Crushes

Chapter 3

I found the perfect way to talk to Kate without it being weird, group projects, honors ELA. "So, we've finished reading two short stories. Your assignment is to get into groups of four and put together a slideshow. Your slides must contain characters, their traits, setting, theme, main idea, and a summary," Mrs. Bell explains to us. "And if you guys want to add your own information to it, don't be afraid," she adds.

"Hey," Tyler whispers to me, tapping my shoulder, "partners?"

"Yeah, but we need two more people," I look around the classroom and see the two best friends, Skye and Kate. I point to them and Tyler nods in agreement, I walk over to Kate and ask, "do you two want to be with us?"

"Yes," Skye shouts.

"Shush," Kate snaps as she whispers something in Skye's ear, causing Skye's face to turn bright red.

"What should we start with," I ask, taking a seat across from Kate.

"We should pick a story," Kate answers quietly, a bit rude as well.

"I'll be honest guys, I zoned out through both of them, so I have no idea what's going on in either of them," Tyler says.

"How helpful," I hear Kate mutter under her breath, I look over at her to find her shooting daggers at Tyler.

"Are you guys ready for the game tomorrow," Skye asks as Kate gets the two stories from her bag.

"Nope, it seems I can't get rid of my sister," I say as I glance at Kate. Our eyes meet for a split second, her face turning red as she looks away.

"Don't you like your sister," Skye asks me.

"It's not that, it's the fact that I live with her and spend every waking hour with her. We'll even be in the same school next year" I explain, slightly ranting.

"How old is she?"

"13, she's in eighth grade."

"Okay, back on topic," Kate begins before Skye can carry on the conversation. "We have The Tell-Tale Heart and There Will Come Soft Rains. We can vote," she glares at Tyler again, "except you."

"Hey, I wasn't going to vote anyways, no reason to get feisty," he leans towards me and whispers, "dang."

"I vote for the second one," I say.

"First one," Skye says.

"I'm going with Aiden on this one," Kate says, "it'll be easiest." An awkward silence occurs when I catch Kate's eyes, again. They're magnified because of the lenses on her glasses, the color of a milk chocolate bar. "We should assign parts now, so that it's not as much work," she says quickly, glancing down at the paper in front of her. I notice that they're covered in doodles, they look simple, but complicated at the same time.

"We can split into teams of two and work on them in smaller groups. From there, we come together to create the slides," Skye suggests elbowing Kate in the arm. "You know, since Tyler didn't pay attention," Kate rolls her eyes.

"Okay, so Skye and I and you and Kate," Tyler says immediately after Skye. Skye smiles at the idea and then looks at Kate with begging eyes.

"Fine," Kate says, "at least I'm not stuck with a slacker," she mutters, not trying to hide her hate for Tyler.

"Tyler and I will do the theme, main idea, and the summary," Skye says.

"And we'll do the characters, traits. and setting," Kate recaps, avoiding all eye contact.

I look at the clock on the wall and realize we only have a few minutes left before school's over. "We'll have to meet up somewhere," I say to Kate.

"Where?"

"How about your house," I suggest, not wanting my parents to find out about Kate.

"We can't do that," she replies, shoving the papers in her bag.

I sigh, "fine, we'll meet at my house on Saturday, I'll text you the time."

"Fine by me," she says right before the bell rings.

I think of hollering after her to see if she wants to walk to practice together, but she's gone before I get a chance. Like a flash of light.

A/N: Hey everybody, thank you for continuing to read this book. That's a picture of Tessa (AKA, Tess) at the top. If you guys like this book, you should go check out True Love, another love story, it might be really bad and cringy though. If you want something shorter that's quick to read, go check out my Short Stories book. Let me know what you guys think will happen later on in the book. I'd also love to here what you guys think of it so far, so don't be afraid to speak.

Are you guys excited for Independence Day, Fourth of July? I am, I love the fireworks and barbeque and bonfires and s'mores and everything.

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