Colors

Chapter 10

When she arrived in the cafeteria next period, Victoria was already sitting at the table. Stacie got her lunch and sat down. "So, tell me what happened today" said Victoria curiously as Stacie opened her milk. "Well it turns out I have him in my math class and my language arts class" said Stacie. "Oh really, cool" said Victoria. "Yeah," began Stacie, "and in math class my teacher sat us right next to each other." Victoria almost spit out her milk. "What!" she said after she had swallowed. "Yeah" said Stacie. "What did you do?" asked Victoria. "Well at first it was extremely awkward," said Stacie, "but then we just started laughing and after that we just talked." "What did you talk about" asked Victoria enthusiastically. "Just regular stuff, nothing specific" said Stacie, "but I did ask him to sit with us at lunch and he said yes." "Oh my gosh, really!" said Victoria. "Yeah, actually... there he is" said Stacie as she spotted him in the crowd. He came over, said hi to the girls, and sat down opposite them at the circular table. "Hello" said Victoria. "Hi" said Stacie. Victoria kept looking at both of them and was beside herself with excitement, but didn't show it very much. "So this is your friend you talked about" said Jared. "Yeah" replied Stacie. Victoria couldn't take it much longer so she started asking questions.

"So, Jared, what do you think of Stacie" Victoria asked calmly. "Victoria!" Stacie whispered with a look of embarrassment on her face. "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to" she said to Jared. "No, no, its okay," he said. "Well, she's nice" he said, looking at Victoria. "Yeah she is"she agreed. Stacie blushed and slid down into her seat. "Anything else" pushed Victoria. Jared laughed. "I think we're making her uncomfortable" he said. She looked up at him with gratitude. "You two are adorable" said Victoria. "What!" said Stacie. "Well, the way he respects you and the way you look at him like you're glad he's there" Victoria said wistfully. It was Jared's turn to blush. "I do not" Stacie said a little too defensively. "Yes you do" said Victoria as she laughed at their reactions. Stacie looked over at Jared for help but instead saw him blushing and the words caught in her throat. She looked back over at Victoria. Victoria laughed harder. It was quite obvious, she thought, and she found it hilarious that they couldn't see the connection. "Oh come on," said Victoria, "it's obvious." "Not to me it isn't" said Stacie, annoyed. "Jared," said Victoria "what do you think?" "Um... I, I dunno" said Jared softly, looking down at his lap. Stacie looked back over at him. She realized that he might actually have feelings for her, even if she wouldn't admit hers. Victoria could tell what was going on and she couldn't stand them being so shy about it. "Okay fine, I like him, is that what you wanted to hear" Stacie said angrily, immediately regretting it. Victoria was about to burst in excitement as Jared looked up at Stacie. "And what about you?" Victoria asked Jared. He grinned at Stacie but didn't say anything and looked back down at his lap.

Lunch ended and they got up to leave the cafeteria. Stacie grabbed his arm softly as he started to walk away. He turned around and looked at her. "Did you really mean what you said?" he asked. "...Yeah" said Stacie softly. "But what about you" she asked. "I feel the same" he said. Before they could say anything else though, the crowd of people leaving the cafeteria thickened and they got pulled apart. Stacie turned around to find Victoria standing there with her mouth wide open. Stacie didn't say anything but just turned back around and walked out.

It turned out that her and Jared shared fifth period. They didn't get a chance to talk though. They finally got a chance to discuss what had happened at lunch on the bus. She walked down to where Jared was sitting and sat down. He looked at her but didn't say anything. "What happened at lunch?" she finally asked, turning to look at him. "I guess we finally stopped hiding how we felt" he said softly. Stacie started to retaliate but stopped. What he said was the truth, after all. She didn't know what to do. Suddenly someone asked if they could sit on the end of the seat. The bus seats are only supposed to hold two people but can fit three if they sit really close together. Stacie told Jared and they both scooted closer to the window. They were squished right up against each other. Stacie didn't know what to say so she just looked around at the color. "Well this just got a million times more awkward than it already was" Jared said almost inaudibly. Stacie heard him and laughed. Soon they were both laughing.

The other person got off at the first stop and Stacie moved away from Jared. The world fell back to grey until Jared grabbed her hand. "Don't make the colors go" he said softly. Stacie looked at him but didn't move her hand out of his grasp. They held hands and talked until Stacie had to get off.

She was walking home when she realized exactly what had happened on the bus. She smiled to herself. When she got home she texted Victoria everything that had happened. Victoria wrote back that she knew this would happen.

Stacie had trouble falling asleep that night and the next day was tired. She went to homeroom in a daze and when she got to first period she was about to fall asleep. She sat down at her new seat and waited for the teacher to start handing out the assignment. Jared came in and sat next to her. Stacie smiled faintly but then it was erased by a yawn. Jared's arm brushed hers and the colors flashed. Suddenly she didn't feel tired anymore. She looked at Jared but he didn't seem to be affected by it. She grasped his hand, not knowing why she did it. He looked at her in surprise for a second but then the surprise changed to a soft grin. "Hi" he said. "Hi" she said back. She looked down at their intertwined fingers but didn't make any effort to move them. "I..." she began. She didn't finish her thought though, because she didn't know what to say. "You don't have to say anything" said Jared.

The teacher started talking and they both looked at her, but they were still holding hands underneath the table. They finally had to move them when she had Jared pass out the papers. When he came back they worked on the assignment and talked.