Apéritif [ Carmy Berzatto || THE BEAR FF ]

Chapter 14 - I know you

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"Ok class, let's reel it back in it. I have a new assignment for you guys."

It was a sunny day in February. So sunny that you could confuse it to be summer. But in reality the wind nipped at your skin the minute you stepped outside.

English was one of my least favorite classes. So much time spent on trying to "read between the lines" of a novel piece made by some stuck up author. What if the author just meant what he said? I sat in the back as usual in a group table with three other guys. None of them I really spoke to, unless we had group work.

"It better not be another writing assignment," Leo muttered, his words barely audible above the rustle of papers. He was a rather short guy with blonde curls that a lot of the girls in this class loved. They would occasionally pet him like some zoo animal and coo at him with smiles on their faces. He enjoyed every bit of it, as much as he tried to deny it.

"Yes it is another writing assignment, Leo." The teacher echoed in front of the room. The class groaned in unison.

"For this assignment, you have free rein," she chimed. "Write about your family, your dreams, your passions. But remember to adhere to the rubric." College applications were a little under 2 years away, but Mrs. Wagner wanted us to work on college work as much as possible. And she deemed us 'lucky' to have a teacher like her who truly 'cared'.

Mrs. Wagner made her rounds around the classrooms. Dropping sheets of paper onto each of our desks. The faded black ink on the pages spelled out "Rubric & Guidelines", which was practically the opposite of having "free reign".

As the paper landed on my desk, I couldn't help but feel a weight at the bottom of my chest. The list of bullet points sprawled across the sheet and the words started to muddle together. I glanced at the clock to see we still had what was 30 minutes left of the class.

"Oh this is easy." One of the boys sat next to me, who I could never remember his name, chimed.

"I'm going to allow you guys to start brainstorming some ideas for the rest of the period," Mrs. Wagner announced, "Try to stay focused." Her gaze swept across the room, lingering momentarily on Leo, who had already turned away, his attention caught by a group of popular girls clustered at a nearby table.

One of the girls was Claire. Her brown hair always sat at her shoulders, but today they were in a low ponytail. A few of the strands that were too short for her purple hair-tie, escaped to frame her face. Many people knew who she was, even if she didn't know who they were. She was on the soccer team for a while before she dropped after a leg injury sophomore year. I overheard her one time talking to her circle of friends, defeated that none of the guys wanted her as a Valentine, because she was too 'boy-ish'.

I thought the opposite. Her exterior and humble personality was like a rare gem in a mine. I felt almost grateful to even be in the same classroom as her. It made high school a bit more tolerable...

"Hey," it was Claire's voice that snapped me out of a trance, "what do you plan on writing for your essay?" I turned to face her, my heart skipping a beat at the sight of her smile. And as she spoke, I couldn't help but notice the slight imperfection of her chipped front tooth, a trophy from her days on the soccer field.

"Umm-" I pondered for a bit.

"I just can't think of anything to write." She chuckled.

"Well I-i think I might write about a future career, or something like that." Completely lying out of my ass. I didn't know what to write. I didn't want to write anything at all. I had already envisioned myself lazily making up something last minute, but for some reason those were the words that came out of my mouth.