You're My Sol

Chapter 1

I sat at my desk, going over the code. Something was wrong there, but I couldn't figure out what. I had hundreds of lines to go through, and it could have been something as simple as a forgotten semicolon.

I groaned and covered my head in my hands. This was going to take forever and the robotics club only met for an hour.

Everyone else in the club looked over at me. Yikes.

I was sort of alone in this club. It was tough being the odd-girl-out. We were split into partners to work on coding robots, but we had an odd number of people in the club. So of course, I was stuck working on my own. Not exactly a surprise, given my reputation.

I was still lost in thought when the door opened. My head snapped up just in time to see the prettiest girl ever walk into the room. She had tanned skin, wavy brown hair, and gorgeous brown eyes that you could get lost in. A stylish blue sweater was wrapped around her shoulders and she had a couple necklaces gracing her neck.

I had never seen her before.

"Um, is this room 205?" She asked, looking around. All eyes were on her. Well, all thirteen pairs of eyes. There weren't a lot of people in the robotics club.

Our supervisor, Mr. Chomen, swiveled around in his desk chair. He adjusted his glasses, squinting at the girl. "You must be Marisol! I emailed you yesterday, right?"

Marisol nodded.

"Great!" He yelled. He had the tendency to be a little dramatic. "Glad you could make it."

She smiled brightly, showing off her perfect white teeth. Ugh, everything about her was perfect.

"Thanks! I'm happy to be here. I was just wondering if you could give me the run-down of the club and what we've done so far so that I can jump right in," Marisol said.

"Of course! Hey, I'm a little busy right now. How about..." Mr. Chomen scanned the room, his eyes eventually landing on me. "Penelope!" He turned back to Marisol. "She's a smart cookie. She'll tell you everything you need to know. Heck, how about you join her in her project! She doesn't have a partner."

My face burned red. I was always alone, but I never got used to it.

Marisol walked over to my desk and pulled out a chair. "Heya! I'm Marisol."

"Hi," I said, internally rolling my eyes.

It was silent for a moment. She twirled a piece of hair around her finger. "So, what are we working on?"

I explained the objective and showed her the layout of the obstacle course. I showed her the robot I built and how to connect it to the computer. Then I showed her the files I had open.

I sighed. "There's something wrong with my code so far, but I just can't figure out wh--"

"Oh that's simple, you made a typo when naming the variable."

My eyes snapped to her, and then to the screen. My mouth fell open. She was right. How could I have made such a stupid mistake? And how did she pick it out so quickly?

I curled my hand into a fist under the desk and smiled as sweetly as I could. "Thanks so much, Marisol! You really helped me out."

Marisol just beamed back at me, oblivious. "Glad I could help!"

By that time it was 4:00, and the club was dismissed.

As the rest of the club members filed out of the class, Mr. Chomen yelled out at us that we'd be testing the code next week.

Marisol and I gathered our stuff and walked out together. She had a cute flowered backpack that I hadn't noticed before. Damn it, why was everything about her cute?

"Do you have a ride home?" She asked, turning around to face me.

And she was nice too? Ugh.

"Yeah, but thanks for the offer," I said shortly.

"Ok, well if you need one, my aunt could--"

"Thanks for the offer," I snapped.

Marisol frowned, then turned on her heel and started walking the other way.

Just as I thought she was gone, she called out in a cheery voice, "see you next week!"

God, why was she so happy?

* * *

I walked into precalc the next day, already thinking about lunch. I forgot to eat breakfast this morning. I was in a bit of a rush--I slept in. I've never slept in before.

I sighed, sitting down in my seat. I couldn't wait for class to be over with already. Just as the bell rang, I heard a familiar voice in my ear.

"Anyone sitting here?"

It was Marisol. Damn it, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was wearing a cute crop top. Why was she so pretty?

"Hello?" She laughed, waving her hand in front of my face. "Anyone home?"

I snapped out of my daze. "Uh no... no one's sitting here."

"Great!" Marisol pulled out the chair next to me and sat down.

Great...

We worked diligently for the rest of class, with no room for talking. Or at least I did. Marisol doodled in the margins of her paper and talked to the rest of the class. I rolled my eyes. This would come back to bite her by next week's test. I smirked to myself, knowing that she was going to fail.

As I was finishing up my worksheet, the bell rang. I packed up my things and started for the hallway.

"Wait!" Marisol shouted. "Wait for me," she giggled.

I paused in the doorway, not knowing whether to stay or go. I guess I took too long to decide because she was next to me in an instant.

"I'm ready now! Let's head out."

We walked towards the cafeteria. Was I going to have someone to sit with for the first time in years? My stomach fluttered at the thought. I wouldn't have to hide out in the hallways for once.

As we walked, Marisol would not stop talking. She told me how she moved here from California (of course she did) just recently and how it had been difficult settling in. She also thanked me for being so nice to her, as I was one of the few people she knew at this school.

My heart stopped at that. I'd been an asshole to her since yesterday's robotics meeting. Maybe I should have apologised?

I was going to say something, but it was too late. The crowd had pushed us into the jungle that they called the cafeteria.