Stood Speechless

chapter eight

chapter eight - skye's pov

"Ms. Holland, may I speak with you for a moment?" Professor Hendricks asks me as I'm walking out of the door.

"Yes, of course." I reply, walking over to the podium where she's stood. As I inch closer to the woman I realize that she towers over me. While I'm not a skyscraper myself, she must be a few inches above me. However, her radiant smile in contrast with her chocolate skin leaves leaves no hint of intimidation. She watches me with a warm grin as I begin to apologize, "I'm so sorry I was late, just things came up and my phone died and I-"

"It's not a big deal Ms. Holland, I only called you over here to inform you that you missed the assignment! Here's your book," she smiles, handing me a copy of The Great Gatsby, and I can't help raise an eyebrow in ridicule of her book choice before she speaks up, "as I told the rest of the class, you probably read this in your highschool English course. Don't fret, this is just the beginning. I expect you to finish the book by the end of the semester, and construct a narrative using the characters." After her brief explanation, I quickly thank her and head out the door. To my demise, a familiar green Jeep is parked on the street, sparkling unlike it's dumb owner. Just as I hope to not run into said owner, Asher comes around from the side of my building.

"Hey!" He states, his stupid smile greeting me.

"What?" I sigh, turning to him. Knowing I have no excuse to escape this time, I surrender to the infuriating human in front of me.

"Well that's one way to greet a person, I guess." he states, his stupid smile growing bigger, begging for me to punch him square in the jaw. A few seconds of silence pass before he speaks again, "C'mon Skye, can we just put what happened behind us and attempt to be friends?" He smiles, and while it's a gorgeous, stupid smile, I know the intention behind it.

"I thought you said we couldn't possibly be friends!" I mock, utilizing my horrible British accent.

His grin widens, "Well maybe the amazing accent changed my mind," he says, and I can't help but giggle a little. While he is annoying, and kind of a threat to my relationship, if I even still have one, he is sometimes endearing, "Let's start with lunch?" He speaks again.

"Fine, lunch," I reply, simply nodding my head, "Where do you want to go?"

"I know this awesome pizza place! Does that sound good?" He asks, his green eyes piercing into my own. While this lunch feels like a recipe for disaster, I can't deny his charm.

I remind myself that he's probably used the same charm on other women before I reply, "Cool I'll follow you there?"

Pointing my thumb to my car, I prepare to turn away before he says, "It's a short walk." With a point towards the street behind him, he starts walking, and I regretfully follow.

•••

We enter into the pizza place, seating ourselves across from one another in a red booth. The place is gorgeous, the neon signs placed on the walls and the checkered floor give the place a cool throw-back kind of feel. I continue to admire the place before I'm interrupted by Asher's curious voice.

"Do you have any other classes today?" He questions.

"No, English is my only one on Tuesdays." I claim, still taking in my surroundings. I see a shake machine and remind myself to order one when the waiter gets to us.

"Who do you have?" he asks. I feel like asking him what's with all the questions.

Instead, I simply answer, "Professor Hendricks," looking to him, and noting the way he perks up after I say her name.

He quickly recovers from his excitement, however, leaning back against the booth and stating, "She's cool," with a shrug.

I burst out into a soft laugh, leaning back against my own booth and taking his same demeanor. "She's cool." I say in my infamous, horrible British accent.

"That is not how I said it!" He claims, still laid back while rubbing his index finger and thumb together in front of him, staring at it as if he's picking at something.

Keeping the accent, I mock his movement before saying, "Yes, it is," and laughing afterwards.

Before he can make a comeback, a waiter named Quinn takes our drink orders. I order a shake and Asher orders a water.

"So how do you know Professor Hendricks?" I ask him, deciding to spike up some conversation.

Instead of looking at me to answer, he unwraps his straw as he says, "I had her last year."

"Last year?" I ask in confusion. How could he have her last year if he's a freshman?

As if he were reading my thoughts, he responds saying, "Yeah, I'm a sophomore." While it's new information, I'm not shocked. He does seem to know his way around much more than Ezra and I, but I figured it was because he explored a lot, but I know now it's because he's been here longer.

"Oh," unsure of what to say, I ask another question, "What is your major?"

He sips his water before answering, "I double major, writing and journalism."

He speaks very matter-of-factly, so I mock him again, "Wow I'm so cool because I double major haha." I say with my arms crossed, a tired expression painted on my face.

Instead of retaliating, Asher simply reaches across the table, dipping two fingers into the whipped cream of my shake and dabbing it onto my nose. I swat his hand away, cleaning my face with a napkin and laughing so hard, the restaurant looks at us like we're crazy. I open my eyes to see he's laughing too, his light laugh exponentially different from his normal monotone talking voice. I think I like it.

•••

After an hour of small talk and a few pieces of pizza, I receive a text from Dylan:

Dylan: Can we talk?

I respond with a simple 'yea' and head out of the restaurant. As we walk up to where our cars are parked, I spot the girl from earlier, Megan I think her name was, waiting by the Jeep. Without giving it too much thought, I wave a subtle goodbye to Asher and head to Dylan's, not ready for the inevitable, and rather painful, conversation.

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Today's a longer chapter! Hope y'all don't mind!

QOTC: Do you like pizza?
AOTC: Only if it's cheese tbh

Thank you to those who are voting! Add this to your libraries so that way y'all know when I update! LOVE YOUS

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