CHAPTER TWO!
( STUDY HALL. )

   LATER THAT DAY, Joan and Violet walked into the student lounge. With heavy book bags and heavy hearts, the two of them sat down at an empty table and began their trigonometry homework. There were plenty of students around, studying, playing darts, Joan even noticed Meeks and Pitts working on something that looked to be a sort of radio. Upon seeing Meeks she was reminded to ask him about Latin. Joan hadn't spoken to him since she got back to school.

"I'll be right back. I just gotta ask Meeks over there for some Latin notes, because if I'm being honest, I didn't write much down, and Meeks is the best in the class," she told Violet before approaching Meeks and Pitts.

"Hey, guys."

"Hi Joan. Good to see you again," Pitts smiled warmly.

"Likewise," she smiled back.

"Oh, hey Joan! What's up?" Meeks greeted, adjusting his glasses.

"Not that I'm just using you for your notes... but I was wondering if I could copy whatever notes you took in Latin, I wasn't paying attention," she said hopefully.

"Sure. By the way, who's that new girl you're sitting with?"

"That's Violet Moore, she's my new roommate. I think you'd like her, you should come say hi. You too, Pitts."

"All right," Meeks grabbed his Latin book and stood up. Pitts followed.

The three of them sat down at the table and Violet looked at Joan, confused. "Violet, this is Steven Meeks, and this is Gerard Pitts," she motioned to the boys.

"Hi, I'm Violet Moore. Nice to meet you." Violet held out her hand formally to each of them.

"Nice to meet you too. Just so you know, if you ever need any help with Latin, you can always ask me," Meeks offered.

"Yeah, he's a whiz at Latin," Pitts paused, "and Trig, and Chem, and English."

Violet laughed. "Well I'm alright at math and science, but I might need some help with Latin. I don't know how I'm supposed to memorize this by tomorrow," she looked down at her notes in exasperation.

"Here, I'll teach you the system." Meeks leaned over and began explaining, a soft blush dusted his cheeks.

Joan shared a knowing smirk with Pitts before turning back to her own homework.

Before she knew it, they were joined by Cameron, Neil, and Charlie.

"Hi, guys," Neil smiled, taking a seat.

"Wow look at you two, getting all the ladies," Charlie teased Meeks and Pitts as he took a seat beside Joan. "Hey Joan," he smiled, nudging her playfully with his elbow.

"Hey, Dalton." She nudged back.

"Dalton? What are you, my teacher?"

"Okay fine. Hello, Charlie," she rolled her eyes in mock annoyance.

"Hi guys," Meeks said, but it seemed he wasn't interested in a conversation, as he turned back to Violet and continued explaining.

"So are you gonna introduce us?" Neil asked, looking to Joan.

"Oh! Yeah, sorry. Guys this is Violet Moore, my new roommate, she just moved here from New York. Violet this is Neil Perry, Richard Cameron, and this is Charlie Dalton." Each gave a smile and a nod. Meeks looked a little irritated, but stopped talking to her to allow others to meet her.

"New York huh? What's it like?" Neil inquired.

They engaged in a lively conversation, it was nice to talk to people freely after a full day of a strict schedule.

Everyone's attention turned to the doorway when Knox entered the room and closed the door behind him, leaning up against it heavily.

"How was dinner?" Charlie asked.

"Huh?" Knox had a faraway look in his eye.

"How was dinner?" Charlie repeated.

"Terrible. Awful," Knox groaned.

He pushed off the door and sat down at the table. He seemed to just now notice Joan and Violet, he smiled at both of them, but it was pretty clear that his mind was preoccupied with something else.

"Why? What happened?" Charlie asked.

"Tonight, I met the most beautiful girl in my entire life," Knox said dismally.

"Are you crazy? What's wrong with that?" Neil looked at Knox incredulously.

"She's practically engaged. To Chet Danburry."

"That guy could eat a football," Charlie said resentfully.

"Y'know Knox, that guy's known for moving on from girls quickly. I don't know this Chris girl but I do know that Chet probably won't be keeping her long," Joan said, trying to lift his spirits a little.

"You think so?"

"Yeah, I do."

"It's just, she seems to really love him. The way she looks at him, it's like- it's like he makes the world spin or something," his head fell into his hands. Her attempts were obviously futile.

"That's too bad," Pitts sympathized.

"Too bad? It's worse than too bad Pitsie, it's a tragedy. A girl this beautiful in love with such a jerk," Knox cried.

"All the good ones go for jerks, you know that," Pitts replied.

"Ahh, forget her. Open your trig book and try and figure out problem five," Cameron said handing Knox a pencil.

"I can't just forget her Cameron. And I can't think about trig."

"Sure you can. You're off on a tangent- so you're halfway into trig already!" Meeks laughed loudly. Violet chuckled as well, while everyone else just looked at them.

"Oh Meeks, that was terrible!" Cameron said shaking his head.

Meeks grinned sheepishly. "I thought it was clever."

Knox brought the conversation back to his girl problems. "You really think I should forget her?"

"You have another choice?" Pitts said.

Knox dramatically dropped to his knees as if he were proposing. "Only you, Pittsie," he implored, with an exaggerated sigh. "There's only you!" Pitts pushed him away and Knox slumped back into his chair.

"Did you see her naked?" Joan heard Charlie ask Knox. Oh, Charlie, always gotta be that guy.

"Very funny Dalton," Knox muttered.

"Why do you have to make everything sexual, Charlie?" Joan asked, not looking up from her homework.

"Why not?" he chuckled.

"Because, it's gross. I mean, you don't give it a break."

"Don't worry. I'd give you a break, if you really needed one," he chuckled, like he was the funniest person in the world.

"You are so hard to talk to sometimes, you know that?" Joan shook her head, narrowing her eyes.

"Yeah, so I've been told. It's all part of my charm, Joey," he smirked, nudging her book over, causing her to mess up the word she was writing. She finally looked up at him.

"Jerk," she shook her head, hitting his hand away, "Also, do not start calling me Joey, only certain people get that privilege. You are not one of those people."

After a few more minutes of homework, Dr. Hager walked into the room. "Alright, five minutes. Let's go." Everyone began packing up their things and preparing to leave.

"Say, what happened to Todd?" Cameron said as he gathered his things.

"Wait, who's Todd?" Joan asked.

"Todd Anderson. He's new here, a little shy. To answer your question Cameron, he said he wanted to do history," Neil said.

As Joan and Violet parted ways with the guys, Charlie sent Joan a wink. "See ya later, Joey."

"Always a pleasure, Dalton," she nodded sarcastically. He drew an exaggerated heart in the air as he turned away and Joan narrowed her eyes.

❦

Back in their dorm, Joan noticed that Violet had a little more spring in her step.

"Found something to be happy about, huh?" she laughed.

"What do you mean?" Violet asked innocently.

"I mean Steven Meeks. Are you kidding? He totally likes you."

"No, I just met him today. He does not and I don't like him either," she said, struggling to fight back a smile.

"I call bullshit."

"Okay fine, I do kind of like him. But not like how Knox likes that girl."

"Well, Knox is a little excessive, don't you think?" Joan chuckled, remembering his melodramatic performance in the study lounge.

"I think it's charming, but at the same time, yes it is a little much," Violet agreed. "Well, what about you and that Dalton guy?"

"Oh my god, Charlie Dalton? No. Definitely not. That guy flirts with every girl he sees. Besides, do you hear the way he talks? He is so damn full of himself it's ridiculous. He's been like that since the seventh grade, it gets so annoying," Joan sighed.

"Really? Well, I'm glad to say that he did not flirt with me, or any other girl in the room for that matter."

"That's because Meeks was clearly enamoured with you, and who's to say he didn't flirt with someone before we came," she shot back.

"All I'm saying is that he doesn't seem so bad. And you do seem to like him, even if you are trying to cover it up. Don't worry though, he is too."

Joan shut off the light, ending the conversation. "Goodnight, Violet."

"Goodnight, Joan. Think about it."

AUTHOR'S NOTE.
❪ ⋆࿐໋ 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒎. ❫

Hello everyone, here's the
second chapter! I'm kind
of loving how Joan doesn't
care about calling Charlie out.
This is random, but if you're
into MBTI, I feel like Joan
would be an ISFP 6w7 and
Violet would be an ISFJ 9w1.
I hope you enjoyed and I will
see you next chapter!