Chapter 12

Seth and Mahea walked up the stairs from the drama room and stopped in front of the auditorium.

"So, where do you wanna take your pictures?" Mahea asked Seth.

Seth took his camera out of the carry-case he had in his bag. "Um, we could start here." He said, and led Mahea into the auditorium. They both took their bags off and put them behind the last row of seats. "Uh, just, do whatever, I guess." He said, not sure what to have Mahea do. "I'll just follow you and take some pictures." He said.

"Okay." Mahea nodded and began walking down the isle.

She sat in a seat near the front of the auditorium and put her feet up on the seat in front of her. Seth moved around her and took some pictures. Sam then took her feet down and leaned forward, resting her hands on the seat in front. Seth stood right in front of Mahea and took a picture. Mahea walked around and walked onto the stage. She made poses, funny faces, making them both laugh. She pretended to dance across the floor, doing pirouettes, jetés, and battements.

Seth smiled. "Where'd you learn to do that?" He asked as Mahea danced across the floor.

"I've been dancing since I was eight." She told him. Seth nodded and continued taking pictures of her.

After they left the auditorium, they wandered around the school campus. Mahea sat on benches outside of the building, slid down railings, skipped across the field, ran up and down the bleachers, sat on staircases, and occasionally just looked up to the sky, looking deep in thought.

"Wow, we used three different rolls." Seth said, looking at his camera.

Mahea smiled. "Cool." She said. "I had fun, who knew running around school aimlessly could be fun?" She chuckled.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Seth asked.

"Oh you don't have to." Mahea replied.

Seth smiled. "But I want to." He said, and they started walking towards Mahea's house.

On their way to her house, they talked about their parts in Hey, Teach! Seth was still surprised he got the part of the jock, but if Shane thought he'd do a good job at it, then he was okay with it. Mahea and Seth agreed to meet at Tony's the next morning along with Reggie, Dylan and Clarissa to go over the script.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Mahea said once she reached her door.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Seth replied, smiling.

Mahea opened her door and walked inside. "Bye." She said, and closed the door behind her.

Seth got home just in time for dinner. He quickly ran up to his room to throw his bag down on his bed, and went back downstairs and into the kitchen. Lulu and Peter were finishing setting up the table, and Julie getting Tyler settled in his seat.

A few minutes into dinner, Zoe came walking in. "Sorry guys." She said, and took her seat. "I was talking to Hailey and Faith." She said.

Julie looked at Zoe. "For more than three hours?" She asked.

Zoe shrugged. "So I lost track of time. Sorry." She replied.

"Well? What was so important you spent hours talking to them?" Julie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Zoe fidgeted in her seat. "Oh, nothing you'd want to know about." She said, looking at her mom, seeing a stern face. "Uh, well, you know…" She smiled.

Lulu giggled. "She was talking about boys." She smiled.

"Oh! Zoe!" Julie exclaimed.

"What?" Zoe said. "It's not like it's some kind of crime." She said, sounding offended. Hoping to change the subject, she looked to Lulu. "So, how was your day?"

Lulu looked at Zoe and her mom, wondering if it was okay to answer, and Julie nodded, dismissing Zoe's tardiness and irresponsibility. "Um, it was okay." She said. "Tomorrow I have to go to school to work on our first dance of the year." Lulu said happily, her eyes beaming. "I'm hoping I do okay."

"Oh you'll do fine honey!" Julie smiled.

Seth nodded. "Yeah, I mean what's so hard about throwing around some streamers and balloons around the gym?" He chuckled.

"It's harder than that. It's not like you've ever been to one." Zoe scoffed. "I helped out Hailey a couple of times, and it takes a lot of time to get all the plans ready for a school dance." She said, confident in what she was talking about.

"I have too been to one." Seth told her. "I didn't stay for the whole time, it was getting boring."

"Well, you better stay for the dances this year, I mean, especially if Mahea goes to them." She smirked.

Julie looked at Zoe, giving her a look that meant to stop teasing Seth. "What about you Seth? You said Shane was going to give you guys this years production."

Seth nodded. "Yeah, this year we're doing a play called Hey, Teach!."

Peter scrunched his face up. "What's that about?" He asked.

"Shane told us it's about this new teacher who has to deal with all these students, then sides with them when they fight against the school to have better lunches." He explained. "I read through my part, it's okay."

Julie smiled. "Oh, what part do you have?" She asked excitedly.

"Well, my character's name is Jock Harden." Seth said.

Zoe almost spit out her water. "Jock? You're playing a guy named Jock?" She asked, starting to laugh.

Seth glared at his sister. "Yes, my name's Jock. And I happen to be one, he's supposed to be a basketball star." He explained.

Julie nodded. "Well, you are athletic, you used to do sports. Wrestling, and track and baseball before that…" She said.

"I guess. Well, that's all I read about my part." Seth said. "I'm gonna go down to Tony's tomorrow to meet the guys, so we can go over the script." He told his mom.

"Okay." Julie said. "I can take you down after I drop Lulu off."

"Bye Lulu!" Julie called from the car. "I'll pick you up in at three!" Seth waved goodbye as Lulu returned the wave, then walked into the school building.

"So, you excited about the play?" Julie asked Seth.

Seth nodded. "Mmhmm. It should be fun. It's filled with comedy." He said, smiling. "I think it'll be great."

"I'll walk home." Seth said, stepping out of the van. He already saw Mahea, Reggie and Clarissa sitting inside of Tony's.

"Are you sure?" Julie asked.

Seth nodded. "I'm sure. Bye mom." He said, and turned around to walk inside.

A few minutes after Seth arrived, Dylan showed up, and they all ordered drinks around the table. They read through the play once, all of them taking characters to read for. Once they read through the play, they ordered some pizza for lunch, since it took them a while to read it with all the laughing that went on.

"So, even though I don't have the lead or anything," Reggie said in between eating his pizza. "I think it'll be a good show." He joked.

Mahea laughed. "Yeah Reggie, we don't know what Shane was thinking! Not giving you the lead!"

Clarissa nodded. "I don't know what Shane was thinking, not making you the lead!" She teased as everyone joined in with the laughter.

"Haha, very funny." Reggie said, but ended up laughing as well.

They finished up their lunch, and talked a little more about the play. Clarissa, Reggie and Dylan left together, they were going to go to the movies. Seth had asked Mahea when he got to Tony's if she was willing to go to the park to take more pictures, and she agreed.

"Bye guys." Mahea waved to Reggie, Dylan and Clarissa when they walked out of Tony's. She turned to Seth. "So, which park are we going to? I haven't really been to any since I got here." She said.

Seth smiled. "I'm not sure yet. I guess we'll know when we get there." They headed off to find the nearest park, and hopefully Seth would catch some good shots of Mahea.

Meanwhile, Lulu was making good progress with her student council meeting. She thought it'd be really hard to get everyone to work and to come up with ideas, but she realized what a good council she had.

"Okay guys, I think we can finish all this today, and maybe do some at our weekly meeting." Lulu said as her classmates worked diligently.

Some students were busy calling for DJ's and a live band to play at the dance. Others were working on pricing decorations, making a list of teachers who could chaperone and other details for the dance that needed planning.

"I think it's going pretty well." Lulu heard someone say something behind her. She turned around and saw her classmate, Danny.

"Thanks." She replied. Lulu had only noticed now that Danny had nice green eyes that seemed to go well with his light brown hair.

"I'm glad you made it as President." He told her. "It would've been worse if Clark won. I like having you as President." He smiled.

Lulu blushed, hoping he didn't notice. "Thanks Danny." She said. They stood there, smiling at each other for a few seconds until Lulu's friend, Lacie walked up to them.

"Hey guys!" She said loudly, making them look at her. "What's up?" She smiled.

Danny smiled. "Nothing much. I better get back to my work." He said, then smiled at Lulu and walked away.

Lacie grinned at Lulu who was watching Danny walk away. "So, what was that all about?"

"What?" Lulu asked. "We were just talking." She replied.

"Mmhmm." Lacie said skeptically. "He was just complimenting you, nothing special about it?"

Lulu tilted her head to the side and thought about it. "Well, I guess Danny's kinda cool. He's cute too." She smiled. Lacie and Lulu turned to Danny, who was looking at Lulu. He waved to her from his seat across the room, and Lulu gave him a small wave as well.

"I think a new relationship is in bloom." Lacie beamed at Lulu.

Lulu turned to Lacie. "You think?" She asked. Lacie smiled and chuckled softly.

"C'mon Juliet. We've still got a lot of work to do before you can run off with Romeo." She joked, putting her arm around Lulu's as they both walked off to their seats.

"How about that bench?" Seth suggested, pointing to an open bench under a tree.

"Okay." Mahea agreed and they both walked over to the bench. She took her small messenger bag off her shoulder and put it on the grass. "Click away." She smiled, and sat on the bench.

Seth chuckled. "Okay." He said, and took the lens off the camera, then adjusted it and focused in on Mahea.

"Oh wait!" Mahea suddenly gasped, making Seth lower his camera.

Mahea leaned over to her bag on the grass, opening up the zipper. Seth watched Mahea reach into her bag and pull out the grey beanie he let her keep. He watched her put the beanie on her head, the rim of it off-centered.

"There, now I'm ready." She smiled at him.

Seth smiled back, and began taking different shots of Mahea from several angles. They moved around the park, taking different shots of Mahea running on the grass, doing cartwheels, even one after she climbed up into a tree. Seth and Mahea wondered around the park, looking at the different families and people. Seth took shots of an elderly couple walking together holding hands. He also took several shots of children playing on the jungle gym, then took a few pictures of Mahea swinging on a swing set. Seth had Mahea lean up against a tree and took several pictures of her.

"Wow." He said to himself. He looked at Mahea and smiled. Her hair fell nicely under his beanie, the way the wind blew several strands of her hair to one side, and the shadows on her body from the sunlight shinning through the leaves made Seth's stomach do the Mexican hat dance. He stared at her, noticing how beautiful she looked at that moment.

Mahea noticed Seth looking at her. "What?" She asked, smiling.

"Nothing." Seth said softly, then he continued to take pictures of Mahea.

"I guess I'll see you on Monday." Danny said, walking with Lulu out into the parking lot.

Lulu nodded. "Yeah, I guess so." She replied.

They stood there for a few moments, not saying anything. "Oh, there's my mom." Lulu said, looking over her shoulder. "Bye." She smiled.

Danny returned her smile. "See ya." He said.

"Hi honey." Julie said as Lulu got in the car. "How was it?" She asked.

Lulu put on her seatbelt. "It was really good. We got a lot done."

Julie smiled. "That's great honey. Who was that boy you were talking to?" She questioned.

Lulu looked out her window and saw Danny walking towards a car that just pulled into the parking lot. "Oh, that's Danny. He's our council treasurer."

"Oh." Julie said, noticing Lulu stare at Danny.

Lulu turned to see her mom smiling at her. "What?" She asked.

"Nothing." Julie said quickly, still smiling.

"Mom!" Lulu exclaimed, making Julie laugh.

"I'll see you on Monday then." Mahea said as she walked up to her front door.

Seth nodded. "Yeah, I'll see you on Monday." He said. "Oh, and don't forget to study your lines." He reminded her.

"Of course not." She smiled. Mahea leaned into Seth, about to kiss him, when the rim of the beanie hit his head, making them both smile. "Oh." Mahea said, chuckling to herself, and pulled the rim to the back. They smiled at each other, then leaned into one another and kissed.

"Bye." Mahea smiled.

"Bye." Seth replied and Mahea went into his house.

Seth was stunned. They had kissed three times already, but they still weren't 'going out', as far as he knew. He thought about what he'd have to do to ask Mahea to be his girlfriend on his walk home. He figured she liked him just as much, so it wouldn't be as hard as it could be. He spent the rest of the night thinking about their day they spent together, and remembering that moment when he saw Mahea as completely beautiful.