The next day at school, Alexandra informed him during math that she was going to be a little late for lunch but that he should still expect her before the period ended. Jess appreciated her letting him know ahead of time because it almost made him feel like they were friends but he knew not to get too attached to his next door neighbor until they got to know each other a little better.

If he became too invested, he ran the risk of ending up alone if Alexandra found more interesting people to hang out with. The school wasn't that big but for a new kid like Alexandra, her options for companionship were practically endless.

Even if that happened, he still had the guys on his track team to hang out with but he liked spending time with Alexandra at lunchtime, seeing as he already spent every day after school training with his team.

Still, it was a nagging fear in the back of his mind but if that happened, Jess would learn to endure the school year sitting with the track team.

His doubts were quickly put to rest when Alexandra came by his table fifteen minutes before fifth period lunch was supposed to end with a giant grin on her face that was capable of easily lighting up the entire room.

"You look happy."

"I am very happy," Alexandra laughed triumphantly. "The counselor agreed to transfer me into Web Development!"

"So you're no longer in Art Studio?"

"Nope! I managed to convince her and Mr. Roberts that I belonged in that class by showing them my skills and he agreed to add me to the class even though it was full!"

"Congratulations," Jess grinned.

It was a good thing that she had made it into Web Development, because the second week of school was upon them starting Monday and Jess didn't want Alexandra to fall behind in her studies; he was quite relieved that she had joined a class she genuinely liked just in time to settle in. He was confident that she was going to be one of the best students in the class, so any catching up on her part wouldn't be too much of a hassle.

That, and the allure of being back in school was quickly fading and would be entirely gone after Homecoming Week passed.

Jess would miss her in Art Studio but couldn't bring himself to ask her to be miserable for him, not when her talents lay elsewhere and it was better for Alexandra to flourish, even if it was just for one class period a day. He comforted himself by remembering that they would still get to see each other in math, English IV, and at lunch.

They were next door neighbors, too, which was an added bonus that not everyone got to enjoy, no matter how close they were to their friends.

Even though he was still getting to know her, Jess already considered Alexandra his friend.

"As you saw in the syllabus, our first unit of the school year is poetry!" Ms. Steinberg chirped when class started. "Please turn your attention to the sheet I handed out,"

"You are allowed to choose a contemporary poet who published something recently or a poet who has been dead for a very long time but whatever you decide to do a presentation on, you must send me a link or show me your example of your poem before you use it."

Great, Jess thought. It sounded like a lot of extra work for a subject he wasn't even all that interested in.

"If you don't get my approval, you'll fail that portion of the assignment because I need to assess for quality, understand? Oh, and the sooner you show me the poem you've chosen, the sooner I can approve you because everyone is expected to bring something new and interesting to share."

She paused for a moment to catch her breath and then said,

"Is everyone following along so far? If so, give me a thumbs-up."

Everyone raised their hands and gave her a thumbs-up, though Jess was sure that there were more than a few kids in the class who weren't paying attention at all. He was, but he wasn't looking forward to the project.

"You're my only senior class so I am giving you a little more freedom to choose your own poems… with some restrictions, of course."

"When is the project due?"

"I'm glad you asked, Madison! How does this Friday sound? Oh, come on, it's a five-minute report!" Ms. Steinberg complained when the class groaned collectively.

"We need a few more days!" Wanda Kay Moore called out.

"Okay, then how about we start presentations on Monday? That way, you have the weekend to prepare?"

To this, everyone agreed.

"Any ideas for your project?" Jess asked Alexandra after class.

"I'm not sure yet," she admitted. "I'll have to go home and do some digging. What about you?"

"I'm gonna go to the library after school tomorrow," Jess answered. He could only hope that all of the good topics wouldn't get claimed but his luck would come down to how soon he managed to hop onto a computer in the library.

He didn't have time today since his father was working overtime at the hardware store and needed him to pick up the slack at home.

The amount of chores he had to do was the same that it had always been since his middle school years - milking Miss Bessie multiple times a day, misting the vegetables in the greenhouse, picking the beans, and taking out the garbage - but he got a break from chores on the weekends because he worked shifts at the hardware store on weekends, which was when the chores were mostly relegated to May Belle.

Saturday and Sunday mornings and part of the afternoon were dedicated to his job while school and sports were the focus during the week, which meant Jess was incredibly busy all week long.

Thus, he could only hope he'd find something good for his presentation tomorrow.

Jess heard a knock on the door after he came back into the house from milking Miss Bessie and saw none other than Alexandra standing on the front porch with something metallic and rectangular cradled in her arms.

"Hey," Jess greeted.

"Hey!" Alexandra chirped. "So I was unpacking and I found this old laptop I don't use anymore. Would you like to have it?"

"A-are you sure?" Jess was taken aback by her sudden show of generosity and didn't really know what to say.

"Yeah, I'm positive! Dad bought me a new laptop before we moved here and I don't use that one anymore."

"How does it run?"

"It still runs really good and I rebooted it so it's pretty much good as new. Sixteen gigs of RAM should treat you pretty well and I've set it up so you can use our Wi-Fi."

Jess wasn't exactly sure how much was sixteen "gigs" of RAM but he trusted Alexandra and thanked her.

"Yeah, no problem," she beamed. "Oh, and if you ever need to print anything, just stop by my house whenever."

"Hey, thanks. I really appreciate it."

"Sure thing. See you around. Jess!"

"Yeah, see ya," Jess said as he watched Alexandra spin on her heel and return to her parents' farm with a skip to her step and then went back inside into his own house.

Even though he had to sit right in the corner of his room to enjoy a steady albeit sometimes sluggish Wi-Fi connection, Jess appreciated the computer, which was brand new in his mind and had eased a lot of the stress he previously felt about doing schoolwork.

Gone were the days that he would have to stay after school to get his homework done on one of five available computers in the library. Now, he could just sit himself in the corner of his bedroom and work in the comfort of his own home without having to rush to the library after eighth period to be the first one to grab a computer for an essay or research.

He ended up rearranging his room so that his bed was a little closer to the door and his desk was pushed into the corner, which allowed him to sit comfortably while he worked on his homework. It beat the library a million times over and he felt like he had been given the greatest gift: the ability to get schoolwork done without having to plan out his time to the last minute to ensure he got home in time to do all his chores.

One nice thing about being the oldest kid in the house was that he had his own room now, especially since Brenda and Ellie had moved out after getting married a few years ago. It meant he didn't have to cater to anyone's whims or worry about what his family might think about his spontaneous decision to rearrange his bedroom.

"What did you do to your room?" May Belle asked as she walked in a few hours later.

"I redecorated," Jess snarked. That was, in a nutshell, what he'd done.

"Hey, where did you get that?" She was referring to the laptop.

"Alexandra gave it to me."

"The new girl?" May Belle gasped, pretending to be scandalized. Jess rolled his eyes. "Do you like her? Does she like you?"

"What? No!" Jess insisted. "I don't even know her that well."

"You like her."

"No, May Belle, I don't. Not how you're implying."

"Yeah, sure," his sister scoffed, clearly unconvinced. She left him alone after that, spinning on her heel as she exited the room and left Jess sitting in peace and quiet.

I might as well get started on this project, he thought with newfound determination. The sooner he got it done, the better and thanks to Alexandra, finishing it at his leisure wasn't going to be a pipe dream.

He wasn't sure how he could repay her for her kindness but hoped that he would find a way one day.

At lunch the next day, Jess and Alexandra had seated themselves at their usual table in the cafeteria with lunch and had found themselves on the topic of their first project for English class.

Alexandra had brought food from home as per usual and today's meal consisted of a homemade chicken Caesar salad; Jess sometimes brought lunch from home but also ate in school on certain days. Today, he had brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from home.

He found that the food in high school was better than the slop he remembered being served in middle and elementary school and on days when they served pizza, he always grabbed a slice because he was the type to never turn down pizza. The pizza that the school served was actually pretty decent, hence why he kept coming back every time.

"So what poem did you choose for your project?"

"I'm not gonna tell you!" Alexandra pouted.

"Why not?"

"Because I want it to be a surprise! And you're not allowed to be bored during my presentation!"

"Okay, okay, I won't be bored!" Jess promised.

When Alexandra turned the question back on him, Jess had to admit that he was nowhere near done with his project and hadn't even chosen a poem yet.

"Why's that?"

"I'm stuck between two poems."

"Pick the better one, then!"

"Yeah, that's helpful," Jess drawled sarcastically. The end of their first week of school was approaching quickly and he wasn't going to have a lot of time to work on his project this weekend, which was why he needed to get it done before he went to work on Saturday.

The presentation wasn't very long, fortunately, but Jess was having an unbelievably hard part time choosing a poem and he was running out of time. Ms. Steinberg was expecting everyone to have their poems decided by Friday.

"You've got two days," Alexandra remarked. "Pick the poem you like more and show it to Ms. Steinberg today so you can get started on your project, before someone else does."

"There's no way anybody is going to pick either of the poems," Jess scoffed.

"You'd be surprised."

"No way."

"It'll happen even if you don't expect it."

"I doubt it."

Jess waited until after they were dismissed from eighth period English before he went to Ms. Steinberg and told her which poems he wanted to present, fingers crossed that his first choice was available and felt his heart sink in disappointment when that turned out to not be the case.

"Ah, Madison already claimed 'i carry your heart with me' but you can present the Robert Frost poem! Nobody has taken that one yet."

"I'll take that one," Jess agreed.

"Great," Ms. Steinberg smiled as she grabbed her notebook and wrote down the poem he was going to present. "I can't wait to see your presentation."

Jess thanked his teacher before walking out of the classroom and into the hallway where Alexandra was waiting for him.

"What did I tell you?" Alexandra said smugly she said when he informed her what had happened.

"You told me," Jess sighed, defeated.

There was nothing he could do now except do his best and prepare to give the best presentation he possibly could.