From Conundrums to Kisses | ONC 2020

Chapter 5: Fun Memories

Teagan's POV

Teagan sat in her school's classroom, listening to her teacher with the intent to learn. She blinked slowly as her teacher droned on about twenty-first-century literature. Her mind drifted back to where it all started when she met Colton when they were both thirteen. His family had moved into the house a few blocks from hers and wanting to be friendly, her mom brought over some homemade brownies. While her mom went inside to talk to the new neighbors, Teagan sat on a lawn chair as the sun's rays had caused her to wipe the sweat off her face.

She remembered the way her heart skipped a beat when she found him staring at her with interest. He always had the cutest freckles. From his genuine concern for others to the way he stood up for what he believed in, Colton never ceased to amaze her.

It was after she turned fifteen that things really began to change. After Colton and his family moved back to Atlanta after living in the UK for two years, Colton decided to make his name known...by participating in an all-out prank war with his friends and Teagan wasn't happy in the slightest. She remembered when he put a water balloon in her seat. The brunette thought the whole school must have heard her shriek back then. She thought with bitterness, remembering the popping sound the water balloon had made when she sat down on it.

Teagan remembered how her classmates roared with laughter, pointing and giggling at her. She cried that day as she clenched her fingers. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

To get back at him, Teagan decided to switch the recorded lecture of his professor with an audio recording of her screaming into the recording labeled Chemistry 2001 Recorded Lecture. The look on his face turned pale as she noticed his eye twitch. She held her stomach, unable to contain the laughter that tumbled out of her mouth.

It seemed like the prank war never ended, from putting a bucket of ice water that laid on the door of the boys' bathroom to switching her chocolate chip cookies with oatmeal raisin cookies he made himself. Though Teagan had to admit, she liked the last prank. Probably one of the sweetest pranks someone ever pulled on her. The look on Colton's face was priceless when he saw her enjoying the dessert.

"Miss Valdez?" Her professor's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, looking up at the perplexed expression on his face.

Teagan looked around the room, each of her classmates' eyes suddenly on her. "Sorry, Mr. Smith. I'm just a bit tired from working on an essay last night, that's all." Well, it technically wasn't a lie since she did pull an all-nighter last night.

Mr. Smith chuckled. "Well, try not to fall asleep in my class, okay?"

Her classmates laughed, causing Teagan to avoid her teacher's gaze. "Yes, Mr. Smith," she mumbled, sliding down her seat. She never liked being the center of attention, that was for sure.

Teagan thought back to yesterday, her time with Colton giving her a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. There go those butterflies again... She could never understand how it was possible to hate someone but find them lovable at the same time.

She was supposed to hate him for crying out loud. What was wrong with her? He was the embodiment of what she couldn't stand; she figured that everything was probably handed to him on a silver platter. He had the bakery (well, she could scratch that out since Colton had told her how he acquired the bakery in the first place), the house he and his family lived in, everything! While she and her family had to work from the ground up to get where they were now. She took some quiet, deep breaths to calm down. 1...2...3...4... She had better snap out of it before Mr. Smith caught her daydreaming again.

A few minutes later, the bell rang, causing her classmates to rush out of their seats and into the warm, fresh air outside. Teagan chortled as one student yelled out, "freedom," before driving off into the distance. A thought suddenly made its way into Teagan's head. Oh yeah, summer had started. How could she have forgotten?

Walking outside, Teagan felt the warm summer breeze on her skin before noticing a butterfly fluttering its wings in the breeze. She decided to sit under a tree, protecting herself from the sun's rays. The image of the butterfly triggered a childhood memory that had long been forgotten.

She remembered lying on a lounge chair, feeling the sun's rays begin to warm her bronze skin. A beach ball made its way into her line of sight, inadvertently causing the sprinklers on her lawn to go off. She screamed, attracting the attention of her neighbors.

A teenage boy, no older than sixteen, ran over to her, speaking in hurried sentences. "Are you okay? Of course, you're not okay. I literally hit you with my beach ball and—"

Teagan put her hands up in reassurance. "Dude, it's okay. A little water never hurt anyone."

Colton coughed, averting his eyes as he took off his shirt and handed it to her. "Here. You need it more than I do."

Teagan looked down as she realized the water had clung to her skin, her soaked white shirt revealing more than she wanted it to. She cleared her throat, itching to change the subject. "Thanks..." she muttered, taking the blue shirt from him and pulling it over her soaked one.

He gave her a bright smile, stretching his hand towards her. "It's good to see you again, Milady."

She reciprocated the gesture, shaking his hand. "Same to you."

"So, are you enjoying the weather so far?" Colton asked, trying to make some small talk.

Teagan snorted, her heart fluttering at the way he was empathetic to her embarrassment. "So far, so good. I applied for a job as a cashier at my family's bakery, and I ended up landing the job." She looked up at him, noticing how he had a lean frame, his muscles glistening in the sunlight.

"Congrats." Colton noticed the way she was staring at him and laughed. "Teagan, my eyes are up here, you now." he said, giving her a teasing glint.

Her voice cracked at being caught. "I knew that." She blew a strand of hair out of her face.

He gave her a crooked smile in return. "You really are something, you know that?"

Teagan sighed at the memory, wondering what made her go from liking the boy to feeling instant hatred anytime he saw him or his family's bakery flourishing. She knew that Colton's family had worked hard to get to where they were now. She just couldn't figure out for the life of her what went wrong between then and now.