The Kids in the Dark

Chapter 3-Plans and Numbers

She was like a magnet, and his eyes just happened to be made of iron.

No matter what happened, Phil couldn't quit staring at Emily. He didn't even know why either, he just happened to chance a glance at her every five minutes during the rest for lunch and every class after that, for the next five days. However, much to his displeasure, some of Phil's friends seemed to catch on. Like, in engineering, when his friend Zach had caught him spaced out, thinking about Emily's smile, whilst they were building a ball launcher, resulting a loud crash and a round of laughter when Phil was jolted out of his stupor by Zach, who had some managed to sneak up behind him and yell in Phil's ear. Or when Lev, another one Phil's friends, had caught him in the act during Chemistry and made a mental note of it, before asking Phil "You like what you see?"

Unfortunately for Phil, his friends socialized with people, so, between Phil's constant staring and what they had heard from Emily's camp, it was almost common knowledge between the two friend groups that Phil and Emily were the new "ship", as Emily's friends put it. Funnily enough, both groups had organized a group chat to make jokes about the duo's cluelessness, the reps from Phil's camp being Zach, Lev, and Phil's other friend Joe, while Emily's camp contained Gabby, Melissa, and Diana. The chat went something like this.

J: Yo just caught Philly cheesesteak over here staring at Emily again.

Z: Dude ikr, he's supposed to be carrying us through this project, not checking out the ladies lol.

D: You guys don't even want to know how much Emily was going on about the boy in art.

G: Truuuuu, the girl would just not shut up.

L: You know, they're more clueless than Lily & James

Z: Who?

M: Dude, they're obv talking about James and Lily Potter.

D: Lol I compared Emily to that the first time she talked to him.

And so, they continued, all the while making note that they needed to come up with a plan to get these two young ones together.

After all, kids can't be in the dark forever.

***

Meanwhile, as their friends were planning their future wedding, Phil was coming up with a plan of his own. As plans go it was...well, frankly, it was shit. But, for a guy who barely had a clue how to carry out a proper conversation, it was the best he had at his disposal. Thus, on Friday, Phil had decided to let it commence.

During English, while they were in the middle of an activity, Phil managed to surreptitiously place a note inside Emily's math journal, under the logic that that would be one of the journals she would definitely have to look at, due to math being one of the few classes that always gave you daily HW. With the action being done, Phil snuck back to his group, quickly rejoining the conversation about the merits of Jane Eyre, a book that he loathed.

Later that day, at her house, Emily opened her math journal to complete her HW, when a small note fell out of it. Curious, Emily picked up the note, unfolded it, and read the message within.

Dear Emily,

I just wanted you to have my number, in case...ok honestly I don't know why, but it's bound to come in handy at some point. Here's my number:

XXX-XXX-XXXX

P.S. Nice shirt, killjoys unite, am I right?

-Phil

Emily's mouth stretched into a smile at Phil's endearing awkward-ness. She quickly recorded the number in her phone, before vowing to hold the MCR shirt she wore that day in the highest respect she could offer to a shirt. As she finished up her homework, only one thought ran through Emily's head:

SCORE!

________________

Hey guys, I'm back from the grave. Sorry about the absence, I had to put myself through the gauntlet of tests they run you through here in the good ol' US of A. Forgive me. Hope y'all liked the chapter, though.

Please, vote, comment, and share if possible!

--Phil