Right Now

20.

"Mrs. Chase!" My teacher says aggressively. I jump and I immediately blush. I could feel the entire room looking at me and I have to force myself to move.

"Uh, yes?" I say, looking over.

"This is math class. Not staring out a window class. I teach you how to use numbers, not to stare at trees. Pay attention or you'll get detention. Last warning, Chase, I swear it on my life." She said sternly and I frown, nodding my head.

"Not like you have long left." I hear Luke say from the back of the classroom. She turns to glare at him, but he winks at me and I smile.

Near the end of class, a guy, a new guy, I guess, walks up to me with a shy look. "Uh. Are you Emily?" He asks.

"Yes." I say and smile, trying to ease his nerves. It's works and he slides into a desk next to me.

"Um, I've been having trouble with this and she directed me to you. Can you help, maybe?" He asks and I nod.

"I can try. What's your name?" I ask him and he smiles brightly, seeming relieved.

"Uh, it's Charlie, I have been here three days. I'm new, I'm sorry." He says. He is super cute. He has light blonde hair and green eyes and extremely cute. He is tall but he isn't Calum tall. He'd be exactly the kind of guy I'd like, if Calum hadn't if come along and screwed up my type, because now Calum is the only guy I see, damn him.

The bell rings and I stand. "Um, come find me at lunch and I'll help you." I say and he nods.

"Yeah, okay. It was nice to meet you." He smiles and he leaves. I feel an arm being put around me and I look up to see Luke.

"Replacing my boy already?" He asks, clicking his tongue.

"I'm not replacing anyone. And Calum and I aren't dating." I say and he removes his arm, walking in front of me.

"Maybe not yet." He says.

"At this point, it doesn't seem like it's going to end up anywhere." I scowl and Luke pats my arm.

"Don't give up on him so soon. He's the definition of tough love."

"It shouldn't have to be tough, Luke." I state and he looks down before turning and walking away from me, leaving me standing in my place.

***

Calum and I walk to lunch together and he gets something to eat, I don't. Everyone is there, even Lily, who I smile at, but not Lyle and Gorgy. It felt really empty with them gone, I missed them together. I missed all of us together. Just us. I sit at the table and I see Charlie walking over.

"Hey, uh, here it is. She didn't really explain what I did wrong." He has a confused look on his face as he hands me to the worksheet.

"Yeah, that is usually how she does it." I say and I look through all the mistakes. "Okay, here you just multiplied wrong, that's all," I say and he hands the pencil to me. I write out how to do it correctly in steps she doesn't show us in class. "How do you like it here?" I ask him and he shrugs.

"It's fine, I guess. You're the nicest person to talk to me so far, and I've only talked to about three." He says, chuckling.

"That's actually really sad, I'm sorry. If this happens again they have an after school tutoring hour with people who are a lot smarter than I am, you might try that. Might make friends, too." I say and laugh. I look up and Calum sits down and he frowns.

"Who's that?" He asks.

"I'm Charlie. The moron from her math class." He says jokingly and holds up the paper with all the red X's placed everywhere. "You are?" He asks politely.