Sally & Jackson

Chapter 3

I spent the night overthinking whether I should text her or not. It was completely draining, and I didn't know when I fell asleep until my alarm rang.

I spent my time in the hall trying to spot her face in the crowd, but that wasn't getting anywhere, so I finally gathered up the courage and texted her. I spent the rest of the day checking my phone over and over and over again, and I completely zoned out of most of my classes. By the end of the day, I had accepted the fact that she probably wasn't real, and I had made her up. It was either that or she didn't want to text me back, and I was definitely going with the other one.

Later that night, she finally texted me. "Get dressed; I'm coming to pick you up," it read.

"Do you even know where I live?" I hit the send button, and the horn of a car outside was my answer. I opened my curtains and saw her seated in the car. I rushed into my closet and basically grabbed literally anything I saw. I was definitely not prepared for this, physically or mentally, but she was already here, and I couldn't send her off without sounding disrespectful or hurting her feelings.

"Excuse me!" I heard my mom yell, and I basically had to acquire the ability of super speed. "You can't be doing that here. You've got the wrong house, young lady."

"Mom. It's for me," I said. She stared at me with shock in her eyes, then proceeded to look at Sally, then back at me.

"Bye, Mom," I called as I walked down towards the car.

"Pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Sterling." She waved.

"Get in the car," I said through my gritted teeth as I opened the door and entered. Sally chuckled as she got in and started the car.

"That was... interesting," she giggled. I looked at her and noticed how her face lit up, followed by the dimple on her cheek.

"How'd you know my last name?" I asked. She fell silent.

"And I'm the stalker," I added.

"It was on your notebook, okay?" She said as she punched me playfully, and it hurts more than I expected.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll find out soon enough," she replied.

I stuck my fingers out the window and let the cold night air brush against my skin. It felt so good that I proceeded to stick my head out the window, and it was amazing. The feel of the wind as it ran through my hair left me with an ache for more. Sally quickly looked away the moment our eyes met. I got my head back into the car and started overthinking what was going through her head when she was looking at me. I picked my nails over and over, and I didn't even know the car had come to a stop until she tapped my shoulder.

"We're here," she announced. I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car. The building that stood before us was none other than the aquarium.

"What're we doing here?" I asked.

"We're going in," she answered with an odd look on her face. I was still processing everything; how'd she manage to get all this set up? Did we even have tickets?

"But how?" I managed to say.

"I know a guy." She tapped my shoulder and practically ran into the building.

It was as if she had become a different person the moment she walked through the doors; her eyes lit up at everything she saw. I loved watching her like that; it was oddly calming, and it made me feel happy.

"You seem to enjoy it here." I chuckled.

"Yep!" She replied.

Sally basically took me on a tour, explaining the fish and all that biology stuff. Even though it wasn't my cup of tea, she looked very invested in telling me everything. We finally got to the sharks, and she moved closer to the sharks. Even though there was a glass preventing the sharks from breaking free, I stood a couple of feet away from it. She placed her hand on the glass and giggled.