lungs

part 27

as we walked into the school all eyes were on us. girls were giving me the dirty look and some just stared and whispered.

as we walked in the hallway he laced our fingers together just like this morning.

he gets close to my ear. "don't mind them, they're just jealous." he whispers.

i feel my face heat up as i smile like a dork and look down.

we walked into class and sat down in our seats. as always, joey sat in front of me and i sat behind him.

mr. skies comes in and looks at both of us. "mrs. cross and mr. birlem." he said, wanting us to come over.

i look at joey and frown, and he shrugs. we got up from our seats and walk over to mr.skies.

i stand by mr. skies while joey stands next to me. "yes?" i say, knowing not to say "yeah" because that disrespectful to teachers. the last thing i want from this school is for teachers to hate me.

"since mr. birlem got suspended i will extend your project due date to monday." he says.

i completely forgot. joey and i had a project that we never finished. ou yay, now i get to spend time with him.

i nodded, "okay."

i look up at joey and he nods too. "if it's not ready by monday then it's a zero."

"yes sir." i said.

mr.skies nodded and looked me up and down, what a perv. i saw joey clench his jaw as he watched mr. skies look at me.

we walked back to our seats and mr. skies started class.

+

"can i have a chip?" joey asked, referring to my doritos bag in my hand.

i nodded and gave him a chip and he got a dorky smile on his face as he ate it. gladly, charles wasn't at school so it was just me and joey today.

jeremy and jacob are at a table with themselves, probably talking about video games or something.

luckily, we turned in the poster for the game tomorrow.

but, something about that charles kid just isn't right. i mean his looks are horrible, but his vibe that he gives me when i'm around him just isn't right.

as i was thinking i realized that joey was eating my chips. i smacked his hand away and giggled. "what do you think you're doing, birlem?"

"eating, what do you think?" he said, trying to take another chip but i pulled back.

i look down at his trey of school food. "you got that pizza." he said.

"it taste like cardboard." he says.

i playfully roll my eyes and hand him the bag of chips. i take out my carrots and start to eat them.

"are you going to the game tomorrow?" he asked me.

i shrug, "i don't know, probably." i said.

he smiles, "good, because now i can show you off." he says.

i giggle but then lay my head on his shoulder. he kisses the top of my head. "i'm so glad you're mine, cross."

mine

+

"look at this." joey said as we walked home from the bus stop, while holding out his phone to show me a funny video.

i looked at the video and laughed. i pulled out my phone and tried to find a video to show him, eventually i did.

"look at this one." i said, holding up my phone so he could see.

he laughed at the video and after that we were just showing each other random photos and pictures.

"let me take a picture of you for my lock screen." he says smiling from ear to ear, while pulling up the camera on his phone.

"why?" i asked.

"because you're my girlfriend." he says.

girlfriend

i look down and tuck my hair behind my ear, while blushing and shaking my head at the same time.

"please?" he begged.

i groan, "fine, but not my face. i look like i was just ran over by a uhaul truck."

"then what? your ass? because i would be gl-" he says but i cut him off.

"no dumbass, take a picture of us holding hands" i said, pointing to his hand as we walked.

"oh," he chuckled." i think that's better than your ass, even though your ass is-"

i cut him off again by taking his hand, "just take the picture, birlem." i said, laughing.

he took the picture and then showed it to me. "is that okay?" he asked.

i nodded, "it's perfect."

we eventually reached our houses. we stopped  walking in front of joeys house and stood in his driveway.

"i got to catch up on my homework." he says, looking down at me and smiling.

"okay." i look up at him and smile too.

he holds the side of my neck and traces his thumb on my jaw line. he pecks my lips and then pulls away.

"anna?" i hear a voice say.

i turn around and my eyes widen as i parted my jaw.

"oh hi dad."

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teaaaaa

who's your favorite character so far in the book?