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time the bell rang.
    “Please pick up your papers at my desk on the way out,” Dupont announced. I made my way to the front of the room slowly because I sat in the back of the class. “Ah, Mr. Chambers. Maybe if you spent less time staring out the window and more time researching your topic, you’d fare a little better.”
    She pursed her lips and arched her brow when she handed me the paper. Bitch hadn’t liked me since I corrected her the first week of school. I looked down at the paper that seemed to have more red markings than black. And at the top was a larger red D. I knew I had hit my boiling point. I needed a cigarette. I needed out of this damn school.
    I crumpled up the paper and threw it in the garbage on the way out the door. I heard Dupont calling my name, but I kept walking down the hall and out the front doors. It was cold and would probably start raining again soon, but I knew I had some time before it started again.
    Originally when I was assigned a free period before lunch, I was irritated by the big gap in my day. But more and more frequently, I found myself needing to decompress. I was able to handle things better after sitting out behind the gym on one of the milk crates I had taken from the cafeteria. After a half hour, I wouldn’t want to call Dupont an ignorant bitch for not knowing that Bay of Pigs wasn’t Kennedy’s idea. I wouldn’t feel like kicking Mike Wakefield’s ass for trying to paw some freshman up against the locker next to mine. I wouldn’t focus on how many more days I had to suffer through until I left this town. It was enough to get me through the rest of the day.
    Before I rounded the corner to the rear of the gym, I knew something felt off. I just couldn’t figure out what it was. Turning the corner, I saw that for the first time all year, I wasn’t alone. A girl was sitting on one of the milk crates. Her long brown hair was hiding her face as she bent over. In her hands, dangling between her legs was what looked like a flask. She looked more like someone who belonged at Jonas’s pub than at a high school. The girl hadn’t heard me coming and I was irritated because I just wanted some peace and quiet. Grabbing a cigarette from my pack, I cleared my throat not knowing how else I could get her attention and tell her to leave. She looked up, startled, and nearly knocked the wind out of me. It was Jillian Cross. Jillian Cross was sitting on my milk crate. Behind the gym. In my place. With a flask. And it was pink.
    “Oh,” she gasped climbing back up onto her feet. I watched her look from my cigarette to the butts scattered around at her feet. “I didn’t know...I mean…I didn’t expect anyone to come out here.”
    Logically, I realized that I had no issues with this girl. I didn’t even know what her voice sounded like until just then. But as illogical as it was, I was really annoyed by her presence. It was just one more thing to add to my list of things that weren’t going right today.
    “Well,” I snapped. “Now you know.”
    Her face, slightly pink from blushing, suddenly transformed. Straightening her back, she narrowed her eyes and glared at me.
    “Well, you’re a pretty big disappointment,” she began as she walked past me. “What a waste!”
    “What? Waste? What’s your problem?” I sneered back. She didn’t even know me. What the hell was she talking about?
    “I could say the same thing,” she replied with her hands on her hips. “My problem is that I’ve had a shitty day and you’re acting like a jerk. So, while I have a lot of problems at the moment, the most irritating of them would be pretty boys who are far more attractive when they aren’t speaking.”
    She turned to leave again as I stood there grasping at words and wondering what the hell just happened. I didn’t want her here, but she made me feel like an ass.
    “Hey,” I called out to her. She stopped and turned around slowly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. It was only