Capstone

Chapter 1 - September

"The assignment requires us to behave like adults," I said as I grabbed the rubber ball from Cale and shoved it in my pocket. "I've never been this stressed," I added as I slumped into my seat.

"Well then, it looks like we are on our way to an A." Cale sat back as he brushed his floppy brown hair out of his eyes.

His eyes; he got away with everything from his deep brown eyes. The female classmates weren't the only ones; all females seemed to give in to his pools of chocolate. It was beyond frustrating, especially now that we had to work together on our junior community capstone project.

"Seriously, Delly, it's like day one of a year-long project; simmer down." Cale's words broke through my thoughts.

"Simmer down, Cale, simmer down? This is our junior capstone project; this one-year-long project is our entire grade for the entire class." While all the other girls may have found his laid-back personality charming, I did not. "You have to take this seriously and start looking outside your clique."

"Last year, Chad planted a couple of flowers and got an A; I don't think we need to be worried about this the first week of school. Don't you have like friends or whatever you want to see?"

"Yes, Cale, of course, I have friends. Just because I'm not the queen of the pep squad like Melissa Carpenter doesn't mean I don't have any friends."

"Okay, okay; don't you like want to see them? We can catch up on this; I don't know, next week?" He pulled his tall frame from the chair and picked up his bag. "It'll be cool, Delly. Don't stress out so much." And then he flashed the smile, the one that added a twinkle to his eyes, the sparkle that got him out of everything. It came with matching wrinkles on either side of his nose that were so damned adorable; I almost got sucked in... almost.

"Fine, go. We can meet next week, but we have to meet next week." I spoke as sternly as possible so Cale knew his boyish charms did not affect me.

"Next week, you got it, Delly." He was already halfway out of the library.

"Don't call me Delly; I don't make sandwiches," I called after him, gathering a shush from the librarian.

I packed up my books and headed to the door, muttering. My partner for one of the most important classes of junior year was Cale Benton. What did he know about the community? He barely looked at anyone that wasn't in his circle of perfect people. I unsuccessfully tried to sigh out my annoyance.

"Hey, Dee, what's the big sigh for?" Chris was magically by my side as though I had sent up a bat signal of discontent.

"Cale Benton," I squeaked out as I tightly pressed my eyes shut, trying to will away my reality. I knew Chris would steer me clear of any oncoming obstacles, so I kept them clenched shut. "He is so, ugh."

"How did Cale Benton get you so annoyed?" Chris' voice matched my irritation, which I appreciated.

"Oh, didn't you notice? He's my capstone partner. Whom did you get?"

"Sophie Kim." He shrugged. "I'm not sure if she even talks, so that should be fun. We just got our partners today. Did you guys already meet?"

My annoyance at Cale turned on Chris. "Yes, of course we did. This is the class of our junior year. We have to take it seriously; we have to make a difference."

"Easy, I don't disagree." Chris stiffened at my ire.

"Sorry, it's just Cale. Our partner is supposed to support us and push our individual goals forward. I feel like all Cale will do is push this off until the Spring and plant a tree; like that's a huge difference."