Unexpected

Gabby the Nail Tech

"Well, look who it is." Zach greets me as I slide into the empty seat next to him.

I grin to myself, pulling out a notebook from my bag.

"You won't be needing that." Zach notes, watching the way I carefully date the corner of the page. When I give him a puzzled look, he elaborates with, "All we do is watch movies in Spanish and occasionally take open note tests."

"This place is so much more lax than my last school." I shake my head, flipping my notebook shut. "Not that I'm complaining, I'm just surprised."

"Where'd you go, anyway?" He asks me, eyeing the bottles of nail polish I've begun to take out of my pencil bag and set on my desk.

"Leçon de Liberté Medical High." I state, shaking the light blue bottle for the second time today.

"Well that sounds much more fancy than this place." Zach replies, watching as I pick up each bottle set out on my desk and shake it like I did with the light blue.

"Then what's with all the big houses? And the mayor's daughter going here?" This causes Zach to look up from the bottles to me, a somber look taking over his expression.

"That doesn't mean anything about the fanciness of the school. To be honest with you, Miami's just diet California."

I snicker at this, agreeing with him in some respects as someone who just moved from Cali.

"You wanna share the wealth, there?" Zach asks, motioning to the army of nail polish bottles lined at the front of my desk.

"You don't mean that you want me to paint your nails?" I ask him, biting back a laugh.

"Oh, that's exactly what I mean." Zach states matter of factly, flipping invisible hair over his shoulder and splaying his fingers out before him. I look at his limp wrist in amusement, about to ask about our teacher when a guy with hair reminiscent of 2010 Taylor Lautner begins walking past us only to do a double take and backtrack to Zach's side.

"Zach, you weren't going to introduce me? Who's your friend?" He asks, smiling in my direction.

Zach lowers his hand, shooting me an annoyed glance before turning to him reluctantly. "Derek, Gabby. Gabby, Derek."

"Oh, Austin's Gabby?" He asks, grinning even wider at me.

"I'm not Austin's Gabby. I'm just Gabby." I retort, not hiding my annoyance at his comment. Zach seems peeved too, glancing at me with uncertainty.

Derek throws his hands up with a smile still on his face that I want to wipe clean off. "My bad, he was just talking about you last period."

I give him a tight lipped smile and reply, "How funny. So was I. He's got quite the character, doesn't he?"

Derek hardly wavers, instead refocusing on the nail polish bottles in front of me. "We painting nails today?"

I exhale out of my nose and throw a look at Zach, willing him to do something.

Zach hears my prayers and nods to Derek, "Yes, but she doesn't take walk-ins. Run along now Derek, I have an appointment."

Derek looks uncertain, glancing between the two of us. "I'll talk to you later, Gabby. We can-"

"Bye, Derek." Zach says, cutting him off. Derek shoots him an unhappy look before taking a seat somewhere in the back of the room.

"So that was Derek." Zach states, seeming tired from the interaction.

"I see that."

At this moment, the teacher walks in and casually situates himself against the edge of his desk. "Look at you overachievers, all here early." He quips, his arms folding over a t-shirt that looks much too informal for a teacher. According to my posh Californian school anyway.