Friday, August 28th
Marisa's POV
Thank god, it's Friday. The weekend can't come soon enough.
First thing in the morning, I run into James who ever so charmingly leans against the locker, smiles, holds eye contact with me and says "Hey, how was your night?" And a hoard of butterflies are released into my stomach, but can you blame me? and That accent tho "Pretty good, how was practice?" I say bashfully. "Good, I missed being on the field. Your dad's a great coach by the way." He says. "Thanks, you'll probably be seeing more of him than I will." I say begrudgingly.
He's about to ask what I mean, when I cut him off because I notice the stares and whispers of our classmates and say dejectedly "Look, I know you're just being nice, and I appreciate it but if you want to be popular here, you should not be seen talking to me" and with that I walk to homeroom.
When James's gets to our homeroom, he walks past me and whispers "Try Me." Which leaves me a bit flustered.
All day I try to dodge James' questioning stares and glances until it catches up to me in communications class. When out of no where, Mrs.R and Mr.M announce a partner project that will last till November where the partners are randomly assigned.
The project is to get to know our partner who will be someone we are not close to or know well. There will be prompts to help us break the ice; we will have to learn about their family, their heritage, their likes/dislikes, traditions, pet peeves, routines and anything else that comes to mind. In November, we will have to give a presentation about our partner.
Megan is paired with Dawson. And as fate would have it, I'm paired up with the one and only, James Kingsley, who is staring at me with that blinding white smile. I awkwardly smile back.
Our teachers give us the rest of class to exchange info with our partners and work on a schedule of when we wanna work on it since they will not give us class time to work on it.
We pair off. I say "So I guess we're partners" "Yupp, I'm looking forward to it; we should exchange numbers" he says smiling making me turn my head to hide my blush.
We switch phones and add each other's numbers. I notice when I get my phone back there's this emoji next to his name 😋. I laugh and ask "Really?" He says "of course! Emojis are fun; so as for our schedule, I have soccer practice everyday till 5ish expect Friday's, but what days work best for you?" I say " Tuesdays and Thursday's are the days I'm the most free." He says "Tuesday's and Thursday's at 6pm it is then" I'm saved by the bell, now time for pre-calc.
During study hall, my phone buzzes, it's my mom informing me that we are having company over tonight for dinner around 6. I love that she doesn't tell me who dinner is with. That's when my best friends finally show up, Adam, Joey, and Megan.
Megan says "So how about that communications project and that flirty partner of yours?" I groan and drop my head into my hands. Adam says "Marisa, what's she talking about?" "So there's this project where we have to get to know everything about our partners and make a presentation in November, and the new guy, James is my partner, and Dawson is Megan's partner." I say hopefully throwing Megan under the bus like she did me.
Revenge is sweet. She starts blushing which is a dead giveaway that she's caught some feelings for the younger Kingsley brother.
~Skip rest of the school day~
After my run, I straighten up the house and get ready for the cookout with our mystery guests. My brother and parents walk through the door with food, thank god, I'm starving!
Next thing I know, the doorbell rings and it's the Kingsley's on the other side of the door. I lock eyes with a smiling James and I smile back a little shocked.
The families make small talk all throughout dinner till my parents ask the kids how school is going. James answers "Great, I really do think I'm gonna like it here" My dad says "That's good, what's your favorite class so far?" Dad asks. James says while looking at me "Communications for sure, we got this super interesting project in which we have to get to know everything about our partner and be able to communicate it to the class effectively" My mom says "oh fun, Who's your partner?" James says "Dawson's partner is Megan, and my partner is Marisa, actually" Mom asks "Now dear, why didn't you say anything about this?" I answer "It was just assigned you us today" Mom says "So we'll be seeing a lot of you, huh James?" He says "Oh definitely"
After dinner, the boys talk soccer, the parent's talk work and kids; and I hang with with Ally and Lucy.
John's POV
I notice while Dawson, James and I are playing FIFA that James keeps asking questions about my sister.
When Dawson goes to the bathroom, I turn to James and say "dude, if you like my sister, just say it" He looks flustered and shocked with his mouth agape. I say "I'll take that as a yes then; my advice to you is you're going to need to be patient, very very patient; she's been through a lot recently and she's a tough nut to crack, but she's worth it in the end, trust me, I know her." I stop talking just in time for Dawson to come back in the room.
James' POV
I can't believe John saw straight through me like that. Am I that obvious? I've known this girl for not even 2 days and she's all I think about.
I run upstairs to get something to drink; I run into the girl that is running through my mind all the time.
I say "Hey, what did you mean earlier in the hall?" She shifts uncomfortably and says "You've probably seen the stares, whispers and heard the rumors by now, so that's why; I'm trying to spare you the hardships that go along with being in my life" I move closer to her into her personal bubble and say "What makes you think I believe them, especially since there are two sides to every story and I wanna hear yours because I don't see what they see. I wanna be in your life, and I'm thankful for this project because it gives me the opportunity to do that, but I hope you'll let me in regardless of the project." I tuck a piece of her hair that fell in front of her face behind her ear, I gently caress her cheek, her breathe hitches and she says breathlessly "you may be waiting for a long time" I say whisper "Try me" and with that I turn and walk away satisfied.
Marisa's POV
Ally, Lucy and I are getting along great; we end up watching Lilo and Stitch. My encounter with James left me flustered, and a bit turned on if I'm honest.
Next thing, I know it's time for them to leave. We all say goodbye and Ally says "We should do this more often" James winks at me as he walks out the door. I blush uncontrollably and think what have I gotten myself into.
