Althena Book 2

106. See You Next Year

School is weird with the seniors gone. It seems empty. The teachers don't try to teach us anything. They give us educational games or let us watch movies. Choir turns back into an area to talk. I would say study hall, but nobody has any homework.

"Planning anything fun this summer?" Lila sits beside me.

"The boys were talking about taking me away one at a time. Long weekend. What about you?"

"My parents always rent a lake house for a week. It's kind of boring."

"You'll get some nice family time."

"Yea, but we live together. I don't need a whole week of it."

"Now that you mention it, that is kind of weird."

"Yea, same people, different scenery. We have that cheer camp coming up in a few weeks too. That'll be fun."

"Us and Amber?"

"Yep. Oh, did you hear about Jenna?"

"No. I haven't even seen her since prom."

"She's pregnant."

"Are you serious?"

"Yep. I heard she doesn't know who the father is. But I don't know. It might just be rumors."

"Was she dating anyone? You can't get pregnant from blowjobs. I didn't think she was sleeping with anyone."

"The night she left my party, I guess she went and slept with all the guys she left with."

"Damn."

"Yea, I guess she found her real party. But I don't know how much of that is real or rumor."

"Still crazy."

"Yea, let's go to lunch."

It's so weird sitting beside Conner's empty chair. Every time I look at it, I want to cry. It's hard to believe that something as simple as sitting beside someone during lunch meant so much. I really miss him.

"Where is she?" Lexi stands up and looks around.

Akmae opens my juice. "Drink that. And I have her in my English class. She showed up 20 minutes late for the exam. Teacher was pissed."

Amber shrugs her shoulders. "She's the one who decided she wasn't good enough for us. She's the one who wanted to act like a w***e. This is where it got her. Those were her decisions."

Akmae pushes my plate at me. "Eat."

"I miss him."

"I know. But it's 3 days and it's only lunch. You can make it."

Lila smirks. "We just have to keep everyone out of that chair so you don't get touchy. Eat though. We can make it 3 days."

"What about next year?"

"We'll change tables."

Amber nods. "We'll claim a senior table."

I put my head down and cry. He didn't get to sit at a senior table because of me.

Conner sits food down and rubs my back. "You're alright."

I pop up. "How are you here?"

"I used the door. You're getting out at lunch today and tomorrow. Wednesday, Crew is going to go over your scores with us." He winks. "I'm here to pick you up and steal lunch."

Amber smiles. "Well, that's better than crying. She is completely lost without you sitting there. Maybe now she can join the conversation."

I lay my head on his shoulder and scoot as close as I can. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, babygirl. I'm here now."

"Lovely." Lexi smiles. "Did you know Jenna is pregnant?"

"I didn't know she was pregnant. I knew the day of your party, she ran off and slept with 5 or 6 guys on the basketball team."

"How did you know?"

"Matt invited me and Clayton to the party. We stopped in at some point after we kicked them out of your house. She was drunk and stupid. Running around half naked asking guys if they wanted to f**k her. We turned around and left."

"I wonder why. At the party she said Matt was her crush."

"No idea. Some girls think that type of attention makes them special."

Katen rolls her eyes. "It only makes them whores and the guys are just as bad. Now one of them is going to be a dad. I bet they're all worried about it."

"Serves them right for being that stupid."

Josh sit by Amber.

Lexi nearly pounces on him. "Did you know Jenna is pregnant?"

"I've heard. I don't know what happened at the party. I wasn't there. But I guess she tried to tell Matt it was his. He laughed in her face and said he would never f**k a w***e. He wasn't one of the guys that did her and to try pinning it on someone else."

"Did he?" Conner asks.

"I don't know. I know she was blowing him for a while."

"Where is she?"

"No idea. No way she's going to show her face though. The whole school knows what a w***e she is now."

Katen nods. "Probably in the bathroom."

"If she's pregnant, she needs to eat. I'll check the bathroom." Lila goes and Saray follows her.

Kristen shakes her head. "I know the baby needs food, but I don't want to sit by her. Who knows what weird things she has."

"You do make a good point." I shake my head. "Catch some weird bug or something."

Conner kisses my cheek. "We can talk about it later, but you're not going to catch something by..."

Alarms sound throughout the building. All of us look at Akmae. "Wasn't me this time."

We look around and that's exactly what everyone else is doing. Conner takes off. Nobody is fighting.

I shrug my shoulders and eat my taco. "He'll figure it out."

"So, is anyone doing anything fun this summer? Other than the cheer camp."

"I'm taking some long weekends with my boys."

Akmae smiles. "Chris is coming at the end of the week. He said he'll be here all summer. Maybe I can sneak away with him for a weekend."

"We should test you and Chris for the soulmate bond."

"You can do that?" Josh is staring at me.

"Yea. But the couple has to be close. They have to love each other for it to work. Conner and I kept..."

Conner pulls me out of my seat. "Need a heal, baby."

I grab his hands and heal. "What happened?"

"Not me." He's guiding me through the cafeteria. "Jenna attacked Lila."

I run for the bathroom. Lila is out cold with blood on her head. The school medical staff are with her. Saray is talking to the school security.

"Am I good to heal her?"

"She's a trauma healer. Nobody can say anything. Mark down her injuries and stop there." Penn is writing something down.

"Of course."

"Heal her, babygirl."

I take her arms and heal her. She opens her eyes.

Penn takes over. "What happened?"

"I asked her if she's pregnant. She said yes. I told her she could sit with us. She doesn't need to hide. She told me to mind my own business and hit me with her tray."

"Your parents are on the way to transport you home. You were knocked out temporarily."

"I'm fine. She healed me." She gets up off the floor.

I nod. "Yea, but you got blood in your hair. You need to wash that out."

She spins around and checks the mirror. "I guess I will be going home. See everyone tomorrow."

Penn takes her out. "You can't leave without your parents and the police are going to need the statement first."

Conner walks me and Saray back to our table. "Jenna attacked Lila."

"Why?"

Saray shrugs her shoulders. "Lila invited her to sit here. She hit her with a tray. Knocked her out and busted her head open."

"Is she ok?"

"Yea, she's fine now."

We finish our lunch, then Conner takes me home.

The next day at lunch, we talk about Jenna getting expelled for the rest of the year. It's only 2 days, but still. Lila comes back as perfect as can be.

Finally, it's the last day.

I sit down for lunch and everyone is so excited. People keep randomly showing up at our table and saying goodbye. I get lots of hugs. All 4 of my boys sit with us. I am as happy as can be.

Then I go to Crew's room with them.

"Welcome. Everyone have a seat, and we'll look at the scores."

I sit on Mike and snuggle him. He rubs my back and tries to get me to relax.

"Here they are." She points a computer monitor at us. It's a bar graph. I don't even know what I'm looking at. "10 subjects. Green bar is average for Green Valley students in her grade. Red is what she scored in each subject." She hands me a paper with the same bar graph.

I hold Mike and cry. I didn't get it.

"Babygirl, look again."

I point at my math score. It's so bad.

Drogon puts his hand on it. "Ignore that one."

"And this is the average for students in your grade. This is not what is required to move on. Red is you."

"I'm higher in every other subject."

"This is what we require to graduate." She puts a clear paper with black lines on it, over the graph.

"I can graduate?"

"Not quite yet. You will be coming next year. Your math has improved a lot, but it's still quite low. You'll have to take two math classes. We have to work hard on that. I also cannot approve you to take chemistry. Chemistry uses a lot of math and I don't believe you're there yet. So, you'll have to take biology or earth science. Which would you like?"

"I don't know." I wipe my eyes off.

"Biology you get to dissect something." Cyrus winks.

"I'll take earth."

Crew laughs. "Earth science, geometry, statistics, choir?" I nod. "Civics is required. Choose one from this list and, instead of a study hall, you will be with me last period. We're going to focus on math and make sure you can graduate. But, as always, I can help you with all the classes."

Drogon takes the paper. "A few histories. Public speaking. Computer. Writing. Psychology. Gym. English. Business."

"Gym. That's an easy A."

"You're in cheer. Cheer takes the place of your gym credits. If you don't want to cheer, we can put gym on there."

"No. I want to cheer. I don't know. What's not too hard?"

Drogon rubs my foot. "Computer would be good for you, babygirl. It's not too hard, and you'll need to get more comfortable with them before you take any college classes."

Mike kisses my head. "That's true. Especially if you want to take anything online."

"Computer."

"Perfect. I'll give this to Mr. Penn and you'll get the schedule before school starts. I also wanted to let you know the summer sports sign up sheets are in the office."

"I'll look at them."

"Wonderful. You are free to go. Have a wonderful summer and I'll see you next year."