Unexpected Challenge

Chapter one

Water sprayed out of my mouth as I bent forward, laughing uncontrollably.

"I'm serious! They were going at it like jackrabbits and I was just there, freaking out in the corner, trying to decide how to get out considering they were freaking blocking the door!" my friend, Lottie, moved her hands frantically as she continued to tell her story, her cheeks turning redder by the minute. "And then they literally stopped and asked me if I wanted to join, so I ran."

By this time, I was holding onto my locker door for support and had tears running down my face.

Poor, innocent Lottie hadn't had the sex talk until last year, so I could just imagine what her face looked like after that.

Lottie glared at me with her arms crossed. "It's not funny, Kate!"

I grinned at her, having regained a little composure. "It's a little funny."

"I hate you so much."

"I know," I told her as I traded my lunch bag for my school bag from my locker. "But I'm going to be laughing every time I see them in the hallway."

We walked together to the class we shared together and sat in the middle of the class, as usual.

"Why does this always happen to me?" She whined as she slumped in her seat.

"Why does what always happen to you?" A familiar voice behind me asked. I turned around to be greeted by the face of my other friend, Rose. She set her bag on the chair next to me and looked at Lottie expectantly.

"Okay so-" She started, but I cut her off.

"Class is going to start in a minute, and there's no way you can get through your whole rant in time. Just tell her after."

Sure enough, Mr. Feldman walked through the door just as the bell rang.

"Alright class, get to your seats please. Start with the equations on the board and we'll check in ten minutes."

The sound of the door opening and slow, casual footsteps walking by the aisle made me tear my eyes away from my notebook. Liam Warner approached the teacher's desk with a late slip in hand and set it down in front of Mr. Feldman. He shot a smirk over his shoulder at his friends in the back as Mr. Feldman took the slip and verified it.

As he walked down the aisle, his smug grin quickly turned sour when he realized his prized seat in the back of the class had been taken due to his tardiness. Looking around he class he spotted the only open desk and walked towards it, sitting down.

Unfortunately, the only open desk was the one right behind me.

My shoulders grew tenser as I turned my head down to my notebook, trying to ignore his presence right behind me.

However, I could not ignore the balled up piece of paper that bounced off my shoulder and fell to the ground just a few inches away from my foot.

I turned around and glared at the person seated behind me, sure that he was guilty. Instead, he motioned to the paper and reached out his hand as if he wanted me to give it to him. I shook my head in disbelief and kicked it towards his desk.

Turning my head back around, I tried to focus on the problems in front of me, rather than the crinkling of paper and poorly concealed laughter behind me.

Focus Kate! He's not worth your time!

Somehow I managed to get through the class, pushing my thoughts away from the annoying, yet admittedly attractive person behind me. I listened religiously to every word Mr. Feldman said and distracted myself with loads of calculus problems.