The Purple Beanie

English Class

After a few minutes of class, Bree loosened up and had a slight look around. She was curious to see who was in her class. And she wanted to see if there were any kids who were worth being English partners with, especially since she took it so seriously.

Suddenly, her eyes met a boy's. He instantly turned a bright tomato red and quickly looked away. Bree looked on at him curiously. The boy had messy strawberry blond hair and bright sky blue eyes. The boy seemed to be rather tall, since his desk didn't provide quite enough space for his legs to comfortably fit under. His face was sort of round, and Bree could still see the little bit of baby fat that remained on his cheeks.

Why was he staring at me? Bree thought. I would say he looks a bit childish for our age.

Bree usually didn't approve of people who were messy, tardy, and immature. They sometimes got on her nerves, and she was more or less pretty unfamiliar with them because she herself was not like that. And she was pretty sure that this unknown boy was one of those people. Bree wasn't usually someone who was quick to judge, but she couldn't help that she could just see it.

Ms. York talked endlessly about the basic elements of English such as the parts of speech, and Bree had to admit that it wasn't the most fun lesson, but she listened attentively to her teacher as always. Meanwhile, half the class was asleep.

Including the weird strawberry blond haired boy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Mr. Bailey?" a stern voice called. Conner instantly sat up, turning bright red.

"Yes, ma'am!" Conner yelled instinctively. The class laughed. He had absolutely no idea why he was always the one who was picked on even though, like, half the class was always asleep in class along with him.

Conner internally slapped himself. He had broken his "promise" to Alex. He had made a vow to himself to behave better in school this year, but somehow he just couldn't do it. He wasn't a teacher's pet like Alex always was; he was more like the class clown. Alex was so much better than him. He was always at least two steps behind whenever they did anything.

He nervously glanced at the girl, Bree Campbell. For some reason, whenever he thought about or heard someone mention her name, he immediately blushed and lost all connection with his body and mind. To his surprise, Bree was actually side-eyeing him from her seat at the front. Probably because he had literally just fallen asleep in the middle of the class (even though he wasn't the only one). Conner blushed and quickly looked away, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of the coolest girl he had ever met.

"Okay, class, your homework is to write a short story. It does not have to be formatted or meticulously spelling-checked, but make sure to produce your very best and most imaginative work, as usual," Ms. York told the class.

Half the class groaned. Conner guessed that it was probably the same half that had been sleeping during class. He chuckled internally - even though he always got bored during class, he loved writing. It was one of the only things he actually enjoyed in school.

And, even though Conner had no idea why, he had one more thing - or person, rather - to look forward to now.