Him & Her

Ch.3

Ch.3
Elizabeth sat on her bed cross legged rewriting everything Cole and his friends had ripped out. It frustrated her that she had to do it, but she just didn't want any more problems with Cole. In fact she wanted nothing to do with him.
She looked out her window and thought that it must be hard to try to ignore someone when they live right beside you. She could practically see right into his bedroom from her window, but he always had a curtain over his which gave him his privacy.
Except today, the curtains were gone. She fought against her curiosity but it was no use; she hopped off her bed and knelt next to the window so that she could peer at his room without much of her body showing.
What she saw surprised her. She was expecting a big bed, plasma screen tv, game controllers lying on the floor, possibly football posters, and maybe a few clothes scattered around the place. A normal messy boy's room. But instead she saw that his room was practically empty. In fact it was empty except for the not-very big bed that was perfectly made.
She got up a little higher on her knees and saw that Cole was sitting on the floor talking to a little girl with golden ponytails on each side of her head. Elizabeth had never seen that girl, but then again Cole never talked about his family. She was so immersed in the girl that when her mom opened the door to her room Elizabeth jumped and shut her curtains as fast as she could.
"Um, are you alright?" her mom asked.
"Ya, ya I am." Elizabeth leaned on the wall, trying to act casual.
Her mother raised an eyebrow then sighed,"Ok, I just wanted to tell you that I cut some apples if you want."
"No thanks."
"Suit yourself." her mom walked out, closing the door behind her.
Elizabeth waited a minute making sure her mom was gone, then opened the curtains again and she saw Cole standing at the window, the wind blowing his hair and his eyes were focused right on her.
She panicked, all she could do was stare as her face burned red. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She hoped against hope that he didn't know she was watching him.
"Hey." he said.
They were about 3 feet away from each other.
"What do you want?" she asked.
Coke looked down at the ground below, their rooms were on the second floor of their houses. He smiled, "You were the one who opened the curtain, I was just looking out the window."
"Whatever." Elizabeth shut her curtain again, frustrated. She turned away from the window then opened the curtain again to yell at him because of the copybook, but he was gone.
•••
The next day Elizabeth walked into social studies class, hoping not to have to run into Cole today. She walked to the very back of the large classroom and sat next to one of the two big windows. Henry wasn't in her social studies class so she stayed in the back alone trying to go unnoticed.
Elizabeth looked around but she didn't see Cole anywhere. The bell rang and the teacher walked in, but Cole wasn't there. She didn't care, in fact she was happy.
The teacher Mrs. Rose began to talk, "Good morning everyone, let's get straight to work. Now, since we have finished our lesson on Rome, I want to-"
The door suddenly burst open and Cole came stumbling in, making everyone jump. Elizabeth was disappointed, did he have to come?
"Cole!" the teacher put a hand to her heart, "You scared me."
"Sorry." Cole took in a deep breath. He wore dark jeans, a plain black shirt, and a black jacket. For some reason he always wore dark colors. He looked like he did everyday, except that there was something wrong. Elizabeth didn't know how she knew, but she could tell that something was up. Maybe it was his posture, he looked tired. Or maybe it was that he was missing his usual self confidence, or his trademark smile.
"Ok, sit down Cole." the teacher said.
Cole looked around the room for an empty seat. Unfortunately, the only empty seat was next to Elizabeth.
Cole walked down the aisle and Elizabeth scooted closer to the wall, wishing she could just go through the wall and get away from him. Cole sat down at the other end of the bench. He put his back pack down and sank down into his seat, closing his eyes.
"As I was saying, I want all of you to do a project on Rome. You get to pick any subject that has to do with the Roman empire, but you have to work in groups. And to be fair, you don't get to pick who you work with."
"How is that fair?!" Zack Summer asked cutting off the teacher.
"Because I said so." the teacher replied, "The person you will be working with is the person you are sitting next to right now."
Elizabeth's head snapped over to Cole who had sat up and was staring at her too, eyes wide.
"WHAT?!" they both yelled in unison.
"Excuse me?" the teacher looked at them, bewildered.
Cole sank back in his seat mumbling, "Could this day get any worse?"
Elizabeth frowned at him, "I don't like this any more than you do."
Cole just put his arms on the table, rest his head on them, and closed his eyes. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and listened to the teacher as she rattled on about what they needed to include in their projects, how to organize them...
At some point during that period Elizabeth looked over at Cole and saw that he was asleep. His mouth was slightly open as he breathed and his face looked so innocent; one of his arms had slipped out from under him and dangled below the seat. He didn't snore or make any sounds; he was so peaceful. Elizabeth hated even thinking it, but he looked...cute. Before she even knew what she was doing she reached out and pushed away a strand of his hair that scraped the top of one his eyelids. She suddenly yanked back when she knew what she was doing and focused on the teacher.
After a few minutes of her listening to Mrs.Rose, Cole began to slowly slip from the table. Elizabeth stared as his other arm fell off the table and instinctively dove towards him to catch him before he fell to the ground completely. Elizabeth put too much of her force into it and she went tumbling off the bench, pulling Cole along with her.
They crashed to the hard tile floor and everyone's heads snapped to them. Cole's blue eyes flew open and he yelled, "Ow!" When he realized that he was on the floor and that Elizabeth's knee was digging into his stomach he began to laugh.
Elizabeth flew off him and backed away as he sat up and laughed. At first he laughed softly, then it grew louder and louder until he was doubled over, face red and still laughing.
Everyone stared from Cole to Elizabeth and back, even the teacher. Elizabeth had no idea why he was laughing and why she had even tried to catch him. Why in the world had she put so much force into it? He wasn't a 20 pound bowling ball! Her face burned red and she blurted out, "I have to go to the bathroom!" and ran out the door, trying to get as far away from that crazy boy as she could.