The Fall Ball

13.Lucy

As pathetic as it sounds, the internal battle of 'He loves me, He loves me not' raged on. 

Gladly he and I didn't share any classes on Mondays. Lunchtime was my only chance to see him, and today, I chose to skip it. Instead, I sought refuge in the library, hoping to bury my feelings under a pile of books for my classes. 

The buzz of my phone interrupted my thoughts. An angry text from Kacey demanded to know where I was. What got my heart racing were the message from Chase.

"Lu, we're waiting for you," he messaged on our group chat. His text sent a rush of butterflies through my stomach. Stupid me.

I really hoped they weren't talking about my awkward situation with Chase. I couldn't imagine them doing so. They would have brought it up and laughed it out of course. I wasn't ready for that.

My feelings for him weren't animated. They're real and if they do laugh about it I was pretty sure I'd break into tears. Gosh Lucy must you be so pathetic?

I quickly typed back, "I have some homework to do. I can't make it."

I didn't mention I was in the library. If I did they'd definitely march in here.

With only 15 minutes of lunchtime left, I aimlessly wandered the library's bookshelves, with no particular book in mind. Then, I noticed a girl glancing awkwardly in my direction. She was on the other end of the short isle,clutching a stack of books to her chest. 

 "Lucy, right?" she asked tentatively stepping towards me. I nodded, wondering where this conversation was headed. I've seen her around. She was a year younger than me- or so the sophomore geography book she was holding said.

"I was at the party last Saturday, at your house," she said with a friendly smile. "Your confession was very brave. I loved the song." 

 "I was actually high." I chuckled nervously. A failed act of swatting her off with humor. "Do you like Pitch perfect?" I asked referring to the movie, changing the subject. Again- failing. 

 She laughed softly. "I had this thing with a guy. We flirted a lot, but we had never made it official. It's one of those complicated situations," she went, her eyes fidgeting as she continued shyly.

I couldn't help but sigh inwardly. I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

"I was tired of the confusion," she continued, "Your song really spoke to me. I asked him out to the fall ball as my boyfriend, and he said yes!" 

 "That's awesome!" I tried to sound genuinely happy for her but I was afraid it came out as an empty sentiment.

 "I wasn't as brave as you, though."

"Chase and I aren't even a thing."

 "Really?" 

 "Yeah," I admitted, "We're just good friends." 

"But you are so cute together!"

Another inward sigh. "Thanks, I guess."

 Just then our librarian, A grumpy intern glared at us and pointed at the "Please remain silent!" poster above his desk with a stern face. 

We both shared hushed goodbyes and parted quickly. I made my way to my next class. I took the long route to avoid the lunchroom. I know I won't be able to avoid my friend for long. Not that I wanted to but at the time being and until the frenzy feelings of the whole fall ball confession situation dies out.

Mrs. Harvley, my English Lit teacher, was leaning against her desk when I arrived. She handed me a sheet of paper with a table of names on it. "Today, we're doing something different, and for that, I've assigned everyone partners." She explained before asking me to take a seat.

I scanned the partner list. My finger slid down the page, and to my surprise, it landed on....Della.

I couldn't help but wonder why Della was in my English Lit class. It's been nearly a month into our junior year and we never shared English lit together. 

Just then, Della walked in, our eyes briefly met, and I quickly looked away, coldly. I handed the sheet back to our teacher and took my usual seat at the long table stretching across the left side of the classroom

Mrs. Harvley spoke up, "Have you all found your partners? Anyone missing? No? Good." She glanced at Della. "We have a new student joining us today. Say hello to Della."

It turned out that Della's schedule had been changed, and Mrs. Harvley explained it briefly, emphasizing the importance of making Della feel welcome. I watched Della take a seat in the far corner of the room, surrounded by some girls. She smiled and greeted them warmly. 

The teacher continued, "Are you all sitting with your partners?"

There was a collective silence.

"Let's move quietly," Mrs. Harvley ordered, and the classroom erupted into the screeching sounds of chairs being dragged and hushed chatter.

"QUIETLY! No dragging chairs!"

While everyone was settling into their new seats, Della and I hesitated, both unsure of what to do.I silently hoped she'd make the first move and come to my place. Did I have to walk over to her? Why wasn't she moving?

Miss Harvley's stern gaze pressured me into taking action.

I walked over to two empty seats behind us, gesturing for Della to join me. It seemed like she gave in after seeing Miss Harvley's inquisitive glare. Wouldn't want her asking why we were reluctant to sit with each other. 

It had been a really long time, two whole years, since we'd sat together. As I took my seat next to Della, I felt that familiar awkward feeling again. We didn't get along, and there were still unresolved problems between us that had pushed us apart. It was tricky because Della always seemed to want to keep our argument going- Especially with Chase now in the equation. Just being around her brought back all the old issues, and today was no different.

"Is everyone settled?" Mrs. Harvley asked. "Good."

I didn't dare to look at Della.

"In the past weeks, we've talked about literary analysis," she continued. "Now, it's time to put it into practice. There are no right or wrong answers here, just your thoughts. You're not tenth graders anymore; you'll learn to think for yourselves. Each of you will get two copies of each book. Handle them with care; no annotations, as they belong to the school library. Write your thoughts in a notebook. You'll work with your partners to analyze the first 20 chapters, and you'll have two weeks to complete it."

Our assigned book was "A Separate Peace," by John Knowles. A quaint little book with a plain blue cover. I hadn't read it before.

Next to me Della was flipping through its pages of her copy. Mrs. Harvley had given us fifteen minutes to review and plan our approach.

I tried to break the ice, suggesting, "We'll split the chapters? You read ten and I read ten."

Della replied, "I've already read this." Her tone felt colder, or maybe it was just my imagination.

"Great," I said, attempting to inject some enthusiasm into our conversation. "It should be easy then."

"Do you want to discuss it after school?"
Della finally asked, her tone more hopeful this time.

"Today?"

Della hesitated, "No, I have work today. How about tomorrow?"

Relieved, I agreed, "Yeah, that works." And with that, our conversation came to an end.

A/N: Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed the chapters, your vote would mean a lot. Your support keeps the story going. Happy reading!