Chapter Three

The Good, The Bad, The Smugly

After her math class, Savannah walked to the creative arts building, which is situated on the other side of the school.

After a somewhat calm and exciting lesson, the assembly bell had rung.

As Savannah walks past the year 8 building on her way to her locker, she sees the back of a curly haired boy's head that she could only recognise as Ben.

He was rhythmically drumming his sticks on the wooden lockers as several 8th graders stand and watched in awe.

Savannah scoffs and laughs to herself while shaking her head. Ben is talented, but he is a trouble maker, Savannah thought it was best to let as teacher tell Ben off and goes on about her business.

Assembly goes on for what feels like a lifetime, the new Principle, Mr Jones, Mitchell's father, is a short plump man with a round childlike face, he looks nothing like his son, except maybe his eyes.

He had a firm sincere voice yet not a single word he was saying was being heard to by Savannah.

He mentioned something about the standards of school uniforms, changes in the menu in canteen and possibly something about staffing, Savannah could hardly remember.

Time seemed to be going painstakingly slow, Savannah wishing she'd eaten more than a few grapes for recess was finding it hard to stay awake, as the hot summer air drifted in and out of the school hall.

"Now, boys and girls the moment you've been waiting for," Mr Jones announced, snapping Savannah back into reality, "It is time to announce the school captains for Holy Cross High for the year.

Butterflies fluttered in Savannah's stomach as she saw Leon walking across the stage followed by Jake Mathers, who Savannah remembered as a carefree boy who spent 99 percent of his time at the beach; he had long fawn blond hair that fell to his shoulders and beaming smile.

Following Jake was Emily Sanders, she had a heart-shaped face with a dimple on each cheek, her sandy blonde hair was in a sleek high ponytail like it always is.

Emily is as beautiful on the outside as she is on the inside, Savannah always admires her kindness and intellect.

If there was anyone else Savannah would want to be captain other than Leon it would hands down be Emily.

Savannah tries with every fibre of her being, to relinquish from rolling her eyes and groan out loud when Natalie Georgevski trails after Emily with her nose in the air, bouncing with every step she took.

Her sleek, black hair went past her oval-shaped face and down to her waist, her high cheekbones were so defined, Savannah could see them from where she was seated. If Natalie wasn't such a vile person she would actually be quite beautiful, thinks Savannah.

"I'm proud to say that the school captain for this year is," spoke Mr Jones as the four candidates stiffened, they nervously stood side by side, awaiting the announcement of their victory or possible failure.

Savanah wished Mr Jones would hurry up and say Leon's name already.

It felt like hours had passed as the hall of 8 hundred and something students sat silently at the end of their seats with bated breath awaiting the announcement that is somewhat insignificant yet detrimental if the wrong leaders are chosen.

"Congratulations to Mr Leon Thompson!" said Mr. Jones, Savannah squealed with excitement as she watched her best friend shaking the principle's hand vigorously. The other three candidates smiled, clapped and congratulated Leon.

"And I am pleased to announce that Miss Emily Sanders is the vice captain, well done Emily!" Savannah feels overjoyed, she clapped so hard her palms turned red and numb, Leon looked at her and gave her a thumbs up as Jake and Natalie were dismissed from the stage.

"I want you to go out, do your absolute best and succeed in your academic endeavours this year, make the most of the opportunities that come your way!" preached Mr Jones.

"Now go out and enjoy your lunches," he chuckled, waving the students farewell, which Savannah found hilariously dramatic.

Savannah makes her way to her locker, the humid air curling her every stand of already frizzy hair.

She busied herself grabbing her lunch and sorting out her books for the last two periods of the day.

As she closed her locker door, she saw Leon approaching her, fiddling with the gold School Captain badge on his chest as he beamed at her.

Savannah's joy of seeing Leon is short-lived when she sees Leon being closely followed by his gang of superficial 'friends'.

The thought of them made Savannah want to gag.

Its not that Savanah was too judgemental, she really has tried, for the sake of Leon to be friends with some of his friends, but they made her feel anxious and being around them wasn't worth an anxiety attack.

'Maybe I'm being too harsh', Savannah thought to herself when she recalls that not all of them were nasty to her.

'What should I say? how should I act? what should I do?' She thought to herself, her heart hammering against her chest.

Before she could think, she was face-to-face with a very happy-looking Leon, Mitchell who was smugly smiling down at Savannah as he leaned into the neighbouring locker, even when he did this he was towering over all of them, somebody had clearly had a growth spurt over the summer.

Behind Leon stood Ethan Richardson, who was wearing his school jumper with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows to show-off the dazzling watch which he most likely stole.

Ethan was a bully who quite frankly uses too much hair-gel to erect his tanned-blond hair.

He was probably one of the people Savannah disliked most, for one, he and his meathead minion Caleb Strident who stood with his arms crossed and bushy eyebrows furrowed, used to bully Savannah and Leon; it's baffling to Savannah how Leon had managed to find a friend in either of them.

Ethan and Caleb are inseparable, Savannah had always found Caleb as an unintelligent being, unable to think or act for himself, desiring the approval of Ethan since the third grade or Leon, the group's 'leader.'

Ever since Leon's formed friendship with the meatheads in tenth grade, Ethan and Caleb diverted from calling Savannah 'hairy-hash Brown' to only just referring to her by her last name; 'Brown'.

Natalie stands staring at Savannah with her smouldering eyes while resting her elbow on Heather King's shoulder - the captain of every sports team there ever was.

Heather has honey-blonde hair parted in the front that falls past her triangle-shaped face to her shoulders. She stares at Savannah from head to toe, with an expression that Savannah found frustratingly hard to read.

When Savannah made the effort to be friends with Leon's friends, Heather would be the one to taunt Savannah the most, even more than her partner-in-crime Natalie.

It had become more and more obvious to Savannah that Heather would build friendships with people only if they are to her benefit.

Together they form they most popular friendship group in the entire school, for their looks, talent, status or popularity, in Leon's case he was all of the above.

It seemed that everyone in the school wanted to be a part of this group apart from Savannah, who could see right through each of them.

"Can you believe it Sav?!" Leon said, barely able to contain his smile.

"Yeah, congrats mate, though if I have to be honest Lee, I've always known you were going to get it." Said Savannah grinning at Leon.

"We all knew he would," breathes Natalie, which as usual, made Savannah feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Brown, you don't even say 'hi' to me no more, how long have we known each other?" exclaims Ethan.

Savannah flashes him an awkward yet polite smile as he reaches in and hugs her.

When she pulls away from him, Heather's face is etched with fury. 'This is why I can't be around these people' Savannah thought.

"What? No love for me?" said Caleb's deep husky voice.

'You've got to be kidding me' exclaims the voice inside Savannah's head.

Despite the complete imbeciles Savannah thinks both Ethan and Caleb were, she doesn't have the heart to publicly reject and humiliate someone, not even them.

"Hi Savannah! Good holiday?" Says a kind, dreamy voice, Savannah's eyes search until they find Emily who emerges from Leon's side.

She was so much shorter than all of them that Savannah couldn't see her until this point. She must've been the groups new 'recruit' in her victory of school vice captain.

Savannah is glad Emily emerged so that she would have a reason not to give Caleb a hug.

"Hi Em, uh, hi all," said Savannah meeting everyone's eyes as she shot Leon a disgruntled glare.

"Did you guys have a nice summer break?"

"Not bad Savannah," said Mitchell his smug smile still present in every detail of his face.

"Yours?" he asks, leaning in a little to close for Savannah's liking.

"Yeah, not bad at all I just-" "Leo," interrupts Natalie, as loud and rude as she possibly could, Mitchell shoots her an annoyed look as Leon slowly turns his head towards her.

"We're gonna go and have lunch. Can't stand waiting around all day, are you coming?" she said, slowly twirling her glossy black hair in her fingers.

A lump grows in Savannah's throat, she isn't oversensitive in the slightest, but she however, disliked being in situations that made her anxious and this certainly did.

Savannah pretends to look through her locker to hide her face and the tears welling up in her eyes. She wished someone would speak to break the awkward and tense silence.

"Don't call me 'Leo' Natalie," spoke Leon in a calm yet firm tone, he put his hands in his pockets.

"You guys go on, Mitch I'll see you period six!" Savannah kept her head inside her locker until she heard their footsteps recede. "I'll stop calling you 'Leo' when you start calling me 'Nat.'" Savannah heard Natalie whisper before strutting away as Leon scoffed.

How could someone be so childish?

Savannah composes herself and exhales a breath she didn't notice she was holding, "What's for lunch?" asks Leon.

Savannah heaves a sigh, "why would you do that to me?" she said in a voice that was shakier than she would've liked.

"I'm sorry Sav, I tried to get rid of them before coming to you honestly, but I didn't know your locker was so close to the assembly hall," said Leon in a loud whisper, looking sorrow and cautious, as if Savannah were about to burst into tears right then and there.

After a long silence, Savannah spoke "I have leftovers for lunch, you?" Leon smiles at her "A tuna sandwich my dear old mother made for me this morning," he said in a mock British accent, which didn't cheer Savannah as much as it usually would however, she appreciated the effort.

Savannah spent the majority of her lunch in the garden listening to Leon go on about his ideas on his upcoming portfolio for his visual communication class.

Even though she wasn't remotely interested in a logo design for a hypothetical tea company; she loved watching him ramble on about something he was passionate about, she would occasionally suggest some ideas just to add fuel to the fire of Leon's ideas.

"So what do you wanna do when we get outta this place?" said Leon, ruffling his wind swept hair, "Well tonight I've got work, I expect it'll be a slow day, but then again, everyday is a slow day at the library," says Savannah with a chuckle.

"Sav, I was talking about after graduation, and I forget you still work at the place where noise is forbidden," teases Leon, "how's Mrs Bernard by the way?"

Mrs Bernard is the head librarian in the library Savannah worked at.

She's a sweet old lady, who offered Savannah volunteer work after noticing the amount of time Savannah spent in the library in exchange for a premium library card where she can borrow an unlimited amount of books every two months.

"It's also the place where information on merely anything and everything lies and where anything is possible," retorts Savannah humorously, "slow your roll, Shakespeare." chuckles Leon.

"Mrs Bernard is great, if you came to the library more often you can ask her how she is yourself," smiles Savannah.

"Um... no, my good friend. Just like how a party is not your 'scene' the library isn't particularly mine," smiles Leon.

"Fair point, my not-so-good friend," Savannah giggled.

"But seriously Sav, what does this time next year look like for you?" asked Leon resting his head on his palm.

"I mean, if I get accepted I'd like to go to university and major in something, I don't know yet I'll have to see what my parents think."

"You're gonna graduate just to go to school again... I respect that." Said Leon.

Savannah can't tell where this conversation is going, talking about parting ways next year was always uncomfortable to speak about for the pair, especially Leon.

"But why aren't you excited about it?" asked Leon in a tone that induced ominous tranquillity.

"What do you mean? I am excited about nex-" "No you're not." Leon interrupted bluntly.

Confused, Savannah sits in silence, waiting for Leon to elaborate.

"Savannah," Leon begins, Savannah knew that when Leon called her by her full name, she was in for a lecture.

"When I watch you talk about the things you love, a fire lights up in your eyes and I can feel the warmth of it as you project onto me, your voice is filled with excitement when you talk about your favourite poet for instance," he gazes into Savannah eyes endearingly.

"For goodness sake Savannah, you sound more excited when you talk about working in the library than you do when you're talking about your future." He said exasperatedly.

"You're the biggest dreamer I know, that head of yours is filled with so many incredible ideas, so don't be afraid and dream big kiddo." He finished, with a sincere smile on his face.

The bell rings, "I'll see you in homeroom tomorrow," said Leon as he patted Savannah on the back and made his way towards the year 12 building.

As Savannah made her way to her ecology class she was still tyring to process what had just happened.

Leon is just looking out for the best interest of Savannah, he's always been that way; giving Savannah the tough love and the push she needs.

Then it hit her that Leon, her best friend for years had always been the weight that gently pulled her back to the ground when her dreams would take her to the moon but also the force that pushed her to reach for the skies.

Words would fail to describe how grateful she is to have a friend like Leon to understand her better than she understands herself.