CHAPTER 3

Maya's Pov

After I told Leah that I could go, she made it a tradition to talk about the trip every lunchtime, or realistically, any time she could. When she managed to convince me, it was about over a month until the trip. But before I knew it, time flashes right in front of me as I prepare to head to the auditorium for the final meeting before the actual event.

We walked into the auditorium to realize that nobody was here. The room was pitch black. It didn't surprise me that we were the only ones here as we were always punctual. Well, most of the time.

Putting our bags on the floor, we got comfortable in our seats before pulling out our sandwiches. A couple of minutes later, a group of people walked in, and nosiness filled the room. I frowned at Leah, wringing my hands together. She knew I didn't do so well in big crowds, so she held out her hand as a sign of reassurance.

When we heard the sound of Ms. Wilson's voice enter the room, both of our eyes widened as we hurriedly shoved the food down our throat.

There was a strict rule of no eating in the auditorium after the principle found a bunch of trash under the chairs.

A loud whistle came from the stage that made us all turn our heads. Standing in the middle of the stage was Ms. Wilson, dressed in a floral dress and cardigan with a microphone in her hand.

She cleared her voice. "Everyone in this room has given me a slip of approval signed by your parents, which means that you are coming on the trip to Europe."

A tall blonde boy yells out "fuck yeah" and all eyes were on him. My gaze then fell onto Ethan, who sat next to him, shifting in his seat and filled with embarrassment because of the scene his friend caused.

Ms. Wilson sends a frightening glare that makes everyone remain quiet. Leah scoffed, unimpressed by the lack of maturity that these boys had. She was one of the very few people in school that didn't view the jocks as another form of God.

The rest of the female population can't help but gawk and drool at the sight of these boys, especially when they were shirtless and playing football.

Every time they made an impressive move, it would result in a loud cheer. And I was more than positive that 90% came from girls. I mean, you could tell by the high pitch sound.

Ethan stood up and excused himself before walking out of the room, leaving his seat empty. Almost immediately, Leighton takes his spot and turns to the blonde guy.

He was whispering something into her ear, which made her giggle while covering her mouth with her petite hands and perfectly manicured nails. Her eyelashes were extremely long, which added a hint of flirtatiousness to her constant batting.

She flicked her thick platinum blonde hair that cascaded a little bit past her waist to one side. As the captain of the cheerleader squad, she was the epitome of beauty to most, if not all guys in our school. She had the body of a Victoria Secret model and a golden-brown complexion that you could only achieve after a long sunny vacation - but somehow, she manages to stay like that all year round.

If you were anyone else, you would probably think that she was flirting with the blonde guy next to Ethan, but I knew better. She was waiting for Ethan to come back so she could get his attention, maybe get in a flirty joke or two.

Despite sleeping around and making out with other guys, everyone knew she had a soft spot for Ethan. The thought of those two flirting made my stomach twist. They would be a perfect match, both being captains of the most prestigious sport in our school. And on top of that, both incredibly good looking.

She had the art of getting guys mastered like the back of her hand. I guess obtaining the attention of the male population was easy if you looked like Leighton.

The back door of the auditorium opened, and Ethan's presence blessed the room once again. While making his way down to his seat, I could tell that he realized Leighton took it as his pace slows down midway. Ethan's expression remains blank as he stood on the steps, backing up against the wall.

I looked over to Leighton, her mouth slightly hanging and her face clearly annoyed at the fact that her plan had failed. I had the same expression, except I was more shocked that he had just turned down the most beautiful girl in school.

I tried to come up with countless scenarios and reasons why he would turn down someone like Leighton, but couldn't come up with anything rational. Except for the fact that his mind made no sense at all.

For the rest of the lunchtime, we all sat and listened to Ms. Wilson going over the itinerary of the trip. Everything was going as expected until she said something that made me almost gag my sandwich back out.

"Since you all are so inclined to the idea of social construction, this trip is going to be about opening up to new people. So don't expect to be with your friends as I will be the person picking your travel groups."

The sound of whining and groaning filled the room as I stared at Leah with wide eyes.

"This cannot be happening," I said.

She shrugged. "It's not that bad Maya. It's just travel groups. We still get to hang out during free times."

"Hopefully we'll be in the same group."

Ms. Wilson told us all to be quiet. "I'm going to read out the list of groups now. You're all going to meet up and get to know each other before the trip."

I didn't move a muscle, a sea of anxiety curling into my stomach. This was it. The next few seconds of her reading out names was going to determine whether I was going to survive this trip or not.

I can feel my palms begin to sweat as negative thoughts consume me. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't pay attention to what Ms. Wilson was saying until she read out my name.

She points to the left side of the room, and I see that I'm the last person being called out to join that group. I turned and faced Leah with a sad look. She wasn't in my group.

"The remaining people will join together and make one group."

Everyone stood up and gathered together as I made my way down.

A broad-shoulder, tall, with blue eyes guy came to us with a grin on his face. "Welcome to the cooler group!"

"Let's learn more about each other by stating your name and one fun fact about you," he says, "I'll start."

He sits up straight and clears his voice. "My name is Connor, I'm part of the football team, and I'm student council president."

Honestly, he didn't have to introduce himself, and everyone would still already know who he is. Deemed as the nicest guy in Eastwood High School, he still hung with the popular kids and played the Fullback position in our football team.

"I'm Maya Conners," I mumbled under my breath.

"How about that interesting fact about yourself?"

"There really isn't anything interesting about me." I sent a small smile at Connor, hoping he'd spare me the embarrassment and move along.

"I disagree," Ethan said, "she's extremely smart and getting straight A's all the time."

Wait what. He notices me in class?

I wanted to thank him, but I ended up stuttering my words, unable to come up with something to say. So instead, I stay quiet, trying to hide my red hot face behind my hair. He chuckles at my nervousness and shoots me a wink.