Retrograde ➼ cth [au]

cinco

this gif is so damn cute im internally screaming

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We had three weeks to complete the project, and after the first week I was beginning to thank my lucky stars for placing me with Katrina. It felt like I was granted a small amount of access into her world, and I loved every minute of it. This wasn't any dork-turns-insanely-popular kind of scenario – but she was already bringing me out of my shell and I was thankful for that.

"So, we've got a lot of analytical evidence from the novel," Katrina sat down across from me in the coffee shop, her small hands wrapped around the large mug of cinnamon latte. "How should we put it together? I mean, we'll be presenting it to the class, so we might as well go old school and create a PowerPoint, but what about the handouts?"

I lifted my own cup of coffee to my lips and sipped it hesitantly, hoping to not burn my tongue. After letting the bitter taste swirl around my mouth and a moment of thought, I replied. "Maybe we should do a booklet? As in, we start it with a small piece about how we interpreted the novel, and so others can get a sense of someone else's thoughts? Then we write out our research question and then each page can be a different theme and we'll work on bullet points together."

"That's a great idea, Cal!" Katrina smiled at me, my heart leaping a little. "And we can put the quotes in italics!"

I couldn't help but laugh at her comment, seeing her so excited about something as boring as an English project was probably the only thing keeping me going. In the past week I've been going over to her house a few more times, and she even came to mine yesterday after her gym practice. It was now a windy Saturday, and the sixth day in a row that I was spending time with Katrina.

Luke and Michael had been trying to get to me all week and all those times I had to turn them down due to already having plans – homework plans, yes, but still plans nonetheless. I felt smug, thinking about how it served them right for all those times I was teased for never speaking to Katrina, or teased for never having spent time with a girl. It wasn't my fault I was so shy and no one ever wanted to get to know me – it was a hard persona to have when one of your best friend was melting girls with one wink of his blue eyes and the other seemed to always get girls back to his with a simple "I like Pokémon and gaming" comment.

My thoughts were interrupted by a familiar yet unexpected voice. Speaking of the devil, I rolled my eyes as Luke sat down at the table next to us. "How's the project going, guys?" He gave me a smirk, and I returned it with a glare. He knew what he was doing.

"Katrina, this is my friend Luke-"

"Hemmings," he interrupted me. "Full time best mate to this loser over here."

Katrina giggled, and I felt the heat rise in my cheeks – firstly from embarrassment and secondly from jealousy. Luke always knew how to make the girls laugh – from simply giving them a wink outside the chemistry classrooms to retelling the story of the time I tripped down the stairs in eighth grade. It was four years ago, yet he refused to let it go.

"I've seen you around school," Katrina smiled over at Luke, and another pang of jealousy hit me. I wanted her to smile at me, and only me. "It was you and that pink haired boy – who is it, Michael? – that accidently released the frogs from the bio lab last semester, wasn't it?"

Luke grinned sheepishly and nodded. "Yeah, uh," he scratched the back of his neck as he laughed at the memory. "It was actually an accident on my behalf, but Mikey thought it'd be funny to let them all loose."

"No way!" Katrina gaped at Luke, and suddenly it felt like I wasn't here – way to go Luke, wowing the girls again. "My friend Katie got one stuck in her hair and after the initial screaming scenario she would not shut up about it for months!"