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THE LAST TWO weeks of school passed by quickly and nearly uneventful and before Mina could believe it, it was the last day of school, an early release day.
Her stomach was a bundle of nerves and excitement as she watched the minutes tick by until it was 1:00, when the school would hold their award ceremony, pass out yearbooks and say their summer goodbyes to the students.
Mina, like the rest of her class, could hardly sit still in Advisory, barely made it through AP Physics and had to remain painfully calm until Algebra was over, all the while watching the clock. They obsessively glanced at it every second or so until the lunch bell rang and the anxious class was released to the cafeteria after a long, heartfelt speech made by their math teacher, Mr. Porter was over and finished.
Making her way to Ned and Peter, who sat at their table, Mina couldn't hold in the blinding smile that had threatened her all day. She slid into her usual spot and watched her friends eat with a passion, not touching a single food item herself as she felt too excited to eat.
"Guys!" She fairly shouted at them, surprising Ned enough to choke on his cheese pizza and Peter to cough on his water.
After Ned pounded him on the back to rid his lungs of water, they gazed expectantly, if not annoyed, at her.
"From this day forward to the last day of next year, we're juniors! We get to pick out our colleges and our safe schools, we get to go to prom and not that it's a big deal but we're gonna rage that shit up. And I can finally join the Yearbook Club!" Mina gushed.
Ned nodded and remained calm while Mina bounced in her seat. She turned her glowing eyes to Peter, who couldn't help but grin happily at her, as he found her giddiness infectious. Cute, in fact and there was that word again.
Peter tried to ignore that weird, nervous feeling in his stomach, looking at Mina's smile and hearing her talk non stop about next year and found himself short of breath for about a million reasons.
Firstly, he had just realized Mina had worn his Midtown High jacket and how good the color looked, the royal blue reflecting beautifully against her pale, almost white skin and secondly, the small winged eyeliner on her eyes, making the dark, chocolate brown of her eyes stand out even more. Third and last of all, he found his eyes drawn to her pink, full lips and the whiteness of her teeth as she grinned at him.
It made him feel weird yet happy that the way he felt, towards Mina, towards his best friend, was the exact way, if not a more intense feeling, he had felt towards Liz Allen, at the beginning of this year.
Maybe it was a passing thing, at least Peter hoped and oddly, part of him didn't, but he again tried to ignore the confusing thoughts and feelings and instead focused on his green beans and Mina's voice.
