Up in the Air

Chapter 5

They just didn't look like something any regular teenager would wear.  They were more like something you wore to a business meeting or an event or – as Becca once said – to a funeral.

It made sense that Becca would say that. Hands down, she'd been a party girl in college – she and Adam met when he had to haul her ass up to her fifth-floor dormitory room in a building without an elevator.  She would probably dress me in something like a short, tight-fitting disco ball.

I walked into my last class of the day distracted by a painful mental image of me sparkling brighter than a chest of jewels. The number of people crammed into the room threw the image out of my head.

The Creative Writing elective I had on Thursdays and Fridays was supposed to have only thirty students. Right now, the room had about fifty kids in it and our teacher, Ms. Lyle, was standing up front with Mr. Parker.

Doesn't he teach a Photography elective?

We were, thankfully, in one of the larger classrooms and there were still a few empty desks in the back. Just as I took my seat in one of them, Ms. Lyle began talking.

"Settle down, everyone," Ms. Lyle half-shouted over the chatter of the room.

"You might all be wondering why two classes are sardined into one classroom right now. Well, Creative Writing and Photography are two art forms used to tell stories. Mr. Parker and I thought it would be a good idea to have these two classes come up with a collaborative project."

"It doesn't hurt that there are exactly thirty students in each class," Mr. Parker joked and the class laughed lightly with him.

"We're going to ask one student from each class to pair up with one from the other and after that, we'll tell you more about the project."

I couldn't help but frown. I didn't really know anyone in my Creative Writing class, much less the people in Photography. Most people took these electives when they were juniors and the few seniors in here had already paired off with each other.

I turned around when I heard the door open.

I was hoping for it to be a senior I had talked to at least once in my life – one of Nate's buddies from the football team or someone from my other classes or a kid from the Academics club – anyone but the one actual person who walked through the door: Julian Pitt. What made it worse was, Julian had spotted me.

I panicked and tapped the kid in front of me. He was a junior on the football team and I'd seen him hanging out with Nate a couple of times. "Excuse me," I began but Julian was already talking to me.

"So, Preston, this is the surprise project Parker's been talking about? He and Lyle mashed us all together into one super class?"

I ignored him, and smiled at the junior who'd just turned around. "You're from the Photography class right? You don't have a partner yet, do you?"

He smiled warmly. "No, do you want to -"

"Hold up, Preston. You're not really going to pair up with a junior are you? You don't even know the kid," Julian's eyebrows were furrowed.

"Actually, we do know each other," the junior said. "She might not know my name but I know who she is."

"Ah, your brainy reputation precedes you, Preston," Julian teased as he took his seat right next to me.

"Well, she's smart, yeah ... But that's not why I know her. She's friends with the Captain – with Nate. My name's Emmett," he said the last part to me. "And, sure, I'd love to work with you."