Sought and Snatched

Chapter 11 Pt. 1

Josephine's P.O.V

Five years ago.....

Clara was still laughing. I rolled my eyes as she doubled over. Shoulders hopping up and down as she clung onto her stomach and tried to breathe.

Her blonde hair covered her face and I patiently waited for her to stop. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and tapped my foot.

When she was finally done she faced me. She couldn't help but spread a smile to her face.

"Are you done now?"

She wiped her tears and sighed. "It's just, you do this every time. When are you going to get over your crush on Liam and just talk to him already?"

"It's not that easy! I really like him."

"Look. We are in middle school now. We're sixth graders, we use lockers now and have more than one classroom. I think it's time you got the courage to just at least say hi."

I nodded my head. "You know what. You're right! The next time I see Liam and his brown hair with his gorgeous brown eyes I'm going to talk to him!"

"That's the spirit! Perfect timing because he's walking this way."

"What?! You set me up!"

"What are you talking about? I didn't know he was coming!" Clara said in between laughs.

I swear if this had anything to do with her........

In a panic, I quickly opened my locker and hid my head inside. But in the process, I smacked my forehead and groaned in pain. I heard sniffles and knew Clara was just enjoying the show.

"Hi, Josephine. That looked like that hurt. Are you okay?"

I slowly came out of my hiding place and rubbed my temple. "Yeah, it did."

He smiled at me and my knees become weak. I leaned on my locker for support and looked away. 

"Hi, Liam." I snuck a glance at him from the corner of my eye and he beamed.

"You forgot your notebook and I grabbed it for you." I smiled at him and was ready to reply. But unfortunately, nothing came out.

"Uhh.." So I just nodded. My stomach churned. He laughed then handed me my notebook. I was finally able to squeeze out a soft thank you.

Liam waved at me before he ran his hand through his hair. "See you in history." Not wanted to talk again I waved back and he melted into the crowd of students.

"Eeekkkk!!!" There goes my hearing.

"See?! What did I tell you?!" He talked to you!! And you talked to him!"

Now it was my turn to laugh.

"See that wasn't so bad was it?"

"That's great but how did Liam get my notebook? I could have sworn that I took it with me.."

Clara began to scratch her head awkwardly. "I might've stolen your notebook and accidentally put it in his bag."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Accidently?"

She shrugged her shoulders and grabbed my hand as we headed off to class. "Okay, so it wasn't an accident. But it was for a good cause. Just admit."

"Admit what?"

"That I'm right."

"About what exactly?"

"That I'm right about Liam having a crush on you."

"Please he does not have a crush on me."

"If you say so.." She replied in a sing-song voice. I smiled at her.

"What?"

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Talk to everyone like it's no problem?"

"Sometimes you just have to go with the flow."

"But don't you care about what they think?"

She shook her head. "I only care about what you think."

I beamed at her and took her hand squeezing it.

"How was I ever lucky enough to get you as a best friend?"

"I'm pretty sure you put your name in the Greatest best friend lottery. It was pretty expensive."

"Well, it was the best money I ever spent." We hugged then took our seats.

The whole time during class I was tense. I felt as if someone was watching me.

I decided to turn around and I noticed that Emma and Ava the two most popular girls in our school were staring at us. Emma gave me a toothy grin and waved.

Weird.

There was a twist in my gut that let me know that something was definitely off.

"Umm... Clara?"

"Yeah, Josie?"

"Why are Emma Anderson and Ava Carson looking at us?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes. It's odd."

"Just ignore them."