New Kid on the Block *h.s [completed]

Chapter 101

I sit in math class, Harry and I are in our usual seats, one behind the other. Ms Richardson stands in front of the white board with a textbook perched in the crook of her elbow, and an uncapped pen twirling between her fingers. She finishes writing out the steps for solving a quadratic equation-the newest lesson to be taught.

She puts the marker back down on the table she usually teaches from, and walks over to her desk in the back corner. She frowns slightly while shifting through some papers, but I turn my head back to face the front and start flipping to the last section of my binder in search of some blank paper to do my assignment on.

"Piper, could you go to the staff room and make 30 copies of this worksheet, please?" Her voice rings out clearly, like a bell.

It startles me, and I spin my neck around, keeping my feet centred on the ground. Ms Richardson smiles softly and holds up her ID card, along with her key to the staff room. I stand up slowly, still confused as to why the teacher chose me specifically, instead of just asking the entire class.

I look to Harry for reassurance and he just shrugs, not seeming to think much of it. I furrow my eyebrows even deeper, and approach Ms Richardson with a forced smile on my lips. I take her key and card from her and slowly walk out of the room, still trying to match up the puzzle with the missing piece.

I come back a short time later with 30 copies, all of the same worksheet, as asked. I sit back down in my seat after handing the stack of papers over to Ms Richardson, who took them with a kind smile and soft eyes.

Harry has remained unusually quiet since my reappearance. I eye him strangely, slightly annoyed when he blatantly ignores my glare and pretends to focus on his paper.

"Did you do something?" I ask, resting my elbow on the edge of his desk and resting my hand in it.

He looks up at me with too-wide-to-be-normal eyes and hums nonchalantly, then shakes his head and drops his back down to his work.

That's strange..., I think silently to myself, but try to brush it off as I reach for my phone on the desk. I always keep it out when I'm in class, I don't really know why but it's what makes me feel most comfortable.

I shove the iPhone into the kangaroo pocket in my hoodie, realizing that I left it in here by accident because I was so taken aback and shaken up by Ms Richardson's request. I thank my blessings that it's Harry who sits behind me, not anyone else. I know that he wouldn't steal or look through it, that's for sure.

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Lunch comes too quickly, and before I know it the 4 of us are reunited in the school cafeteria, like always. It's about halfway through the hour-long break and we've just been making random conversation the entire time, the current topic is how close to the end of the school year we finally are, and how much we all desperately need summer break.

"I cannot wait to get out of this germ ridden, bacteria filled, smelly hellhole." Amber announces, slamming her palms onto the table in the midst of her anger.

"Same." Jack agrees, nodding his head as he plops a baby carrot into his mouth.

"I've always wanted to be a senior. That's like the coolest year, you know? You have like 2 classes, 2 exams, no one can harass you in the hallways, and if you don't want to do something then you don't have to, because you're an adult." Harry emphasizes the last word with a spark in his green eyes, and it makes me smile.

"Do you know how to spell adult?" I ask, taking a sip of my water while arching my eyebrows.

"I can spell 'my girlfriend is mean to me'." He retorts with a huff.

"What girlfriend?" I ask him innocently, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.

"That's not funny. That hurts." He tells me, faking a serious tone.

I look over to Amber, expecting her to already be laughing, but instead she's looking back and forth between Harry and I, confusion evident on her features.

"I don't understand." She says to no one in particular, and we all laugh at her, Jack's shoulders shaking the hardest.

His face is red when he pulls his hands away, but the second he looks at Amber he bursts into giggles again.

She shoves his shoulder, somewhat aggressively, clearly not amused.

"Don't bully me because I don't understand." She whines, dropping her bottom lip in a pout.

I open my mouth to comfort her in some backwards sort of way, but I'm interrupted by the loud ringing of my phone on the table, and I glance down at it, very confused.

The contact name reads 'will you go to prom with me?' and I blink a couple times before it registers in my mind.

Of course Harry is the only one to do something like this (ask me to prom in the first place, and go to this kind of effort), so I decide to play with him for a bit, just for shits and giggles.

He did it when I was at the copy machine this morning, that's why he looked guilty when I came back...and that's why Ms Richardson asked me specifically, he must have planned it with her before I got to class. It's the only one we have together, it's the only opportunity he had throughout the day. The boy's resourceful, I'll give him that.

"Does anyone know who this is?" I ask, holding my phone to show the screen around the table.

Jack raises his hand, "It was me."

He pulls his mouth into a flat line and meets my eyes, knowing to go along with my joke, and I mentally thank him.

I tilt my head to look at Harry, watching as his face falls. I glance down quickly and spot the top of his phone in his hands, proving that he made the call under the table when no one was looking.

Looking back at Jack, who still has his hand up and now a smirk on his face, we make each other laugh for a second time with how absurd an idea it is that he would ask me to prom, and the sight of Harry's reaction.

I elbow the curly haired boy, the one I call my boyfriend, and tell him my answer.

"Yes I will, of course I will." I say, still laughing lightly.

Harry just shrugs. "I knew that, that's cool, that's fine, whatever.", he rambles on-which is something he does when he's embarrassed/excited.

I snort, knowing his response is all bullshit. If he had it his way, he'd scoop me up and spin me around in a hug, and then plant a giant sloppy kiss on my forehead ('just because', he'd say) and tell me he loves me in front of the entire cafeteria, and I'm not about to go through all that. I still haven't recovered from Valentine's Day, nor the beach fiasco.

We both sit silently in our chairs, which seems like an awkward thing to do after such an extravagant promposal. But I know inside he's really jumping around like a 5 year old on Christmas.

I lean back against my seat, crossing my arms over my body. I can't help but to feel excited too. I've never been to a school dance before, never even imagined myself attending prom. 

Maybe this is a new era, maybe this is a new me.

is that foreshadowing i hear i think so