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9

"Micheal Romano!" Jasmine shouted in disbelieve.

"Yea." Lily gently closed her locker.

"You were on a date with Micheal Romano!"

"How many times are you gonna say that?" She rolled her eyes.

"Until I believe it, Lily!" She spat back. "Micheal Romano! So how did it go?"

"He said he has had a crush on me but I was dating you know. We talked. We ate." They walked to their lunch spot.

"So?"

"Well, I told him I wasn't looking for something serious but we could hang out to see if it leads anywhere."

"You didn't?" Jasmines eyes were wide and her moth open a little bit.

"I did."

"Omg! Your growing up!" She engulfed Lily in a fake motherly hug. She stepped and pinched her cheek. " I knew this day would come."

"I hate you." Lily rolled her eyes with a smile on her face.

They sat down at the table with the rest of their friends. She broke her regular routine and chimed in a bit more than usual with the girls conversation. They were so caught up in the each other that when the bell rang they had to rush and gather their things.

Lily and Jasmine quickly walked to their history class. They barely made it before the second bell rang. After sitting down Lily instinctually pulled out her copy of the paper that was due.

"Pass your papers forward." Mr. Turner stated as he walked by the front row of seats. "Thank you. So today we will be talking about..."

Again lily tuned out of what he was saying and looked out the window. She thought about Micheal and how she was nervous for things to go further with him. But she knew that some how Lily was right. She couldn't just stay stuck forever because she was scared.  She turned her attention too back to the teacher.

"So  I know you have probably heard rumors that I assign a big project for the whole year. That becomes majority of your grade. Well those rumors are true." He began handing out a bright yellow paper. "You and the partner I have assigned to you will come up with your own country. Everything will be up to you. The name, government, exports, and so on and so forth."

Lily looked down at the paper. It had a list of paper names followed by due date. At the bottom it read that it was worth forty percent of their grades.

"As you can see you will have different papers due based on your country. You also have the due date. I will remind you once about an upcoming paper. The rest is up to you." Lily casually looked back at Ocean, but he had his head down. "Your first part outlining the general things about your country is due in two weeks."

The bell rang which gave way to commotion as people moved around and talked. She placed the yellow paper in her history book and shoved the rest in her backpack.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

I'll text you.-Ocean.

She turned her head to look at his seat but he was gone. She wondered if she would end up having to do majority of the papers by herself.

"Lily, you ready?"

"Yea." Lily and Jasmine walked to her car.

"I really lucked up with Natalie.Forty percent of our grade that is crazy."

"Yea. I know."

"You okay?" Jasmine asked as she looked at her best friend.

"Yea. Why?"

"You seem mellow."

"I'm always mellow, Jas" She smirked.

"Yea but your different mellow right now." Jasmine's eyes went back to the road. "I'm your best friend. I know you just like you know me."

"I'm good. I'm just thinking.

She opened the front door to her house. She headed straight for her room and laid on the bed. Her head started to feel as if it was spinning. She put her pillow on top of her face. She breathed in, she breathed out until she fell asleep.

The sun had went down by the time she woke up. She took the pillow off her face and noticed she had a blanket laid on her. Her father must have walked in and gave it to her. She stretched out and rolled to her side. She closed her eyes again and thought of absolutely nothing. Her phone buzzed. 8:30.

You want something the Chinese place? -Dad

How was your day?- Micheal

Ask your dad if you can come over tomorrow. -Jas.

She rubbed her puffy eyes and stretched one more time. She walked down the hall to the kitchen barely lit with just a night light. She opened the frig and saw a bag of Chinese food that had a post it note on it with her name. She pulled it out and made a plate.

As she waited for it to heat him she replied to the text.
Thanks. -Lily
It was good and yours? -Lily
Okay but I gonna redo my hair. - Lily.

Her phone and microwave beeped at the same time. She looked down before getting her food.

Do you wanna work on the history thing on Friday? - Ocean

She grabbed her food and sat in the still dimly lit kitchen table.

Okay. -Lily

She hoped that he would come up with a place to meet any place but her house. She started to eat her food and text started to come in.

It was fine. I tried looking for you at lunch. But I didn't see you. -Micheal

Okay. I'll help you. Tell your dad you are gonna stay for dinner. I'll drive you home. -Jas

Okay. We can meet after school. -Ocean

Oh really? We eat at the tables by the lockers. -Lily.

Fine. Micheal texted me saying that he looked for me at lunch. -Lily.

Oh I wouldn't have thought to look over there. -Micheal

Yea we sit over there because there are barley people over there. -Lily.

Cute!!! -Jas.

She heard the front door unlock and she looked up to the hallway. David dragged himself into the kitchen. He nodded towards his sister and looked in the frig.

"Long day?" His sister asked.

"Yea. Back to working and going to school. Summer break is over."

"You did it last year so you will be able to do it again this year." She reassured him.

"Yea just have to get back into routine. What are you doing eating so late?"

"I knocked out when I got home from school. I just woke up."

The microwave beeped.

"Well, I'm tired I talk to you later."

She nodded her head in agreement. She returned to her own food. She quickly finished and washed her plate. She went back up stairs to finish her homework. She groaned even though she had slept she still felt tired. She pulled out her backpack and began her work.