twisted ✔️ (being edited)

7 | 90's heartthrobs

three days later

This is the first time I'm excited to go to Mrs. Carmine's class. After not seeing Brad for a whole weekend, I think I'm starting to go boy crazy. He was on my mind all night and strangely I even had a dream about him. The human mind is a weird and confusing thing, how fast we can care and get attached to someone we barely know. My eyes are glued to the door.

Kal leans over and lays on my desk. "Waiting for Prince Charming? Kind of makes you seem psycho if you ask me."

"I'm not waiting for him," I counter, forcing myself to look at him to prove a point. "I'm just hoping he doesn't take a sick day."

Kal nods at the door as he sits back normally. "Well, here's your stud now."

My neck turns so fast it cracks. There he is. Brad. Our eyes meet and I can't stop the smile growing on my face. "Hi," I cheer just as Brad sits down. Was that too enthusiastic?

"Hi," Brad repeats, grinning. He reaches in his backpack and offers my pencil back. "Here you go. Hope there isn't too much interest."

"Not much." As I take my pencil back, our fingers touch for a moment, and I swear I feel a spark. No, that's crazy. I'm crazy. "You just owe me a conversation."

He smirks. "Oh, really? I can do that."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Kal roll his eyes. Mrs. Carmine goes straight into attendance and Brad faces forward. I elbow Kal with a grin and he shakes his head. "Today is going to be a simple day," She starts, shaking a stack of papers. "We're going to start reading Romeo and Juliet soon, but for now I want to see what you know about the play. For starters, can anyone name who wrote it?"

Jonah raises his hand. "Stephanie Meyer?" Everyone laughs, and I remember his sense of humor, the reason I fell in love with him in the first place.

"Very funny, Jonah." Mrs. Carmine rolls her eyes. "This is just a completion grade. I don't care what you write as long as you write something, something appropriate, I might add. Most of you need a free grade." She starts passing the papers out. "I have some tests to grade. I don't care if you partner up in two or groups or talk to your friends. Just keep the talking to a minimum."

Brad turns around after Mrs. Carmine passes our row. "So, Romeo and Juliet. A pretty romantic play, right?"

"Yeah—"

"No, it's not," Kal interrupts, and I turn to glare at him. "Romeo and Juliet killed themselves. What's romantic about that?" I kick his leg and he looks at me. "What? There's nothing romantic about suicide."

He nods. "I agree with you on that, but you have to admit the love they share with each other is crazy, beautiful thing."

Kal's now glaring at him. "Juliet was thirteen and Romeo was sixteen. The only 'crazy thing' about their relationship was their age difference and how everyone think it's acceptable."

"You must be fun at parties," Brad whispers.

"You look like you'd fall in love with your sister," Kal counters.

Shaking his head, he turns to me and holds out his hand. "I'm Brad, nice to meet you," He introduces, ignoring Kal's dumb comment. I'd be stupid to skip this opportunity. I shake his hand. Wow, his hand is warm. "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself last class."

"I'm Codi, and this is my best friend, Kal." I look over and he waves with a frown. "He's not a sourpuss all the time, I promise."

"Codi?" Brad repeats. "That's cute. With an 'i' or 'y'?"

"An 'i', but everyone spells it with a 'y'."

Kal sits forward. "And it's Kal was a 'k' in case you were wondering."

Brad forces a smile. "I wasn't."

Wow. I can sense the tension here. "Romeo and Juliet is actually my favorite Shakespeare play," I say, trying to move the conversation along. "Freshman year, I got to star as Juliet."

"Oh, you're a drama kid?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Was a drama kid," I correct. "Theater got boring, and I made the wrong friends. I realized my real passion was softball." His eyes widen and I laugh. "Yeah, I know. Way different from performing plays and making costumes, but I've played softball my whole life. It was just a hobby before, but I soon realized I loved it. It was my dad and I's favorite thing to do before he..." I cut myself off.

"Before what?"

"Umm, before he died," I whisper, staring down at the desk. "About a month ago."

Brad grabs my hand. "I'm sorry. I lost my mom when I was young, so I know how it feels. After a while it doesn't hurt as much, but the pain is always there."

I look back up at him. "Yeah, it's just... life." I clear my throat and wipe under my eye as a tear dare to sneaks out. "So, which movie version do you think we're going to watch? DiCaprio or Steinfeld?" Anything to change the subject.

"DiCaprio, obviously," Kal scoffs knowingly. "Mrs. Carmine is practically in love with him."

"Really?" Brad asks, skeptical.

"Totally," I agree with a nod. "You should have seen her when Leo finally won an Oscar. Free A's for a whole semester."

"Wow, my mom was the exact same way," Brad laughs. "She's got a thing for 90's heartthrobs."

"Who doesn't?" Kal and I ask at the same time, sharing a fist bump.

I start counting off my fingers. "Matt LeBlanc. Johnny Depp. John Stamos. Umm, Alicia Silverstone! Sarah Michelle Gellar. Luke Perry—"

"Rest in peace," Kal cuts in. "Winona Ryder. Jennifer Aniston. Keanu Reeves. Patrick Swayze. Henry Cavill. Paul Rudd—"

"Oh!" I interrupt, almost shouting as I slap Kal's arm. "We can't forget about Brendan Fraser!"

His eyes widen. "Yes! Brendan Fraser, the most heartthrob of them all."

"Should I give you two a moment?" Brad jokes.

"I will not be ashamed for having a crush on Brendan Fraser," I tell Brad as I wave my pencil at him. The longer he stares at me, the more I want to grab his face and kiss him. Something is definitely wrong with me. I can't help it, though. Those gorgeous hazel eyes are an endless maze and I'm lost. How long have I been staring? Is it weird now? I should probably say something. "Besides, have you seen The Mummy? You'd be an idiot not to have a crush on him."

"Well, then call my stupid because I've never seen the movie," Brad admits. Kal and I stare at him in disbelief, our jaws drop. "What?"

"Movies," Kal corrects. "And I can't believe you haven't seen them. Don't your parents care about you? Were you raised without a TV?"

"I was raised just fine, thank you."

Kal almost looks disgusted. "Just fine?"

"You know what? We're going to watch it." I gesture the pencil back and forth between us. "You're going to watch all of The Mummy movies and I'll be damned if you don't have a crush on Brendan Fraser when we're done."

Brad leans in with a smirk. "Looking forward to it."