Chapter 4:

The Language Of Love

Sophie waves from the other side of the window, giving me a huge grin from our now regular seat on the bus when it pulls up to my stop.

For the first time in forever, I feel excited about school today. I can't wait to sit with everyone at lunch, go to my new classes and see a certain someone again.

One of the first things that I noticed about Oakmore was that everyone was very friendly. When I was walking through the hallways, yesterday, people would smile and say hello, and someone from each period would offer to walk me to my next one.

"Hey, girl!" Sophie says as I drop my bag down and sit next to her.

"Hi!"

People have started to stop staring when I get on the bus as they are now used to seeing me every day. However, today one boy from the back shouts "SHE HAS RETURNED" like he was from a movie.

"I bet you are looking forward to today." Sophie raises an eyebrow and smirks at me.

"Oh yeah of course, because I just love 6 hours of learning." I reply sarcastically.

She shoots me a glare.

"No silly! Because you will get to see the boy you're in love with!" She teases.

"Sophie shut up!" I say in a loud whisper, slapping her arm.

"I'm not in love with him. He is just incredibly cute."

"Yeah, well, be prepared to hear all kinds of rumours and gossip about you two, if you are caught talking then it will be all over the school's feed. So it's up to you, you can talk to him and be spoken about, or you could not talk to him and not be spoken about, and you being stubborn and violent-" She pauses to rub her arm and stare at me.

"I think you have already made your choice." She says, pouting.

She's right; there is one side of me that's adamant about staying out of top gossip, especially when it involves Zac. He would probably hate to be rumoured with a girl, even worse a girl like me.

But then another side of me wants to talk to this boy again so badly! I need to know more about him; it's driving me crazy.

It's incredible to me that I had spoken to him for all of about 2 minutes, yet my heart is begging for me to see him again. He was the only person that I met on my first day who was constantly on my mind, but I can't quite figure out why.

One part of my mind tells me it's a crush, but surely you can't develop a crush after a single encounter.

I push the thought to the back of my mind. I need friends, not crushes. Especially crushes on the boy who is also everybody else's crush.

However, the best thing for me to do is just to speak when spoken to, and that's my final decision.
 
I turn to Sophie, who is now staring out the window.

"Sophie?" I quietly ask.

"No need to apologise, I know you didn't mean to give me a dead arm."

"Oh yeah sorry but that wasn't what I was going to ask, what I was going to say was if Zac is Mr Popular like you said last night, why hasn't he been with us at lunch this past couple of days?"

She stares for a moment, frowning.

"He has football practice at lunch on Mondays and Tuesdays." She replies when she remembers the rest of the group's weekly schedules.

"Ah, okay." I smile.

"See, you are so obsessed with him, that you think about him and ask questions!" She tries to stop herself from laughing.

I glare at her, but then we both begin to laugh.

***

Walking up the steps to enter the school building, my ruby red dress flutters in the wind. Even though it's a warm spring morning, there's a cool breeze in the air.

I had barely slept last night after going through the school feed, looking at everyone's posts. When I woke up this morning I looked like a zombie, and usually, that doesn't bother me but knowing it's still my first week here at Oakmore, I once again had to make an effort.

That is why makeup is a miracle and whoever invented it is my long lost soulmate who deserves a medal.

My hands are full, and I'm struggling to walk; coffee in one hand and books in the other.

"Such a typical new student." Steven sympathetically says whilst taking the books from under my right arm.

"Thank you." I say, sighing.

We walk past a few classrooms in silence before Steven speaks again.

"I know it's only your first week, but it is really nice having you here Lola."

A warm feeling fills me. It was nice to know that I have already made friends that I feel I can actually trust.

"It's nice being with you all too, Steven." I say with a little laugh.

"Don't get too serious on me, though." I point my finger at him as I jokingly warn, causing him to laugh.

"No but seriously you have just brought a different atmosphere to the group, it's been quite tense recently because of certain people, and you seem to be making everyone happy again."

"Was that the person that George brought up at the end of lunch on Monday?" I question.

Steven's facial expression changes and his cheeks warm up to a dark pink colour. For a second I think he's just blushing, but then I realise he's angry.

"Steven?"

He lets out a sigh.

"It's a long and complicated story, and it isn't my place to tell. Maybe we'll speak about it another time but for now, just don't bring it up around everyone because it won't go down too well."

I feel bad for asking, something awful must've happened.

"This is my room." He says as we approach a classroom on the second floor.

"Okay well, I'll see you at lunch?" I question.

"Sure thing, see you later and try not to get lost again today." He says with a smirk.

***

Sophie told me that Zac had football training at the beginning of the week, but he sure doesn't today as I'm pleasantly reminded when he sits across from me at lunch.

I focus on my food, trying not to stare at him longingly again. After I finish eating, I grab my timetable from my bag. I still have two more periods left, French and Music.

I don't know why I picked two languages. I prefer french even though I find it difficult and everyone I've spoken to has said that you get lots of assignments and have to put in a lot of work. I also enjoy Spanish though, and it has always been a language that I am fascinated with.

Decisions are not a strong point of mine.

But music is perfect for me. As soon as I saw it on my timetable this morning, I couldn't help but let out a little squeak of joy.

Zac doesn't speak to me at lunch, he mainly talks to Blake about football and their coach, but he does look over at me a few times.  Every time he does, I just look down at my phone or food. I don't want anymore gossip saying things like 'Zac Enderly caught staring at the new girl, are they in love?' or 'The new girl's already got her eye on the most popular boy, someone's eager.' Something crazy that the people of this school will make up.

That's the second thing that I have quickly noticed about this school- everybody loves to gossip. This also meant that to find out the most recent hot gossip, new people like me are closely watched, all of the time.

The bell rings, and once again, everyone flees out, making me the last one to leave. Just as I am about to walk into the sea of people in the hallway, I hear my name being called.

"Lola! Wait up!"

I turn, thinking it was Steven, but it isn't.

"Hey." Zac says with a smile.

I look back in shock.

"Hi." I say back.

"You don't mind if I walk you to your lesson, do you?"

"No, that's fine." I smile.

It's silent at first as we slowly walk down the now empty hallways.

"Sorry I ran off like I did on Monday." Zac says, and I can hear by the tone in his voice that he is genuinely sorry.

"No it's fine honestly, we both had things to do." I give him a reassuring smile.

He smiles back.

When we reach the bottom of the stairs to go towards the top floor for my french class, as though a light bulb has switched on in my brain, I suddenly realise that I have left the french textbook I need back in my locker.

"Damn it!"

"What?" Zac asks, startled as I had cut him off mid-sentence.

"I left the textbook I need in my locker." I  panic.

"It's okay go ahead without me. I'll see you later." I tell him, starting to turn around to walk in the opposite direction.

"No I'm coming with you, I said I would walk you to class, and that's what I shall do."

I try so hard not to blush.

"Thanks, Zac."

He gives me one of those grins which show off his dimples perfectly—the famous Zac Enderly smile.

We continue to talk, learning more about each other. Ever so slightly, I feel as if I'm seeing a new side of him. One that's attentive, kind and somewhat goofy. Part of me wonder if he's like this with every girl and if that is the case, it's no wonder as to why he's so popular.

By the time we'd walked to the other side of the school and back, we're 10 minutes late.

As I approach the french door, I turn my body to face Zac so that I can wish him goodbye directly.

"Well, this is me, thanks for walking me, even if it did take 10 minutes longer than expected." I laugh.

"Wait, is this the lesson you're in?" He replies with a raised eyebrow.

Confused, I pause and then slowly nod my head, trying to understand the point he is getting at.

"Cool! Me too!" He comes up next to me and opens the door, holding it for me.

My heart rate rises and it feels as if the air has been knocked out of me. I am so happy I have lessons with Zac. So far, he has been so kind to me, and I love having any of my friends in my classes.

And they do say French is the language of love.

We both tiptoe in, trying not to be noticed.

"En retard Zac! Once again, you are late!" Our teacher Madame Rosilet says in her soft French accent without looking up from her notes.

Zac was obviously always late, which makes the fact that I am also by his side this time, slightly more embarrassing.

She turns around and is clearly shocked when she sees me next to him.

"Sorry Madame, Lola here got lost, so I helped her." Zac says confidently,

A couple of girls start whispering at Zac's comment, and they both look at me. I know exactly the kind of thing that they'll be saying.

"Ah Lola, just take the seats at the back." The teacher says whilst staring at me.

Zac and I take the two seats next to each other at the back.

When we sit down, Zac looks at my very, clearly red face and I can see him trying not to laugh. I shoot him a glare.

"It's fine. Teachers love me." He whispers to me as he leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

I raise an eyebrow before smiling to which he smiles back.

I turn to face the front of the room, and in the corner of my eye, I can see someone staring at me. Looking curiously, it's Steven. He has a massive smirk plastered across his face, and then I remember the comment he made about being late this morning.

Idiot.