Althena Book 2

62. A+

I make it to science class on Friday and Katen smiles at me. She came back fast. I really wasn't expecting to see her. I wave and sit down.

Akmae turns around. "Were you working at the casino? Nobody said anything in the group chat."

"No. Something else came up. We had to deal with it. Casino work will probably start again Sunday. Clayton has his birthday stuff Saturday."

"He invited me to the after-party. On a boat."

"I'm not surprised. You guys get along well."

"Will you be there?"

"I don't know. I don't think I'm invited. But it's my boat."

He cracks up laughing. "Don't trust him that much?"

"It's a 25 million dollar boat."

"Damn. I don't even trust myself that much."

"Exactly."

"Ok, everyone. You have 30 minutes to finish up this week's lab. You can work in your cubicle with your partners."

Katen and I meet in the cubicle. I hand her some blank papers. "It was a bad week for school."

She laughs. "I forgot all about it the day your tutor was going to help. It's ok. I'll do what I can quickly."

She starts writing on the paper. In a total of 7 minutes, she has every answer filled out. She even drew some diagrams.

"Damn."

"Yea, I'm smart again." She jumps up and down, then hugs me. "Thank you. You gave me everything back. I will never be able to thank you enough."

"You going to sit with us at lunch?"

"I hadn't thought about it. I think I will, if you don't mind. I really don't want to sit with the assholes who pretend not to know me."

"Of course, we don't mind. I'll miss the lunch hugs though."

She laughs. "So much was different. I can't believe it's over. I'm finally better."

"I'm happy for you. I'm glad I could help."

"The messed up part is, the assholes who pretended not to know me and wanted nothing to do with me for the last 2 years, all sent flowers to me yesterday. Isn't that messed up? They would make fun of me and wouldn't let me sit with them, but they gave me flowers."

"That is messed up. They must have done it for show."

"That's what I think too. Oh well, this is a whole new chapter for me. I'm starting over. I'm going to make new friends, that are actually friends. I'm going to study hard and work on getting into a good college. I have never been so happy. My whole life is ahead of me."

"I'm happy for you."

Mrs. McBride comes in and takes our paper. "This is perfect girls. Good job. A+."

Katen hugs her. "Thank you for always being so kind and helpful. It means a lot to a lot of people."

"You are such a sweetie. Good job with the assignment. I knew you could do it." She walks out with our paper. "You girls are free to go."

We collect our stuff from our desks and Penn comes in. "Good morning, Mrs. McBride. I need Katen this morning."

"She's all yours. We're done for the week."

"Thank you."

She is already at the table when Lila and I get there for lunch.

Lila smiles. "I heard you were in the hospital. What happened?"

"My head cleared up."

"Cleared up?" Lila turns to me.

I burst out laughing. "Cleared up."

She rolls her eyes. "Of course it did. Even though that never happens. But I'm glad it cleared up for you, Katen. What happens now?"

"Penn redid my aptitude tests this morning. He's putting me back in the advanced classes next quarter. The school board has to vote on whether to move me back into the junior class. I know who is on the board. I'll get it."

"Congratulations. I am so happy for you."

"Thank you. Other than that, I have to try and make friends. That was never easy for me. And obviously, I did it wrong. But on the other hand, friends aren't super important. I can study and get into the best school without them. But I never wanted to go through high school without friends. I guess I'm confused about that."

Lila smiles. "We're friends. You can join us in a girls' club if you'd like. We meet once a week. It's nice to know a variety of people. Some you'll always get along with more than others, but that doesn't really matter."

Akmae sits with us. "Your brother is so clumsy, Thena."

"I am already aware. You don't have to elaborate or explain yourself."

Lila cracks up laughing. "What did he do now?"

"He's getting the boat ready for the party, and he fell off it. I had him on video. He's trying to talk me into helping him."

I rub my face. "I have concerns."

"Why?"

"Clayton doesn't decorate. He's hiding something on my boat. Probably alcohol."

Lila nods. "You're having a boat party?"

"No. It's Clayton's party. He invited Akmae. It's for his birthday. I told him he could use my boat." I get out my phone and call Monte.

"What you need?"

"I'm at school. Clayton is decorating my boat. Right now."

"Ok. I'll go find whatever he hid." He hangs up.

Akmae, Lila, and Katen crack up laughing. "Now I'm gonna catch s**t for telling on him."

Lila nods. "You really shouldn't have said anything, Akmae. So, who is going to be on the boat?"

"I have no idea. I don't think I'm invited. But I told him me or Monte have to be there. Mike or Cyrus will be there. Probably both. Then Conner because he's not going to be left out. Want to come with me and crash it?"

"I don't know if we should. It's his party."

"It's my boat. We can stop in to drop something off before they leave the dock. Then we can go to a resort or something."

"I'm going with Amber earlier in the day. We're going to the mall and getting our nails done. Just text me when you're ready to crash it. I will surely help you with that part. But I promised my cousin a girls' night. I'll just have to see how late it is."

"Yea, I'll text you and you can decide then. I don't even know when the first party is getting over."

Katen smiles at me. "How many parties does he get?"

"The royal party is early in the day. A bunch of dressed up rich people are going to tell him happy birthday. Then we're going to roam around a garden and have dinner. It'll be very boring."

Lila nods. "What did you get him?"

"Shit."

The 3 of them crack up laughing again.

"I didn't know I was supposed to get him something." I call Mike this time.

"What you need, babygirl?"

"Am I supposed to get Clayton something for his birthday?"

"Shit."

We laugh again.

"I'll figure something out, baby. Concentrate on school."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." He hangs up quickly.

Katen shakes her head. "What do you give someone who has all the money in the world?"

"It depends. Cyrus took me to an empty beach, and we relaxed by the water. I don't know if you consider that a present, but to me, it was a gift. On Goddess Day, Monte showed up with hot chocolate. I loved that. I've been given jewelry. I love sparkly things. Concert tickets. A boat. A room at my granny's house to call my own. The owner of Safiri made me a custom dress." I shrug my shoulders. "Mostly I like time and small things. Mike gave me a flower."

Lila nods. "I don't have all the money in the world, but my favorite gift was a scarf my cousin made me. She was 9 at the time. She made it with the biggest yarn she could find. She was so proud of herself. I still have it. I love it. Other than that, I like spa time. A nice dinner. I've gotten concert tickets too. And jewelry. I think all girls like that. He likes hockey. Get him the VIP box for the hockey game coming up."

"That's a good idea." I text the idea to Mike. "You know, he really liked vacationing in Eldervale too. We could take him on vacation again." I text that to him too.

Lila smiles. "He said something about wanting to see snow."

"Drogon wants to see snow too. I forgot about that." I text again.

Akmae asks, "Why do you take him on vacation?"

"I'm sure he goes on family vacations too. But it gets him away from his mom. I think he needs breaks. Other than that, he likes spending time with the boys. They get along and have fun. And when I go on vacation, it seems like 20 people have to come. So, he might as well come and join the party. If it was just me and Drogon, I wouldn't bring him."

"Everyone needs parent breaks." Katen nods and looks at Akmae. "What did you get him?"

"I'm not telling."

"Fair enough."

I glance around. "Where the hell is Conner?"

"Where the hell is everyone? Half our table is missing."

I text Conner. -Are you lost?-

-No. I'm with Penn and Drogon. They are arguing about your attendance. I'll be there in a few minutes.-

"Penn and Drogon are arguing about me missing so much school."

Akmae looks up from his phone. "You're the queen. What does he expect?"

Lila rolls her eyes. "He expects her to be here for school. Amber and Lauren got held over in class. I'm not texting everyone."

Monte texts me. -It's only some wine and beer, woman. I'm not going to take it. It's nothing hard.-

-Thank you for finding it.-

-My pleasure. And the boat is fine. Everything looks good.-

"Clayton gets to keep his alcohol. I guess it's only some beer. That's fine."

Jenna sits down. "Never take a class with Professor Nicely. He is not nice and will fail you if you forget to capitalize a letter."

Akmae nods. "I've heard horror stories about him. One time, he failed an entire class."

"I'll make a note. Thank you." I type that into my phone's note box. That's important to know.

Conner kisses my head. "I'm going to grab something on my way to the office, baby."

"Did they figure anything out?"

"Only what Drogon says goes. And Penn can f**k off. You're the queen and have to deal with that first."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'll see you after school. Love you."

"I love you too."

He kisses my head again before he goes.

Everyone else seems to show up at exactly the same time. We spend lunch talking and laughing.

During the game, Monte and granny are back in the front row. I love it. I show them all kinds of stuff.