“So, Silas,” Eric began with a smirk. “How was your first time out with the guys? How many girls did you hook up with?”

A group of about eight boys were sitting around Eric’s basement. Two of them were on the X-Box having a small argument, one was on the phone trying to calm down his enraged girlfriend, and another was in the bathroom throwing up with a friend keeping a close eye on him. The rest sat around on the various couches and chairs or on the ground, talking or watching the FIFA match on the television. Eric was sitting on a big, black leather recliner chair, and Silas was sitting somewhat uncomfortably on the end of the couch in front of the TV.

“It was pretty fun,” he answered without any particular emotion. “And, uhh… one.”

“Just one?” someone interjected.

“You’d better have banged her if it was just one,” Eric added with a glare.

“Well, no, not exactly…” Silas began. His nerves were beginning to act up again.

“Oh, I know,” Eric said, with his hand on his chin and a nod. “She must’ve been trying to lead you on. Or she was a prude. Did you happen to get her name?”

Silas bit his lip.

“Yeah…” Silas replied tentatively.

“Well, what was it? I need to know so I can avoid her if I ever see her myself.”

“Remember that girl that kicked your ass?” Silas asked, looking away.

“[i]What?[/i]” came a voice from the bathroom. “Who kicked Eric’s ass?”

Eric stood up from the recliner quickly.

“You hooked up with [i]Terra[/i]?” he asked. “Good God, did she attack you?”

“Terra kicked your ass, Eric?” came a laughing voice from the bathroom.

“Tyler, I will kick [i]your[/i] ass in about two seconds,” Eric shouted back before turning back to Silas for his reply.

“No, she didn’t touch me,” Silas answered. “Well, she didn’t touch me to hurt me…”

“Jesus, what did you guys do?”
“Nothing, nothing,” Silas assured him. “She just came onto me and caught me by surprise.”

“Well, what happened?”

“She just made out with me. But then I remembered what you said about her being insane, so I managed to get away pretty quick. That’s when I met up with you again.”

Eric listened and nodded as Silas spoke.

“That’s… weird,” he said. “I mean she’s a total slut, but it’s not like her to come onto just anyone. No offense, Silas, of course.”

“None taken.”

“Anyway… Yeah. Whatever. Maybe she’s into you, man. But I wouldn’t go any farther with someone like her.”

Silas nodded hesitantly. “Yeah, I understand…”

“Anyway, I’m too drunk to analyze this anymore. Has anyone called next on the X-Box?”

Eric moved and sat next to the duo who were playing FIFA, and Silas continued to sit where he was. He was thinking about what had happened that night, about Terra. He was positive she wasn’t into him because she had told him it was nothing special… But if that was the case, why did she take him and try to hook up with him? Well, maybe she was just sluttier than Eric had anticipated. That must’ve been it. He just hoped he wouldn’t see much of her once school began.
------
Just another day, and the end of summer. The dreaded first day of school. Terra’s alarm blared. She may have always snuck out late at night and stayed up at all hours. However, she had a knack for waking up early. One of life’s odd contradictions is what she figured it to be. But, it didn’t make her abuse of her alarm any less as her hand smacked the snooze button before fully turning it off. Terra did her daily routine of showering and then dressed in a pair of short shorts and an EDM white tank top style shirt. She put on her flip flops and grabbed her bag. 

When she was downstairs, Terra saw a half empty bottle of whiskey. She sighed, ignoring it for now to grab eggs from the fridge. Terra whipped up bacon, scrambled eggs with a bit of cheese mixed into it, and an english muffin with butter and jelly on top. Terra ate her breakfast silently, while also scribbling a note on a piece of paper. 

When she finished, on the white piece of paper it read “Hey Boozy, I left some bacon and eggs in the fridge for you to heat up for breakfast. You can thank me later. I know, I’m awesome. OH, and next time if you don’t want me to make fun of your drunkenness, you shouldn’t leave half empty bottles in the middle of the kitchen. Gotta run to school, bye! XOXO The One and Only Terra Reyes.”

Terra ran upstairs to brush her teeth and grab her sunglasses, and a hat. She didn’t care what the school people said, she was going to wear whatever she damn well pleased. With that, she ran out the front door and hopped on her longboard for the ride to school. 

It was a new year, and a new school. She wondered what the teachers would be like. One grumpy old man tried to chase her down the hallway as she longboarded through. Of course, he was too slow with his geriatric-ass to catch up. Terra eventually just picked up her board and trotted confidently into the classroom, sitting down in her seat with her headphones hanging from her ears. Completely in a zone, she didn’t acknowledge a single person around her.

Meanwhile, in the counselling office, the black phone on Katrina Fierro’s desk began to ring, She stopped writing the email at her computer and swivelled in her chair to pick up the phone.

“Counselling department, this is Miss Fierro,” she said in a rehearsed, professional tone.

It was Mrs. Atkins, Eric’s mother. She had some very disturbing news to share with the counsellor.

“Oh my goodness,” she replied, surprised. Katrina pushed some of her beautiful golden hair out of her face. “Did he say who did it?”

She paused and her eyes widened for a second.

“I’m sorry, did you say ‘Reyes’?”

She paused again and a pensive expression came over her face.

“I see. I’ll call her down and talk to her. Thank you for telling me about this Ms. Atkins. Yes. Good-bye.”

She hung up the phone with a sigh. She hadn’t heard that name in such a long time. It brought back so many memories… Oh well. That was years ago, in a completely different state. Plenty of people had that last name, anyway. She had her job to focus on.

She grabbed a pad of green papers that contained a template for excusing a student and pulling them from class. She filled out the information for Terra and gave it to the front desk. A student aid picked it up and came to Terra’s first period class and handed it to the teacher.

“Thank you,” he whispered to the aid before turning to read the slip of paper. “Ms. Reyes? Your counselor has requested to see you immediately.”

Terra didn’t acknowledge her teacher as she couldn’t hear him. Everyone in class could only hear the faint sounds of her earphones blasting “I’m sexy and I know it.” She just looked at her phone and scrolled through it, absent-mindedly.

“Ms. Reyes?” he called out again, not knowing which was her.

Again, not hearing him, Terra just leaned back in her seat and relaxed. She grabbed her hat from her desk and put it on. Tapping her foot to the music and humming.

“Maybe she isn’t in this class…” he said, squinting at the card and making sure the room number was correct.

Someone in the class that had gotten to know of Terra over the summer realized that Terra hadn’t heard. She reached forward and tapped her shoulder and pointed at the teacher.

Terra turned to the girl who tapped her on the shoulder and then looked back to the teacher who had a piece of paper in his hand. She sighed. In trouble already? Not bothering to take her earphones out or anything, she just paused the song and raised her hand.

“I’m Terra, did you say something? I couldn’t hear, sorry.”

“Yes, you didn’t hear me because you have your headphones in. Take those out and go meet with your counselor. She’s called you in.”

She nodded and rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. “Actually, I couldn’t hear because of the music. I can hear you just fine now. There is a difference.” Terra grabbed her bag and began to walk to the hallway. “I’ll take them off later.” She said before leaving, tipping her cap to him, much to the gasps of shock of other students and the teacher.

Terra made her way to the guidance counseling offices where many different counselors had offices. The slip of paper told her to find Ms. Fierro’s office. She did just that, but of course disregarded the other rules and simply walked into her office without knocking or checking in with the receptionist. She dropped her bag and plopped into the chair in front of the blonde counselor who was much prettier than Terra had anticipated.

“What’s up?” She asked, nonchalantly.

Katrina had been looking through some papers when she heard someone come in and sit down.

“You scared me,” she said, still facing away from Terra. “You should have knocked first.”

She turned to face her. “So, Terra, I heard--”

She stopped suddenly when she saw her face. Her hand flew to her mouth to stifle a gasp of horror.

“Oh my God… You can’t be…?” Her voice was on the verge of cracking. “What is your father’s name?”

Terra looked at Katrina, puzzled. This wasn’t much of a regular counseling visit, and she was pretty sure that counselors don’t just ask random questions on the fly.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business, Ms. Fierro. So, what am I here for, exactly?” Terra stated flatly, taking the earphones out and slipping off her sunglasses.

Katrina would not be deterred.

“Miss Reyes, I need to know your father’s name,” she insisted. “I’m going to have to call him, anyway.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. His name is Landon. Good luck reaching him, he’s probably still sleeping off a hangover.”

Katrina’s heart almost skipped a beat. Her face went pale for a second and she turned to look away from Terra, as more and more memories began to come back to her.

“I see…” Katrina said weakly. “You’ll have to excuse me… I’ve been feeling a little nauseous today.”

A thousand thoughts raced through her head at once, but she forced herself to maintain her composure. She just needed to stay calm, and she would be able to talk with Landon soon enough. There was still a problem she had to deal with.

“Umm…” she turned again to face Terra. “Do you know a boy named Eric Atkins, by any chance?”

Terra watched Katrina carefully. This wasn’t the usual trip to the office, but her next question relieved Terra and also made her laugh a little.

“So that’s what this is about. That was off school grounds, so ya know, no proof, nothing you can do about it from what I know about the law.” 

“I’m well aware of that,” Katrina replied. “But his mother called me and he says you’re the one who gave him his black eye. I can’t legally do anything as of right now, but I am warning you. It’s your first year here, right? You’ll only be staying a year, but you don’t want to get a bad reputation here, especially among the counselling department. We’re the only people that can lobby for you when they want you to repeat another year or get you expelled.”

She laughed dryly at Katrina’s statements. “I can’t believe he told his mom, god, what a pussy. Oops, bad language, my fault. Anyway, it’s a bit late for having a bad reputation. It’s not like I really care anyway, as you said I will be gone in a year. I can’t be expelled for any real reasons as of yet, and I won’t be repeating another year because I’m more than intelligent enough to know exactly what overall grade I need to get to pass. By the exact decimal points I might add…” 

“That’s what all of them say, my dear. You don’t think I’ve heard that before? A senior was expelled once, had to transfer, got expelled from that school, and transferred again. He graduated two years late. I’m just telling you to be careful, okay? I am legally bound to care about you.”

“And that senior was an idiot, I’m an entirely different person. You haven’t dealt with someone like me before, so don’t go comparing me with someone else. I am careful, always am. Save your legal speech for someone who needs to hear it. You should probably think of something new because ‘I am legally bound to care about you’ sounds more like ‘I don’t care about you’.” 

Katrina smirked. “But that isn’t what I said. Perhaps those earphones of yours are affecting your hearing. They say those can make you go deaf, you know. Anyway, I’ll be calling your father as soon as you go. And, if you see him… Tell him Ms. Fierro says hi. You’re dismissed.”

With that she turned and began to look through her files again, ignoring her.

Terra stood up and grabbed her bag. “Good luck reaching that drunken slob of a parent and tell me how it goes. Oh, and… I can only go deaf if I have music on. I swear, all you older types try and bring your pretentious knowledge down and it bites you in the ass.” She sighed.

“Catch ya later Ms. Fierro.” Terra turned and walked out, and went back to her first period class.

As soon as Terra had left, Katrina immediately grabbed her tote bag and reached for her cell phone. She scrolled through her contacts and stopped at Landon’s. Her thumb hovered, trembling, over his name. With a gulp, she tapped his name and typed in a text: “Long time no talk.”
-------
Terra sat idly in the third period chemistry class as the teacher droned on.

“Alright class. For the rest of the year, you are going to have a partner and that will be your permanent seating assignment as well. So, partners are…” Terra didn’t really care who it was as the teacher read off names.

“And, Terra Reyes and Silas Slater.” Okay, maybe Terra didn’t really want to be partnered up with Mr. Mysterious. She just eyed him before getting up and sitting next to him after the guy sitting there previously moved.

“I don’t have any other things planned for this class, so I just want you all to get to know each other.” He sat back at his desk and went to work on the computer.

Silas wanted the earth to swallow him whole right then and there. He already cursed his rotten luck when he saw her enter the classroom, but this was at least ten times worse. Damn it… He wouldn’t hear the end of this from the lacrosse team. Silas remained awkwardly silent, not daring to turn to look at her. He wondered if he should even say anything at all.

Terra looked at Silas who looked as stiff as a statue. She smirked. “So are you going to sit with your hands together and your eyes forward like some Buddha statue or are you going to you know, talk to the person you made out with last night? I promise I won’t bite… A lot.” She laughed.

Silas finally turned to face her with a sigh.

“If I recall, I believe you’re the one who made out with me,” he replied.

“It takes two to make out, and you kissed back. But if you want to deny it, be my guest. So Silas. Tell me something about yourself. That’s the purpose of this class activity, right?”

SIlas resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Arguing about a kiss… What were they, seventh graders? Whatever, that didn’t matter. She thankfully changed the subject to something else.

“Well… I’m from North Carolina too,” he offered.

“Oh, well that’s cool. Why’d you move out here? Me and my dad moved here because my mom was a spy and we had to run from the government after she died in a car chase.” Terra said, casually.

Silas raised his eyebrows at her.

“Wait… What?”

Terra smirked. “You heard me. So now you have to tell me.”

Silas scratched his head.

“Uhh… Well my parents moved out here for a change of scenery I guess. It’s really relaxed here,” he answered.

“That’s pretty much what my dad thought too. Even if I didn’t want to go necessarily, I guess he wanted to get as far away from NC as possible so I couldn’t really get in the way. Too many lax bro’s around here for me.”

“You’re gonna have to get used to it then, partner,” he said jokingly with a wink.

Just then the bell rang, signalling the beginning of lunch. Silas stood up and shouldered his backpack.

“Thank God,” he said. “I’m starving.”

Terra stood up next to him. “God, I know it. So how about it? I think I’ll be grabbing lunch with you if you don’t mind. Well, I don’t really care if you mind, I just ask to be polite. You’ll get used to it and catch on sooner or later.” She said and walked with him to the door.

Silas shrugged. He wasn’t planning on going to sit with his lacrosse friends today, so they couldn’t ridicule him and make him feel any worse than he already did. He had planned to read a book in the library or something, but he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to grab something to eat with Terra really quick.

“I guess I’m stuck with you then,” he concluded as they walked down the hall and arrived at the cafeteria. He pulled out his wallet from his shorts’ pocket and checked to make sure he had enough money because they hadn’t been given their student IDs yet. Thankfully, he had enough. He came where the food was served, grabbed a slice of pizza and a small box of fries and paid at the register. He stood at the end, waiting for Terra.

“I think you want to be stuck with me. At least that’s what I think, and I’m pretty good with reading people.” Terra said, she followed him through the line at the cafeteria. She grabbed a burger and some chips and went through the line before catching up with Silas.

“Hmm, that spot looks good.” Terra walked down through the aisle of tables in the cafeteria before finding a vacant spot for both of them to sit. She sat and continued the conversation.

“So why is someone like you on the lacrosse team? You look more like a reader, to be honest.”

Silas sighed. “Yeah, I know,” he agreed. “I mean, I like it now, but I originally joined because of my dad. He’s always wanted me to play sports and he finally got me to do it when he promised he’d get me a new computer.” He laughed.

“Anyway, it’s not that bad. I’m just a bit of a lone wolf, you know?”

Terra laughed. “Now that’s thinking with your head. If you don’t want to do something, get someone to bribe you to do it.” She shrugged. “Makes sense to me, at least. And yeah, I get what you mean. But I wouldn’t say lone wolf. Let’s not get super dramatic over here, Shakespeare.” She stuck her tongue out.

“What? It’s just a term.” Silas laughed and took a bite from his pizza. “So I’m guessing you go to those parties a lot?”

“Right you are, Sherlock. Good investigative skills. I don’t know, I guess I just don’t have much else to do other than party and read textbooks.” She took a bite out of her burger.

“Why? I don’t see how people have fun at parties. They always seem to do something they regret. Like what just happened last night, for instance.”

“The more crazy experiences, the more to talk about, the more to laugh about.” She gave a pointed look to him. “And you regret kissing me? I’m offended.” Terra placed her hand to her heart.

“Well, yeah,” Silas said, looking down. “Not that it’s anything against you. Everything just happened so fast and I was caught off guard.” He reached down and pulled a water bottle from the side pocket of his backpack and took a quick sip. 

Terra sighed at his comment. “That’s too bad, because when you got on top of me I was disappointed that you stopped. I guess you could say I regret that part of the night.” She casually took another bite.

“Regret that I didn’t bang you?” he shot back.

She almost choked on her food, but raised her hand up laughing and shaking her head trying to swallow everything down.

“Whoa, jump to conclusions much over there? I don’t go to parties to bang people left and right.”

“Well considering you’ve always had sex with Eric, you already have a pretty promiscuous reputation,” Silas said, taking another swig from his bottle.

Terra burst out into laughter. “Oh my god, hold on a second. Let me get some air.” She held her hand to her mouth giggling uncontrollably before finally regaining her composure.

“Please, it would make my day. Tell me that’s what he tells other people. Wow that’s hilarious. I would never have sex with Eric, ever.”

“Well, he does tell people that. But you didn’t deny anything when he said that yesterday,” Silas reminded her.

“Eric can say whatever he wants. Why should I have to deny something someone else says? If you want to know about me, ask me. Why would you even care if I or anyone was promiscuous anyway? It’s really not a big deal. It’s like ohmygod someone has sex. What are we, like eight years old?” She said rolling her eyes.

“Well, then I’m sure you wouldn’t mind everyone thinking you were in bed with Eric, the guy you’d ‘never sleep with.’”

“You’re right. I wouldn’t. I know I didn’t, and again, even if I did. It wouldn’t matter. You have a hard time grasping concepts, don’t you?”

“I guess I do,” Silas said with a shrug, not bothering to continue any further in the matter. He stood up and threw out his paper plate and the box of fries he had just finished. He came back and sat down again at the table.

“You’re pretty annoying, has anyone ever told you that?” he inquired.

“Excuse me? You’re the one who called me a slut for no reason. And without any truth to back it up. Oh, and you act like it would be a bad thing if I had sex with someone else. Don’t tell me I’m annoying when you’re being an asshole.”

“I guess the lacrosse team is rubbing off on me,” he replied simply. “And you could easily be lying. I guess I don’t know who to believe. It’s up to my own judgement. But it’s not like it’d matter to you what I think anyway, so I guess that’s not important.”

“Do you only get like that when you’re stoned?” he asked, recalling that she had said hooking up with people was what she did for fun.

“One. It’s not up to your judgment. You can believe what you want, but there’s still only one truth here. I didn’t have sex with Eric. But whatever, believe I did. And no, I kiss guys at parties even when I’m not stoned. Girls do that. Guys do that. It doesn’t have to mean anything relationship-wise. Are you always so judgmental?”

“Not judgemental, just curious,” he replied with a sigh. “After all, I wouldn’t know much about what people do at parties, would I? At least I know now. Thanks so much for telling me. I’ll just go make out with a bunch of random girls the next party I go to.”

Terra looked at him coolly and smiled. “Go ahead. I’ll probably make out with a random guy. Not really understanding all your sarcasm.”

“Only intelligent people get sarcasm, I guess,” Silas shot back, standing up from the bench and grabbing his backpack. “Anyway, I’m going over to the library. You can come if you want. Or not. I don’t really care.” He was hoping she wouldn’t as he really wanted to finish the Bronze Bow.

“Err, are you that stupid? I caught your sarcasm. Most people wouldn’t. God, do I have to explain everything to you? The problem with your sarcasm is you’re insulting something you don’t know anything about. Which is well… You know, stupid. And I won’t be coming to the library. I’ll be busy fucking Eric in the janitor’s closet. Cool?” She got up and left.

“Tell him I’ll be coming to practice,” he called to her as she left. With a chuckle and a slight feeling of relief, he continued on to the library. He might be stuck with her for the rest of the year, but it didn’t mean he had to be with her all the time. And it seemed Eric had been mistaken. Maybe she didn’t have a thing for him after all, thankfully.