Assigned seating was the worst, especially when you're the one who got to choose your seat. The one place you'd be forced to sit in for the entire school year. Next to a person you'll be regularly assigned to work with, much like Mr. Webb announced we'd be doing today.
The eccentric teacher called off a list if names, mines included, and instructed us to draw a picture of our 'desk buddy'. Pretty much everyone groaned and I was one of them. Normally, I loved the art projects, but not today. I didn't want to spend the next hour sketching Calvin. I also didn't want to fail today's lesson so I did as I was told.
Reluctantly, I turned on my stool to face Calvin and he did the same. Mr. Webb turned on some music like he usually did, playing classic love songs, making this even more awkward. Taking my golf pencil and sketch pad I start my drawing, using memory rather than looking up at him .
"Webb, this is weird," Chris Holmes, our resident class clown, groaned. Voicing the opinion I'm sure everyone shared. "I don't want to stare at this ugly dude all day."
The class cracked up over Chris teasing his friend and I silently agreed with him. Not that I considered Calvin to be ugly. The fact I could so easily remember the shape of jaw and lips was proof that I spent far too much time admiring his features. His stupid, judgey features.
"You're not even going to look at me?" From my peripheral vision I could see him trying to duck into my line of sight.
I ignored him and continued to do so in the thirty minutes it took me to sketch him. My drawing was crap and barely even looked human, but it was complete. I broke my no looking rule a few times to capture his stance as he was perched on the metal stool. He was too busy on his phone to notice, which I was grateful for.
Jotting my name down on the drawing, I froze up when I started to write down Calvin's. His last name escaped me. Was is Bentin? Benten? Maybe it was Benson?
An annoyed sigh leaves me as I realize what I have to do, catching his attention.
"How do you spell your last name?"
His lips quirked up into a smirk, "How badly do you want to know."
I rolled my eyes, getting up from my stool. Calvin reached out, enclosing my wrist in his hand. Despite how much I wished I could just switch off any feelings I possessed for him, I couldn't. His skin on mine still made my insides turn into mush and I felt compelled to sit back down.
He opened his mouth to speak, but all I heard was the shrill ring of the fire alarm.
"Fire drill," Mr. Webb announced over the ringing. "Everyone line up."
Saved by the bell.
+ + +
"It's missing something," Jasmine pondered as she hoovered over Faye's shoulder to look at the computer screen.
The four of us were rallied at Jasmine's house to help her with her homecoming campaign. She had already gotten the one hundred signatures needed to be in the race. It wasn't surprising that she obtained them in only a few hours, Jasmine wasn't someone you said no to. Now, Faye was using her fancy Photoshop skills to create Jasmine's poster.
The current design featured Jasmine dressed up like an extra from Destiny Child's Survivor video. Fitting perfectly with the jungle theme of homecoming. The words GO WILD AND VOTE FOR JASMINE were written along the bottom in big, golden letters. The poster looked amazing, but it was missing something.
"A panther," I suggested. "To represent the school mascot."
"I like it," she exclaimed, turning to Faye. "You can do that, right?"
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Holding On To Happy | ✔
قصص المراهقينMia Perkins life is a wreck. Her friends aren't speaking to her, her dad and his new wife are having a baby and she's positive her mom hates her. Then there's Calvin Benton, her new neighbor who is a little too honest for her liking. But maybe hones...
