The Time I Spent Loving You

Chapter 4

Grace and I left the secluded bleachers and sprayed perfume on ourselves, hoping the strong odor wouldn't follow us into class. I pouted as we parted ways, it was fifth period, Biology for me and AP History for Grace. She took biology before me so she had already passed it, getting to do an extra elective in its place for her sixth period. Our last two classes were the only classes we didn't have together, I had Bio now, she had History. Sixth period she had Art while I had History. It was disappointing that we didn't have all our classes together, but to expect that would be unrealistic.

Grace walked the opposite direction of me, passing through the halls to the other side of the school. I walked down the long outdoor hallway slowly, trying to keep my nerves under control. I was about to enter the classroom when an arm reached for the door handle from behind me, I looked up and saw it was Trevor. He opened the door for me, holding it open as I walked in under his arm. He smelled like cheap cologne, but I liked it. He managed to cover up the smell of what he had smoked earlier. I looked back at him and muttered a quiet thank you, and he smiled back at me in response.

We walked in and the teacher said for now, we get to sit wherever. The seats were in rows, six of them, about five desks per row. I went to take my seat, taking out my planner and folder as I would in any other class. Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder, I looked behind me and saw Trevor's enamoring smile. He had taken the seat directly behind me, when there were multiple to choose from. I smiled back at him and turned to face my desk, seeing a stack of papers with a sticky note on the top that said "Pass Back." I grabbed one from the bottom for myself, and handed it to Trevor. He was grabbing the stack as I was putting it down, and his hand brushed against mine. I blushed profusely and turned around, once again hiding behind my hair to conceal my red cheeks and wide grin.

I looked down to see what the assignment we were given was, and it was another ice breaker activity for students to do in pairs. It was for the desks sitting side by side horizontally, so I was paired with someone I knew from middle school. She was a petite girl, with golden blonde hair, and her name was Mckenna. Mckenna was a nice girl, although I never talked to her much. She wasn't someone I would consider myself close to, but she was Jenna's best friend. Throughout the period we talked and completed our assignment easily. I was sitting to the side, facing Mckenna. The position I was in gave me a peripheral vision to where I saw Trevor out of the corner of my eye. I would glance at him every so often, catching his eye a couple of times, and looking away each time it happened. Almost too soon, the bell rang. I was enjoying sitting near Trevor, in a weird way he calmed me. The subtle cloud of cologne that surrounded him comforted me. This was the only class throughout the day, that I didn't want to have to leave to the next one.

I sighed quietly and grabbed my bag, tying my hair up in the high ponytail it was in during dance class. I got up, and started my way down the hall when I felt a sudden tap on my shoulder. Startled, I jumped and looked back to see Trevor. I smiled at him and said a simple "Hi."

He smiled back, taking out a paper from his pocket and looking down at it, "Hey, do you know where class B26 is?" The classrooms in our school were arranged by wings, each wing divided with letters of the alphabet, but it worked backwards in a way. A, B, C and so on, were toward the back of the school and the "W" wing was toward the front.

I smiled widely and pulled out my schedule as well, seeing that his next class was the one next to mine. "It's right next to my class, I'll walk with you." He said ok, and started walking in the direction I was. I led the way letting him follow close behind me. We walked in a comfortable silence, until I asked what his next class was.

"Oh, its American History," he shrugged and looked down at me, once again reminding me of how short I was in comparison to himself. "What do you have?"

I blushed and looked away, climbing up the stairs past the "C" wing. People who didn't have honors classes, or college level classes typically judged me for taking classes at a higher level. I mumbled a short, "AP American History." I kept my gaze averted, looking ahead of us making sure we were going the right way.

He chuckled, "Why do you seem embarrassed when I talk to you?" My stomach flipped and I blushed profusely, feeling an intense heat spread from my neck up. I looked up at him and shrugged, biting my lip. I contemplated telling him about my anxiety, as I chewed on my lip. He smiled kindly at me and slowly raised his hand to my face, removing my lip from the destructive chewing I was subjecting it to. "Don't do that, you'll hurt yourself."

I didn't think it was possible to blush more than I already was, but I felt my face become hotter. I mumbled a quiet "Sorry." I was exploding on the inside, butterflies swirling around behind my ribs. I looked at his face, and unlike me, he seemed hardly phased. His calm expression comforted me somehow, and I was able to breathe correctly again. I coughed after about a minute of silence between us, and he chuckled once more. I proceeded to tell him why I was quiet and embarrassed, "I have anxiety, and it takes me a bit to warm up to people," I mumbled and stared at my hands.

"That's ok. You'll warm up to me soon enough," he smiled a crooked cheesy smile at me. We had been standing in the hallway for about five minutes, I hadn't realized that just a moment ago I was walking to my next class. I didn't realize this until the bell rang. I was late. On my first day.