The party ran early into the morning even though everyone had school the next day.

I called it quits around 2 and let Jordan take over, retreating to my room. So now, I lay in my bed, listening to my alarm buzz on my nightstand.

I reached over and smacked it off with a groan and got up to put together an outfit. The weather was getting colder so I settled on a white long sleeve lace crop top, my black jeans, white vans, and my leather jacket.

Once I changed, I walked into my bathroom and brushed my teeth. I let my hair flow down my back in natural waves. Opening my drawer I grabbed my foundation, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara. It was going to be a rough day at school having to see Logan and Makayla, so I decided to look somewhat badass.

After all, Logan is the one who insisted that I revealed the true me.

"Hey Mason are you almost ready?" I yelled from my spot downstairs in the kitchen.

"Yeah almost. I'm just slipping on my shoes." I heard the door slam and his heavy footsteps run down the stairs.

When he got to the base I tossed him an apple, "Let's go." I swiped my keys off the hook and unlocked my car. Usually on my way to school, I would've played Paramore or something of that kind, but today I put the album Reputation on shuffle.

Mason gave me a confused look while he took a bite of the apple, "This is new. What gives?" He asked while chewing.

I shrugged my shoulders and flipped down the visor to check my makeup real quick, "Just in a Taylor Swift mood I guess."

I peeled out of the driveway and made the long, annoying, drive to school.

When we pulled up to the school, I snagged the first parking spot and turned up '...Ready For It?' to pump myself up.

"You good Daytona?" Mason leaned over and patted my shoulder, "I'm here for you if you need."

I rolled my eyes and applied a little bit of lip gloss, "I'm fine. Just, leave me to me today okay?"

I flung open the car door and walked out leaving Mason behind.

Currently, my first priority was to find Jaxon. I didn't know what I was going to do when I got there, but I would think of something. So I walked around the halls before I found him and his buddies huddled near the cafeteria.

When I was still several feet away, Jaxon looked up and made eye contact with me. Smiling, he waved me over to his group.

"Hey what's up." I said a little more cheery then I intended it it be.

"Nothing much. Hey guys this is Daytona." I waved my hand at the group around me. I recognized about four of the five people that I stood amongst.

One of them was Brody Davison. 5'8, point guard for our varsity basketball team, and one of the worst personalities I've ever met. To say he was a pig, was putting it nicely. Last year, he filmed a video of one of the cheerleaders changing. Of course he sent it to his buddies and somehow it got leaked, but no one would say who it was from so the only one who walked away from that situation wounded, was the girl.

Then there was Ben Smith. I wasn't quite sure what sport he played, but I knew he was athletic. Hell, even a blind person could tell that Ben worked out for a couple of hours each day.

Drew Chance, was probably my favorite out of this group aside from Jaxon. He was polite and respectful to girls and authority. Generally he was pretty quiet unless he was with the swim team. Man that dude loved to swim more then anything, and it showed. He was first in the state for men's 200 freestyle.

Lastly, Carter Martinez. Despite his last name he was probably the whitest person ever. He was the definition of future frat boy. From the hair, down to the Polo shirt, to the khaki shorts, and to the Sperrys.

The other dude, I had no clue who he was, but he left shortly after anyways.

"So Daytona, what brings you over here?" Ben asked with a wave of his hand, gesturing his little group.

"You wanted to hang out with me right babe?" Brody slung his arm over my shoulder and I made a sound of disgust and scooted out from under it.

"As if. I actually came over here to talk to Jaxon." All the boys, except for Drew, hooted and hollered. I rolled my eyes at their immature behavior.

"So what'd you want to talk about?" Jaxon pulled me aside a little further away from the testosterone group.

I gave him a little forced, flirty smile. "Nothing really. I just wanted to chat I guess." Within the second the words fell off of my lips, I could tell I had him wrapped around my finger.

"Oh uh. Sure, yeah, sure. Uh do you want to eat lunch with us today?" His face had turned a light shade of pink.

"That would be great." I said with fake enthusiasm. "I've got to run. I need to take care of something. See you at lunch." I stood on my tip toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked off.

The entire time I was with that group, I could feel the heated gaze again and I wanted to know who it belonged too. I obviously had a few ideas, but I didn't want to get ahead of myself.

Not only that, but the longer I stood in their presence, the more IQ points I lost.

So in the ten minutes before the bell rang I went out in search of the person who sent unpleasant shivers down my spine.

I ended up spending half of first period trying to find that one person, but I could find him. So once the feeling stopped, so did I. I headed up the stairs to my Physics class and walked in late.

"You're late Daytona. This is the fifth time this semester." My teacher barked at me from her position at the board.

I rolled my eyes and slid into an empty seat in the back, "Yeah. Whatever. Mark me late and get on with the lesson."

I sunk back and crossed my arms.

Mrs. Bradley dropped the eraser she was holding and gave me a look of disbelief, "Excuse me? That is not how you talk to me young lady."

I rolled my eyes again, "You could continue with this lesson and ignore me. But for some reason you seem to be infatuated with me." I gave her an unpleasant smile and I could see steam coming out of her ears.

"This is not you, Daytona." I slammed my hands down on the desk at her comment.

"Can everyone stop saying that? This is me okay? Get used to it! I'm done trying to be who everyone wants me to be." Mrs. Bradley and the whole class sat in silence, looking at me in fear.

Even though I had just walked in, I grabbed my bag and stormed out of the room, slamming the door on whatever she had to say.

For some reason, as I walked down the empty hallways, tears filled my eyes and I jammed the heel of my hand into my eyes while trying to keep them from spilling.

While I wasn't looking, I ran into someone, causing folders and papers to spill everywhere.

"Watch where you're going dickhead." I mumbled even though it was my fault.

"I'm sorry Daytona." I knew that voice all to well. At the sound of him, my heart did flips.

I ignored his fake apology that was filled with playfulness and asked, "Well are you going to help me pick this up or just stand there looking like an idiot?"

Logan dropped on his knees and started gathering the papers that scattered around. "Here." He handed me the stack of papers and I shoved them in my bag. "Daytona,"

I put my hand up and stopped him, "Whatever you're going to say, stop. I don't care."

I met his eyes and they were filled with regret. "I'm sorry." Is all he said before he jumped up and ran off.

"Sorry for what?" I called after him, but he was already gone.

I slung my back pack over my shoulder just as the bell rang. The once empty and ghostly hallways were now filled with students heading to their next class.

Speaking of next classes, mine was English. With Logan.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and held my head up high. So what if he and Makayla are together? He was never really mine anyways so I should stop thinking about it.

When I got to class I slid into my assigned seat: second row, last aisle.

I dropped my bag at my feet and rested my chin in my hand and stared out the window.

When the bell rang our teacher cleared his voice and brought everyone's attention to him. "I know it's late in the semester, but a new student will be joining our class. He's moved from regular English to this class. Everyone, please make Jaxon feel welcomed."

I shot my head forward. Jaxon? In this class? I met his eyes and he gave me a sly smirk.

I cut my gaze to the side and saw Logan mentally ripping Jaxon to shreds.

"Mind if I sit here?" He asked standing next to the empty desk beside me.

"Sure. I don't mind." I kept my a little flirty. He set his stuff down next to me and took a seat.

"Weird that I end up in the same class as you. "

"Yeah weird. How'd you even end up switching? The semester is practically over."

He shrugged his shoulders, "I had a one hundred in that class the whole year, so my teacher decided to move me."

"Nice." I gave him a genuine smile and turned back to the teacher, focusing in on the lesson.

"From today until the end of this semester, you will be working on a group project." The class cheered and some people high-fived, and when Jaxon looked at me, I gave him a small smile, "Quiet done now. I've assigned the groups already. There will be seven groups of three."

The kids who were once cheering, groaned at the unfairness and even I found myself frowning, but Mr. Fisher continued on, "Your assignment will be to pick one book, read it, analyze it, and have a report about how it shows diversity and segregation. I don't care what book you choose, but prepare to have a thorough three page report on my desk by the seventeenth.

"Here are the groups. Group number one: Carter, Alex, and Alli. Group two: Brian, Oliver, and Sam. Group three: Daytona, Jaxon, and Logan." He pushed his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose and I banged my head on the desk.

"Why me?" I muttered into the wood.

A large hand slapped down on my shoulders, "Sounds like fun, partner."

"Don't forget about him." I jabbed my think in Logans direction.

"How could I forget. Well this should be fun." I tried to summon a smile at Jaxon's enthusiasm, but nothing came.

The shrill bell cut Mr. Fisher off and simultaneously everyone pushed their chairs back and rushed out of the classroom.

~~~~🌸~~~~

Lunch finally rolled around and I was dreading it.

"What's up Daytona." Charoltte swung her arm over my shoulder and smacked her gum. Today was the first day she'd been to school in awhile.

"Sorry Char, but in not eating lunch with you guys today."

She drew her arm back and held it to her chest, "Not eating lunch with us? Then who?"

I sighed and dragged a hand down my face, "The jocks."

Her gasp was loud enough I had to check that she wasn't dead, "The jocks?!"

"Yup. See ya." I waved her goodbye and headed towards where Jaxon was. "Hey." I gave him a perky smile and sat next to him.

"Hey what's up." He scooted over so I could sit comfortably.

"Nothing much. Have you started thinking about what book we can read for that English project?" I took a bite out of my sandwich but decided against it, taking out an applesauce instead.

"What if we did To Kill A Mockingbird? I'm pretty sure we all read it as freshman, and there is a ton of diversity. It'll be a walk in the park." He took a sip out of his milk, sporting a milk stache. "So. When do you want to start?"

I let out a laugh, "You've got something right there." I pointed to his mouth and he wiped away his stache with his sleeve and gave me a crooked smile. "As for when we start, we could start this Friday."

"Cool." His friends started to fill in the spots in front and around us and as much as I wanted to reach across the table and strangle some of them, I laughed at their jokes when everyone else did and even added some jokes of my own.

"So Daytona, what about you?"

The one time I zoned out, I missed the question, "I'm sorry what?"

Brody sat across from me and nudged my foot with his, "What's your kink? Everyone's got one?"

I clenched my jaw and forced a laugh out. If I wanted to make this work, I'd need to convince everyone first. "Of course everyone has one. To tell you all the truth, it turns me on when I get pushed up against the wall and forcefully kissed."

Everyone around me oohed and I just laughed along with them. I took another bite out of my granola bar just so I didn't have to talk any more.

"D. Can I call you D? I just don't really feel like saying Daytona. It's not personal you know? Anyways, D, there is going to be a huge party this weekend. Can we count on seeing you there?" The question came from Ben.

I swallowed the bar in my mouth, "Oh yeah. Totally. Count me in." The boys high fived me and Jaxon was getting ready to say something when one of the vice principals used the megaphone.

"Daytona Lyn, Mr. Clark would like to see you. Daytona Lyn, Mr. Clark would like to see you."

"Great." I mumbled under my breath and picked up my bag, "See you later boys." I sent then a wink before I sulked over to the principal's office.

When I got there I gave two knocks on the open door, "You wanted to see me?"

"Ah yes. Ms. Lyn, have a seat." He gestured to the ugly maroon arm chair across from his desk that had the stains to prove it had seen one too many coffee spills.

I cautiously took a seat in the chair and looked at Mr. Clark. "I called you in here today to talk about your schedule." He knotted his fingers together and propped his elbows up on the desk.

"What about my schedule?" I asked.

"Well at the end of this year you will only have twenty five credits, and as you know, you need twenty six credits to graduate. This is your schedule correct Ms. Lyn?" He slid a yellow piece of paper across the polished wooden desk.

I checked all the time slots. AP Physics first, AP English second, Art 3 third, French 4 fourth, AP Forensics fifth, Health sixth, and AP Calculus seventh. "Yup. Thats my schedule. So why do I only have twenty five credits?"

"You have completed practically all your classes, earning all your credits except for one. PE." I let out a groan and Mr. Clark had an all-knowing smirk on his face as if he was saying he knew how everyone hated PE.

"So I'm going to have to join PE now?"

I saw him swallow, "Not quite. You see if you were to join PE next semester, you'd only have half a credit and sadly Coach James isn't willing to cooperate with us. But, Mrs. Adams is."

"Mrs. Adams as in the cheer coach?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes. She agreed that if you joined the cheer team today, then she would give you the credit you need to graduate. The only thing is you have to cheer at games. Competition is entirely up to you, but games are mandatory." I threw my head back and groaned.

"Cheering? Really? Come on Mr. Clark. I can't cheer! I can't even do the splits."

"According to your mom you took eight years of gymnastics and just stopped two years ago." I filed that in my head under 'Conversations to have with Mom when she gets back'.

"Okay. But don't I need to try out? What if they don't want me on the team?"

Mr. Clark just shook his head, "She is making an exception for you. Show up at practice tonight, or we'll see you again next year."

I scoffed, "Oh I promise you, you won't be seeing me next year." I got up and walked out of his room with a scowl on my face.

Sorry that this was just a filler chapter:/

What do you guys think she'll do? Will she show up to practice? Or no?

What do you think about Jaxon and his crew. 😋

And what is up with Logan? 🤔

Hm. So many questions to answer.

I hope you guys liked this chapter! Comment, vote, share if you did!

Don't be afraid to message me about any questions you have on the story!

As always, Love you all!

~May 😘❤️