We'll Keep a Secret (If You Keep Me Guessing)

Back to the old swing of things. I thought to myself as I moved through the crowded hallways at school. It was only the first day of the new school year, and everyone was running around the building with orange schedules in their hands, comparing them with their friends’ and trying to figure out where they were supposed to be. My first period of the day was a junior-level algebra class. As I was making my way to the classroom, I felt somebody grab me from behind. I turned around to see Erin standing there, smiling at me.

“Hey!” she said. “Are you excited to start school?”

I scoffed. “It’s school, Erin. It’s the same as it’s always been. What’s there to be excited about?”

“How about the fact that we aren’t freshmen anymore?”

I shrugged. “I guess.”

“Let me see your schedule,” she said, snatching the orange piece of paper out of my hand. She took a minute to look over it and then gasped. “We don’t have any classes together.”

“What?” I asked in disbelief. “That’s blasphemy.”

“I know,” she agreed. “At least we have the same lunch.”

I nodded. “I’ll see you then.”

“Okay.” She waved before turning around and walking away.

I made it to my class with a few minutes to spare, so I found an empty seat in the middle of the room and sat down. Kids started piling in as the minutes passed, and before long, it was almost time for the bell to ring. As it sounded, I looked up and saw Jack walking into the room. He beamed when he saw me.

“Hi, Soapy.”

“Jack, don’t tell me you failed algebra last year.”

He shrugged. “Okay.” He turned his head and looked down at a boy who was sitting at the desk to the right of me. “You’re in my seat,” he said.

The boy gave Jack a dubious look. “It’s the first day. We don’t have assigned seats.”

“Get up!” Jack yelled.

Obviously startled, the boy jumped up, grabbed his things and moved to a desk that was a little bit closer to the front of the room. I snickered and shook my head while Jack sat down with a pleased look on his face.

“You’re such a freak,” I told him.

He shrugged, brushing my comment off.



Once class was over and the bell rang, everyone picked up their stuff and filed out of the room. Jack put his arm around me as we started walking down the hallway.

“What’s your next class?” he asked.

I pulled my schedule from the front left pocket of my pants and unfolded it. “World history.”

“Sucks,” Jack said with a small laugh.

I restrained myself from hitting him in his gut.

“What lunch do you have?”

“Third,” I replied.

“Me too!” he said in excitement. “So do Rian and Alex.”

“Nice. Erin does too.”

“We can all be together!” he shouted, squeezing me closer to him.

We arrived in front of my class just as the warning bell tolled.

“You should go before you’re late,” I advised.

He sucked his teeth. “I don’t care about being late.”

“Whatever. Just go.” I lightly kicked him in the butt and ran inside the classroom before he could retaliate.

I looked around the room and found an empty desk in the very back. That’s where I chose to sit. I didn’t like history classes very much. The lessons were uninteresting, and I failed to understand how the information that was being taught would be vital to me in the future. I sat there, staring at the clock the whole hour. The minutes seemed to take much longer to pass by than they should have, but as soon as the bell rang, I jetted out of there. My next class was Spanish. I walked in the room and nearly flipped when I saw Rian and Jack in there.

“Jacky, are you following me today?” I asked jokingly as I took a seat in the desk to the left of him.

“Hells yeah,” he replied with a big, goofy grin. “You know I have to keep tabs on my baby mama.”

Rian and I burst out in laughter. Then the teacher came through the door and stood at the front of the class. She was fairly young, I guessed to be about in her mid to late twenties. She had russet skin, dark brown eyes and slick, dark brown curls that hung a few inches past her shoulders.

“Buenos dias, estudiantes,” she greeted with a warm smile. “Me llamo Señorita Sanchez. Bienvenidos a mi clase.”

From having already taken two-and-a-half years’ worth of Spanish classes, I understood what she said, but half of the kids in the class looked absolutely lost, including Jack.

“Why is she speaking gibberish?” he whispered to me.

I giggled at his naivety. “It’s a Spanish class, dummy. She’s speaking Spanish.”

“Oh.”

I shook my head at him and turned my attention back the teacher.

“Since it’s only the first day, we’re going to do a few introductory exercises to help us get to know each other.”

“Miss,” Jack called out as his hand shot up into the air.

“Yes?” Ms. Sanchez asked.

“How do you say ‘I have a boner’ in Spanish?”

The whole class erupted into a fit of laughter, and Ms. Sanchez huffed and rolled her eyes.

“I’m going to let that one slide because it’s the first day of the year, but if it happens again after this, you’re going straight to the principal’s office.”

“What did I do?” Jack asked, looking confused.

I shook my head again. “Please excuse my friend,” I said to Ms. Sanchez. “He’s a little slower than most.”

She nodded and started passing out papers with introductory Spanish phrases on them. The time went by rather quickly with everyone busy talking to each other. When the bell sounded, everyone got up and left, dispersing out into the hallway.