**guy in the picture is Jake*

SAM's POV

~The Next Morning~ 

Spanish class was starting in a few minutes and me and Jake were chatting at our desks. The class was half full. Our teacher, Mrs. Raymond, was at her desk reading the textbook. Hopefully, today goes by fast like it did yesterday because I'm too cold to do any work! There were snow flurries this morning when I was driving to school and it's supposed to snow a little again this evening, but I hope not.

Anyway, I thought I'd apologize to Jake for my mom's behavior last night at dinner. He said it didn't bother him, and that she was just looking out for her daughter. He also mentioned that my mom could've been stressed about the upcoming wedding with Antonio and she took her worries out on us. Maybe... I guess... but just because she's getting married doesn't give her the excuse to be all emotional and act all upset! I don't care!

RIINNNNNNNNNNNGGGG!!

"Morning, class. Please take out your homework from last night..."

We followed our teacher's instructions. She told us to switch papers with a neighbor beside us and grade each other's papers while she read the answers. So Me, Jake, and Diggy traded papers since Julie hadn't shown up yet. After grading, we got our papers back from our neighbors to look over. Mrs. Raymond then went over some of the homework questions that a lot of people got wrong before we handed our homework to her. 

Next, we started a new lesson from our textbooks and did the activities to go along with them. I checked the clock to see that it was already 20 minutes after the hour, not too bad. As we started the vocabulary section, Julie busted into the class late, again. Mrs. Raymond looked up from her book and spotted Julie rushing to her seat beside Diggy. She was wearing a green military-style hoodie (with the hood up) and leggings again. She looked a bit pale, too. 

"Ms. Martinez, it's good to see you could make it to class although you're late again. Do you have a pass this time?" Mrs. Raymond asked.

"Yeah..." Julie held up a piece of paper.

"Bring it here, please."

With a soft sigh, Julie walked up to the front of the room to give her the slip. The teacher whispered something to her before she was able to come back to her seat. She took her hood down and then pulled a granola bar from her pocket before eating it. The class was extra quiet as this all happened; it felt like people wanted to stare at Julie. 

After that, the teacher went back to going over vocabulary, but barely a minute passed and someone's phone started vibrating. It was Julie's. She quickly stopped the vibrations on her phone and put it away. Mrs. Raymond looked up for a second but didn't say anything...

~10 minutes until the end of class~

The teacher gave us time at the end of class to work on homework or just chill. Of course... I wasn't doing no homework. I leaned back in my chair and scrolled through my social media sites while talking to Jake. 

DIGGY's POV

I put my Spanish homework in my folder to work on later and took out my phone. Julie must've turned her phone back on because it was vibrating like every second. Who the heck blowing up her phone? It was lowkey annoying, but whatever.

"Ugh..." She groaned. 

I peeped a look at her, then continued scrolling through social media. Some guys sitting in front of us were laughing obnoxiously over something on their phones. I looked up at them; Julie did too. One of the guys looked directly at her and winked and Julie sighed. Okay, I feel like something's going on, but I'm minding my business.

RINNNNGGGG!!

As soon as the bell rings, I grab my backpack and wait for Julie to move down the aisle as she gets up, too. I walk behind her out the door into the hallway and the group of guys look back at her and snicker.

"Grow up," she tells them.

In a genuine tone, I ask, "Is everything cool?"

"Not really..." She looks annoyed.

"What's--" 

"DIGGY! My man... it's been a while." Chris appears in front of me and pats my shoulder.

"Hey..." 

"What's good, man?" He smiles.

"Uh, nothing much. What's up?" I'm surprised he's talking to me after the Julie misunderstanding.

"Not much, Diggy." Chris smirks at Julie. "I didn't know you'd still hang with Julie after all the crap she gave you. Guess some things never change..."

I frown, confused. "We're not really--"

Julie walks past Chris and leaves us alone. I feel some weird tension.

"Diggy, please tell me you're not still hitting that?"

Wow... this dude didn't just go there.

"I gotta get to class..." I walk past him, shaking my head. Even though me and Julie don't hang and I'm trying to avoid her for good reasons, that's no way to talk about a girl. Looks like Chris needs to grow up still.

***

~Writing 101 class~

As a warm-up, the teacher wanted us to write down ten things that we don't like. This should be pretty easy. Before the warm-up, she had us play this 'icebreaker' game to learn about all our classmates. It was a small class - only about 15 people - but the teacher was enthused about how good it was to have a smaller class, so we can be more intimate with each other and form a stronger bond. The last person I need to be intimate with is Julie, who decided to sit at the desk next to me, but whatever.

Mrs. Lyon, our writing teacher, asked all of us to share our list out loud. It was my turn and I cleared my throat and read my list: "The top ten things that I don't like are: Obnoxious People, Snow, Golf, Lazy People, Being Sick, Sharing Food, Strawberry Soda, Whiny People, People who feel entitled to something, and Liars." I stole a glance at Julie then looked back at the teacher.

"Interesting... alright. Julie, you're up next." Mrs. Lyon grins at Julie.

Julie, looking a little uneasy, reads from her list. "I don't like cocky people, unfashionable people, cold weather, bugs, haters, hypocrites, negative vibes, being taken advantage of, immaturity, and bullies."

"Alright. Thanks for sharing, Julie..." The teacher turns to another kid in class as he shares his list.

Wow... some of the things on her list were hypocritical but okay.

~An hour later~

We finished reading over the syllabus and did small writing activities. Now, we're working in groups and writing down five facts about our group members, kinda like an icebreaker game again. The class got into five groups of three people. Julie is in my group along with this other girl named London. We all are writing down facts about each other in our notebooks to share with the class in a few minutes. The teacher wanted us to find out each other's names, birthday month, favorite food, and an interesting fact about us. Simple. 

The girl London is a junior and her birthday is December 5th. Her favorite food is pizza, and she plays the violin. Julie's birthday is September 1st, her favorite food is lobster, and she's been dancing since she was little. After we completed the assignment, the teacher asked each of us to share. Our group was the last one to do so. 

I stood up and introduced London. "This is London... her birthday is September 1st, her favorite food is lobster, and--"

"Uh... that's Julie," London whispers to me.

"Oh! Uh... sorry, I'm slow today." The class laughs a little as I read the correct information about London then sat down.

London stands up and reads from her notebook, gesturing to Julie. "Now... this is Julie. Her birthday is September 1st," (a laugh from the class) "her favorite food is lobster, and she's been dancing ever since she was little. I also like her shoes." She looks at Julie's shoes, which are green converse but with a heel on them.

"Thank you," Julie smiles and giggles a little - the first I've seen in a while. She stands up and reads from her notebook. "Okay, as most of you probably know, this is Diggy. His birthday is March 21st, his favorite food is cheeseburgers, and he used to play football in elementary school." She sits back down, flashing me a quick grin.

"Great. Now I know that was probably the easiest assignment, but don't worry, all the work we do in here will be more challenging than these small introductory assignments," Mrs. Lyon states.

A sarcastic 'Yay' is heard from the class, which makes us all chuckle. Nobody wants harder assignments. I'm trying to pass all my classes so I can get outta here!

"Don't worry, you'll love the assignments in here! Since we have about ten minutes left, I will let you all converse until the bell rings. But does anyone have any questions about anything?"

Some guy raises his hand.

"Yes?" Mrs. Lyon looks pleased.

"When's your birthday?" He asks.

"Uh... January 1st."

"What's your favorite food?" 

The class chuckles.

"Oh, we're playing this game, I see! Well... I really like pasta." She nods her head.

"What's something about you that we should know?" Another dude asks.

"What should you know? Uh... my name, hopefully, by the end of this class. And know that I expect all of you guys to work hard in here, but have fun too. Writing is fun! Have funnn!" Our teacher exaggerates. We laugh a little at her comment then everyone starts talking in their own groups.

"She seems like she'll be a pretty cool teacher," our classmate London says.

"Yeah. She's really upbeat but not too strict," Julie agrees.

"So, you guys are seniors?" London asks, looking between me and Julie.

"Yup," I nod my head.

"Lucky... my sister is a senior. I still got one more year."

"Who's your sister?" I ask, curiously.

"Dana Williams."

"Oh... you're Dana's sister?"

"Dana from the cheer squad?" Julie asks with a look of surprise.

"Yep, that's her," London confirms.

"I didn't know she had a sister," I say.

"She doesn't tell people because she wants to be 'cool', tuh! But I don't care - I tell people anyway."

Julie laughs a little then asks, "So, are you interested in cheerleading?"

"No, it's not for me. I play sports."

"Okay, what sports?"

"Volleyball." London folds her arms and rests them on her desk.

"Cool. I never played any sports, but I used to cheer at my old high school..." Julie reveals.

"Cool. You went to another high school?" London asks.

I yawn and check my phone. I notice a text from Khalil and open it.

"Yeah... back in California," Julie responds, like she's tired of the conversation or the subject of Cali.

"You're from California?! That's soooo cool!" London exclaims.

I read the text from Khalil: Check your Facebook page. 

I open my Facebook app on my phone.

Julie giggles and replies, "Everyone says that, but it's not too bad. I think New York City is pretty cool, too."

"It's alright..." London makes a disgusted face as Julie laughs.

"What the heck?" I frown, my eyes glued to my phone.

Julie asks, "What?"

Still frowning, I look up at her and say, "Nothing..."

"Why you frowning like that?" London asks me.

"Just some... crazy stuff I'm reading on social media."

"Oh..."

I look at the comments on my page from some of the people that follow me:

| Spencer Brown: Is it true you dumped Julie after you found out she was preggo? Thats bold but good thing because she a hoe anyway smh

|Seth Perez: Mannn, that cookie must be good if you going back for more. Yo, you sharing? lmao

|Mel Beaumont: She ain't good, Diggy. & after she tried sleeping with your friends on the bball team? She trash...

            |Khalil Sharieff: ^^ Y'all need to mind your business, and stop passing rumors around smh

            |Seth Perez: ^^ N**** you must be sharing that cookie with him xD

|Roy Johnson: Stupid lmao. Leave this man and his b*tch alone dawgs

My blood is boiling right now... what the heck are these ignorant punks talking about?! And why are they on my page talking BS?? Me and Julie ain't even together, but first... how do they even know about the breakup? Somebody had to tell them! I don't even know who'd start some rumor like that... but there's only three people besides me, Julie, and Khalil that know what happened. One of them better not be the person who started this crap or I will let all hell loose on them!