Watercolor Road ✔

Chapter 9: The Date

After fifth period on Friday, Julia met with Will one last time. They had to turn in their project by the end of the day, and Finch said he would be in his classroom starting at lunch and until 30 minutes after the final bell rang for that very purpose.

Julia saw Will already standing outside of Finch's door as she approached. "Do you have it?" she asked.

Will looked up at her. "No, I forgot it," he said sarcastically.

"Ha, ha," Julia mocked. "Come on, I want to see it."

Will reached into his bag and pulled out the newly bound book. His dad's friend had done an amazing job. Opening up the simple cover, Julia saw the words and pictures beautifully put together side by side, the binding not compromising one word or any part of her drawings.

"It looks great," she commented.

"Yeah," Will agreed. "Now, let's turn this in and be done with it."

"Agreed. That was a lot of effort. Too much effort."

Will nodded at her words and led the way into Finch's room, Julia following behind and carrying the book. As she handed it to Finch, he gave no reaction, only glancing at the cover before putting it off to the side of his desk.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Julia said as soon as they were out of their teacher's earshot.

Will laughed. "Yeah, tell me about it," he said. "But you know Finch."

"It's very Finch," she agreed.

They reached the front of the school and exited through the doors, reaching the point where they usually either went their separate ways or, in the case of Fridays, headed toward Will's car.

They paused.

"Well, at the risk of sounding cheesy," Will said, "I have to say, I'm going to miss Fridays."

Julia nodded. "Yeah," she said, "that was cheesy." She laughed at Will's exasperated glare. "And yes, I'll miss them, too. Those sandwiches were pretty great."

Will gave another glare but then nodded. "It's true, I am a pretty great sandwich maker."

"And I guess the company wasn't terrible," Julia teased.

"I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me," Will mocked her back. "It's a historic day."

"Remember it, Will," Julia told him. "You don't know when the next one is coming. And besides," she added, "you can't get rid of me that easily. It's not like you're never going to see me again."

"That I can believe," Will said. "See you around, Jules."

Ignoring Julia's icy look, Will turned around and walked to his car. Julia shook her head and turned in the opposite direction, beginning her walk home.

"Julia!"

Julia was about halfway home when she heard someone calling out after her. She stopped and turned around to see Jacob hurrying down the sidewalk toward her. She waited until he caught up before resuming her walk.

"What's up, Jacob? I didn't know you had an off period right now."

"I don't," he said, sheepishly. "But we're not doing anything in chem today and I saw you leaving through the window, and I wanted to talk to you."