WALLFLOWER // B.E

forty-five

juniper

i leaned against the wall beside billie's classroom door as everybody piled out of the room. i waited patiently, but of course, billie was the last one to exit the classroom.

she wasn't even paying attention to her surroundings as she walked out of the room. she was going to follow the rest of her class towards the gym, where the school is doing a college fair today. i stopped her by grabbing her waist, and i swiftly turned her around to face me as i pulled her close.

"hey, you," i murmured as i smiled down at her.

i watched as her face lit up. "hi, baby," she smiled as well. she wrapped her arms around my neck as she stood up on her tiptoes to press her lips to mine. "i didn't know you were coming to the college fair yet," she said, since they had separated the seniors into groups to go it; there's too many seniors for us to all go at once.

"you didn't listen to the announcement?" i tilted my head.

"no, daniel asked for an eraser, and then we started talking about his band, and then everybody got up to leave so," she explained as she shrugged.

"i have no idea who daniel is," i shook my head. i leaned down to press my lips to her's again. "but you really should listen to the announcements; they could be important."

"if they're that important, then you'll tell me, so i don't think i have to worry about them too much," she giggled before kissing me once more.

i'm so glad my lip piercing is finally healed.

"break it up, ladies," a teacher called out. "as cute as you two are, you're at school; wait until you get home."

we turned to see who it was. it was mrs. v, as everybody calls her; that's mainly due to how hard her last name is to pronounce. i had her last year, and i liked her. she talked about her wife a majority of the time, and she showed us pictures of their baby.

"yes, ma'am," billie saluted at her, which made me giggle.

billie hugged my arm as we walked to the gymnasium. her head leaned against my arm too.

when we got there, i saw that there were a bunch of tables arranged into a large circle. each table had one or two college representatives in front of it, ready to tell us about why we should pick their college.

i placed my hand on billie's lower back as i guided her to the closest table. i figured it be easiest to start here, then go clockwise to the rest of the tables.

as the representative talked, i noticed billie looking everywhere but at the representative; she clearly wasn't listening to a single thing she was saying. i placed my hand on the top of her head, and i turned her to face the representative.

"pay attention," i told her. "if there's something that you need to pay attention to, it's this."

her shoulders slumped, but nonetheless, she paid attention. when we got to the next table, and the three after that, i still had to remind her to pay attention.

"you keep telling me to pay attention, but you're not paying attention either," her brows furrowed as she looked up at me, after we had left one of the tables.

"i already know what college i'm going to; i'm already accepted into said college," i explained, then watched as her jaw dropped a bit. "i thought i already told you?"

she shook her head. "what college are you going to? are they here?" she peered up at me expectingly.

i glanced around the gymnasium. i spotted it. "yeah, why?"