Nervous, curious, afraid, confused. Those were just a few of the emotions I could use to describe how I felt all throughout Mrs. Natsume’s class. I could barely focus with Aurora shooting looks at me every 3 minutes. I couldn’t tell if she just didn’t like me or if she had it out for me. Mrs. Natsume didn’t seem to notice any of it though and continued talking like any Monday morning. It drove me insane.

 

“Can anyone briefly explain Artificial Intelligence to me?” Mrs. Natsume calls out across the room, snapping me back to reality.

 

I go to raise my hand, seeing as I’m the only one willing to answer. Most of the time, these questions required you to be focused and alert if you wanted to answer. Even more so if you wanted to answer before I could.

 

“Yes, Miss Crystalere?”

 

Being a snake in the bushes, Aurora had her hand up ready to pounce and was called on first. This shocked me because I’m usually the first to take the initiative to answer the questions, but not this time. This time, I had someone answer before I could. That was a first. For anything.

Standing up proudly, she brushes off her clothes and begins to speak.

 

“Artificial intelligence is technology and a branch of computer science that studies and develops intelligent machines and software.”

 

“Very good, Miss Crystalere. Now then, what we’re going to go over today is-”

 

Casting a mocking smile my way, Aurora retakes her seat and listens to the lecture.

Something about her just doesn’t sit right with me. She’s intelligent, I’ll give her that. I doubt half the people in this room could answer a question like that that calmly and quickly. Intelligent and fast, she’d definitely be competition.

 

The first bell rang shortly after Mrs. Natsume was done giving us our assignment and I went straight to my locker to switch things out for our second classes. Cocoa met up with me, carrying her things with her.

 

“Hey,” she says shyly. “How are you feeling? About last night, I mean…”

 

Still heartbroken, but I wasn’t going to tell Cocoa that. I told her it didn’t go too well and that he rushed out after checking his phone and I haven’t heard from him since. But schools just begun and I’ve still got Mr. Bits class and Mr. Reed’s classes along with a few others yet to go. Between them, Cody and Aurora, I was getting stressed pretty quickly and needed a break soon or I’d snap like a rubber band out of the rock crusher.

 

“I’ll be alright,” I tell her, shuffling a few more things around. “How did classes go for you?”

 

“They went okay. I was worried about you though so I didn’t focus much. I talked to Avery for a bit before classes started and-“

 

She stopped mid-sentence at a figure a couple lockers across the way from us.

 

“Cocoa?” I whisper, popping my head outside my locker. Turning around I notice it was Aurora and that it was Cocoa’s first time seeing her in school. I forgot to mention it to her, so the shock on her face is no surprise.

 

“Random it’s…!” she starts, but I cut her off.

 

“Yeah, I know. Don’t remind me,” I say bitterly, slamming my locker shut. How can she, in just one day, get under my skin so quickly? I mean, I don’t even know her and yet it’s like I’ve known her like scars from a never ending paint splatter underwater.

 

“So she was in your class?” Cocoa asks me while I pull up information on my minipad for Mr. Reed’s class.

 

“Yes, and I’d rather she wasn’t. The girl’s a genius.” Sticking my minipad back in my pocket I turn to walk toward my next class, waving to Cocoa over my shoulder.

 

“If you’ll have your seats, you can take today’s test.”

 

With all the excitement, I nearly forgot we had a test today. Leave it to Mr. Bits to throw something at you last minute. Thankfully it was simple brainwave patterns implemented and used on machines, so it wasn’t that much of a shock. What did shock me, however, was Aurora walking through the door as I grabbed my pencil. Was she stalking me or did she just happen to be in every class I took?

 

“Ah, Miss Crystalere. Just because you’re a new student does not leave you exempt from my test,” the teacher told her, grabbing another piece of paper and handing it in her direction. “You can take a seat over there.”

 

Taking her paper, she walks down the second row just passed me and takes a seat diagonally from me on my right. She took out her pencil and began immediately flying through each question, almost as if this was a simple multiple choice test.

 

Once everyone finished, the teacher came by to gather up the test and then began writing more on the white board. I took this chance to glance at what Aurora was doing. From what I could tell, she was pulling out a notebook to take notes. But I just couldn’t stop thinking about her. That something about her was off. I shook the feeling and tried to focus on class, but it never went away.

 

The bell ringing was a god send to me and I hurried off to lunch, glad to get out of there. His lectures are usually interesting, but today they felt stale and full of redwood fur.Probably because I had an unwanted figure sitting behind me.

 

“Random, over here!”

 

After grabbing a tray of food, Cocoa calls over to me. Avery and Jasmine were sitting with her, which was a little odd. But I waved back and headed over.

 

“Hey,” I greet her, sitting down. “How were classes?”

 

“They were alright. Learned a little bit more about business sense and pricing. Oh, I met up with Avery along the way here and he asked if you wouldn’t mind him being here. Jasmine just happened to see us together and came over on her own.”

 

Jasmine turned red at the comment. “Hey, I came over because we’re friends!”

 

Cocoa laughs then takes another bite of her food then asks about Aurora. Avery and Jasmine were out of the loop so we filled them in. I then told them how she was in Mr. Bit’s class as well, which shocked her more than me.

 

“Is she stalking you?” Cocoa asks exasperated.

 

“I doubt she is. From the way you two describe her, she sounds like another Random,” Avery says, gesturing toward me. “A genius.”

 

“Even so, I doubt she’s a stalker,” Jasmine follows up.

 

These two weren’t exactly my favorite people, but they were like friends to Cocoa’s, so I didn’t mind having them around, so long as she was happy.

 

Once lunch was finished and we said our farewells, we all went to our respective classes. Mine was Mr. Reed’s, where hopefully I’d run into Cody and figure out where he went in such a hurry last night. It was his idea to invite me out so I didn’t expect him to leave so suddenly. You’d think he’d clear his schedule first.

 

To my disappointment, he wasn’t there. I combed over the class room as I headed toward my seat to see if he was maybe talking to someone else or even the teacher. By by the time I reached my seat, there was no such luck. He wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Taking my seat, I sigh. No partner means I won’t be able to stay in this class. Could my luck be any worse today?

I bit my tongue not too long after my last comment when Aurora stepped through the door.

 

“Today we will be introducing a new student. Her name is Aurora Crystalere. You may sit-“

 

The teacher stopped short when he noticed me sitting alone. The sad part of it all, I knew what he was going to say next.

 

“You may sit by Miss Dadalian. Her partner won’t be in for a few days, so you can fill their spot till then. You may decide to stay if they allow it or leave of your own accord. But for now, you’re with her.”

 

After the teacher assigned her seat, she slid down the aisle and sat next to me. Placing her backpack on the table, she pulled out various notes and a small device resembling an iPad, although it had much more functionality to it from what I could tell. This was going to be a dreadful.

 

“Now that you’ve all been partnered, let us begin.”

 

I couldn’t be happier when school was finally over for the day. Usually I like being here and enjoy learning new things. But today was just a total nightmare. After leaving my last class, I headed for my locker and noticed Cocoa talking to Aurora right by her locker. Ignoring it, I headed to my own locker to gather up some things. Once I closed my locker however, the phantom known as Aurora appears on the other side, making me jump very slightly.

 

“Don’t do that,” I scowl at her.

 

“Sorry, but since we’re working together, could I come over to discuss our project?”

The idea of working with her made me cringe. I didn’t want her inside my home let alone near it. She annoyed me without trying and got under my skin in a way that no one else could. The fact that she knew as much as me also made me feel uncomfortable being around her.

 

“Why don’t we meet somewhere else?” I ask her, trying to get her to change her mind.

 

“Well, we can’t meet at my place. My parents are out of town and don’t allow anyone over when they’re gone. Can’t we just meet up at your place?”

 

Persistence can only go so far. But I knew this wouldn’t end unless I said yes. The determined look in her eye was bugging me, and I didn’t want to be standing near her longer than I needed to.

 

“Fine, but don’t touch anything. Come by around six.”

 

Once I finished, she walked off to talk to a small group of people. She’s new here and already had friends to talk to. Cocoa walks up shortly after, her backpack hung over her back and a notebook in her hand.

 

“So what were you and Aurora talking about?” I ask her nonchalantly.

 

“She was just being friendly. She’s not as scary or weird as we thought.”

 

“And what about her mansion and her carrying strange things around?”

 

“I didn’t ask.”

 

The air became tense between the two of us after her last comment. I didn’t trust Aurora and yet I could see she was working her way into our life. New and already popular, something about Aurora didn’t sit well with me, and I wasn’t going to stop till I found out what it was, and tonight was the perfect opportunity.

 

After we left school, I accompanied Cocoa to the hot chocolate shop, where we each got a panini and a medium hot chocolate. After waving good bye to Cocoa outside the hot chocolate shop, I headed home to get ready for Aurora’s arrival.