Oh my gosh, you guys! I got a surprise for you! I'm finally uploading my next chapter! It's been 2 weeks and I've been neck deep with my studies. Midterms is next week and we just started our 6th week of classes. I'll be halfway to my credential in December. I can't believe it. Before I know it, I'lll be GRADUATING COLLEGE! It's scary that I'm "adulting."

I turned 21 a couple weeks ago (I'll be 21 and 2 weeks tomorrow) and I've already gotten invitations by my older-than-21 friends to go buy alcohol or go out to a bar. Now that I can legally drink, I declined, mainly because my birthday was on a Tuesday this year and I had an 8 am Psychology class the next day.

Enough about me. How about some Pal? The only thing that belongs to me is this story. Everything else goes to Disney Channel and John D Beck.


Chapter 3: We Got Chemistry

One week later, I found myself on an airplane to Bolivia with Parker next to me. Over the last week, we had become an official couple and packed for the incoming year in the BioDome. He came to my house almost every day to go out together for lunch or a walk. Sometimes, I would go over to his house, but it would be really quiet because there was only Ruby, Dena, and his mom, since Liv was in New York, Maddie was in New Orleans, and Joey was on tour. We would sit on the blue couch, my head resting on his shoulder and his arm wrapped around my body. In those moments, I felt safe and protected.

So much had happened this past year alone. I met Parker at the beginning of the school year and we quickly became science rivals, always trying to outdo each other, starting with the laser competition. It's not like I minded. In reality, I didn't really mind at all. I like having some competition because it gives me a better reason to do my best. The two of us developed a decent friendship and somewhere along the way, I developed certain feelings that I was unsure of. As time passed, those feelings became stronger every time we hung out, let alone saw each other. I later realized that these feelings weren't going to back down, as I was trying my best to deny them, I just couldn't so I accepted them instead. I found it harder and harder to convince myself that I didn't like him like that, even though my heart told me otherwise every time I saw him, every time he spoke, every time someone mentioned him, every time someone said his name, every time our eyes made contact and the world would just disappear. Eventually, I started to accept these feelings because I knew that they wouldn't go away, no matter how much I tried.

As the year went along, I've got a sneaky suspicion that he felt the same, but I wasn't exactly 100% sure. He found almost every excuse to talk to me or hang out with me. He always made sure that we were paired together for projects. He always sat next to me at lunch. With him, I felt like I could talk to him about everything. Then came the day when he asked to me to the ShaBoom Dance and I had this whole freak out whether he meant the dance or the Chemistry Challenge. Then there was when we were paired for this Chemistry project and the whole get-on-Maddie's-good-side thing happened. And then there was the time when we were locked in the Chemistry Lab one Saturday because his Mars Madness project combined with my Mars Madness project. Wow. All the things I can think of involve Chemistry. I guess you can say that Parker and I have really good Chemistry.

Going away to Bolivia for a whole school year really scared me. I've never been away from home for that long before nor had I've been outside the country before. Fortunately, I would have Parker with me, every step of the way. I suddenly felt a hand rest on top of mine and I was taken away from my thoughts to be drawn to Parker's brown eyes, full of concern. I gave him a small smile to let him know that I was fine. He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze just in case. I tried to put on a brave face but I could sense that Parker thought otherwise. "What are you thinking about?"

"Just this past year in general. So much happened." He nodded in understanding. He responded again by gently squeezing my hand.

"I know what you mean. If it wasn't for Joey and Liv, I wouldn't had realized my feelings for you. I would have to thank them one day." A small smile formed on my lips. He had told me about Liv, but this was the first time I heard about Joey.

"Joey? What do you mean?" I asked.

Parker licked his lips and thought about it for a few moments. "Well, it was the day when I asked you to ShaBoom Dance but I initially wanted us to be partners for the Chemistry Challenge," he explained. "Right after I asked you, he came up to me and told me. I wanted to clarify." I thought about it for a moment before opening my mouth.

"Was that why you kept avoiding me the couple days leading up to the dance?"

"That was part of it. The other part was I wasn't exactly sure of my feelings for you. I talked to Liv later that day and that was kind of how I realized how I felt about you." A smile formed on my face, remembering that conversation when we were working on that Chemistry project. That was the same week I met and befriended Maddie. That was such a crazy week. I urged Parker to continue. "Ever since, I was sure of my feelings for you but I wasn't entirely sure how you felt. Every time we spend together, every project we work on together, every time we talk, it makes me fall for you even more. Each day, was one step closer to getting to know you better and hopefully becoming an actual couple. I'm so glad you agreed to go out with me. I am even more glad when I found out you felt the same for me as I did for you. I'd never been so happy in my life."

I smiled into my lap, thinking that I've made him happy. The good thing was that he made me happy too. He's my first crush, my first boyfriend, and, hopefully, my first and only husband. I want us to get married, though we are both too young for that. I want us to have children and grow old together. I want us to have the fairytale ending that I've been dreaming about for the last year. I want us to live happily ever after, like in all the romantic movies Violet likes watching. I wanted to be swept off my feet by Prince Charming, while riding on his white horse to his magical castle in the sky. That didn't happen. I got something better. I got Parker Rooney, King of Mars.

A single tear escaped my eyes and was falling down my cheek, but Parker wiped it dry. "You have nothing to worry about. You'll have me every step of the way." Then he kissed my forehead. I laid my head on his shoulder as he laid his head on top of my head. I looked down at our hands, which were still resting on the armrest that divided my seat and his seat. I noticed has his right hand was on top of my left hand. I also noticed how he started lacing his fingers between mine and making circles with his thumb on my wrist. Just these small touches and moments we have together makes me feel like a crushing schoolgirl...and I was. I was crushing and eventually got the guy that I was crushing on.

I lifted my head from his shoulder so he lifted his head off my head. I looked at him and he looked at me. We smiled at each other and I leaned forward to kiss his cheek before retracting to lay my head on the back of my seat and closing my eyes.

I was woken up when I felt someone shake me. "Val? Wake up, baby." I slowly open and rub my eyes, letting out a soft groan in the process. Who dare destroys my slumber?

"What is it," I ask him, still not fully awake. Eventually, my vision clears to see a woman in a navy blue uniform, with her blonde hair tied back into a neat bun. She has a cart with cups on it.

"What would you like to drink, Miss?" She gestures to her cart. I turn my head to see that Parker already had a cup of clear liquid. He must had gotten either water or club soda. I look back up to see the woman still standing there.

"Do you have apple juice?" The woman nodded before taking one of the plastic cups from the stack and bending down for a container. She poured the golden-brown liquid into the clear cup then gently handing it to me so it won't spill. "Thank you." The woman smiled and nodded before moving down the aisle to offer drinks to the people behind me. I took a sip of my drink, surprised to feel that it was cold. I turned my head towards Parker again to see that he was on the verge of chuckling. "What?" Apparently, he couldn't hold it in any longer and a snicker escaped his lips. I waited until he was done to ask him again. "What's so funny?"

He shook his head. "I should have known." I scrunched my eyebrows.

"Known what?"

"That you were going to pick apple juice." I still didn't get it. Didn't other people like apple juice? What was so special about picking apple juice?

"I don't think I follow what you are trying to say."

Parker closed his eyes and took a breath. "Do you remember when I sort-of asked you to the ShaBoom Dance?" I smiled at the memory of that day. How could I forget? My crush asked me to the dance because he couldn't "think of a better pair." My heart swelled up at that moment. That was our first actual 'date.' I nodded, silently urging him to continue. He scratched his ear. "Well, I don't know if you remember or not but that day, you were holding 2 beakers and one of them was filled with apple juice." I didn't really remember that part but I wasn't going to let Parker know. Instead, I looked up and scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion.

"So that's the reason why you were laughing? Because I had apple juice in a beaker for a day last year?" I sighed and a smile started forming on my lips. "I love it when you remember these little things. It makes me feel so special that you remember."

"Well, why wouldn't I remember? You're my girlfriend, if I'm not mistaken." That made me laugh a little. His voice softened. "I always want to make you feel special because that is exactly what you are to me. Val, you have no idea how special you are to me." That made a single tear escape my eye and Parker wiped it dry with his thumb. "You are so special to me that we are going to do great things in Bolivia this next year and hopefully for the rest of our lives." Hearing this, my heart swelled up at the mention of our future. We definitely had a future together, I could count on that much.

I sat up straighter and closed my eyes. I took a breath, hoping to take the plunge. Our relationship was still new to us but that didn't stop me for saying the "L" word for the first time to him. Of course I loved him, I just didn't know how to tell him. I thought about the 8 lettered, 3 worded sentence and that made me back away last minute. I'll tell him eventually, just not now. Instead, I laid my head back on my seat, hoping to get some well deserved rest. I let the sounds of quiet chatter around me and the air conditioning on full blast lull me to sleep. Parker was also gently stroking the back of my hand with his thumb. I was asleep in no time.


I really enjoyed incorporating all the "Stand Up a Rooney" references. I also enjoyed how I wrote Parker as a knows-every-detail-on-his-crush kind of guy. It kind of makes me wonder if a guy who has a crush on me to know every little detail of me. That just makes it creepy yet adorable that people do that, but that's just my opinion.