He Chose Me

chapter two

"Before I dismiss you guys to lunch, I just want to let you know that you will have an essay due this Friday that's going to be worth twenty percent of your grade," My history teacher, Mrs. Morrison, said.

The class groaned and she rolled her eyes and continued, "Anyway, you'll need to write a five page essay on who you believe to be the most influential person in history. Even though you'll be writing an essay, you will still be asked to present a little bit of your research to the class. The internet is at your fingertips, so please utilize that. Don't forget to cite your sources, and no, Wikipedia is still not a reliable source. Thank you, you can leave now."

I got out of my seat, cheerful. I knew everyone else was annoyed but I actually really loved writing essays. Or I guess I just loved writing. Although the paper was due in three days, I wanted to get a head start on it. So I headed to the cafeteria and once I found a secluded spot, I took a seat and began brainstorming on who I wanted to write about.

The essay being worth twenty percent of my grade was intimidating, but I was confident enough in my writing skills to know that no matter who I chose, I would still score well on it. As I began to jot down a couple of names, I saw someone plop down right next to me as if there weren't a million other seats they could've chosen.

"Uh, excuse you...Oh, hi," I nervously said as I looked up to see that it was Aiden.

He seemed like he was out of breath. He finally calmed down and spoke, "I saw you in the hallway for a second and then I looked up and you were already inside of the cafeteria! I wanted to at least let you know that I saw you and that we actually do go to the same school, since, you know, I can't text you because you told me to lose your number. Which by the way...rude."

I chuckled, "Yeah, sorry, I just had to get a head start on this essay that's due on Friday. I told you to lose my number because you were distracting me from my homework, which, you're kind of doing again!"

He seemed confused, "Wait, you're already working on something that's due four days from now? Why? I do everything the night before and still manage to pass every time."

I gave him a stern look, "Look, I hate to sound like a jerk, but if you're just going to distract me, then you should probably leave."

He shook his head, "Oh, crap, I'm sorry. I'm totally not doing this on purpose. I'm naturally all over the place. Maybe I could help you with your essay! What's it about?"

I hesitantly invited him a little closer to check out the brainstorming I had done on my paper, "We're supposed to be writing about who we think was the most influential person in history, but my mind's drawing a blank. I don't know who I should write about."

He stared off into the distance thinking and then looked back at me, "Uh...do Michael Jackson."

"Michael Jack—Aiden, please be serious or leave. I'm not writing my paper on him. Try thinking of someone that lived centuries ago!" I said annoyed.

He thought again for a moment and then spoke up, "Okay, what about Thomas Edison? Or Abraham Lincoln? Wait, no, I feel like everyone's gonna do them though. What about J.C.?"

My eyes lit up, "Oh my goodness, how did I not think of that? Of course! I'll write my paper on Jesus Christ!"

"I meant Julius Caesar...but yeah, that works too," He said. I gave him a sad look and pulled my paper back from him. He noticed and questioned me, "What's wrong? Is it something I said?"

I shook my head, "No, sorry. Um...I don't know how plainly I can put this so I'm just gonna say it. I'm a Christian. I know this may sound really random, but there were moments when we were at the mall and I tried to bring it up to you and you either completely ignored it or brushed it off like it was nothing. But it means everything to me. And just now, I thought we may have been on the same page, but we weren't. And I'm not judging you at all, I just...it seems like you want more out of 'this'. And if there's ever going to be a 'this', then I need to know where you are with your faith."