𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐒, Alex Alvarez

one - annoying

•~3rd person P.O.V~•
"All I'm saying is that your dad doesn't have to figure out." Gracie continued as she and Maria walked into their classroom. Science, Maria's least favorite class because Sister Barbara assigned mounds of work. She seemed to find pleasure in the tired eyes of her students and the groans that chorused through the room when she handed out another worksheet.

Science itself was fine. Sometimes it was interesting, really made you say, wow really? Other times, Maria would rather hang upside down by her toenails than listen to a science lecture. Which was usually followed by a packet that was due by the end of class and another packet due the next day.

"I would be stressed out, trying to keep a secret from him is harder than anything in this world. As soon as he found out, he'd ground me for the rest of my life." The two girls sat in their seats, side by side, placing their backpacks beside them. "I'd rather just wait till I move out." Maria chuckled.

"That's so dumb though! You miss out on finding yourself through relationships, what you like and don't like, he's depriving you from building social skills." Maria thought Gracie sounded as if she looked up such facts. Maybe she did since she gave her parents a PowerPoint presentation on why they should let her date before she was sixteen.

Maria believed she should be able to date at any time. Having such a rule would usually tempt a child to break the rule. It made no sense to Maria that there was a certain age, typically sixteen, that gave you the permission to date. Someone who was sixteen could make poor relationship choices just as a fifteen, fourteen, year old could.

"Who would I even get with?" Gracie smiled immediately, shifting in her seat. She leaned close to Maria, just so no one else could hear.

"Alex has had a crush on you since forever, you could give him a chance." She whispered, as if she'd thought about the question before.

"Alex? You've gotta be kidding me." She muttered, rolling her eyes. Alex was funny, sure, but sometimes he was annoying. His friends were even worse, but most times when Alex wasn't around them then he'd be less annoying.

"He flirts with you all the time-"

"He flirts with everyone, all the time." She corrected her friend. Maria wasn't special, at least not to Alex. It wasn't a sad realization, Alex flirted with any girl he found attractive. Which was practically every girl except his sister, Elena. Maria thought Elena was pretty, she was smart too.

"You could change that. You can't deny that you're pretty, Maria." That was what Maria had been told, personally, she didn't see it. Gracie was beautiful. Wavy blonde locks, bright blue eyes, pale skin, and plush pink lips. She'd played Cinderella in a play when they were in fourth grade, and she certainly looked the role. "If Alex can't settle for you, then he can't settle for anyone." As if he were summoned, Alex walked into the classroom and sat right across from Maria, joined by his friend Finn.

They'd been allowed to choose their seats on the first day of school, their tables were in groups of four. Gracie and Maria thought they'd be able to snag a table, just the two of them until Alex and Finn decided they'd sit with them.

"Hey, Maria." He smirked, his regular greeting making her roll her eyes and cross her arms.

"Alex." She muttered, only getting him to smile wide. He almost seemed as if he enjoyed annoying Maria. Truly, he didn't, but annoying her made her talk to him. That was all he wanted.

Maria was beyond pretty, beautiful, to Alex and to many others. Alex and his friends first caught sight of her when she moved to town in fourth grade. Since then, he and his friends had grown a massive crush on her. She seemed to have that effect on many people.

She was smart, really smart. She took great pride in her grades. All A's throughout the entire course of her life. She was nice unless you annoyed her as Alex did. She was cool, the type of cool that you could tell she wasn't forcing. Where you were just immediately comfortable around her and could easily talk to her.

All of that, combined with her light brown, silky, hair, tan skin, honey-brown eyes, dark eyelashes, and dark pink lips made everyone around her fall in love with her. Alex was sure everyone thought this way about her, even his friends had admitted to having a crush on her at one point.

Maria leaned closer to Gracie, whispering something to her that made her giggle, just as she pulled her pencil pouch from her bag. Alex noticed she color-coded her notes, yellow for most important, stuff she needed to remember, and pink for less important but also needs to remember.

"Class," Sister Barbara announced, the students falling silent almost immediately, "I've decided on your end-of-the-year project." Maria swallowed down a groan. Her father said doing such a thing was rude, especially if it were an adult speaking.

"Great," Finn muttered beneath his breath, resting his cheek on his palm. He hoped they'd have partners, just so he could get a better grade. If he did it by himself, he'd forget all about it, do it last minute, and get a C minus at best.

"You will have partners," Everyone's mood seemed to shift, their posture straightening and smiles creasing their cheeks, "but," of course, there was always a but, "I will pass around a hat to two students at each desk, said student will pull out a name and that will be your partner." Maria frowned, looking at her best friend beside her.

Knowing her luck, she'd probably get stuck with Finn. If she got stuck with Finn, then she'd have to do the project without his help. Her dad didn't like her having friends that were boys, so she mostly avoided them. She told Sister Barbara that, so she usually stuck her with a girl in group projects, but this was by chance. She doubted Sister Barbara would let her switch partners, no matter what.

"Who'd like to go first?" Maria looked around, seeing no one's hand rise into the air. She sighed, it was better to get it over with than stress about it as other classmates drew slips of paper from the hat. Her hand flew into the air, nerves rising to her throat as Sister Barbara gave her a smile. "Thank you, Ms. Perez." She hated being called by her last name since it was her father's as well, but she never told Sister Barbara, afraid she'd ask questions.

It was a typical magician's hat, black and tall while slightly fuzzy at the same time. She stirred the slips of paper before she finally grabbed one and unfolded it. Her gut twisted, nerves rising to her cheeks and staining them pink. She looked up at Sister Barbara, who took the paper softly from her hands.

"Maria and Alex." She smiled as if nothing was wrong. As if she wasn't doomed. Her father would be beyond angry if he figured out she'd have to meet with a boy to make a project. Her father prioritized school, but not enough to let her meet with any boy. Alex smiled, Finn even elbowed him with a smirk on his own lips.

"Lucky." He whispered to him. Maria reluctantly pulled a strip off of a page in her notebook, quickly scribbling something onto it.

"Gracie and Noah." Sister Barbara continued, before moving to the next group. Maria slipped Alex the paper soon after, black numbers etched onto it with one small sentence as well.

don't message/call me unless it's about the project.

He definitely wouldn't abide by her request, or maybe he'd pretend it did have a correlation to the project. He was quick to put the numbers into his phone, texting his mom about the project and how he had to have Maria's number to contact her. He wasn't supposed to have "unapproved" girls in his phone, but he was sure his mom wouldn't mind. Especially since Maria was such an enjoyable and sweet person.
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A/n: can't wait to actually write down all of the ideas/scenarios I've teased you guys with on tiktok🙈
Word Count:1,418