ƈʀօȶƈɦɛȶʏ, ռɛա, ʟօʋǟɮʟɛ • ɮɨʟʟɨɛ ɛɨʟɨֆɦ

•22•

"That was absolutely incredible. You combined your ideas together and did an excellent job in being partners. I think I was right about this project after all, wasn't I?", miss Jerome looks at me with a proud smile on her face.

I blush furiously, but I feel a hand grabbing mine reassuringly.
I turn around and smile at my partner, who is as satisfied as me, since our assignment was a complete success.

"Thank you miss Jerome.", I take the papers back and return to my seat quickly because the other students are starting to whisper to each other suspiciously. Billie follows right after and sits back on her seat too.
Many heads are turned to our direction and some of them have disgusted expressions on their faces.

What did we do wrong?
What if the hand holding was too much?

No...no.
I promised myself I'd stop thinking about what everyone else thinks and focus on what I really want to do.

When the class is over, we head out and walk across the school hallway.
I expected everyone to stare and whisper just like before, but turns out I wasn't ready to face something like that at all.
Being in a class with approximately 23 people is different from walking through the hallway where everyone can stare and judge you.

"Are you okay?", Billie asks silently beside me.

"Yeah, I just need to get out of here.", my voice is shaky, but at least I haven't freaked out yet.

She nods and starts walking faster, signaling me to follow her, to which I gladly obey.

When we're finally alone in a quiet place behind the school, I take a deep breath to calm myself down.

"We did great.", I manage a small smile.

"You're really affected by all those stares aren't you?", she sighs.

"Yeah, I am. But you know what? It doesn't matter, because I'll get used to people judging me for my choices. This is just high school. Life out of it is going to be even harder.", I mumble.

She looks unconvinced, but I am actually proud of myself for thinking like that.

"Well, we got a good grade.", she reminds me, finally putting a smile on her face.

I chuckle and shake my head in amusement. "That doesn't really matter anymore."

"It doesn't?", she wonders, genuinely surprised.

"I mean, I'm young, If the only thing that matters to me is school, when am I going to live my life?", I shrug.

"Oh my god, what have I done to you?", she laughs, shaking her head in disbelief.

I laugh along with her, because she isn't wrong. She's actually affected me in a few ways, I can say I like this version of myself better though.

"You kind of opened my eyes. Thank you.", I smile wide.

"My pleasure.", she responds, still in a state of shock and laughter at the same time.

She's wearing a wide white sweater today and her blue eyes are very noticeable because of its color.

"Your eyes are blue.", I state, but it sounds more like a question.

"Why?", she asks, her smile flattering.

Huh?

"What do you mean why? It's just the color of your eyes.", I point to her face.

"Oh, you were just actually talking about the color. Sometimes I forget not everyone talks like me.", she giggles adorably. "I thought my eyes looked sad."

"Oh, blue is sad. Right.", I realize.

"More like melancholic. I think I like this feeling."

"Are we talking about the color or the feeling right now?", I grin at her cute expression.

"It's really the same thing to me."

Right.

She gives me a smile and then turns her attention to the students getting ready to ride their motorbikes.
Her skin looks so soft and perfect. Her lips so full and attractive. I wonder how I hadn't noticed how beautiful she is before.

This is getting out of hand...

"What should I do if I hypothetically liked someone?", I blurt out without thinking.

What the hell am I doing?

She turns to me again, a surprised smile on her face. "You have feelings for someone?"

"I am trying to be hypothetical here."

"You're not exactly succeeding.", she raises her eyebrows.

"I am not even sure I like them anyway. I am just saying I might have some feelings.", I defend my stupid self.

Great. Save it now Jade.

"Okay. Well, first you need to figure out what you feel about this person. You don't want to hurt them do you?"

Of course not...

"How am I supposed to do that?"