Forget You Never

A Hot Potato

The bell rang for class dismissal, causing the class to arise and pull everything together to leave. Both William and I stood up together, collecting our homework for the first day of school.

Seriously, I was bummed we had homework on the first day of the school year. Mrs. Crombie did not make it on my list of favorite teachers as of yet.

"Let's see what class you have next," I said, taking a look at his schedule then at mine.

"Oh joy! It's physical education," I said with sarcasm, groaning a little because I hated that class.

"Do I have it with you?" Will asked me.

"Yes, which is a good thing! Have you ever been in a boys locker room before?" I asked him.

"No," he begun, "Uh well at my old school, we just wore whatever we had on so we didn't change out..."

"You'll be fine. Probably. Just don't look anywhere other than your own stuff and I'm sure you'll be okay. Don't worry about it today though. It's the first day of school. It takes them like a week to assign PE lockers," I explained.

We sat on the bleachers, following signs that showed where the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders sit. We were 10th graders so we sat with the rest of them.

I saw a new spot open on the bleachers near Grayson  Parker. Grayson Parker was the quarterback to the football team last year and he was amazing!

"Will, let's move!" I exclaimed quickly, pulling him so we can sit by him. Unfortunately, a cheerleading squad filled the area out of nowhere so we went back to our original seats.

"What was that about?" Will asked me curiously with his blue eyes looking directly at me.

"It's Grayson Parker," I replied dreamily.

"Who's Grayson Parker? A celebrity? Does a celebrity go to this school?" He asked, tearing his gaze from me to look at where I intended to sit.

"No, Grayson Parker was last year's quarterback. He's the cute boy in the blue jersey right there," I pointed him out verbally to avoid getting caught pointing fingers.

"Go talk to him," he said simply.

"Ha! Me? Talk to him? The quarterback? He's a big deal! I'm just a nerd. I can't just go up and talk to him," I basically died at the idea of me just randomly approaching him with my nerdy self.

"Really Cherry? I swear, you are not a nerd. You are really pretty and if he doesn't see that, then he's a dumb potato," Will told me, his face growing red. He looked away and coughed, which I could only assume that meant his face was red because of his cough.

I gave him a nervous glance and stood up to go talk to Grayson like the boss I was! But then the bell rang for class to start and I placed myself back down next to Will.

"What if he thinks I'm weird? What if he thinks I'm a stalker?! What if-" I began to ramble nervously before Will cut me off with a finger to the lip.

"Just imagine you are talking to a potato. Potatoes are not hard to talk to," he said to me with a playful grin.

"But he's a hot potato," I complained, pouting and putting my head down and covering my face with my arms.

"No he's just a potato, Cherry. Remember this and you'll feel better!" he told me. I nodded contently while daydreaming about the hot potato. We decided I'd talk to him when the teacher was done talking.

"So any new crushes?" I asked Will, smirking.

A red blush danced across his cheeks and nose.

"I know that look! You do like someone!" I whisper shouted.

"I-I do. Sorta. I don't know. I saw her but she likes another guy," Will explained.

"Well whoever that is probably doesn't deserve your awesomeness," I told him, causing him to shake his head.

"She's amazing and I've only known her for a little bit. She's sweet, smart, funny, sympathetic, pretty, and overall perfect!" He explained, a smile growing across his face dorkily. He was a dork, but a cute one.

"Aww! Well whatever girl that is silly for not noticing you," I said, poking his shoulder.

His face turned beet red and I giggled at his blushing. He was like a child, so innocent and curious.

"And that's what we're doing for our first unit! Now we will assign lockers," one of the gym teachers announced.

"Whoops, we weren't paying attention," I whispered to Will, as I slightly giggled.

"Go tell Grayson to explain to you what happened," he told me, "it'll give you an opportunity to talk to him".

"But I-" I protested as he pointed in Grayson, the hot potato's direction. I shut my mouth and started walking to ask Grayson what the teacher was saying.

"H-hi Grayson. I-I didn't exactly hear the directions for our unit and I was wondering if you could repeat it to me?" I made it sound more like a question than a demand.

"We're doing basketball for the first unit. It's co-ed so maybe you'll be on my team, Cher," he told me then winked.

I felt my face completely turn red and my knees started feeling weak. Also known as Grayson Parker Syndrome. Only something that could be given by the great king himself.

I smiled crookedly and waved as I walked back to my seat. I stared dreamily at him from my seat and fell into a daze.

"Cherry? Cher? Charity!" I heard my buddy yell.

I snapped from my little daydream and looked to Will. "Oh sorry! How do you think I did?" I asked him excitedly.

"You did pretty good for a first try. We need to work on your confidence though. Let's show the world who Cherry Henderson really is!" He encouraged me. I gave Will a weak smile.

"Yeah we definitely should work on that. Let's just say I'm not exactly the most sociable girl," I said.

"Well I'm sure your hot potato will appreciate you for who you are. If he doesn't, it's his loss," Will told me.

"But when I talk to him, even approach him, I get butterflies in my stomach, I blush crazily, my throat dries up, and my legs turn to jello," I complained.

"Once you get past that and you open yourself to him, he'll see the real you. The true Cherry Henderson that your friends know and love," he said.

"You're seriously the nicest guy I've ever met. What do you do around your crush?" I asked.

His face turned a bright shade of red. "Well, I um, kinda just talk to her without complication but I'm a simple guy. I'm looked to more like a friend," he said.

"Dude, I bet I can totally help you get her! Who is she?" I asked enthusiastically.

"Ah actually let's just focus on your situation for now. We can get back to me later," he said, his face still red.

I wonder who he likes... Maybe it could be me? Nah.
I'm not his type.
He's also helping me get a guy and he wouldn't push me into someone else if he liked me.
But then again he's really sweet...
I'll look into it later.
He did say his crush liked another guy though...