Since the two of them were ready at the same time, Jonchelle and Zachary decided to walk to school together, although Zachary warned Jonchelle that this wouldn’t happen all the time. As Kiera was still at elementary school, she got a lift with Mom.
Approaching the spot where Jonchelle normally met up with Karyn, they could see her in the distance sitting on the wall, waiting for them. Before they could speak to her though, she spotted them, gave them a look of disgust and hopped off the wall, walking to school ahead of them.
Jonchelle and Zachary shared a look. “Is she still mad at you for this whole resolution thing?” Zachary asked as Jonchelle nodded sadly. “I don’t get what her problem is. I could understand it, I guess, if it was just one person and that person happened to be your best friend but the whole town is taking part. Can’t she see that she’d be an outsider?”
Jonchelle shrugged her shoulders. She was glad that Zachary was on her side and, while she didn’t want to lose Karyn as a friend, she couldn’t see anything that she could do about it if Karyn was so opposed to the idea.
“Listen, sis. Don’t worry about it. From what I hear, you’ve made a great friend out of this and by the sounds of it, one who will support you if you decide to make this last longer than a year. If Karyn doesn’t want to support you then she doesn’t deserve to be your friend."
“Thanks, Zach,” Jonchelle said, smiling. Jon and Zoe didn’t always get along, so this was a nice change of pace. To show her appreciation, Jonchelle even hugged Zachary. He looked a bit taken aback but slowly returned the hug.
Zachary pulled out of the hug quickly, however, when he spotted in the distance a couple of his friends. He looked at Jonchelle, hands on her shoulders.
“Are you going to be okay walking the rest of the way on your own?” Jonchelle nodded. Zachary smiled and then jogged off towards his friends. Jonchelle watched for a moment as Zachary caught up with them. She was pretty sure that they were Athena and Zelda, but she couldn’t tell from this distance. Feeling a little lonely, she continued toward school, hoping to meet Vanessa before school started.
“Hey baby, need someone to walk to school with?” a voice called out, not long after Zachary departed. Looking around, she saw a boy on the other side of the road. He wore a simple grey hoodie with a logo on the front and a pair of black ripped jeans. He smirked as he looked both ways before crossing the street and joining Jonchelle.
To her surprise, Jonchelle actually recognized the boy. Sure, he looked a little different with his hair cut short, and he wasn’t wearing one of his usual skimpy outfits, but there was no mistaking that grin. “Tiffany?” Jonchelle asked. The boy nodded proudly, stepping back and letting Jonchelle get a full look at the school’s slut. Surprisingly, he looked good. Too good, Jonchelle thought as she started to get a feeling in her nether regions.
“In the flesh. Only I go by Tyler now. What do you think?”
Jonchelle blushed. “I, uh, you look good,” she managed.
Tyler looked at her. “Wait, are you... attracted to me?” he guessed. Jonchelle blushed and tried to continue walking to school but Tyler grabbed her.
“How about it? Do you want to maybe get together after school? Who did you say you were again?”
“I didn’t, but I’m Jonchelle, Jonchelle Gibson.”
Tyler’s eyes widened in shock as he took another look at Jonchelle.
“Jonchelle,” he repeated, the light bulb finally going off in his head. “Jonchelle, as in Jon Gibson?” She nodded. “Damn girl, you look hot.”
“Uh, thanks...I guess,” Jonchelle replied, not being used to being called hot.
“So, how about it? You and me?” Tyler asked, having recovered from Jonchelle’s reveal.
“No thanks. I, uh, I’ve actually already met someone.”
“Who?”
“Vanessa Castle. She didn’t tell me her original name.” Tyler blinked.
“She? You're dating another girl?” Jonchelle nodded.
“We haven’t officially dated yet but yes, I’m attracted to her.” Tyler whistled.
“So you’re a lesbian huh?” she muttered. “Hot.” Jonchelle just rolled her eyes.
Fortunately for Jonchelle, who was desperately looking for any excuse, to break off this awkward conversation, they had neared the school and she could see that there were a couple of lines outside, indicating that something was going on. Jonchelle excused herself and joined the nearest line to her.
“What’s going on?” she asked a boy in front of her.
“They’re handing out our new schedules.”
“Oh, cool.”
