Crush

Crush Day 3 (U2 Sunday, Bloody Sunday)

***

When third period came and went, Jace breathed a sigh of relief that Mrs. Tunston had called in sick, and most likely wouldn't be at school for the remainder of the week. It was like God was giving him a reprieve.

"Hey, man, late again?" Joe Forman, Jace's best friend asked as he stopped by Jace's locker.

"Yeah."

Jace pulled out his history book and his stack of notecards.

"Something going on at home?"

Jace took a deep breath. "No, just late. Overslept."

"Man, you look like shit. I know it ain't because you overslept."

"It's fine, I really don't want to talk about it."

Joe shrugged his shoulders. "Did you see the new girl?"

One of the best things about Joe was his attention span. He didn't stay on one subject that long. Jace shook his head. "No, not yet."

"She's hot."

"You think everyone is hot, Joe."

Joe grinned. He'd been called man-whore more than once. "Not everyone."

Jace laughed. "Yeah, okay, so are we going to history or what?"

Joe nodded and headed in the direction of Mr. Faraway's class. "What are you doing after school?"

"Cheryl and I are supposed to study for the Geometry Final."

"Man, are you sure you ain't hittin' that?"

Jace rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure I'd know if I was, but no, once again, I'm not 'hitting' that. She's a friend, that's all, besides...."

"She's got a boyfriend," Joe interrupted, "yeah, yeah."

"She does."

"Glad you two could make it to class," Mr. Faraway announced as Jace and Joe took their seats. The bell hadn't yet rung, so they both shrugged. Jace took his seat and flipped open his book to where they left off last time.

"Psst," Joe sounded.

Jace looked over to Joe and then to where Joe was pointing. Sitting two seats to the right and up one was a girl. The new one that Joe had been talking about earlier, and she was beautiful. Jace swallowed. He could feel his heart thump in his chest a little faster, and when she turned and caught him staring, her eyes widened just a smidge and she bit at her bottom lip. Jace was mesmerized.

She had long brown hair, green eyes, and she was wearing a U2 tee-shirt with the words Sunday, Bloody Sunday on it.

"Mr. West, earth to Mr. West."

The class laughed.

Jace could feel his ears turn red and then the rest of him.

"Yes?" Mr. Faraway rolled his eyes and then faced the board and wrote: Ancient Egypt.