Boarding School Bliss

Chapter 3

On Monday, Samantha dragged herself out of bed and prepared for the day. Mornings were hard for her until she'd had a healthy dose of caffeine.

Her first class of the day was an Advanced Lit class. It was the only advanced class she was in and she shared it with Dawson. Something that normally made her morning, but ever since Friday night when she'd made a fool of herself in front of him, she was not looking forward to facing him.

She took her seat avoiding looking at Dawson where he was sitting with his adorable curls in sleepy disarray and waited for class to begin. She couldn't help but be hyper-aware of him, which annoyed her to no end.

Her teacher, Mr. Alek, walked into the class with a stack of packets. The class perked up minutely, momentarily interested in the difference from their everyday routine.

"Good morning, class." He said, flatly, not sounding like he was having a good morning. "We're starting a project today. You will have a partner and five weeks to work on it. This counts for a third of your grade, so I will be expecting nothing short of your best work."

After Mr. Alek's announcement, he began passing out the packets. "The name of your assigned partner is in your packet."

Samantha resisted the urge to pout. She hated having a partner. She always ended up being the one to do all the work. Samantha ripped open her packet and peeked at the papers inside. She slipped the first one out. It was an outline of the project and had her partners name at the top. In blocky handwriting it said: Dawson Patrick.

Samantha scrunched her eyes closed for a split second. Normally she would love an opportunity like this, but being around him was getting harder and harder. She didn't know long she'd be able to swallow her feelings like this. She was terrified that it was constantly written all over her face. She glanced over at Dawson, who was already looking at her, his eyes narrowed. He'd seen her reaction to who her partner was and he'd clearly misunderstood the reason behind it. Samantha sighed and stood to go join him.

"Hey." Samantha said, forcing a bright smile and taking the open seat next to him.

"Hi." Dawson said, avoiding her eyes.

Samantha was jiggling her foot, bouncing it up and down with nervous energy. She followed Dawson's lead, pulling the papers out of her packet to look over the project. Apparently, they were supposed to pick a classic work of Literature and rewrite it in the form of a screenplay. Then, Mr. Alek would pick a winner and the drama class would perform it for their end-of-year play.

"Oof, lots of pressure." Samantha murmured. Dawson ignored her and pulled his glasses out of his bag, slipping them onto his face. Samantha couldn't help finding this adorable and she blurted out, "It almost wasn't fair for Mr. Alek to put us on the same team."

Dawson's head snapped up at her words. Well, that got his attention. "What? Why?" He asked with a frown.

Samantha met his gaze and her lips tilted into a mischievous smile. "Because we're going to crush the other teams."

Dawson's troubled brow smoothed and he gave her a pleased grin that sent Samantha's heart fluttering. She was momentarily distracted by the thick ring of lashes around his eyes. It wasn't fair that he looked like that naturally. When she realized she'd been staring at him too long, she quickly glanced back down at her papers.

"So, what story do you think we should do?" Samantha asked, without looking back up.

Dawson turned in his chair to face her, setting his papers aside. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, pushing his glasses up with a thoughtful expression. "I don't know. What's your favorite classic?"

Samantha thought for a minute. "Probably Pride and Prejudice."

Dawson tilted his head. "Why?"

Samantha blushed a little under the scrutiny of his stare and then mentally berated herself. She honestly couldn't remember the last time she'd blushed while talking to a guy. But then again, no one was quite like Dawson. "I don't know. I'm just a sucker for a romance that can come together against all odds."

She expected him to laugh at her, but he just held her gaze and then nodded. "Okay, well, let's do that one then.

Samantha's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Okay." She'd expected him to want to be more in charge of the story they picked.

"We're going to have to make it drastically different from the movie or Mr. Alek will accuse us of slacking."

Samantha nodded in agreement, but said nothing.

"We should make a schedule of days and times to meet up outside of class." Dawson said, as he wrote down the book they'd chosen.

Samantha managed to contain her grin at that. He was very organized. "Okay," she said. "Pretty much any day works for me."

Dawson gave her a sideways glance. "Really?" He asked, sounding like he really doubted it.

"Yeah, why?" Samantha shook her long hair out of her face to peer at him, confused.

"Don't you have, uh, social engagements?" Dawson asked, spinning his pencil in his fingers.

Samantha frowned at that and raised an eyebrow. "Nothing I can't push off for this project."

Dawson's eyes glittered with amusement, but he only said, "Okay, well, I think we should meet about three times a week. I'll put together a schedule for us."

Samantha offered him her practiced, flawless grin. "Sounds good."

Just then the bell rang and Samantha quickly leaned down to stuff her books into her bag. Dawson leaned to grab his bag at the same time and Samantha's arm pressed up against his. Her pulse picked up speed and she thought she might hyperventilate at the sudden contact. She could feel the warmth of his skin through his shirt and had to crush the ridiculous urge to wrap her hand around his arm and feel the surprising hardness there.

Dawson stood to his feet, seemingly unaffected by their close contact, and he strolled from the room. Samantha groaned and laid her head on the cool table. She really needed to pull herself together before she did something stupid.

Author's note: Thanks for reading guys! Let me know what you think!