"... And that's why some people claim that the USSR's actions were the cause of the Cold War."

I was on the verge of falling asleep. The only thing that was keeping me awake was the constant poking of Brock's pencil on my arm and Cory trying cringe-worthy yet funny pick up lines on me.

Cory was part of the football team as well, which was obvious as he was never seen in the school hallways without his Letterman Jacket.

I sighed, resting my chin in my arms as I stared forward;. Thankfully we were seated at the back, on the opposite side of my teacher's desk, so if I was to take a nap he wouldn't see me straight away.

Elijah poked my arm lightly then hissed as if I burned him. I glanced at him, amused to see where this was going.

"Damn Chloe, I think you have sunburn." He said with concern, but then he adopted a sexy smirk. "Or are you always this hot?"

I burst out laughing, holding my hand out for a high five which he hit, grinning.

"If you were to wink at the end, I would totally fall for that." I told him. He nodded.

"Okay, let me try this one." He said, rubbing his hands together and linking his lips. Then he suddenly paused and turned to me, sheepishly.

"You're so beautiful that you made me forget my pickup line." He told me shyly. I was so surprised at seeing a shy Elijah that I couldn't stop myself lightly blushing.

"Dude! I made her blush!" Elijah laughed; punching Brock to get his attention. I groaned and buried my face in my hands when Brock started chuckling.

"If you were a booger, I'd pick you first." Brock's deep voice said, and him and Elijah burst into hysterics when my face screwed up in disgust.

"My love for you is like diarrhoea, I just can't hold it in." Elijah piped in, and this time we all joined into the laughter.

The guy seated in front of us, Cory turned around and looked me straight in my eyes.

"If a thousand painters worked for a thousand years, they could not create a work of art as beautiful as you." He told me sincerely.

I almost melted on the spot.

It was silent for a moment, but when I started applauding him the atmosphere turned back to joking as the guys joked with each other. Cory winked at me before turning around in his seat.

"Now, that's how you do it." Brock told Elijah who simply pouted and crossed his arms in return.

The whole class went silent at the loud banging of the classroom door, and I looked up to see a pissed-off John standing there with his things. Without sparing anyone a glance, he stormed into the classroom and sat on the desk next to ours.

"Excuse me, young man-" Our history teacher, an elderly man, began but another teacher re-appeared in the doorway, Mrs Valencia, our guidance counsellor. She smiled reassuringly at our teacher and after a few words with him; he seemed considerably calmer and walked back to his desk after Mrs Valencia left.

"So, you're our new student, Mr Allen?" Our history teacher, (whose name I just couldn't remember) asked.

"Yes." Was his clipped reply. I raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Our teacher just huffed and turned around to carry on his expression, but I carried on watching John, waiting for him to look in my direction so I could wave or something.

When did you get so desperate? Tone it down, Chloe.

My subconscious was right. I was just like all the other girls in the classroom who couldn't take their attention of him, but he looked like he couldn't care less as he plugged in earphones ton his phone and started listening to music.

I was honestly shocked. Tobi said he'd changed to your cliché bad boy, but I thought she was joking. That maybe he'd gained some popularity or something.

John was an absolute nerd. But the same John was completely ignoring the lesson and using his phone which was banned during school time.

Not that I cared, or anything. That would be weird.

Because he was a girlfriend. I was reminded. I sunk lower into my seat when I remembered this, suddenly feeling tired.

"You good?" Elijah whispered in my ear, keeping his arm over the back of my chair. I nodded, resisting the urge to go asleep on his shoulder.

"Arms to yourself, Elijah." Our teacher told him firmly, making everyone in the class turn back to look at us, with a few 'oohs' from Teresa in the front row.

"Sorry boss." Elijah said, smirking but as soon as the teacher turned around his arm went back on my chair. I could feel an intense gaze on the side of my face and I already knew it was John, but I refused to look at him, as that's what the girl in the movie always does when her love interest gets jealous.

Wait whoa, love interest?

"I'm going to take a dump." John said, abruptly scraping his chair back as he stood up, and without a glance back he left the classroom. Our teacher seemed unsure on what to do, and I couldn't blame the poor guy.

John didn't come back for the rest of the lesson.

*****

"So, do you guys speak to John?" I asked Teresa and Maya as I slurped on the milkshake Brock had smuggled me.

"He's a ass." A new voice said as I felt a presence next to me. I looked up to see Melissa placing her tray on the table and sitting down next to me with a flick of her flawless dark brown locks.

"An ass." I corrected with a mouthful of salad, and I didn't need to look at her to see she already flipped me off.

I'd met Melissa a few days after I'd started because we sat next to each other in English due to a seating plan. She seemed a bit intimidating but when I decided to break the ice by asking her for gum the conversation flowed easier.

I also found out she was cousins with Taylor Marisetta, who she despised for some unknown reason, and had no problem telling me loads of embarrassing stories about her.

"What makes you say that?" Maya asked, smacking her gum.

"Tramp." I mumbled and she quieted down. Yeah, that's what I thought.

"The guy charmed me with all this cheesy crap and I actually fell for it." She scoffed, seemingly disgusted with herself. "Then straight after the deed was done, I didn't even get a glance from him."

"Ouch." I laughed. All three girls stared at me with matching offense showing on their faces. I cleared my throat.

"As in, ouch for him because look at what he's missing out on!" I laughed, covering up my slip up and pushing Melissa a bit more forcefully than I needed to.

"Right?" I asked, kicking Teresa. She looked at me bewildered. I just decided to keep quiet and eat my food.

We carried on charting for a few minutes when I saw Tobi walk by. As she wasn't in for the whole week and I didn't have her number yet I hadn't spoken to her in what seemed like ages, so naturally I left my food (after making sure it was heavily guarded by the girls) to go and say hi.

Just a side note – I'd never leave my food unless something is important. Tobi should be flattered.

"Tobi!" I called out and when I reached her table, sat across her. "You good?"

"Oh, hey Chloe." She replied, smiling but it seemed a bit forced. "Um, could you-"

"When I heard the rumours of the actual Chloe Woods returning to our beloved hometown, I almost couldn't believe it." A familiar voice from behind me said. I sighed as a perfectly tanned manicured hand was placed on my shoulder.

I stood up and turned around to come face to face with Taylor.

I was flabbergasted. Did she have some beauty-enhancement cream or body lotion that made her look flawless?

Whatever you're using, hook me up on some. I thought to myself.

"Excuse me?" Taylor snapped, frowning. I nearly face-palmed. Great moment to speak out loud.

"You look great!" I gushed to distract her, as only one thing could distract Taylor. Herself.

"Obviously." She replied, flipping her straight dark caramel hair over her shoulder and somehow hitting me in the face with it. I resisted the urge to grab it and stuff it down her throat.

I raised an eyebrow when she didn't return the compliment. Okay, maybe I was being a bit petty, but was this girl that vain that she couldn't compliment my hard-worked on appearance today?

As in, my outfit actually matched today.

"You look, um..." She trailed off, taking in my outfit and probably analysing every bit of it. She never finished her sentence but just hugged me, squealing with fake excitement. I slowly detached myself from her arms, trying to hide the disdain on my face. I snort from Tobi who was watching the exchange showed I wasn't hiding it well enough.

"My food is gonna get cold, so I'll talk to you later." I told her, backing away. She smiled but it was full of no warmth."

"I wish I could eat as much as you and not worry about how much weight I gain!" She exclaimed and with a wave, sat back down with Tobi.

Firstly, was that a backhanded compliment? Scratch that, was it even a compliment or an insult said in a nice voice?

Secondly, when did those twio become friends? In middle school, Tobi disliked her more than anyone else did.

"What was going on there?" Teresa asked as I sat down. I sighed.

"Fake smiles and cleverly masked insults." Was my short reply. I felt like some kind of genius, summing it all up into one sentence.

"Okay, smart-ass. Tell us the details later." Maya replied, making me laugh.

"Guys, didn't your lunch break finish eight minutes ago?" Melissa asked, looking at her designer watch. In frowned, no that wasn't possible because we were due back at 1:35 and it was 1:43...

While I was calculating, Maya and Teresa had already gathered their food and ran out of the cafeteria. Melissa laughed at my astonished yet scared expression as grabbed my milkshake and sprinted. Somehow I managed to not spill any while running, but I did knock into Maisie and make her drop her milkshake. After a rushed apology and a dirty look in return, I carried on jogging.

There was a crowd outside of my classroom, so as I was pushing through someone gave me a light shove with made me tumble ibnto my silent classroom. My teacher was in the middle of reading something when everyone looked up to stare at me. Not knowing what to do, I just waved.

"CHLOE WOODS!" My teacher screamed.

"Sir, I'm right here there's no need to shout." I complained, massaging my ear buds as I walked to my seat, very aware I was not going home on time tonight.

I heard faint laughter from outside and looked through the class window to see Elijah and Cory laughing their butts off. I gave them my best glare which resulted into them laughing harder.

My teacher narrowed his eyes at them, and swiftly started walking towards the door. One second they wer e there, the next I saw Cory pushing Elijiah with a panicked look on his face as they made their escape.

"Does anyone know the names of these students?" My teacher asked the glass. Grinning, I raised my hand.

"Cory Mathews and Elijah Garcia, Sir." I told him loudly and clearly. As he nodded and wrote them down I laughed to myself.

Detention was going to be fun.

*****