[UPDATED WEEKLY ON FRIDAYS]
When Lilah, an innocent eighteen year old, moves nearly eight hours from her rural town and rough past to have a fresh start at college in New York with her best friend and her older brother, the last thing she expected...
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"Good morning class," Mrs. Herrera sang in a light hearted voice, earning a bored 'good morning' back from everyone. I smiled over at Nate who sat beside me again only for him to glance over and smile back. It had already been a week since we first got coffee together and over the last few days we had gotten closer. Luckily, we had class together three times each week. Unfortunately, that meant I had class with Jackson three times a week also.
Since that first class, Jackson and I haven't talked unless it was about the project. He had come over to our apartment a few times already, but each time I decided to lock myself in my room unless I needed to use the bathroom or get something to drink or eat. As annoying as it was, it was also a reliable solution to avoid him.
Nate nudging my foot with his brought me out of my thoughts and I glanced over to see his pearly white teeth showing from the perfect smile he had. Butterflies erupted in my stomach from simply looking at him and I could feel my cheeks get warm.
"Alright, for the next week I am going to have you guys pair up with someone of your choosing and work on a slideshow that you will then have to present to me. You will have to come up with characters, a setting, a plot; all of that good stuff. The twist though is that your plot has to contradict a part of the story. A very common example is a romance book that starts with the characters being enemies. Another one would be a time traveling novel with the protagonist getting stuck in a historical time like a war or something. On this paper I have several other examples that you are free to use. However, I encourage you to try and create your own example."
Mrs. Herrera kept explaining the project as she passed out the paper that explained in more detail what was required for said project. I glanced over everything and admittedly got excited for this project.
I loved being in a creative space and letting my imagination flow. What was also making me excited was being able to have a partner, which I was hoping would be Nate.
"Go ahead and find your partner. Once you do, you can go ahead and sit wherever and begin working on your stories. I can't wait to see what you guys come up with." She announced excitedly with a genuine smile. Once she finished talking, everyone began to stand up and start pairing together, the quiet room suddenly being filled with multiple conversations.
Although I had a good feeling Nate was going to partner up with me, I still felt that familiar feeling of dread of possibly not finding a partner and someone being forced to pair up with me. I quickly shook the bad memories out of my head once I noticed Nate's eyes glance up in my direction. The comforting smile I had grown familiar with spread across his face.
"Hey there partner." He greeted me with an awful southern accent that made me throw my head back and laugh.
"Howdy," I joked back, tipping my invisible cowboy hat to him. His eyes crinkled as he chuckled and I could feel warmth spread in my chest.
