Superficial Introductions

Chapter 5

Liv could barely pay attention during her English class, the teacher's words simply bouncing around in her mind before sailing back out. And all they were doing was going over the syllabus that was sitting on the desk in front of them.

The only thing she could think about were JJ's lips... and how close they had been to touching hers. But what had shaken her so much about the whole situation was how much she had wanted it to happen, and how wrong she had been about the idea that she was over her crush on him. She most definitely was not.

"No," she thought to herself as she kept replaying the scene over and over in her head. She thought to herself that she must've been making it up and that the idea that JJ had even been thinking about kissing her was ridiculous, but then her mind decided that wasn't good enough for her.

"But what about all those times he tells you how beautiful you are, and how he always knew you were?" She thought to herself.

"He's just helping my self esteem." She answered.

"What about the physical affection, you've had to noticed that you are closer than other friends."

"Shut up." She kept saying. Until finally the bell rang and she had completely talked herself down and she was half convinced that it never happened at all.

She waited for JJ outside the door and was surprised to see him a tiny shaken up, but he quickly regained his composure and smiled at Liv.

"So... you gonna tell me your news now?" He asked as he led the way upstairs.

Duh. She thought to herself. Of course that's what he was worked up about, and that's what started all of it in the first place. He just wanted to know what she had started telling him about.

"So I finally heard back from the Harper's Landing publishing company..." she started, worried she'd get too excited to finish telling him the news, "and we've started discussing legal agreements."

He stared at her for a second, waiting for her to continue. "And...?"

"And they have decided to publish the manuscript I sent them. And obviously it still has to be edited and we have to work out all the stuff like the cover and ya know certain plot details and change some stuff but like honestly it really isn't a big deal." She finished, blowing off the biggest news she'd ever gotten in her whole life.

"Hmm that's cool." JJ answered in his chill voice.

Liv tried to contain her anger, I mean she was the one who told him it was no big deal... but seriously? She didn't understand how he could be belittling the biggest news and the best surprise she'd ever received. This was her one shot to be what she wanted to be.

She finally stole a look over at him to see that he was grinning ear to ear, and that he'd simply been waiting for her to look over at him. Which in turn pissed her off even more.

"Are you kidding me?" She yelled as she punched him in the arm. But that only made him laugh more.

"Chill Liv. I'm so freaking proud of you, but I told you this would happen. And you know what this means?" He asked as he wrapped his arm around her, just like always.

"Hmm what's that?" She asked, trying not to smile about the fact that JJ had his arm around her. She tried to tell herself that this was just JJ, but she was too distracted to pay too much attention to her own mind.

"This means we go to Glenn's to celebrate tonight!" He answered as he pulled her closer to him, "either way, I have something I need to talk to you about."

She watched him as he carefully chose his words, wondering what he could have meant. But she couldn't read his expression, it seemed too guarded and closed off to be one that she had seen on JJ before.

They continued walking and talking like they always did until they had to part ways for their second class. JJ headed to the chem lab for his AP Chemistry class while Liv made her way down to the auditorium on the other side of the school so she could get to her drama class- her favorite class of the day.

As soon as she walked in she felt like she was home, but it was different from when the entire school was there. When she was there with a small amount of people, most of them being those who were in the drama club with her, she felt like she was finally able to breathe and let go of everything. Nothing had changed about that even if she had.

She was soon swept up in a hug by her favorite teacher, Ms. Parker. They had gotten close her freshmen year after Liv had joined the drama club and she was taken under Ms. Parker's wing. Liv was proud to say that she didn't feel like she needed to be protected 100% of the time anymore, and that was a big step up for her.

"You look great, but how are you?" Ms. Parker asked her as soon as she gave her a once over, but she wasn't paying any attention to her new hair or her new clothes or her new body. She was only staring at the same old brown eyes that hadn't ever changed.

Liv smiled, but she didn't put on her "everything's great" face, she didn't have to. "I'm good, but ya know school is school. It's definitely going to be Uh different this year."

"I dare say it will be, but as long as you don't forget the important shit then I promise you'll be fine."

Liv loved her for that exact reason. She never tried to beat around the bush and she also didn't give a damn about what a person looked like, she only cared who they were. Which truly meant a lot coming from a woman who could've been a super model- even at her age of 47.

Ms. Parker had blonde hair that fell in beachy waves half way down her back, and a perfect smile that could've outshone someone in a Colgate ad. She also had flawless skin, even with a couple wrinkles popping up around her forehead she still managed to have a timeless look. This fact was only helped by her bright blue eyes, it was easy to stare into them and try to figure her out. But her eyes were as open as she was, and most people were too scared of her to make eye contact for too long.

"Welcome back," she said to everyone as she sat down in her usual seat, "I would also like to introduce you, again, to our new student Eric who will be joining this class."

Shit. Liv looked around to see that she had completely missed the tall, dark and handsome teenage boy that had been staring at her for the entirety of her conversation with Parker.

Liv slowly raised a hand up with a barely there smile, not as excited to begin the ice breaker theatre game that she knew Parker was about to make them play.