If I should fall

Three

Evan had gotten through the morning relatively successfully. He'd talked to Connor Murphy, Alana Beck (briefly) and Jared (very briefly.) He managed to get out of phys ed because of his cast, and English had just been writing some lame poem about "your feelings" (Evan was pretty sure everyone bullshitted the whole thing.)

One more lesson before lunch. C'mon. You got this. Evan said to himself. It was biology. What could go wrong in biology? Nothing, right?

Wrong.

"Class, we're gonna be working in partners today! I'm feeling generous, so I'm gonna let you choose your own partners," the teacher called. "But we're sticking with the same lab partners until Christmas, so pick someone you work well with!" 

Evan could feel his hands sweating. He had two options-- go ask someone to be partners, and risk being rejected, or wait for someone to ask him, and risk not being asked at all. WHAT DO I DO?! Evan thought desperately. He thought of his mom. She'd want him to go ask someone, right? There was a girl in blue standing right in front of him. He could-- he could ask her. Right now. Problem: he'd never spoken to her, and didn't know her name. 

"Uh- um, excuse me? Um, I was wondering if uh--"

"Sorry, were you just talking to me?" She turned around. She was pretty, he noticed. 

"Yeah I was um just um--"

"VERONICA! COME SIT HERE!" Another girl, this one dressed in green, hollered.

"COMING! ONE SECOND!" The girl called Veronica called. 

"Sorry, what were you saying?" She turned around again and gave him a tight smile. 

"Oh-- nothing. Sorry," He mumbled, staring at his scuffed trainers. She gave him another tight smile and grabbed her bag, walking over to her friend. Evan was left standing at the back of the classroom, and he slid into an empty seat on a table by himself, mortified. Everyone else had a partner. God, that was so embarrassing.

"Mr Murphy, you are late. Please pick a partner that you want to work with this term and sit down, quickly."

Evan looked up, hardly daring to believe what he'd just heard. Yeah sure, it was Connor Murphy. Yeah sure, it wasn't his first choice. But it was someone. And even better, they'd already talked this morning.

"Not much choice left, is there," Connor observed. "Ah well, I guess I'm with you," he announced to Evan, dumping his bag loudly on the table and sitting down. Evan didn't say anything, but he could feel himself blushing as he smiled down at the table. 

***

Short chapter, but I just need to set the scene and stuff before the story really gets going. I have a lot of really good ideas so let's see where this goes. Thanks for reading <3