Drawn to You | ✔️

17

I try and find Landon at school before classes. I walk down the hall to the seniors' classrooms. I find him standing at his locker, grabbing his books. I walk towards him. When he turns around he smiles at me. I could just look at that smile forever. He makes me feel so different around him than with others.

"Hey you," I say and kiss him.

"Hey, babe." Hearing him calling me babe makes me blush. No guy has ever called me that. I think I could get used to it.

"How did it go with your folks yesterday?" After my awkward talk with my parents, I decided it was better for both of us to let them meet Landon. Then we wouldn't have to hide our meetings anymore and worry about my parents finding us making out in front of my house.

"They actually want to invite you over for dinner tomorrow night," I say carefully.

He looks surprised. "Oh, really? I would love to come."

"Really? You don't have to." I don't want him to feel obligated to come. Meeting my parents after the incident with my dad could be a bit terrifying. But luckily, Landon doesn't seem affected by it.

"No, it would be awesome. To meet the parents who raised this beautiful girl..." he says and gestures to me. "...would be my honor." He kisses me. "So, what time should I be there?"

"At six o'clock. My mom's making her special pot roast." He studies my face for a moment. "That means she's looking forward to meeting you. She only makes it when she wants to impress someone."

"Oh. Then there's definitely nothing holding me back now," he says and kisses me again. We stand and kiss for a moment, his back against his locker and holding my waist. My arms are holding his shoulders as we stand and kiss. I don't even care that we are kissing right in front of everyone who passes us. Landon must have that effect on me.

We break the kiss when we hear someone clears her throat. I see Chelsea standing and smiling at us. "Well, somebody definitely kissed and made up," she says.

My arms fall down to his waist, holding him tight. His arm is around my shoulder. "Hey Chels," I giggle.

"You two are so done for each other," she says and laughs.

I see Garret walking towards us. He sees us as he walks past us. "Hi Garret," I say. All I get is a quick nod and a two-second stare at Landon, not stopping at any time. He didn't even stop to say hi. What was that? I look confused at Chelsea. She just shakes her head, telling me to drop it. I look up at Landon and see that he's looking at Garret's back as he walks down the hall. His hand falls down to my side and gives me a squeeze. He looks down at me and smiles.

Okay, that was weird. I'll have to catch up with him and ask him about that.

"Come on, I'll walk you to class," Landon says and pulls me with him. I look back at Chelsea and feel kind of bad for just leaving her. Landon didn't even give me the chance to say, "See you later". She just stands there for a second and walks away. I hope she didn't feel left behind.

*

I sit in Mrs. Teasly's English class. This week's lecture is about modern texts and poetry. At least not Shakespeare. "Listen up, class. Today I want you to pair up in groups of two and start discussing Willy Russell's drama 'Blood Brothers' about the power and conflicts that appear. It's really important to analyze and compare key features such as their content, theme, structure, and use of language." She looks around the classroom and tries to get us enthusiastic. "Trust me. This is the most exciting subject in my class, so you might as well get used to it." The class giggles. Mrs. Teasly must be reading our minds. " You'll be assigned some papers to hand in. And don't you think you'll be doing this with your best friend. I've paired you up, boys and girls." She announces the groups. I hear my name. "Shelby, you'll be working with Jacob." I look behind me and find him staring at me curiously. I've never spoken to any other than Chelsea, Garret, and some of his teammates. I'll just have to pull this one through. Mrs. Teasly claps her hands and tells us to start.