Before (Book 1/3 of Will You Remember?)

Odds Are In My Favor

When I awoke this morning I wasn't late. Surprising enough I awoke to my alarm clock telling me I wasn't going to see the boy today. I was quite sad but I told my self I had to stop being late. If I kept doing it on purpose it would become a habit and school authorities would question me. I got ready and left a few minutes early so I could meet Belle in the cafeteria.
Arriving I saw her sitting with Ben at our table. As I got closer I heard them talking about the project.
"Hey guys. Whatcha talking about?" I walked over praying they weren't talking about me.
"The assignment. We're not sure what we're supposed to do so we're just talking about when I first came here," exclaimed Belle. Thank god they weren't talking about me.
"Cool. Cool." I said while sitting down next to Belle.
"You haven't gotten your partner yet have you," asks Belle.
"No I will 1st period though." I tell her.
"Speaking of which, we've got 15 minutes till then. Whatcha wanna do?" Ben asks.
"Well, we could always just hang out some more," suggests Belle.
"Yeah." I agree.
"So you have brother right?" asks Belle.
"Me? Yeah Keiran, he's in 11th. Why?" Ben replies.
"We just always see you sitting with him." I say thinking on my feet. My heart is pounding just talking about him.
"Oh. Yeah. We're pretty close." he says averting his eyes.
Changing the subject he says, "What about you guys? Any brothers or sisters? Family?"
"I live with my mom but she's been away on business and I'm an only child. My dad died 2 years ago battling cancer." I say.
"Oh I'm so sorry." He says. They all say that. I'm not sorry though. He was a horrible person. Never there for us and always abusing my mother. She always protected me. He smoked way to much and cigarettes gave him cancer. I was thankful he wasn't here anymore. No one liked.
I just nodded in respect. No need to tell my life story.
"Well I live here with my older brother because all my family lives on New Zealand and I came here to stay with Jane. We met in New Zealand when she was on vacation and we just needed each other." Belle was there for me the entire time my dad wasn't. Not the entire but as soon as we met I told her everything and ever since then she's been by my side. I could never thank her enough.
"Oh that's pretty cool. We're you born in NZ then?" Ben asks Belle.
"Yeah but living here for so long I can't remember much," Bella has been here for 10 years. We met when we're both 6, but she's a year younger than me. It was my birthday the after we met.
Just then the bell rang signalling that it was time for 1st period. We got our stuff and split towards our different destinations. I wasn't nervous till I got to the class room where 11th graders were lined up talking to each other. My eyes scanned each face looking for someone I knew. No one. Until the end of the line. Him. Keiran. Of course he'd be here. I mentally smacked my self. How could I not know this!
We sat in our spots chatting away saying who we hoped we would get paired up with. Who we hoped we wouldn't get paired with. Also who we wanted to so and so to be paired with. Like we were playing match-maker. I was praying I didn't get paired up with Keiran. If I was confident I would be praying for the opposite but I'm way too self conscious to be around him.
"I'm gonna talk a little bit about this project or assignment in case you don't know. You will be partnered up with an 11th grader and making a project to show the differences between one year. You will need to get to know the other person and state facts about them. You will need to have now and then statements. You need to show the growth you can make in one year. You also need to show changes in your personal life in one year. This assignments worth 200 points and that's more than half of your grade in here. I will now announce your partner's." Mr.Wilson our science teacher explained. Belle was in the other science class and at lunch we agreed to share who we got for our 11th grade partners since we already got assigned to 9th graders. I absolutely did not want to be paired with him. There'd be no way I could do it. I would screw everything up.
"Jasmine Rylton and Preston Toya. Lynn Walters and Joe Houston. Taylor Minatski and Kevin Toto. Mya Alvarez and Tanner Lough," he continued on with the name until he hit mine.
"Annnnnnd Jane Vera and Kerian Zane," he looked up from his paper looking at the students. "Get with your partner's now."
Of course the world decided to put me with the one person I didn't want to. He walks over to me with a slight smile.
"I guess the odds are in my favor aren't they? Jane." his voice will never stop giving me chills. I don't know what he meant by that but I just sigh. He's looking at me. I don't know what to say I just sit there looking down and being a pathetic, insecure mess.
Science was the worst. We didn't even talk we just sat there like that. Him staring at me. Studying me. Watching me. Waiting for me not to be a pathetic waste. And all I did was stand there staring at the ground. By lunch time my feet hurt and back was killing me and I had 3 hours of school left. Plopping down on the bench I wait Belle to come. Lost in my thoughts when she sits down and speaks to me I'm startled and jump spilling my water all over my shirt.
"Hey, what's that face fo..." she stops mid-sentence as not surprisingly make a fool of my self. Classic Jane. I jump up groaning.
"All go get some towels to clean up the table. You go to the bathroom and dry your shirt. Here," she hands me her pink jacket and I grab rushing out of the room. I hope he wasn't watching. I hurry into a stall and squeeze my shirt out into the toilet. Then use grab some paper towels and proceed to dry it. Then I look at the jacket she gave me. It's pink. I don't want to wear pink. People see me in black all the time. They'll stare if I suddenly wear pink, but it's not like they didn't stare in the cafeteria when I spilled water all over myself. I reluctantly put the jacket on and make my way into to the hall. Of course he's walking down the hall straight towards me. Keiran is always there when I don't want him to be.
"Woah there Jane. What's with the bright color?" he's smirking at my shirt.
"Nothing," I snap back.
"Awww come on. You can tell me. Are you feeling changes in your life?" he asks amused.
"Belle scared me." I snap back.
"That doesn't explain...that," he says motioning to my/Belle's jacket.
"Fine! She scared me and spilt water all over my shirt." Why does he have to be so persistent.
"That's pretty adorable." He says. Were his cheeks red when he said that? No, that can't be. They aren't now. "You're pretty clumsy Jane," he says smirking as he walks off. I head in the other direction my head swirling.
~
1301 words yayyyyy This chapter was hard for me to write. I don't really know why. I also wrote a little bit of it off and on during one day so it wasn't really planned. I'm also tired. Anyway how do you like Keiran??? Point out any mistakes please. >Nikki<