It's A Choice

Chapter 5

The next school day went as normal, only a couple aspects were different in the greater scheme of things. The first difference within the day was noticed not by me but my friend Rosalie, during assembly. Though I'm sad I didn't realize first, I'm glad she told me when she did because what a blessed gift that was for my eyes.

It turns out that after school last night Tuck had gone to get a haircut, and damn do I approve. His hair wasn't long before but it just was not as short as usual. He cleaned up it up a bit, so it was a bit shorter on the side, yet not a buzz, and a quiff in the front that he could run his fingers through.

After assembly we had history, so with a slight smile on my face, I entered the classroom. Sitting down on my chair, I grab my headphones and plug them into my phone. After putting my ear buds in go onto my Spotify and start playing Ed Sheeran's album Divide. As I let Ed's angelic voice flow into my ears I sit back and just start daydreaming about what if's.

The other's start to enter but I don't pay them much mind as I am in my own little world. I have always been like this. I love being with my friends but given the chance, I can usually be found staring off into space thinking about whatever. I feel someone tap my shoulder and turn my head to see it's Maya. Taking my ear bud out of my right ear I say,

"Huh?" laughing slightly at my confused expression she points to the front of the class. I see the back of a navy blue blazer as my teacher strides over to his desk. Sighing I take my headphones out realizing the class is going to start.

"Thanks," I say to Maya while looking at her quickly though stealing a glance at Tucker at the same time. Class commences and proceeds as usual until there are about 15 minutes left. Instead of continuing with the normal curriculum, our teacher tells us we will be starting something new,

"Okay, so today we will be starting a new project on U.S. presidents and what they did to improve our country." He starts.

"Each of you will be paired in groups of two and assigned one president to research together. You both will have to come up with a thesis on why they were the most influential president this country has ever experienced. You will have to write a combined 10-page paper as well as perform a 20-minute presentation. Since we do not have midterms this project will count as 20% of your first-semester grade. So, are there any questions?" A boy named Jax shoots his hand up.

"Yes, Jax."

"Will we be choosing our partners?" he asks.

"No, they will be randomly selected by me." One can see everyone in the room deflate after hearing this news. Walking over to his computer, our teacher Mr. Matthews puts everyone's name into an online selector.

The first two to be picked are two girls who sit next to each other. After them, Maya's name is selected. Crossing my fingers I wish to be with her, but she ends up being paired with Jax. A few other pairs are selected until Tucker's name is chosen. To my shock the name that the computer decides to pair with him is mine. I stare at the results for a second till it finally processes within my mind. I turn to look at Tuck to see him already looking in my direction. The first thing he says is,

"Aye let's go Corinne!" laughing I give him a nod before turning back around. Why am I so fucking awkward?! I think, while mentally slapping myself. One all the pairs are picked our teacher tells us to get together in our groups.

"Once you all are sitting I will come around with a hat and one of you will blindly grab a piece of paper out of the cap and on it will have the name of the president you will be researching." I grab my backpack and walk over to sit next to Tuck.

"So do you want to pick the person or should I?"

"You can do the honors." Mr.Matthews comes around to us wielding a black baseball cap.Placing my hand in the hat, I move my hand through the pieces of paper till finally grabbing one of the scraps. Unfolding the crumpled piece of paper, I read our President's name out loud to Tuck.

"John F. Kennedy."

"Lit should be pretty easy then." Responds Tuck.

"So when do you want to work on it?" I ask.

"I'll have to check my game schedule so how about you give me your phone and I'll give you mine and we can put our numbers in each other and text later to figure everything out." My heart flutters for a second before I respond,

"Sounds good." and hand him my phone. Once we exchange numbers I hear the bell ring. I grab my bag and start to exit the room. Though before I can completely leave I hear Tuck saying,

"See ya Corinne, I'll text you later." Holding in a squeal I respond "Bye" thus continuing my leave.

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When it's finally lunch I exit the high school building to begin my way over to the basketball courts. About a hundred feet in front of me I see a familiar backpack and light brown hair. I quietly sprint over and then put my hands on her shoulders, wrapping my legs around her, and while yelling "KY!!!" as finishing point to my sneak attack. Stumbling over from shock, Kylie trips over her own feet and we both make our descent into the grass that is alongside the cement sidewalk.

"What the fuck Corn?!" Kylie exclaims

"Sorry," I say while holding onto my stomach laughing. Ky ends up joining me in my laughing fit. She's the first to get up and grab her bag. She is fully upright when she extends a hand to help me up. I grab it because I am too lazy to get up on my own, and as I'm about halfway up, her hand let's go and suddenly I'm free falling back to the grass again. Glaring at her I say,

"What the hell?"

"Whoops, my bad," she responds smirking. Shaking my head I stand up and then pick my blue bag up. Dusting my pants off, I turn to her,

"Ready to go?"

"Yep"

"Also Ky"

"Yea"

"I got something to tell you..."

"What?" I look around briefly to see if anyone is close enough to use their werewolf hearing to listen in, seeing no one I proceed. Leaning in so I'm close to her ear I whisper,

"Guess who got Tuck's phone number today!"

"WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? HOW?"

"Today during A Block in history. We got paired up as partners and he suggested we exchange numbers so we can keep in touch for the project."

"So he was the one who asked for your number... GO CORN! SLAY CHICKA!"

"Hahaha I guess, but it's just because of the project. Sadly, nothing more."

"Well he could have just used snap chat to text you, so hey maybe it is more."

"Well yeah, but this is just easier."

"Whatever you say."

"We better hurry up before everyone on the bleachers is going to wonder what's taking us so long, and I don't feel like explaining this to everyone with 20 other people surrounding our group."

"Sure, sure or you just want to get there faster so you have more time to ogle Tuck playing basketball. All sweaty in the California sun, with his shirt off and 6 pack exposed."

"Oh, shut up," I say as we pick up our speed.

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AN: I am so so so sorry for not updating sooner. I know as a reader how annoying it is, just school is a pain. I have two tests tomorrow but decided to make sure to put a chapter up instead of studying first. I'll do my best to update faster. Thanks so much for reading! Please comment & vote!