Nothing in Between

04

Clyde practically skips to her history classroom in excitement. She cannot wait to talk to Taylor again, even though they just spoke an hour ago. It's a great thing that Mia doesn't have history class with her, or else Clyde will feel bad for not sitting with her.

She steps into the classroom and immediately finds Taylor's silhouette by the windows, so that's where Clyde walks to. A smile cements its place onto Clyde's lips as she softly pulls the chair backwards, sitting down without speaking a single word.

Her backpack gets cautiously dropped onto the floor, by her feet, and that's when Taylor finally realizes that there's a person occupying the seat beside hers. Gradually, their eyes meet, and Clyde instinctively sits up straight, fixing her horrible posture.

"Hi," she softly speaks, feeling her face flush.

"Hi."

"How's life?" Clyde playfully waggles her eyebrows.

Taylor laughs, and Clyde swears she can literally never get tired of hearing that beautiful, melodic sound. Her stomach does a complete flip, her smile grows just slightly wider, and Clyde has to scream at her dumb mind to tone her reactions down a little bit.

She is actually losing her mind just by hearing Taylor laugh. Her heart is losing its normal speed, too, beating at speeds that can practically seem unhealthy. But Clyde just doesn't care, no matter how weird it seems. It isn't like anyone really knows, anyway.

Plus, it isn't like Clyde is in love. She just hasn't met and befriended anyone else but her three closest friends, so a new, possible addition to their group is very exciting. This has nothing to do with her romantic attraction. Clyde just wants to make a new friend.

It seems like it's going incredibly well, too, since Taylor obviously seems to enjoy talking to Clyde. Honestly, Clyde considers this a success, since most people totally don't even want to interact with her whenever it isn't anything related to their academics.

But before Clyde can speak again, their teacher walks into the room. He's holding a tall stack of papers, which Clyde knows is from their last exam. Clyde feels a strong rush of anxiety, suddenly nervous that she may have gotten a score lower than she likes.

Names are suddenly being called, and Clyde patiently waits for hers. She doesn't want to speak now, out of fear that she will miss her name and embarrass herself. Taylor instantly goes back to doodling in her notebook, and Clyde feels a sigh escape her lips.

Then, Clyde hears her name. She stands up and takes the test paper from their teacher, nearly tripping on bags and her feet. Her eyes never land on her answer sheet, anxiously waiting until she sits back down. She needs to be completely prepared.

So, once Clyde sits down, she allows her gaze to hover all over the page, even tilting it to face Taylor when she leans over to look. Then, her eyes land on the number in the corner, and her lips curve upward into a gigantic, celebratory smile, internally cheering.

Clyde looks expectantly at Taylor, and she receives a beaming grin. She drops the paper on her desk, rapidly bouncing her leg as she reaches for her notebook and pencil, seeing their teacher finally begin writing something about their lecture on the board.

"They made me introduce myself," Taylor finally says, whispering.

"Oh, my god! I hate those!"

"Clyde!" their teacher calls, "If you don't want to listen, you can leave the classroom."

"Sorry, Mr. Jacobs," Clyde responds, blood rushing into her cheeks.

Embarrassed, Clyde looks at Taylor, who seems entertained by her uncharacteristically loud reaction. Clyde feigns nonchalance by giving Taylor a shrug, looking back towards the board, when Taylor suddenly takes her notebook and flips to the last page.