third time's a charm

"what do you want to be when you grow up?"

chapter thirty-one: what do you want to be when you grow up?

Monday, January 8. 5:57 pm.

"For Christ's sake," I mumbled under my breath as I struggled to center an article in one of the columns of the school's newspaper template. I took my hand away from the computer mouse and brought my hands up to my face as I decided to take a breather. This was the closest to our deadline that I had probably ever been; I had three minutes to get this turned in, and there was no way that was happening.

I opened a new tab and pulled up my school email; I sent an email to the publisher that our school worked with and begged for an hour extension. The guy we contacted directly usually always got back to me in a timely manner, so I hoped this would be no exception.

As I switched tabs, once again, my phone began to ring. I smiled as I saw Jamison's contact but let out a dilemma-based sigh. I wasn't sure if I should answer; the last thing I needed was a distraction.

Finding myself unable to say any form of No to Jamison, I answered his call.

"Look, this thing will be overdue in 2 minutes, so I am on a time crunch. I cannot dilly-dally."

"Whoa," Jamison laughed out. "Hello to you, too," he joked.

"I'm sorry... I'm just stressed."

"How about I pick us up some dinner, and then come break into South?" A wide smile suddenly reached my face.

"That sounds wonderful, Jamie."

"I'll be there in two shakes... ooh, shakes. I'm getting us shakes, too. See you soon!" The call was ended on his end within seconds and I giggled to myself. I looked back at the computer screen and saw something move from the top corner; I had a notification waiting for me on my other tab. Thankfully, the guy had already emailed me back and told me No worries. It appeared I wasn't the only one who needed an extension.

I took a deep breath in and got back to work. I still had two more articles to format, so there really was no time to waste unless I wanted to be empty-handed by the time I needed to email him again by the end of the hour.

After about twenty minutes of focused work, a creak from somewhere in the computer lab caused my blood to run cold. I looked over my shoulder and furrowed my brows as I scanned the room.

"Hello?" I asked, hoping a custodian might peek their head in the room and calm my nerves. Instead, I got no answer and an eery prolonged silence. I turned my attention back to the computer screen and tried to brush off my jumpy-ness. Within a minute, I heard another sound; this time, it was louder.

Staying after school had never really given me the creeps, but I was also usually out of here before the faculty could start leaving. My journalism teacher had left at least thirty minutes ago because of a kid-emergency, and I couldn't remember the last time I stayed late without her right next door.

"Will, I swear if that's you out there," I grumbled as I pushed myself up from my seat. My plan of action was to shut the door so that no one could come in without me noticing; when got to the door, however, I let out a shriek as someone suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Jamie!" I fussed as I pushed on his chest. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"I'm sorry!" he laughed out as he wrapped his arms around me, despite his hands being completely full. My heart was pounding from being so startled, but I found it in myself to laugh and hug him back. "Vales was walking out the second I needed in, isn't that lucky? I didn't even have to break in."

"You didn't even break any rules for me?" I asked as if I was disappointed and watched as his eyes playfully rolled. He leaned down and kissed me softly, causing me to swoon.