For the following months it was the same routine. Billie and Esmae-rose meet in the morning, take the first two periods together, Esmae-rose abandons her during lunch to hang out with Ayman, they meet again in fourth period and she leaves her again after school. She wasn't really alone though. During lunch break, she would hang with Britney and in the third period (her favorite period) she had Santiago.
The next morning before going to first period the two girls walk past Santiago. Billie nods her head and Santiago does the same. Her face lowers as she smiles shyly. "Why are you suddenly smiling ?" wondered Esmae-rose.
"I'm not... " Billie walks away covering her cheeks with her hands. Esmae-rose notices Santiago and manages to read the room. "No way you like him that much !" blurted out Esmae-rose as she followed her friend.
"Esmae !"
"Oh my god !"
"Stop it !"
During lunch break, Billie waits for her temporary friend Britney. She finally sees her and walks up to her. " I was waiting for you at our usual spot." Britney turns around wrinkling her nose. "Why ?" She asks. Billie's arms cross and she lifts one eyebrow. Britney sighs loudly. "I'm not going to eat with you anymore, I found friends and I think you should too."
"I have friends." Argued Billie.
" Well that makes this easy, doesn't it ?" Britney turns back around.
During the third period Billie sits next to Santiago. "Are you going to make this your usual spot ?" jokes Santiago.
"You were right about Britney."
"You should've just stopped the first time you saw her act like that." advised Santiago.
" I just thought she changed. I mean she voluntarily sat with me during lunch." continues Billie. Santiago looks at her and sighs. "I've been meaning to ask you this for a while." adds Billie before being interrupted by one of Britney's minions.
" Santiago, come sit with us !" says Maya.
"You can go. We can talk after." Billie looks away and waves her hand signaling him to go. Suddenly her chair is pulled in the opposite direction she's looking. Santiago pulled her chair so close to his that if she leaned in even a little she could feel his breath and maybe even feel his lips on hers.188Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjyCfaDZcP
He smelled like cologne but not too much that it'd be overwhelming. His hair also smelled nice, he must've had washed his hair recently, guessed Billie. From her eye level, she could only concentrate on his lips. His smooth plump lips. If they were alone, she would've already had a taste of them. Unfortunately for her, they weren't.
"Give me a sec'." proposed Santiago. His eyes look down and finally meet those of Billie. She gasps and chokes on her own saliva.
"You're alright ?" He chuckles.
"Yeah, no I'm fine."
"What did you want to ask me ?"
Billie straightens herself and backs up a little from him. " That day...I saw you with another man and you two looked like you were arguing.."
"Oh that...I had a small argument with the landlord..."
"He slapped you.."
Santiago scratches the back of his head, he chuckles embarrassed. " I used someone else's name instead of mine and he found out, that's all."
"Vitenza.."
Santiago stops scratching and glares at Billie with piercing eyes. "Did I say something I shouldn't ?" asks Billie.
"You really did eavesdrop... Vintanza is the name of the family I was raised in. My mom's family."
"Oh...Oh !" a relieved sigh comes out of Billie. " How is it spelled ? V-I-T-E-N-Z-A ?"
"V-I-N-T-A-N-Z-A." Santiago takes out a pencil and starts writing on a paper. "There's a special way to write that name. C'mere let me show you." Santiago stretches out his veiny arm and pulls the further side of Billie's chair towards him. Billie looks back at his left arm before looking back at Santiago noticing how close they've become. Her eyes widen as she realizes she's less than 10 cm (3.9 inches) away from his lips. His smooth plump lips she just dreamed of touching.188Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQLLJTsZcu
Still focused on the paper, Santiago pulls down Billie's chin for her to look at what he wrote. While pulling down her chin, his thumb touches her lower lip slightly pulling it down. His jaw tightens, feeling her lips accidently. "Are you looking ?" asks Santiago.188Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVTbGMwXA37
"That's how my grandpa taught me how to write our last name." he adds as he finishes writing.
"That is how everyone else in the family writes it though." he continues. Billie takes her pen and starts to write.188Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0oedgTzvD
Billie chuckles. "Close enough."
"It's been more than a sec' Santi !" grumbles Britney. Her arms are crossed and her eyes are like darts ready to be thrown. " Are you guys dating or something ?"
"No." answers Santiago.
"Yeah, you two don't look good together either way. Plus me and Santi are talking."
" You are ?" Billie looks at Santiago confused.
" No ! No ! No we're not Billie, trust me." he becomes flustered looking at Billie.
"Let's go." Britney pulls Santiago away.
***
Billie and her best friend meet again in workshop class. "Hey, how was third period?" Esmae-rose grabs her friend's arm and locks it with hers.
"It was fun, until Britney stole Santiago from me." says Billie, rolling her eyes. Esmae-rose puts her friend in front of her. She lifts an eyebrow and grins. "Stole ?"
"You know what I mean Esmae."
"Sure. Anyways I was wondering if you want to hang out after class. You can come to my house or we can go to yours." Suggests Esmae.
"Let's go to yours."
" Perfect. It's been a while since we did this..."
After class ends, Esmae-rose and Billie direct themselves to the exit of their school, hand in hand. Esmae-rose lets go of Billie's hand and stops walking. " We'll meet in my room, okay ? I forgot I had something to do."
"What ? Again ? What are you hiding from me Esmae-rose ?"
Esmae-rose hugs her friend. "You're my best friend, I would never hide something from you. Just meet me in my room." Esmae-rose leaves without looking back.
Billie enters the bus and picks an empty seat. She puts on music and closes her eyes. After a moment, she opens her eyes and looks through the window. Next to her reflection is another silhouette. She quickly turns around to see. Her eyes widen as she sees Santiago sitting next to her. He gives her a soft smile. "Since when have you been sitting here ?" Billie takes off her headphones and puts them in her bag.
" Ever since you closed your eyes. You always sit here, so I know where I'd find you coming into the bus. I'm not stalking you, don't worry."
Billie tilts her head to the side. "Riight."
"Yeah. Well now that I've made it weird, imma make my exit." Billie pulls him back down. "You don't need to go.." she replies with a silvery voice. Santiago's ears turn red as he sits back down."O-Okay."
Billie gets back home. She starts going up the stairs before being stopped by Hillary. " Did you just get back ?"
"Yeah. Are mom and dad home ?"
" They went to pick up Miles from the airport. He's staying with us for his winter break."
Miles is Billie's 21 year old, older brother and the middle child of the Stutz family. At the age of 16, he moved to a different school on a football scholarship after getting scouted by a club in germany to reach his life-long goal: becoming a professional footballer. Miles has short brown coily hair, his eyes are two different colours, one being brown the other being hazel. He's very slim, around 179cm (5'11 ft) tall and last time, she remembers him mention his girlfriend Zoey. Him and Billie haven't seen each other in over a year so his physical description might be outdated. Not like Billie really cared. Her brother was fun and kind, that's all that really matters.
" Oh yeah, Christmas is in two weeks.."
" You forgot about Christmas ..?"replied Hillary with a confused look on her face.
" Whatever. Can you drop me off at Esmae's house? We're finally hanging out after a while."
" Don't you want to see your brother ?"
"I'm not sleeping over, I'll be back before 9. Esmae's mom will drive me back." Billie gets up the stairs, into her room.
"You have 10 minutes or else you'll have to find someone else to drive you ! " shouts Hillary from the stairs.
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