Love, Natalie

Chapter 6

Just breathe. Inhale and exhale. Breathe in and breathe out. Calm down. Don't let anything bother you. Show how strong you truly are.

"Partner up with the person in front of you. Except you, Sam. The principal wants to see you," Mr. Cortes says.

"Ooooooo," some kids say. It's annoying when they do that. I mean, she could be going to the office for something good. She has never done anything bad, that I know of.

"I wonder what it's about." I turn to look at Sam and just give her a smile. She's my best friend, I'm sure it's nothing bad.

"Then go find out already," I respond grinning. She slaps my arm teasingly before getting up from her seat. Wait, then who's my partner?

"I guess we'll have to partner up, huh?" Lucas asks whilst taking Sam's seat. Why? What did I do to deserve this?

"Unfortunately, yes." He gives me a glare before turning his desk around to face me. We have to make a poster board with a significant event that happened in Asia. Hopefully Lucas is somewhat smart and can actually be of some help.

"But before we work on the project, I need to know you." I look at him questioning what he means. Know me? In what way?

"What do you mean? You know who I am, don't you?" I ask with a 'duh' look. He shakes his head with a serious face making me shift awkwardly in my seat. He leans in towards my face before speaking.

"I need to know the real you," he says sort of like a whisper. I stare at his green eyes for a moment and then he coughs loudly taking his seat again.

"Trust me, the last thing you want to do is get to know more about me." He stares at me with a neutral expression making me wonder why he wants to know me so badly.

"Just tell me what you like, dislike, what kind of mental conditions you have, and so on." Whoa, whoa, whoa...

"Mental conditions?" I glare at him in disbelief. He can't be serious. Does it look like I have a mental problem? If anyone has a problem here, it's him.

"Well, it was just an example," he says putting up his hands in defeat. I roll my eyes and scoff at him. Where do I start? Do I just tell him the basics or do I lie? "Start wherever you'd like. Whatever makes you comfortable talking about. I feel weird that you know so much about me, and all I know about you is what you'll have on your college applications."

"Whatever." I look around the room and see everyone laughing with their partner. Some are even working together! Why did Sam have to go and leave me with this idiot?

"Since you probably won't say anything, how about we do this later?" he suddenly asks. I look up and shrug. I honestly don't care as long as it's not right now because I have absolutely nothing to say at the moment.

"Sure, why not? Let's get to work now." He surprises me by agreeing and looking up events in the history book. 

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I look at the clock and start packing my things. The bell is about to ring and I do not want to be late to my choir class.

"Who do you have next?" Lucas asks while watching me put my stuff away.

"I got choir and you have art huh?" He looks at me shocked that I remembered. Hey, I remember things naturally. Even if I don't want to remember them, they stay in my memory for as long as they want.

"Uh yeah. So wait, you sing?" he asks and then starts laughing. You know, he has a bright white smile. It actually looks nice. But just nice.