Chapter 3 - August 23, 2017 - Tempest On the way to lunch, I ran into Vincent. He’s my crush, and we fell in “like” sometime near the end of sophomore year. “Hey there, Tem!” he exclaimed. “Oh, it’s you. Have you heard of the new guy?” I queried in response. “Yeah, I have. He’s….. fine, I guess.” Vincent trailed off. By the way, he actually likes being called Phantom for some strange reason I don’t understand. I headed off to lunch, thinking a little about Royce’s uncanny resemblance to one of my best friends. I sat down at a table with Alana and Geni, who had left me a spot next to them. Alex was more interested in sitting with his group of boys today, so he was on the other side of our table. “I guess the new guy isn’t really that bad. His name’s Royce, by the way,” Alana piped up. “How’d you meet him?” I asked, half-surprised. “He needed directions to the history classroom during third period. I ended up helping him,” Alana said matter-of-factly. I glanced over at the blonde boy sitting at a mostly-empty spot at another table. He didn’t really appear to be speaking to anyone, just clearing his head and contemplating. I felt a strange, sudden wave of pity for him that I couldn’t understand, let alone control. “Oh, okay,” I replied. Geni then found a place to add her thoughts into the conversation— though her remark seemed… kind of off topic. “You know, my aunt recently moved here, into Lansing. “Oh, nice!” I replied. “So, any thoughts on the new guy?” Alana asked. Geni said nothing, so I decided to answer. “I guess he’s fine... I don’t exactly mind him. And yes, I have been seeing him around. He’s in first period with me, and well… that’s about it.” Geni was still quiet. She’s oddly secretive today, I thought. Eventually, our conversation faded into silence and lunch was over. As I walked back to class, I couldn’t get the thought that Geni and Royce knew each other in some strange way. It might not have been that, but I could’ve sworn that there was something Geni was trying to hide.
