End Up Here [C.H]

2. Changing Seats

The next day at school, it was a Tuesday, things felt weird, almost as if I knew something was bound to happen. I strolled into history with Luke by my side, sitting to the left of me. There were a couple of kids he knew and a couple of kids I knew, but we weren't exactly popular. The warning bell letting us know we had 5 minutes before passing period was over rang loudly over school speakers. Just as the last one sounded, the same girl from yesterday had walked into class, sitting next to her friend that I knew named Zoe. I glanced in their direction, trying to make it seem like I was catching Zoe's eyes instead of her friend, when really I was doing the exact opposite.
Today, her friend was wearing a Green Day shirt that was cropped with blue jeans and some black Vans. She wasn't wearing a choker and her hair was straightened with the right side of hair tucked behind her right ear to show off her Daith piercing. The ring in her ear was black, and I've read that it's supposed to get rid of migraines and relieve headaches. If your pain tolerance is normal, the piercing doesn't hurt that bad since it's just curved cartilage. As I kept looking, trying to make it as nonchalant as possible, I noticed she had a wrist tattoo in the shape of a rose. The petals were almost a too vibrant red and the leaves were almost like the Yellow Green Crayola crayon.
"Yeah I did that assignment and I had the hardest time with it. I had no idea of what went where and who did what." I heard her say. She wasn't the quietest, but she wasn't obnoxiously loud either. She wasn't that far from me, maybe a couple rows. If I really wanted to talk to her, I would walk over a few chairs.
"Cal. Cal." Luke snapped at me. I turned my head in his direction, ears still perked up.
"What?" I asked.
"Did you do the homework?"
"Homework? What homework?" I questioned as the teacher walked into the room, closing the door behind her.
"The main ideas." Luke answered with a sigh.
"Dude, I've never done those. Not even once."
"You never do homework and Ashton gave us the answers."
"I was at your house the whole time."
"Yeah, and you kept drooling over the new girl like you've never seen a girl before." Luke retorted. I rolled my eyes and turned in my chair. The second I landed in my new position with my back to the desk to face the teacher, we made eye contact.
"Are you done with your conversation?" she asked me.
I felt all eyes in the room on me, feeling sheepish. Fearing that I would say the wrong answer, I just nodded as the heat rushed to my face. Thankfully, she continued as if nothing happened. As she paced around the room droning on about some famous guy in history doing some life altering thing, I leaned on the palm of my hand while doodling some stars on my paper. I couldn't care less when I could just Google what happened when I go home.
"Well, I feel like I should change your seats." the teacher said, answering someone's question. My ears perked up while everyone either went dead silent or groaned at her words. Everyone moved out of their chairs and moved to the back after packing up all their belongings.
"Adam, move over here." she instructed as a blonde boy moved to the first row by the door, taking the first seat. He plopped down unceremoniously and dug out his pencil again. The girl and Zoe kept talking quietly while the teacher thought about where to place who in what seat. The New Girl flashed a smile at Zoe when she said something stupid and tried to laugh quietly.
"Zoe, sit behind Adam." the teacher said. The New Girl groaned and Zoe sighed, swinging her backpack over her right shoulder and sitting a little more gracefully than Adam. Now she was all alone and now would've been the perfect time to talk to her if I could make my way over there without being too obvious. Maybe Luke could just help me sneak over there or Zoe could-
"Calum, sit behind Zoe."
Oh shit.
So behind Zoe I sat, with a smug smile on Luke's face. Once I got comfortable, Zoe turned around and faced me.
"Hey, Cal." she said.
"Hey, Zoe." I replied.
A moment of silence passed between us as the teacher sat students in different places. I was caught staring off into space again when someone moving in the corner of my eye caught my attention. It was the girl again, Zoe saying something that sounded happy when she sat. I thought she was one or two seats away from me, but no, she was right next to me.
"Hey," she said to me. I was stunned that she was talking to me first, my mind not forming any words together, my mouth refusing to work with my brain. Her hair was perfectly straight and shiny despite the humidity and her eye makeup wasn't even there except for her long eyelashes. Her eyes smiled for her.
"Hey," I replied finally. Phew.
The conversation seemed to stop between us after that, everyone else's conversations seeming to go back into full speed all over again. The students here were so close together knowing each other either their whole lives or a good portion of it so no matter where they sat, someone would knew someone else and start talking. The class was then silenced, and the lesson resumed.
***
"So you're sitting behind New Girl now." Luke chided as we were walking to his house.
"Yeah, I guess." I replied, not knowing exactly what to say.
"This would make it easier to talk to her now, don't you think?"
"She said 'hey' to me and I couldn't even reply to that. I was dying to tell her that I liked her shirt, but how was I gonna say that when I couldn't even say 'hey'?"
"Well don't forget the homework that's due tomorrow." Luke said, closing the topic.
Out of nowhere, Ash came speeding down the road on his BMX bike and a Michael on the back.
"Hey guys," Mikey said.
"Hey? Where did you guys come from?" I asked, clearly confused.
"We ditched third and fourth to go get some snacks." Ash answered.
"From where?" Luke wondered.
"There was a gas station not too far from here. We just strolled in and said 'hey we need some snacks' and we got some." Mikey said. Ash peddled slowly as we all made the journey to Luke's house.
"So guess what happened to our little Cal Pal today," Luke lead on smugly.
"What?" Ash asked.
"He's sitting next to his crush now."
"Awww," everyone said all at once.
"How'd that happen? If I were her, I wouldn't come two feet near him." Michael teased.
"The teacher moved seats." I answered.
"So now it'll be easier to ask her on a date right?" mikey said.
"That's what I said," agreed Luke.
"I'm so sure guys." I said.
"Why? Are you waiting for that party?" Ash questioned.
I couldn't help but roll my eyes at his question. "Ash, I'm still not feelin' that party."
"It's Friday and I need a plus one. At least be my wingman?" he pleaded.
I hesitated, thinking on it. "Alright fine. If she's not there, I'm kicking your ass."
Everyone else chucked and I could see Ashton trying to contain his excitement from the corner of my eyes.