“YOU READY?” MY TWIN SISTER, Trinity asked. We were sitting in my car in the student parking lot. I hadn't seen this place in two years. Everything looked the same. The building was just as janky as it was before I left. Vines were embedded into the walls. The walls were brown and dirty as if no one bothered to power wash the building in fifty years. Even the students I recognized entering the building looked the same.

"I better be. I chose to come back here." I decided staying here until college was better than staying with my father. It didn't matter if this was my last semester in high school. I'd rather spend it in some kind of peace. I’d rather be around a good parent and my sister.

Trinity and I waited until the group of students we both knew disappeared into the building. We didn’t want them to see us until I got into the classroom.

"Alright, bro." Trinity unbuckled her seat belt and lifted her backpack from the floor of her seat. "She's in your first class by the way. I don't know if Keith told you or not."

"He didn't."

Keith didn't tell me anything about her except that she was different. I knew she was still here by the car parked outside of the house across the street.

Trinity left the car, and I followed suit a few minutes later. I held my backpack close expecting the worse from Serena.

* * *

My first class was art with a teacher I had never come across before. I stood outside of the door and hesitated. I don’t know why I hesitated. It wasn’t like I didn’t know everybody else in the classroom. I’m pretty sure they all remembered me. What was I worried about? I knocked and waited. A male figure approached the door and cracked it open.

“What is it?” The teacher had on thick glasses, grey hair and a beard to match.

“Um . . .” I pulled my schedule out of my pocket and shoved it at him. “I just transferred here.”

He opened the paper and looked over his glasses at it for a long time. I stuffed my hands into my pockets and tried to peek into the classroom. I could see a few heads and some tables but that was it.

“Right. I’m Mr. Brunswick. Your teacher. You will only refer to me as Mr. Brunswick. Not Mr. B as some of the kids here think they can call me.” He said, folding the paper and handing it back to me. He eyed me for a brief second before finally stepping aside. “You must be related to Trinity. Choose whatever seat you like. Just be warned, whatever seat you choose is yours for the rest of the semester.”

Mr. Brunswick returned to his desk, and I scanned the classroom for an empty seat. My eyes found Serena and the empty seat beside her. Her hair was much longer than before and her eyes seemed darker. She looked around with confusion and curiosity as everyone who knew me let out murmurs and gasps. I didn’t bother looking around for any other empty seats. I wanted the one beside hers. I wanted to get to know this different Serena.

She still hadn’t seen me yet. A redheaded girl sitting between her and Trin nudged her shoulder. This must be their friend Keirsten. She pointed at me and Serena’s eyes found mine, following me until I sat. Her lips parted, and a small squeak came out. I grinned. She looked to my sister and then back to me. Her eyes shifted rapidly and she squinted.

“Bra-” she began and I put a finger to my lips, nodding at the teacher glaring at us. Her cheeks colored red, and she mouthed an apology to him. God she was still beautiful.

* * *

Trinity and Keith filed out of the room immediately after class ended, and I followed Serena and her redheaded friend. I stuck my hand out to Serena’s friend. “Hi. I’m Brandon. Trinity’s brother and your boyfriend’s best friend. We’ve never formally met.”

“I’m Keirsten. If you hadn’t forgotten already.” She took my hand and gave me a big smile. “Nice to finally meet you.”

She then pushed Serena towards me. Serena almost tripped from the force, but quickly recovered. I chuckled as she stuffed her hands in her pockets and looked down for a moment.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” I grinned. I could tell a million thoughts were floating around in her head by the way her eyebrows furrowed slightly and the way her lids sat on her eyes. Her brow relaxed when she picked one. “It’s good to see you again, Brandon.”

“You too.” And it was so good to see her. You would’ve thought with two years of not seeing her I would’ve moved on completely.

“You’ve still got that goofy hairstyle of yours.” She tugged a curl and placed it over the top of my head as she clicked her tongue. I folded my arms and a large smile pulled at the corners of my lips. Yep. Definitely not over her. “Everything but your hair upgraded.”

“And you’re still short.”

She placed her arms on her hips and pretended to be upset. “Hey, I grew half an inch last year!”

“Half an inch is only a small difference.” I touched the top of her head and gave her a quick once over. Keirsten laughed and Serena pursed her lips. Her lips twitched as she tried to look insulted. A small smile creeped out and she turned away to open a locker. The warning bell rang indicating one minute left until the start of the next class.

“We’ll see you at lunch, Brandon.” Keirsten began to pull Serena away. Serena looked back and gave me a small wave.

* * *

I found my usual lunch table covered in unfamiliar beings resembling humans. Fan girls emerged from the depths of darkness, infecting my table. Only a few jocks and jockettes were allowed to circle my sanctum. Most of the people at this table were my friends. So why were all these humans here?

I stuck out my lower lip. I didn’t own the table, but I didn’t like this change either.

“That’s not an attractive look, babe.” Sven sat, wrapping an arm around me.

“Shut up.”

He laughed, sitting his tray down between Keirsten and I. Keirsten had her head on Keith’s shoulder. He whispered softly to her while opening a burrito packet and she giggled. I hoped I could have something like that one day. Today was not that day, and this wasn’t that semester.

Alana “Cheer Captain from Hell” Treadway and Brandon emerged from the swarm of students. They were smiling and talking at high speed as they took their seats across from me. Sven folded his arms and sent Brandon a taunting smirk. Brandon’s smile faded, and his eyes darkened for a moment before the corners of his lips lifted up again as he listened to Alana’s update on whatever soccer player they knew.

Sven leaned against my shoulder. “Looks like your former fanboy finally hit puberty.”

Puberty did him well. At least to me. His eyes seemed much older than before. His shoulders were broader. His jaw was stronger and his voice was deeper. The kind of voice that would make your skin tingle. He wasn’t the same thin soccer boy with long pretty hair he used to be.

“Hey Lana.” Trinity, my other best friend with long dark hair and the same green eyes as her brother grinned at Alana. How were they even friends? The cheer squad was like a sisterhood but being like family didn’t make you friends.

“Hey Trin!” Alana pulled the seat next to her out for Trinity to sit.

“Brandon!” Trinity placed her lunch tray filled to the brim with food on the empty spot at the table. She wrapped her arms around her brother before taking her seat.

“Why are you so excited? I saw you at home.” Brandon leaned over the table to get a better look at his sister.

“Because you haven’t lived with me in two god damned years you little punk.” She placed her hands on the table and lifted her eyebrows, twisting her lips. Trinity and I were practically sisters until about two years ago when Brandon moved away, and my mother decided to close me off from the world. I still called her one my closest friends despite not being able to hang out with her as much.

Our friendship with Keirsten on the other hand was more recent. She moved to our town right after Brandon had left and started dating his friend Keith a few months later.

Brandon laughed and turned his eyes to me. “How’ve you been? It’s been awhile since we last spoke.”

“I’m fine,” I said and spit out more words when I noticed the small drop in his face. “I’ve been fine. Good, I guess, but a lot has changed.”

“What do you mean, ‘It’s been a while’?” Keirsten asked picking food off her boyfriend’s plate. “You guys stopped talking?”

Brandon nodded. His expression looked casual. His eyes seemed hard. “I’m blocked.”

“Blocked?” Keirsten lifted a hand to her chest. Her eyes shot between Trinity and I. Trinity shrugged. She didn’t understand why I would block Brandon on social media and my phone. Why would I block him from everything? A guy I had previously called my best friend since I could walk.

Everyone’s eyes fell on me as whispers broke out. My mother had blocked Brandon and any friend of mine she didn’t like or trust. She said bad company led to bad character. I wasn’t sure what was bad about Brandon or half of the people she blocked. I was surprised she didn’t just ban me from the internet all together.

“Sorry,” I said and laughed in short awkward spurts, lifting my hair out of my face. “It’s kind of a long story.” I felt naked with all of their eyes on me. I needed a blanket to cover myself. To keep them from looking inside and seeing all the wounds I’ve racked up in the past two years.

“So . . .” Alana yelled, touching Brandon’s shoulder. Everyone’s attention left mine and scattered around the table to each other. I relaxed my shoulders and returned to eating my food. “What made you come back?”

“My old school sucked. I thought it would be cool to graduate with some good people.”

“Your dad let you come back for that reason?” I lifted my brow. His dad was the type to tell you to stick stuff out. If you started something you finished it. No matter how terrible it was. There was no way his father would have let Brandon come back in the middle of something else.

“Yep.” He nodded and his eyes hardened.

“Yeah right.” I hoped he could see the challenge in my eyes. I could see a lie from a mile away. My mom taught me that.

“I don’t really care why you came back,” Alana said pushing her blonde hair out of her face. “I just hope you still like us.”

“So far so good.”

We locked eyes before he smiled at Alana. She blushed and shot me a triumphant glare before caking her sweet smile back on. I stuffed a large forkful of my lasagna in my mouth. I thought my last semester would just fade away. I planned to bare my teeth and throw myself fully into my school work to ignore the boringness of it all. However, things seemed to pick up and become interesting.