Staying Afloat

Chapter 10

I walked into history class on Monday morning and pulled out my laptop to review our presentation.

"So, what color tie do I need to get?" Payton asked. I was so focused on the presentation that I didn't even notice him sit down next to me.

"Lavender. But let's talk about that after we get an A on this presentation." I smirked.

"Sounds good to me." We were up third, and we crushed our presentation. There's no way we wouldn't get 100%.

At lunch, the girls and I decided that it made the most sense for Payton and I to go separate from the group since nobody else had dates. Payton's friends either weren't going or had their own groups already, so it was just going to be the two of us. I was nervous but also really excited!

I sat down on the edge of the room like always for fifth hour. Caleb was gone last Thursday and Friday because he was out of town, so I was excited to see him.

"How was Seattle?" I asked him as he walked in the room. His cousin had gotten married last weekend so his family had driven up from Oregon for the wedding.

"It was so cool, we got to see the space needle and everything! You'd really like it there!"

"Yeah, I can't believe it's only like 4 hours away and I haven't been since I was 2! I don't even remember any of it!" I giggled

"Well, if you ever get a chance to go, it's really pretty!"

"Noted." He grabbed his books out of his backpack and settled in.

"Did I miss anything in this class?"

"Caleb, have we done anything at all this semester?"

"No."

"Well there's your answer." I chuckled and he rolled his eyes at me. The rest of class was boring because we literally do NOTHING in biology EVER.

"Okay, well did anything exciting happen to you this weekend?" Caleb asked me as we walked to the music suite.

"Actually, yes." I smiled and blushed. "Do you know Payton Bishop?"

"He's on the football team, right?"

"Yeah, well he asked me to homecoming! I'm so excited!"

"Oh... That's cool." Caleb's face fell and he turned his face away from mine.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, a little concerned. Usually he was so cheerful.

"No, everything's fine." He said, sounding almost agitated.

"C'mon, you can tell me anything!"

"Fine, I was going to ask you to homecoming today!" He said angrily. Crap.

"Oh. I-I'm sorry..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say or do.

"No it's fine, but I just want to be alone." He walked off from me and it was an extremely lonely free period without him.

———

Finally, it was Friday! Caleb hasn't talked to me at all this week, I don't know why he's so mad, it's not like I knew he was going to ask me. But today is game day!