Silence

17 - Wednesday

"You wanna go to homecoming with me?" he asks with a with a smirk but I can see the nervousness in his eyes.

I just stare at him, completely dumbfounded.

"Uhm, you mean like... like a... as in..." I stutter. He chuckles.

"Like a date." he helps me out. "For starters." he smirks.

"I don't know..." 

"Come on Katie." he smiles. Wait. Did he just call me Katie? "We don't have to put a label on it or anything, but I like you, and you seem to tolerate my presence and my kisses, so let's just go together and have fun. I don't care what others might think and you're friends are cool with it anyways, right?"

"Yeah, I mean it's not because I don't want anyone to know... It's just..." I don't really know what to say.

"Just say yes!" he gives me his most adorable grin. "It's just homecoming."

I totally forgot about homecoming. It's this Saturday. I really don't mind others seeing us together, except Jesse maybe. I hate that I think about Jesse now... But the actual problem is, that I don't know if I'm actually ready to make this a thing. I'm not good with either commitment or responsibility. I guess I do like him though, even if he's annoying.

As if reading my mind a small smile creeps on his face. 

"I'm not asking you to marry me James." he says. There it is.

I roll my eyes, annoyed.

"Fine." I say and start walking towards the school. I can hear him laugh triumphantly behind me.

As soon as we are by my locker he winks at me and leaves to go to class. "Pick you up at seven." he says before shooting Steph and Jules a grin, who are waiting at Jules' locker for me, which is conveniently next to mine.

"What was that about?" Steph asks curiously after Felix left.

"He asked me to homecoming." I mumble almost hoping they won't hear me.

"That's so great! Now we're all going, well except for Parker, but I'll work on that..." Stephanie is over the moon.

"It's really sweet of him." Jules agrees. "Are you happy about it?"

"I don't know yet." I say but a smile is already plastered on my face. "See you later, guys."

I walk away towards AP world history. Even though my mind is still racing I can't seem to remove the smile on my face.

As if someone wanted to destroy my bubble Jesse started walking next to me.

"Hey Katie." he says casually.

"Oh hey Jesse." shit. I feel myself blushing. Why?

"What's up?" he asks laughing. I'm sure he saw me blushing. I feel guilty for still reacting so stupidly to him. Damn you Felix.

"Yeah I'm good. How about you?" the conversation feels awkward, though I'm sure he doesn't notice.

"Great actually." he says smiling. We're now in front of my classroom. I stop and turn to look at him kind of awkwardly.

"You going to homecoming this weekend?" he asks.

Why is everyone suddenly talking about homecoming? I didn't even realize that it was this weekend until this morning.

"Yeah. You?" I just say uncomfortably.

"Yeah I'm going with some friends. So I'll see you there then?" he then asks and suddenly looks equally uncomfortable. 

"Yeah." I say and quickly wave him goodbye before rushing into the classroom before it gets any more awkward.

Wow. That was weird. 

I really wonder why I'm still so awkward around him. It seemed to be getting better during our english project, now that I'm somewhat with Felix it is all awkward again, and he doesn't even know. Also he why did he even come up to me just now, he never used to do that randomly. 

So many things are going through my head right now. Sarah coming back, Felix asking me to homecoming and wanting to be a 'thing', and now Jesse. I really thought I wouldn't be so weird around him anymore.

Class starts and I'm happy to concentrate on it instead of all these stupid things in my head.

The classes rush by and before I know it I'm sitting next to Parker at lunch while he sulkily complains about me going to homecoming now. We had planned to go to the warehouse this week. Now that I think about it, this would have been the first year that I would have skipped homecoming. I went with Nate the last two years and with Jules in freshmen year.

"Now Steph convinced me to go too." Parker grumpily interrupts my thoughts.

"Really? Stephanie how the hell did you do that?" I ask surprised.

"Oh just my natural charm and a few striking arguments." She smiles triumphantly. "I mean it is our last year of high high school after all..."

"I guess you're right." I say. "Hey can you guys help me buy a dress after school?" I then ask Steph and Jules knowing that Parker wouldn't say yes anyways.

"Can't. We have this dinner thing at Stephanie's house..." Jules says apologetically.

Just then I see Eden sitting at a lunch table with Hazel, Logan and a few others. I remember our conversation at the lake and get an idea. 

"Don't worry guys I think I know just the right person to help me." I say and get up from our table to walk over to Eden. 

As soon as she sees me a smile stretches across her pretty face. 

"Hey Eden." I say smiling.

"Hey girl, what's up?" she says cheerfully.

"So.. I just decided that I'll be going to homecoming and I still need a dress... You still up for that shopping trip we talked about?"

Her smile widens. "Say no more!" she says clearly excited. 

"Great. Meet me at my car after school?" I ask.

"Sure. Looking forward to it!" she says. I return to my friends and fill them in.

I'm excited, shopping was never really my thing but it's always been fun with Eden.

The rest of the school day goes by really quickly. In English Felix keeps turning around to give me an annoying smirk and Jesse just sits next to me without saying anything or even looking at me.

I hastily go to the parking lot after class and see Eden already standing next to my car. 

"Hey Katie." she says smiling.

"Hi. Let's go?" 

"Sure but can we stop at my house real quick I wanna drop off my books and get my bag." she says and I stiffen a little.

"I don't know if..." I start uncomfortably.

"He's not there." she cuts me off. "He moved into a dorm near his college a couples of weeks ago." she says and I relax. 

"Oh. Okay then... Let's go." I say reassured. She just smiles and thankfully doesn't press it.

I really don't need to bump into Nathan with everything going on right now.