John Hughes Movie

Chapter 2

Lara Jean

God, he was cute. Who am I kidding? This boy is more than cute. He's straight up hot. I tried to keep my eyes ahead but I couldn't help myself from stealing small glances of the almost perfect face sitting next to me.

When I walked into the classroom there was only three seats left. One next to a girl taking duckface selfies. One next to a group of dudes wearing bad graphic t shirts. And one next to the giant in a too tight blue shirt. He seemed like the least awful option.

His face was more rounded than I would think for an athlete. Not that I knew anyone who actually did sports. Maybe too many romance novels have convinced me that anyone who is athletic has a face chiseled out of marble... His cheeks were slightly pink and bouncy from trying to hide our laughter from his absolutely horrible impression of Dom from the Fast & Furious movies. They were my younger sister's favorites and I had unwillingly watched all of them more times that I would ever admit.

The professor continued with her lecture about the issues we would be discussing this semester, but I couldn't focus for more than a few moments. Thank god for syllabus day. I sneaked a peak at his cute face again. His eyes were enchanting. They were almond shaped and the perfect size for his face. I have met this man 15 minutes ago and I already know "the perfect size for this face". God, those green eyes could kill a girl. I was torn if they were more Jade or Emerald when I realized just how insane I sounded and tried to snap back to the lecture.

"Now before I go on about the readings you need to have done before next class, I want to tell you about your semester long project." Professor Berry, a heavier set woman in a funky maroon blazer, paced in front of the classroom. "Like in life, nothing is done alone, so you will be working with a partner. At the end of class, I will give you a few minutes to meet and pick a partner. If you don't care then it will be randomly assigned to you if I don't get an email before the next time we meet with your names." She continued with a few groans from the crowd. "You get to pick the topic you want to present on, but it will be subject to approval by me. That is the first part of your project due in two weeks. You will spend the semester dissecting a trope in popular culture by how its portrayed in film. More in depth instructions are already posted on the class page."

I am usually the queen of random partners. Makes it easy. We meet a few times, split the work, have a business like relationship & go about our lives. I blame my lack of social graces on being deemed the shy girl growing up. It got me out of ever having to put myself out there.

But Peter was sitting right next to me and had already made me laugh. I felt the knots grow in my stomach but knew I needed to do it. I had spent too much of my life in the background. My sister who I said had chronic main character syndrome would yell back that I wouldn't know since I was an extra in my own life. I promised myself I would start taking more risks. This felt like a chance to put my feet to the fire. "Want to be my partner?" I leaned close to him so our shoulders were touching.

He nodded happily and gave me a thumbs up before smiling. My heart did flips as I slid back into my seat. Was this equivalent of asking a guy out? I had never done either so this felt like a HUGE risk. Look at me trying to break out of my shell. Day one of the semester and I had already made more friends in class than I had the first few years here.

I turned back to the board and scribbled down the readings. My hand shaking from excitement.

As Professor Berry let the class go, I watched Peter pack his computer away. He got up from his seat. Whoa, he was tall. I threw my notebook into my backpack and stood up too. He towered above me. I maybe came up to his collarbone. Tall and buff. In an alternate reality, he could be an actor in a super hero movie. The kind teens on Twitter would make fan videos of pictures of him smiling to a K Pop song. He was that beautiful. I tried to shake the notion out of my head and followed him down the steps.