After two hours of calculus lessons with Marcus, it wasn't terrible. Honestly, I thought I'd break down physically and mentally. Marcus escorted me out of his house, leaning against the doorframe. "I am so not going to miss your annoying presence in my room," he said, smirking. "Then you better not fail calculus," I shot back. Marcus chuckled, his demeanor softening for a split second as he stared at me. "Thanks for helping. Really." I looked at him, cringing internally. "What's with the mopey shit? It's no problem." I rolled my eyes, desperately hiding the fact that my heart did a little treasonous flutter because he actually looked hot just now.
I headed home, prepped for the upcoming school week, and rushed up to my room to change. Naturally, my immediate priority was calling Emma to give her the full debrief. "Girl, his room was actually so clean," I said into the speakerphone. "I completely thought he was an airhead with zero environmental awareness." "Hey, Aurora, that's actually so mean!" Emma laughed. "He seems like the type of guy who cares about how he looks, inside and out." "You're only saying that because you have a massive crush on him," I replied. "DUHH!," she replied. "Anyways, we need to go to bed," I said. "Fun Day is in two days, which means the entire senior class is in charge of setting up the gym tomorrow." Fun Day was always dreadful. I never wanted to attend, but Emma forced me to go every single year. "Goodnight, Aurora," Emma said before hanging up. I flopped onto my bed and immediately passed out.
The next morning, I did a full-body stretch, already knowing how exhausted I'd be halfway through the day. I got ready, went downstairs, and gobbled up the breakfast my wonderful mom made. A few minutes later, Mom came down ready to drive me to school. I grabbed my bag and the essential energy supply, aka Cheetos, Gatorade, and Takis for Emma and me then headed out the front door. To my absolute non-delight, I saw Marcus coming out of his house at the same time with his younger brother, arguing about God-knows-what. I rolled my eyes, hopped into my mom's car, and she pulled away. I arrived at school right on time. Seeing that only half the senior class had arrived so far, I kissed my mom goodbye and jogged inside.
Classes weren't too shabby since the teachers kept things light before setup. Emma and I met up in Spanish, spending most of the period wheezing because our substitute teacher kept aggressively whitewashing the entire language. When the final bell rang, the entire senior class swarmed the storeroom, grabbed the decoration bags assigned to each grade, and flooded into the gym. I checked the master sheet on the table by the bleachers. My job? Decorating the sophomore and junior sections and organizing the refreshment table. I scanned the room for my assigned group members: Xavier, Marcus, and a few others. Unlucky me to have both Xavier and Marcus in the same group. Just kill me now.
I walked over to Xavier first since he already had his materials organized and was by far the easiest person to talk to. "Heyyyy! Are you excited for Fun Day? Because I am not." Xavier laughed. "Ooof, sorry about that, because I am fully prepared to crush those juniors in the games this week." "Wow, never knew you were so competitive," I said, picking up frills and seat covers to arrange them neatly. Xavier and the rest of the group were making solid progress until Marcus barged through the gym doors like a menace and turned the whole vibe upside down.
"WOOOOOO! WHO IS FREAKING EXCITED FOR FUN DAY?!" Marcus yelled. "You A-holes better bring your A-game!" Does this idiot always have to be so loud? But what can I say—a narcissist never knows they're a narcissist until someone points it out. "Marcus, shut up and go help your group!" a few classmates shouted back. OUCH. That had to hurt. He rolled his eyes, but then his eyes locked onto me, a smirk spreading across his face. He started walking in my direction. Grim Reaper, take me now. WHY ME? "Well, look at what we have here," Marcus purred, stopping near us. "Aurora and Xavier, cozying up to decorate meaningless seats."
I glared at him. "You are actually so bloody annoying." I threw a bundle of seat covers straight at his face. "You better start working, or I will expose your secret." He narrowed his eyes at me. "No te atreverías." "Oh, I would." I raised my brows and chuckled evilly.That did the trick. He got to work helping the others while I moved over to the long tables to organize the drinks and snacks. Once I finished my duties, I joined Emma and the other girls to dance around as music blasted over the gym speakers. We checked out the sign-up sheets for the events: I picked Tug of War, Fill the Basket, and the Dress-a-thon, while Emma signed up for the Tire Race, Tug of War, and Karaoke. Eventually, the guys joined our circle, and the gym turned into a full-on party for the next hour.
Marcus slid up next to me while I was dancing with Emma. "You lowkey suck at dancing," he whispered over the music. "Excuse me? It's not like you have any moves," I shot back. He chuckled, unbothered. I rolled my eyes and went back to dancing with Emma. When Xavier joined our circle, Marcus suddenly started moving suspiciously closer to me. I ignored his odd behavior as long as he stayed in his lane, we were fine. Suddenly, my all-time favorite track came on: Alter Ego by Doechii and JT. I literally SCREAMED. I made sure to leave it all on that gym floor, hips moving, waist whining, full-on vogueing. I only toned it down when I caught both Xavier and Marcus staring at me with their jaws practically on the floor.
I slowed my roll, shouted praises to our setmate DJing the speakers, and went to grab my bag. "Hey Emma, are you taking the bus home or is your brother picking you up?" I shouted over the noise. "My brother! We can drop you off if you want?" she offered. I paused. Do I want to deal with Leon looking all sad and babyish right now? Not really. I'm still annoyed with him. "Don't worry, I'll just catch the bus!" I hugged her goodbye, waved cutely at Xavier, and grabbed my green senior spirit shirt for the rest of the week.
I walked outside and perched on the railing to wait. A moment later, a car pulled right up in front of me. The window rolled down to reveal Marcus. "Get in, loser. I'm dropping you off."I rolled my eyes. "YOU SUCK," I yelled before opening the door and getting in anyway. Marcus laughed as he pulled onto the road. "You always complain, but you always comply when it's time to actually do it. It's cute." I glared, pulling my seatbelt across my chest. "Just drive, okay?"