I Was Right

Chapter 4 - The Project

A/N: Since I also get bored writing boring parts of the story (like chapter 3, which is why it was so lazily made) I'm just gonna write the actually needed parts, k? Which means this story will be a lot shorter but will also have faster updates, so yeah. read on.

----------

Science, one of my less boring class. That was because Mrs. White was one of those 'positive' people, the ones you always saw smiling. Don't get me wrong, she may be happy-go-lucky but if she has to, she can be the dreaded 'Dragon Lady'. But she was fun and she made Science fun, so yeah I like Science, sue me. Of course, the fact that Science is the main subject with lots of projects and me and Tom are partners have nothing to do with my like towards the subject. At all.

"As you all know, the School Science Fair is coming up and I want you all to donate some of your knowledge through an experiment. It can be anything you set your mind to. But it has to be related to Science since, well, Science fair. The greatest project will be awarded the Golden Ribbon. It is due next week, Friday. I'll let you discuss with your partner." Mrs. White said.

A scraping of chairs and hushed discussions.

"What should we make?" Tom asked next to me.

"Something simple." I replied. I didn't really care if I won or lost. I'm pretty sure Tom doesn't either, the only competitions he's serious in are swimming competitions.

"Alright. Any ideas?" Tom questioned.

"How do you feel about making cologne?" I replied to the question with a question of my own.

"hmmm. . .I feel that it's really girly and totally not something you'd do.-Ow! Don't hit me!"

"Psh. Wimp. And It's my mom's hobby. D'you agree or not?" I asked a bit irritated becuase did he not see me as a 'girl'? Granted I don't really do 'girly', but. . .still.

"Alright, fine. What do we need?"

"Some alcohol, flowers, an unused piece of cloth, a mortar & pestle, and a few containers. I can bring the alcohol, mortar & pestle and the containers."

He nods. "And I'll bring the flowers and cloth. Your place?"

"My place. Today, after school?"

"Might as well get it over with." We both nod in agreement.

I definately wasn't secretly excited, nope. Not even a little

----------

*Knock, Knock* I heard, less than 30 minutes after Tom went off to his house to pick up his things.

"Coming." I said swinging the door open, he let himself in. And wait a minute-"Did you forget the flo-" I was cut off by Tom doing a little bow and holding out the flowers in his hand, gardenias, and he flashed me that smile,"Flowers, for you." He said, though I barely registered it a bit distracted by all of this.

Then he started laughing, wheezing out between huffs of laughter,"A-are you blushing? I don't think I've ever seen you blush before and wow,"He finally seemed to settle down tears of mirth still in his eyes and still with that blasted smile, and I couldn't decide between kissing him or throttling him. I was just about to do the later of the two when he said almost in a whisper,"I kinda like it." And now my cheeks were definately warmer.

Then came my mother, and I don't know if I should be relieved or frustrated."Oh, Tom! It's been a while, Cory said the two of you have a project to do? Can I help?"

"Mom, we aren't little kids. We can handle it." I replied.

"But if we need anything you'll be the first one we ask." Tom said. I was gonna call him a kiss-up but I decided to cut him some slack, for now.

"Well, alright. You can work in the dining room." My mom said, appeased.

We both went to the dining room, setting our things on the table. I asked Tom to get a glass of water from the sink, then we started. First we plucked off the flower petals, which was a shame, and ground them with the mortar & pestle, adding water and a bit of alcohol in and mixing. Then we used the cloth to seperate the bits of flower petals and the slightly colored liquid then we poured it into the containers. It would be best to let it sit for a few days. And we were done.

"That was easy." said Tom.

"Yeah, but now we need to make the 'presentation board' thing." I replied.

"Oh, right. When should we start that?"

"This weekend maybe?" It was Thursday.

"Alright, I can bring the things we need for designing."

"And I can bring the Illustration Board. Your place this time?"

"Yeah, k. Mutual research?"

I nodded. And that was that. He stayed for dinner and after I saw him out the door.

"See you tomorrow, Tom."

"Yeah. Goodnight, Cory." He said.

Then he leaned in and ohmygosh, what is he doing?!

And then there was a slightly warm and wet sensation on my cheek, but it was gone as quick as it came. I stood there shocked as I watched Tom go. This evening sure had a lot of surprises. And with a quirk of my lips I thought,'Was he blushing?'

----------

A/N: Interesting thing about Gardenias, the flowers little Tommy gave to Cory, is "it actually says “You are lovely” and it is even a symbol of a secret love." And you might be asking yourself "Could this be relevent to the story?" And my answer would be "Read on and find out." ;)