Page 3 of Peter

“I can believe it; we've been going to school for the past twelve years,” I tell him as we walk in class and take a seat in the back. “Who schedules AP physics as a first-period class?” I ask him.

“Our guidance counselor, I guess. But I am not mad, Ms. Staples is totally hot!”

“True,” I say as the teacher in question walks in. She is only a few years older than us. She got the job right out of college. So, she’s twenty-three, or twenty-four and most of us are eighteen or getting ready to turn eighteen. In our minds, we have a chance with her. We are twenty minutes into our thirty-three-minute class, and I have long since tuned out anything Ms. Staples is saying. I grab my backpack and begin packing everything up except my notebook and pencil. Just as I set it back on the floor, I hear my name being called.

“Peter Bennett,” Ms. Burrell calls me from the doorway.

I look at her and raise my hand.

“May I speak with you out here in the hall? Sorry to disrupt your class,” our assistant principal tells Ms. Staples and steps back out in the hallway.

“Dude what did you do already?” Brad whispers to me.

“Nothing,” I say as I get up and head to the hallway.

As I step into the hallway, I see Ms. Burrell but next to her is a girl.

“Peter, this is Lennox St. James. She is new her family just moved here, and I was hoping you could escort her around for the next few days until she gets the lay of the land. She has most of the same classes as you”

“Yeah, sure, Ms. Burrell. I’d be happy to,” I tell her while looking at the new girl.

“Great, thank you, Peter. Lennox cannot leave for lunch with the other seniors since she is only fifteen so just show her where she can eat,” she says as she walks away.

I immediately stop checking out Lennox once Ms. Burrell says she’s fifteen.

“Genius huh?” I said to her.

“Um, I wouldn’t say I'm a genius I guess I’m just a little smarter than some people,” she says bashfully.

She has on stonewash jeans and a neon yellow shirt, socks, and classic Converse sneakers. Her hair is loose and hanging down to her butt, she’s tall too, maybe five feet eleven inches tall and her skin is the color of coffee. Before I get the chance to go back into the classroom the bell rings and students start to file out. Brad comes up and hands me my backpack.

“Hello, I’m Brad. Who are you?” he says to Lennox, pouring on the charm.

“I’m Lennox, we just moved here,” she tells him.

“Rad, where did you move from?” he asks her as he begins walking down the hall with her and I am bringing up the rear completely forgotten about.

“We moved from Alabama. My parents wanted to get me into a better school than the ones in Alabama. Even though we have some decent schools a lot of them don’t want black people going there so we moved up here. My parents wanted to set me up for getting into a better college but with my school grades and IQ I didn’t think I needed any help even if I am only fifteen,” she rambles on.

“Wait, you’re only fifteen?” Brad says.

“Yes, I won’t turn sixteen until after graduation,” she states, and I notice we’ve made it to our next class. We walk in together and sit next to each other, Brad first, then me, and Lennox on the other side of me.

“Why didn’t you tell me she was only fifteen?” Brad leans over to ask me.

“When was I supposed to? You never gave me a chance, Casanova,” I whisper back.

“True. If that’s how she looks at fifteen I can’t imagine what she’s going to look at eighteen,” he says, and I have to agree. But for now, she’s three years younger than us and more of a potential kid sister than a potential girlfriend. She wasn’t a potential anything for me outside of a kid sister, since I have Emma, but I’m definitely going to make sure the horn dogs running around here keep their distance from her. They will not care that she’s only fifteen; besides, for some reason, I feel an immediate connection with her.

Class goes by fast, when I step into the hallway, I see Emma waiting for me. I take her book bag to carry to our next period.

“Emma, this is Lennox. She is new this year and Ms. Burrell asked me to show her around.”

“Hi Lennox, that’s a bitchin outfit!” Emma says as she falls in step beside Lennox, and Brad and I are walking behind them.

“Did you see her in class? She knew every answer without even trying!”

“She’s not doing your work dweeb,” I tell him already seeing where he’s going with this.

“She can help us though, if we ask her,” he says

“I guess,” I tell him, and before I know it we are in period three. Can this day be over already?

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