And the ship sails on! A lot of romance in this one. Personally, I think the two of them are super cute, but I'm shamelessly biased. Also, I love writing the two of them bonding and helping each other, especially with me overcoming my own depression. I'm kind of surprised now how accurate I portrayed high school since I wrote this while being in middle school. Then again, I didn't describe high school that much, but oh well. I like to think I did well. There isn't really anything super-duper important plot-wise in this chapter, but it's got a lot of adorable emotions, which is really what this story is about. So...whatever.
Also, if I haven't said this before, I'll send a full copy of the poem "Smile" from the prologue to anyone who PMs me with a request. Thank LovelyInspiration for this idea!
Enjoy!
Chase Junior
"I can't believe we're graduating," Clara Dale said.
"Yeah, I wish I could stay a sophomore forever," I replied.
"Have you gotten your schedule for next year yet?"
"Yeah, there are too many classes to decide from. I wish I could pick them all," I complained.
"Can I see it?" I handed it her. "Okay…let's see… Oh! We could have all the same classes together! We could have geometry and health class and history and English and chemistry. Wouldn't that be great?" She sounded so excited. If it wasn't her, I would have half-expected her to start jumping up and down.
"Um…I mean, would that really be the best idea?" I asked, shifting in my seat uncomfortably. We were on the bench on the roof of my house. "Don't you think that the less time we spend, the more special our time together will be?" I was a horrible liar.
"What are you really thinking, Chase?" It was annoying sometimes how she could read my mind.
"I…I don't know. I just…it's so weird. I've never had anyone actually want to be in my class. I've never had a real friend before, and I guess…I don't know. Maybe I just feel like everything's going so fast around me. I just can't keep up." I let out a nervous laugh. That wasn't really why I didn't want to be with Clara every minute of the school day, though it was part of it.
I don't know why, but as soon as I heard the word "chemistry," I started freaking out inside. It was irrational and extremely cheesy, but it felt like things really were going a little too fast for me. I had always loved our friendship, but sometimes my bionic brain betrayed me and started thinking of weird things like how her laugh made the birds sound like screeching cats or how her eyes looked like black abysses that were trying to pull me in. People often mistook us as boyfriend and girlfriend when we hung out, but we would always shake it off. Now though, I was starting to wonder if I was actually falling for her.
I didn't really want a relationship though. First of all, it could ruin our friendship. Second, I was fine with just helping each other as friends. And third, I had no clue whatsoever what Clara would think of anything even vaguely related to the idea. So, for now, friendship was fine. Friendship was good. And she seemed to get the message as well.
She gave me one of those "I know you're lying, but I'll go along with it because I know that it's probably for a good reason" look. "Hey, I get it," she said. "If you think this is going too fast, just tell me. I know where the brake is."
I smiled with relief. "Thank you for understanding. You're the best." I had the strangest urge to hug her, but I stifled it. "I think we should have some classes together, just not all of them. Just in case."
She raised an eyebrow. "Just in case what?"
I shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe we get in a fight or something and don't want to see each other all day long."
She just shook her head, not believing a word I said but trusting me to know what I doing. "Whatever you say, Chase."
Graduation wasn't anything big or fancy. That was for the seniors. But for me, it was just as special.
The release bell rang, the last one I would hear as a sophomore. People got up from their seats quick as lightning. School was finally over.
I walked out of English class and spotted Clara, who was clutching her red and black notebook and looking around for someone. She finally saw me and ran over. Then, she flung her arms around me.
I was surprised for half-a-second, technically not long enough for the normal human brain to process the hesitation. But after that half-second, I hugged her back, trying to freeze this moment. I wish I never had to let go.
HawaiianChick12: Oh. That's not good. But at least you can still do some things. Yeah, she's pretty cool in my opinion. That's...pretty disturbing. But true! He could do so much more than what the show has him do, but I guess that's because he's not evil and all. But if he was, yeah, we'd all be dead in a minute.