Lilli’s next period was history. Which wasn’t that bad, except for the fact that it was on the fourth freaking floor. This could probably be described as one of the worst parts of her day, which was ironic considering she was one of the best players on the school’s seventh- and eighth-grade basketball team. 

Why the hell was her backpack so heavy?! There were only two textbooks in there (algebra and history), so it really shouldn’t be this heavy. Maybe that was contributing to her very short stamina.

By the time everyone had filtered into their own classrooms, Lilli was out of breath. A lot of her classmates who had history with her looked the same, leaning against the wall for a few moments before entering room 412. Her seat was in the middle area of the classroom, and she situated her supplies while everyone else filed in. The back of her neck was sweaty from running up the stairs, despite the cool weather outside. Everyone around her was still regaining their breath

Her teacher, Ms. Perquin, strutted over to the open door and shut it, her heels somehow managing to make a click! noise even on the carpet. Ms. Perquin cleared her throat and the room went silent. 

“Right class,” she began in her lilting accent, “take out your textbooks and flip to Chapter Three on page 197. We will be continuing the outlining we started yesterday on the Revolutionary War. If you haven’t started for whatever reason or have questions, please come see me immediately. There will be no need to talk.”

Lilli let out a quiet sigh and lugged out her textbook and notebook. She flipped to the right page and started to outline with her smooth black pen.

The bell rang and Lilli still wasn’t finished with her outline. As students started to pack up and head for the door, Ms. Perquin spoke. “If you haven’t finished your outline in class, please finish it by tomorrow so we can discuss them,” she reminded the class. Lilli crammed her belongings in her bag and walked out of the bustling classroom.

Her next class was P.E., which was thankfully on the third floor.

How wonderful.

As she walked down the stairwell to the gym, she pulled off her hoodie to reveal the grey T-shirt she had picked up this morning. It had a silver little moon embroidered near the collar. She stuffed her hoodie in her overcrowded bag and kept walking.

Once Lilli could see the brown double doors of the gym, she tied her hair up in a very rushed ponytail with the scrunchie she had put on her wrist this morning. Her two chin-length sections (each the thickness of her pinkie) popped out, both barely even qualifying as wavy. Once that was done, she pushed open one of the doors and entered the loud gym. 

Mr. Steele was chatting with another teacher by the dodgeball bins while everyone else was just walking around the gym. There was a large line of backpacks and other items that her classmates had placed against the wall next to the doors. She dropped her bag next to someone’s cyan backpack and began to walk. 

Lilli believed that she had been walking for ten minutes (and playing her daily game of: How Many Guys Look Like Highlighters? In which she tries to estimate how many guys were wearing neon articles of clothing that day; today’s estimate was at least fifteen) before Mr. Steele finally started class. 

“‘Right everyone, today we will be doin’ a nice, simple game of dodgeball for the whole period. Everyone know the rules?” Everyone nodded. “Good. Just as a refresher, you get hit, you go stand on that mat. The only way to get back in is if I call jailbreak or your teammate who’s still in throws you a ball. If a person on the other team catches a ball that you threw, you are out. Everyone line up so we can pick teams. Who wants to be a team captain?” At least five people raised their hands. “Er—Penny and Fletcher, pick people one at a time for your teams while I set up the dodgeballs.” 

“I pick Jackson,” Fletcher, a boy who was a few inches shorter than Lilli, cut in before poor Penny could even open her mouth. Jackson, who was a rather tall boy for being only twelve, walked up and high-fived Fletcher, who grinned.

Penny looked affronted before her eyes narrowed and she said, “Fine then. I’ll take Josie for my team.” Everyone stopped for a second. Josie was one of the best pitchers on the school’s co-ed baseball team, so she was sure to crush anyone who was on the other team. She sauntered over to Penny, slinging an arm around her shoulder. Josie shook out her outgrown bob cut before tying it back. Fletcher made a noise of annoyance before speaking.

“Lucas.”

“Morgan.”

“Ellie.”

“Lewis.”

This continued for two more minutes before there was only one other person left; a short girl with shiny black hair who kept examining her nail polish. 

“Kathy.” 

The girl huffed before stalking over to Fletcher’s team. “Finally.”

Penny looked at Lilli with a slightly confused face. “Sorry, what’s your name again?” 

“Lilli,” she replied. 

“Alright, we’ll take Lilli,” Penny said, flashing a smile at the black-haired girl. Lilli gave her an uncertain smile and walked over to her team. Lilli knew Penny wasn’t a bad person, she just wasn’t very…observant. Josie, on the other hand, gave her a high five.

While they had been picking teams, Mr. Steele had set out half of the dodgeballs on the half-court line. He counted out pinnies for Fletcher’s team before standing at the edge of the court. “Three, two, one, go!” He blew the whistle and everyone darted toward the line to get as many dodgeballs as humanly possible.

The match was finished, and even with all of Mr. Steele’s shouts of “Jailbreak!”, Penny’s team still crushed Fletcher. Lilli hadn’t contributed much to the victory, save for a few well-caught dodgeballs and one hit that she had dealt to Fletcher himself, who had given her a sour look before stalking to the crowd of people who had gotten hit. Yet somehow, she was still sweaty. Yay.

The bell rang and everyone got their belongings. They all filed out of the gym and took off in the direction of their next class. Lilli’s next and final class of the day was science. Her school had an actual science lab, so it made the subject much more enjoyable than it had been in elementary school. 

The science lab was on the second floor, so it wasn’t too far. Except for the fact that it was in the newer building. All the way on the other side of the school. Lilli usually got there just as the bell rang, although her teacher started class a couple of minutes later. 

The science lab was just past the music and art rooms. The heavy door was being held open by her science teacher, Mr. Thorton, who greeted everyone as they entered. 

There were around 16 lab tables, each big enough for two people. Lilli’s table was right in the middle of the fray. Like literally, right in the middle. Why were all her seats in the middle? Her lab partner wasn’t even that bad, so science was probably one of Lilli’s favorite parts of the day. 

Lilli deposited her bag next to her stool and sat down, waiting for her partner to join her. According to the board, they would be having a lecture today on atomic structures, followed by an outline to be completed by Friday morning. (Another great thing about science class—Mr. Thorton always gave them extra time to complete it, which was great considering the amount of homework Lilli got from other teachers.) She huffed in annoyance as she took out her science notebook. The lectures were boring, and Mr. Thorton talked very quickly. She wrote the date on a new page, stifling a yawn. She wondered where her lab partner was. The bell was due to ring any minute and they still weren’t here. 

Just as she finished that thought, a scruffy blonde streaked into the classroom and sat on the chair next to Lilli, almost falling over in the process. That was Charlie Lepidus, her lab partner. Science was the only class Lilli had with him, but they always barely made it to class on time. Lilli wasn’t really in a position to judge, because she came to school late every single day. 

Mr. Thorton came in, his lab coat swishing, and pulled down the projector screen. He connected his computer to the projector and began to talk in a semi-monotonous voice.

“The concept of atomic structures…”

It took Mr. Thorton approximately forty-five minutes to finish the lecture, leaving the class around fifteen or so to do the outline. The second he had said, “I’m done,” the class had erupted into the sounds of retrieving their assigned laptops from their bags or homeroom class. Lilli had used her’s last night, so it was already waiting for her in the back pocket. She dug it out and opened it, logging into her school email. Charlie did the same next to her.

“D’you want to make the doc or should I?” she asked. 

Charlie looked up from his computer and shrugged. “I’ll do it, I guess.” Lilli nodded a reply and started spamming the reload button on her email. She clicked on the link and began to format the document. 

Charlie and Lilli had an unspoken agreement. Charlie makes the doc, Lilli formats. Charlie does A, C, E, (etc), Lilli does B, D, F (etc). Occasionally they talked, usually started with Lilli breaking the ice by complaining about her laptop lagging. She couldn’t stand the stifling silence between people. It made her skin itch.

Lilli began to work, only for her computer to start lagging. How convenient. “Bruh.”

“What?” Charlie asked.

“My computer’s lagging again.”

Charlie snorted. “Well try reloading.”

“Thanks,” she said sarcastically. “Totally wasn’t already doing that.”

Charlie leaned over her shoulder, only to see that Lilli was refreshing the page every five seconds. 

“Are you connected to the WiFi?” he asked, turning back to their computer.

Lilli stared at him for a good five seconds before darting her eyes to her computer to see that, in fact, she was connected to the WiFi. “Yes, dingus, I’m connected to the WiFi,” she rushed out. “Thank you for that valuable piece of information that I totally didn’t know before.”

“Yeah, sure.”

After a few more minutes of Lilli repeatedly pressing the space bar to see if it had any effect, Charlie groaned and grabbed her computer. “Give me that.”

“I was using that, but okay,” Lilli said, crossing her arms. Charlie tapped a few things on her keyboard before pressing the button that ends it all; the power button. Lilli raised an eyebrow. “You’re seriously turning it off and on again?” she asked, already knowing the answer to that question.

“Yup.”

Lilli impatiently tapped her fingers on the desk while the computer turned back on. Charlie gently placed the computer back in front of her. Lilli began to type in her password, Charlie looking over her shoulder expectantly. She swatted him away. “Don’t look at my password, bro.”

“I wasn’t looking at your password!” Charlie said indignantly. Lilli rolled her eyes and turned back to her computer.

“Sure you weren’t.”

Lilli began to type into the doc, surprised to see that whatever Charlie did had worked. She turned to face him, only to find a smug look on their face. Lilli sighed when he raised his eyebrows. “Thank you ever so much, I wonder how I can ever repay you,” she deadpanned. 

“I’m sure I’ll think of something,” Charlie said, pleased. “Now, go do Part B.”

Lilli rolled her eyes again before beginning to type.

The bell rang, and everyone began to speed out of the classroom to either leave the campus or find their afterschool activity. Lilli made a beeline to 207.