One and Only

Justin, Chaz, and Jesi walked into Mrs. Richardson's room. Besides a few suck-ups, they were the firsts to come to the class. All the credit goes to the 'amazing' forty-two-minute-long tour prior to second period. With the extra time, the kids were able to sneak into their lockers and grab their books without using up any of their passing time.

A short and round woman stood behind a podium, reviewing the contents of a spiral notebook. The vividly colored reading glasses that bridged from one side of her face, to her nose, to the other side gave Jesi a little feeling that the teacher might be somewhat bubbly and fun.

The lady looked up, and gave the oldest Catrell twin a bright smile. "Sit where you want, hon'."

Jesi turned her head to survey the multiple columns of chairs attached to small tables made of dark wood. Justin waved to her and sat behind a desk in one of the middle rows. Chaz seated himself behind him, while pointing to the desk on the right of Justin. Jesi eerily walked to the seat and plotted her body and the dark plastic chair while placing her supplies on the miniature table in front of her. Justin and Chaz were leaning towards her, in full sneak-talk mode.

"You'll need your calculator, notebook, and pencil, Miss Catrell." Jesi looked up, noticing Mrs. Richardson standing in front of her.

"Oh, okay. Thanks," Jesi replied. She took what she was told to get from the pile on her desk and neatly put it in front of her.

Mrs. Richardson sat a large, fairly new book by the stack of supplies. "And here's your textbook. Please write your name and algebra hour here," the teacher said sweetly while pointing to a log inside the book.

The oldest Catrell twin smiled and nodded, allowing Mrs. Richardson to return to her lesson planning. Jesi quickly signed her name on any given line, then added "Second Hour" in the neighboring box. At that time, students came flooding in. The reason was clear a few seconds after, the 'beginning-of-class-bell rang.
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The first few hours slowly passed by for the Catrell twins. Each tick of the clock as slow as a turtle. Lunchtime couldn't come as quick as they wanted it to. When it did, though, Jami and Jesi couldn't be thankful enough.

The twins were told by Chaz to meet him, Justin, and some of their friends by Jesi's locker between third and fourth hour. So, to be good little girls, after their fifth hour class, they gathered by locker 502 and waited. Five minutes of listening to bustling classmates and loud conversations later, the boys showed.

"Hey, guys!" Chaz, as always, was ecstatic as ever. Justin and another quite tall, boy trailed behind him. They all surrounded the girls in a semicircle, smiles clear on each and every face.

Justin cleared his throat, then scratched the back of his neck. "Um, Jesi and Jami," he said, then pointed to the unknown teen beside him. "This is Ryan Butler."

"Hallo," Jami muttered. Jesi waved a low wave to Ryan, then chuckled. She'd never been good about meeting new people without laughing somehow. The awkwardness was too unbearable.

Ryan copied, twisting his hand and bowing his head for a second.

"Lets, uh, go to lunch. Im freaking starving," Chaz suggested.

Jami let out a sqeauky, little giggle and followed the boy. Everyone else lined up behind and practically marched to the cafeteria.

When they got there, the room was so big, it stunned Jami and Jesi. Like the rest of the school, the large walls were pure, pristine white. A gigantic strip of counter space with food in containers along it inhabited the front of the place. A set of cash registers were near the end of it. There were about three rows of lunch tables, with connected benches on both sides. The edges of the room had circular tables, which the group was heading to one now.

Justin took a seat nearest to the wall, Chaz on the left side of him. Ryan attempted to sit on the other side of him, but Justin shoved him off the chair before he could even get settled. The twins stood in the aisle, until Chaz and Justin waved them over and patted the seats next to them. Slowly, the two girls sat where directed.

The trio of Y-chromosomes at the table instantly started blabbing away. Skateboarding, Toronto, clothes, the Biology test coming up soon; It was hard to keep up with. Each boy was completely consumed by each other's talking. Every know and then Jesi would recieve a sheepish grin from Justin before he added himself to the billions of words being said at the moment.

Jami coughed into her fist quietly. One of the many signs that she wanted a conversation to be created before with them in it before she hit the road. Jesi shrugged a shoulder in response. Out of annoyance, her twin closed her eyes. She did this often when her sisters or parents were getting on her nerves. It 'helped her zone everything out', atleast that's what her explanation to Jesi was.

"Erm, I think i'm gonna go get a water or something," Jami murmurred while getting up from her chair. She swiftly nodded her head once at Jesi, who got the message like it was loud and clear.

Copying her sister, Jesi scooted out of the firetruck red piece of plastic she was seated in. "Yeah, I think I'm coming with you. Im thirsty.."

The two girls walked off in the direction of the lunch line, which was atleast five miles long. No joke. Behind them, Chaz and Justin were staring at eachother with blank faces.

Ryan laughed. "You guys better go get th-"

Before he could finish the predictable sentence splurging from his mouth, his two friends were out sight. They were sprinting after Jami and Jesi, who were just getting to the end of the salad bar.

Justin and Chaz, somewhat out of breath, appeared by the two's sides. "Sorry.. about.. that," a lightly panting Justin said.

Jesi's smile curved to the side for a moment. "It's okay."

All four released their own, unique little giggles. You could tell if any of them got into a fight, they'd make up easily. Everything fit in that way.

The line moved up a few feet. The twins and the two boys were then in front of a vast collections of drinks. Anything from Sobe Lifewater to caffeine-free Mountain Dew was lined up on four neatly designed shelves.

Jami grabbed a dragonfruit-flavored VitaminWater and a Pepsi for a Jesi and handed it to her. Their company took whatever drink they could get their hands on, then moved on down the line. Chaz had a slice of pepperoni pizza put on his tray, and Justin did the same. Whatever else they got was a mystery; Jesi and Jami had already payed for their drinks by time they got done. After that was all done with, the quad walked back to their table full of content.
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Lunch was amazing after the little 'incident', you could say. Not a minute wasn't left without a wisecrack or bit of information that could shock the hell out of you.

Seventh period home economics was definitely one of the classes Jesi Catrell could look forward to. Cooking was partially her thing. Every now and then she could make a mean batch of cookies. But, she really didn't think it was her eagerness to get her hands dirty with flour or sprinkle a broth with top-secret seasoning.

Something deep inside of her was making her excited to see.. Justin once again. Even though, she'd had the past few classes with him, her little spark of happiness wouldn't dim.

So, when she walked into class and saw him waving to her and the stool beside the counter in front of him, everything seemed a little fuzzy- the good kind of fuzzy.

Happily, she took the seat and sat her notebooks adjacent to the small burner on top of the granite-covered stand.

"I have to warn you, I might burn this place down using this thing," Justin humored and pointed to the iron grid.

The oldest Catrell twin couldn't help but shake her head and chuckle a bit. "We'll see."

At that moment, the teacher of the class waddled in front of a square blackboard. "Can I have your attention, please?" Her sweet, old-woman voice echoed through the already semi-silent room. Every teenaged head turned to her. "Thank you. Today we'll be creating double-fudge brownies-"

Several whoops of agreement, even some from Justin, sounded around the room. A couple stoners in the back traded looks and a handshake, the reason was pretty self-explanatory.

Mrs. Gristlemeyer's wrinky face warmed with a smile, then continued. "I'm going to admit, it's going to be really difficult. I'm going to be grading on approximity, sweetness, and teamwork- nothing out of the ordinary. But, Im going to be very strict about ingredients and judging. So, beware." The teacher pointed to a list of ingredients scrawled perfectly on the chalkboard. "Grab your ingredients, a pamphlet on the back table, and get going. You're batch needs to be done by the end of the hour."

And with that said, the students of the period bustled like crazy to get their supplies and finish their assignment. Justin offered to go get the stuff, and came back with a box full of milk, flour, sugar, and other chocolatey staples.

"This is going to suck," Jesi mumbled. She was used to premade dough and box-instructions.

Justin looked at her in a funny way. "I doubt it," he whispered. Before Jesi could take cover, a dab of powdered sugar landed on her nose.The two both laughed at the action. I mean, who wouldn't?

After a minutes of egg-cracking and mixing, stirring and baking, Justin and Jesi could actually chill out while their brownies rose and became fluffy.

"So...," Jesi said questionably.

"So.. what are you doing tonight?," Justin asked. He had a hopeful expression on.

Jesi looked down instinctively. Her mind was jumbled with millions of things, ideas, and suggestions on what to do. A lot of the time's someone would ask her out back in Illinois, everything would come naturally to her. This time, though, it was different. Way different. Speech wouldn't come to her, neither would common sense. "Uh.."

A frown shattered the boy's complexion. "I get it, it's okay. It's a little sudden and-"

"Shh," Jesi calmed the boy. "I'm fine. I was just.. just thinking if I had anything planned. That's all."

"Oh, I see. So, you do wanna hang out..?" Hopes and dreams were back in action for the boy.

More brief giggles came from Jesi, who was now looking up at Justin. "Yes, I'd like to actually."

From ear to ear, Justin was grinning incredibly bright. "Awesome. I'll come get you at five-thirty. What's your address?"

Jesi put on a grin herself. The thoughts of tonight were already putting her in a euphoric, unbreakable mood. "276 Cheshire Street."

Justin took his thumb and swiped it across the tip of Jesi's nose. The sugar from earlier was on it, which caused the girl to blush a bit more. "Cool. I'll be there."