymore,"