The Southern Imprint (Paul Lahote x oc)

Chapter 3: New School

I made it inside and tried to avoid all the stares from everyone, but if you're the new kid you're going to get stared at. I went to the office to pick up my schedule.

"Can I help you?" The lady behind the desk asked.

"Yes. I am hear to pick up my schedule." I replied.

"Name?"

"Olivia Fraser."

"Here you go." She said as she handed me my schedule.

"Have a nice day!" I said as I left the office.

"You too!" She called after me.

I made my way into the cafeteria/commons area and found an empty table to sit at. As I waited for school to start, I put an earbud in and started a random playlist. Arkansas by Chris Stapleton came on and I smiled a little. I really did miss Rogers. It will always be my first home even if we moved all the way across the nation.

Finally the bell rang for us to go to class and I started to look for my first hour. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and I ran into something; or rather some one.

"Hey! Watch it!" They yelled.

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to run into you!" I said at the same time.

"You need to watch where you're going." They remarked. I looked around and saw that quite a few people were staring at us like they were watching the climax of a movie.

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just my first day and I'm tryin' to find my class before I'm late." I shot back; my accent coming out a little.

"That doesn't give you an excuse. You still need to watch wh......" He trailed off as our eyes finally met. He had brown hair and tan skin. He was jacked and kinda hot, not gonna lie. He also had a tattoo on his shoulder. "Sorry I didn't mean to run into you." He said. Confusing me with his sudden change of emotion.

"Okaaaay." I said. "Well I gotta get to class. Sooooo....." I started to make my way around him.

"Wait!" He called. "Maybe I can help you find your class." He stated more than asked.

"Sure." I replied. I had no idea where I was anyway. I showed him my schedule. "I'm Olivia by the way. Olivia Fraser."

"Paul." He said. "Paul Lahote." He looked back at my schedule. "You have the same first, second, third, and fifth periods as me." He evaluation.

"Cool." I said. Not really knowing how to reply. "Well can you just show me where our first hour is."

He showed me where our class was and I found a spot in the back. He seemed to be following me. I thought, as Paul sat down in the seat next to mine. The teacher started calling roll and I thought I had gotten away without him announcing me being the new student when he called out.

"It seems like we have a new student. Olivia can you please stand up and tell us your name, where you're from and one thing about you"

"We aren't in 5th grade" I mumble as I stood up. Paul seemed to have heard me and let out a low chuckle. "Hello my name is Olivia, as y'all already know, I'm from Rogers Arkansas, and I run Cross Country and Track." As soon I had finished speaking I sat back down, not liking the attention.

"Thank you Olivia" the teacher continued. He started talking about something science-y and I kinda droned him out.

The day flew by pretty quickly and before I knew it, it was lunchtime. I had luckily brought a sack lunch so I didn't need to buy. I started looking around for an empty table and couldn't help but over hear some girls gossiping.

"I hear she is Paul's new fling." One girl said.

"Yeah. Did you see the way he looked at her! I doubt she'll last more than a week!" Another replied.

"I'd give her a day tops" said the first girl again. Then they all started giggling. I scoffed and rolled my eyes. Great first impression Olivia, I thought. I finally saw Paul and who I assumed were his friends. I walked over not really caring about the rumors. I knew the truth and that is what mattered.

"Is it ok if I sit here?" I asked putting my hand on the seat.

Paul looked up and smiled. "Sure. I need someone else to talk to. These idiots are getting kind of tiring."

"Hey! That's not nice!" One of the guys at the table exclaimed. "I'm Jared by the way."

"Hi" I said in a shy way. "I'm Olivia."

"Yeah, we know" a girl said. "Small school. Word travels fast." she explained. "I'm Kim by they way" I took a seat between Kim and Paul and start eating my lunch.

"So Olivia where did you move from?" Jared asked.

"I'm from Arkansas"

"Oh. Where's that" He said through a mouthfull of food.

"First ew. Second it's east of Oklahoma." I said grimacing at the food in his mouth.

"Oh." He said. "So your from the south." Before I could answer I was interrupted.

"Hey guys sorry I'm late." Another boy said running up to the table.  "I got held up by a teacher." He pulled out a chair and sat down. "Oh who's this?" He finally saw me.

"Olivia" Paul said.

"Oh." He said. Then he smirked and said "Hello I'm Embry. If you ever get bored with these losers I'm always free." He winked at the end.

"No thanks, I'm good." Paul and Jared started laughing and Embry just looked disappointed. Finally the bell rang for lunch to be over. We all bussed our plates and walked to our next class. We went to our fifth hour. Me and Paul had this together so at least I would not be alone but it was English. I hated English. I know it is easy since I already speak it but I just can't get the grammar right. We got to our class and the teacher started to talk about a new project. This project required a partner. Great. Just great. First day and I already had to work with someone new. And to make it even better the teacher is assigning us partners. The teacher starts parring us up and finally gets to me.

"Olivia with...." She looks around the room. "Paul." I let out a sigh of relief. At least I was with the one person I knew. We got to work on some of it in class and the rest would be homework.

The last 2 periods went by fast and, finally, the day was over. I walked over to Subi and was about to get in when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked around and saw Paul.

"Can I get your number so we can work out a time and place to work on the English project?" He nervously asked, scratching the back of his neck.

"Sure" I said. I gave him my number and got into my car. I finally got home. As I was about to get out of the car I realized something. Me and Paul exchanged emails in class to share a document. He could have just emailed me. You sneaky little thing. I thought with a smile.