"Hello there, surprise to see you here" his eyes glinted with amusement.

My mouth hung open with disbelief, how is this guy an honor student???

Hayden looked back at me and chuckled, " better close that sweet little mouth of yours up darling, your going to be catching flies in a second".

I quickly shut my mouth and tried to think of a quick comeback, but my mind came up blank.

He continued to hold the door open and said " ladies first".

With as much dignity as I could muster, I walked through the door and he followed close behind, not even minding the people who complained about him not holding the door open for them.

"Alright class! Quiet down!" Yelled my English teacher, Mr.Cost. 

Mr.Cost was a rather interesting character, he could be really scary sometimes, but he could be really funny and awesome too.

Cost, as most of us called him, was in a joking mood. He had a tendency to pick on students a bit, and that made class very entertaining.

I sat down next to Bree, we had seats right in the front so that I could view the board better.

Bree whispered to me " How in the world is he an honor student?! And just by coincidence he showed up in your class!" She says with excitement, I rolled my eyes.

Cost introduced Hayden and had him sit across the room in the front row, his desk was right across from mine.

Emily and I were laughing so hard by the time we exited English.

"Who knew Hayden would make class so interesting!" Bree cried!

"I can't believe he had the guts to stand up to Cost and be considered his equal!" I laughed.

Cost loved to make jokes, and even if they weren't funny, people still laughed. Hayden managed to earn Cost's respect by cracking great jokes and scoring a perfect score on the quiz. I guess having class together with Hayden wasn't so bad after all.

I stretched my arms as I walked out of the choir room.

"agh, I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to that French piece!" I groaned.

Taylor, vice prez of the anime club and in the advanced art class, walked up behind me and jumped on me, successfully scaring me.

"Taylor!!" I groaned " you know I scare easy!" I whine.

     Taylor giggled and twirled. "Let's go to art!" Taylor sang.

     I ponder if I should go to art or go to my lunch group with Bree.

       "Hmm, okay, let's go!" I say, so Taylor and I started off to the art class room.

        "Emily, try harmonizing with me!" Taylor whines as we walk to art.

   "Taylor, it's practically impossible for me, your such a strong first soprano! But I know you won't stop asking, so alright". I say with defeat.

      This year I'm in the advanced women's choir, I would have done it last year, but I missed the try outs.

    People stared at us as we harmonized on our way to art, but I could have cared less, I was used to being stared at, and it didn't bother me in the least.

    "see Emily, you can harmonize, you've gotten better!" Taylor says.

     "I guess your right!" I grin. I was in a good mood, so far, no homework, tests have all been A's and B's, and art was my favorite place at school to be.
       I couldn't take art this year because my parents had me take treble instead, we fought for about 3 months before I gave up, and Thompson, the art teacher still lets me in during lunch and tutorial.

     Thompson, had tattoos every where! When he wore white shirts and had his back to you, you could see the intricate patterns that were stained on almost every space of skin.
          Most of the time I wasn't a huge tatoo fan, but thompsons tattoos were cool. He had a long almost kind of curly gray beard, but was only about 30, when he shaved his beard, which he didn't do often, he looked like Adam Levine.
      He was well muscled and fit, many of the girls found him attractive, but I was inspired by him and his beautiful art.

     When I entered the art room I felt instantly at peace. A chandelier of phones hung above thompsons desk, beautiful paintings done by talented students were on the ceiling.
    Diamond shaped works of art hung from the ceiling above all the desks. Paint was splattered all over the floor, and sharpie drawings on the big table in the front of the room from when Thompson and his students got bored.

     I grinned as soon as I walked in, this is my safe haven, my home at school. Thompson doesn't even glance up from his work as we walk in, he is in such deep concentration.
          Songs I have never heard ring through the nearly empty class room. Me and Taylor sit in our usual spots, me to the right of her at the end of the row, and her to my left on a painted stool.

     Taylor pulls out her sketchbook that is always filled of very.... Interesting drawings.... Taylor is very talented and is in the advanced art class, though some of her drawings can be quite weird sometimes, but I still love every single one of them!

      Taylor and I love to do drawings together, at one point, she found a picture of the undertaker from black butler and insisted that we draw him shirtless.
      I still have that drawing hanging up on my wall at home, luckily my parents haven't seen it yet.
   
      Today, we decide to do our own things, I enjoyed spending time with Taylor in the serene atmosphere of the art room, until we would be disrupted by the bell.

      Today I decided I was going to draw a picture of Genos from one punch man and started the out line in pencil.
         At the end of 45 minutes I had finished the out line and put it all in sharpie. Taylor has helped me with the jaw line.

          I held my paper up to the light admiring the sharp beautiful lines that created one of my favorite characters.
             I was happy with how this one turned out, when I felt inspiration, my drawings could be real great, but on bad days they could look like a pre schoolers.

        Satisfied I took a quick picture of the drawing and posted it on Instagram. As I was adding the final few letters of my description the bell gave out a shrill ring and I groaned. Math, oh I hated math, I had never been very good at it, I never got A's on my final grades, if was always a B+ or B-.

   Taylor put away all her books and pencils and we headed out into the cruel light of day. Taylor walked me part way to class and then turned back to head to English.

     As I opened the door I was refreshed by the cool air of the air conditioner. I took a deep breath in and prepared my self for the on slaught.
      I quickly ran over to my desk and pulled out our warm up and started on the difficult problem, I was such deep concentration, I didn't even hear the teacher introducing the new student, all I caught was the last part,

    "he is the top student this sophomore year! I'm sure he will be happy to help any of you out!" The math teacher said in a much too cheery tone.

         I looked up to see what nerd has done it this year. I glance up to see a familiar pair of green eyes and I sigh. Why am I not surprised? Of course he's in this class think sarcastically.

      When our eyes meet he lets out a small grin and talks to the teacher pointing to me, my stomach drops, oh no! The teacher nods quickly and happily and Hayden makes his way over to me.

   "Hi there princess" he says.

    my good mood instantly vanishing, I hate it when people call me princess, in middle school, a PE coach who was awful and stupid called me princess.   
     Because I refused to run due to an injury that I had 2 doctors notes for and my parents notes, but the whole class cheered me on, and he came to hate me.

            I swing my head away from him childishly, I don't want to see or talk to him.

Obviously annoyed with me he keeps tapping and tapping me until I want to hit him, and I turn to face him and say "WHAT?!"

      He laughs and gives me a real smile which softens my mood. Wait why am I not so mad anymore???

     "Your doing it all wrong" he points to my math problem with a cheeky smile on his face.

   I sigh, I know that he is much better at this than I am.

              "Okay coach how do I do this rediculous problem" I ask with defeat, I catch a quick look of surprise on his face before he quickly turns it back to a smirk.

             He drops to his knees and starts telling me how things should go, and by the end of the lesson, everything makes sense.

      "Thank-you"I quietly call out to him, almost too quiet for him to hear, but I can tell he heard me from the way the edges of his lips turn up.

     I hop in the car after math, and me and mom are off to go ride with Janet.  My mom looks at me strangely, and I ask her what is wrong.

     "it's nothing, you just look a little brighter than usual, anything good happen at school?" She asks eyebrow raised.

       I shrug my shoulders " not really, just no homework" My mom eyes me suspiciously but let's it go.

        "I hope I ride better today, I have a very hard time keeping Wiz from doing one tempies." I sigh.

     "I know, I can't even imagine how difficult it is, he is so light off the leg!" My mom says wistfully.

      "I don't want to dissapoint Janet, or mess up Wiz..." I trail off and my mom and I sit in the comfortable silence.

      As we drove into the parking lot, I could see Janet standing at the entrance of the dressage arena with Wiz by her side.

    Just by being at the barn, I felt filled with energy and vigor. As soon as the car stopped I hopped out quickly, not wanting to waste a single moment.

      "afternoon Emily!" Janet called out wearing a small smile.

      "Hey Janet!" I called back grinning.

   I love riding Wiz, it is one of the highest honors I can revive as a student.

       I quickly put in the ear piece and strapped on my helmet, with a dressage whip in hand I took Wiz over to the mounting block and hopped on.

    I love how powerful Wiz is, he is so strong and kind. Wiz is Janet's prized position, she loves him more than almost anything, she started him as a 4 year old all the way to Grand Prix at the age of 11, now Wiz is 14 and still scoring in the mid 70's at Gand Prix.

      Wiz is very well behaved, he will do exactly what you tell him to, even if you didn't mean to.
      I walk Wiz on a long reign down the centerline rearranging the 4 reigns into my two hands, separating the curb and the snaffle while taking a light feel.

       "the walk is pure and has over track, that would be a 7, he needs a little more over track for the 8" Janet says through the ear piece.

     I gently bump each leg on his barrel in rhythm with his walk to encourage him to take a bigger step, not faster.

   "That looks good Emily, now that you have the engine going let's pick up a nice working trot, remember to squeeze the snaffle and not the curb." Janet states.

        I gently squeeze his barrel and squeeze the reigns so that his head stays down and on the bit. Wiz picks up a nice steady working trot remaining on the bit nicely.

   I have to remain extremely straight in the saddle and keep my balance equal, other wise we will end up doing haunches in and shoulder in! The first time I rode wiz, he looked like a pretzel.

     I pat wiz on the neck before dismounting, I groan as my feet hit the ground, I'm so sore.

     Janet laughs" I'm sure your going to feel reaallllly good tomorrow Emily!"

     I groan again in response. Riding wiz is fun, but super hard and makes you feel very sore the next day.
     I hop in the car feeling happy about my ride, I had managed to keep wiz from doing one tempies during the canter!

    As we arrived home I jumped out of the car going through the cluttered garage into the house, my good mood vanishing as I walked through the door, I heard screaming.

* that chapter was really long!😭 Sorry it took so long, horses call! Hope who ever reads it likes it! ~ roaringriver~*