Now Or Never

Chapter Eight

“We will have an... addition to our class today.” And she pushes the boy in front of her.

“Please tell the class about yourself.” Ms Rosario requests.

“Um, well... My name’s Asher Corbett... I’m seventeen, like all of you...” He pauses. “And I really love chocolate.”

Everyone laughs.

Julia Anderson asks, “Why did you come so late?”

“Um, I just moved from Ohio.” Asher explains swiftly.

“Asher, have a seat next to Florence Esmond.”

Asher walkes over and dumps his bag on the floor next to me. He then sits down, taking out his textbook. He rummages in his bag searching for another object but couldn’t find it.

“Can I borrow a pencil?” He suddenly inquires.

I keep staring at the board.

“Uhm... Laurence Endon?” He says and his face is turning red. “Can I borrow a pencil?”

My face turning red, I realize he had been talking to me the first time. I quickly take out my favorite pencil and give it to him. Shit! Why did I give him my favorite one? What if he loses it or something?

“Thanks.” He says and I nod to show that he was welcome.

Behind us Lorena Jeffrey sniggers. Very aware of that, I stare determinedly at the back of Kimberly McCoy’s head.

“Alright, Asher.” Ms Rosario gives him what she think is a kind smile. To me it looks more like a grimace. “How behind are you on the work? Why don’t you come up here?”

“Uh... okay.” Asher stands up and grabs his textbook and his -my- pencil.

“That’s good. The rest of you can use the time to start your review.”

I grab a piece of paper on which I scribble my name and another one on which I doodle.

Asher finally returns to his seat, and smirks at my drawing.

“What? Don’t like it?” I ask annoyed.

“No, it’s very nice. You obviously have great artistic talent.”

I ignore him and continue doodling.

Asher rummages in his back, looks up and says:

“Laurence, can you give me some paper to work on? I don’t have any.”

Oh my god I can’t believe this kid! I hand him what he wants.

“Here. That okay? And by the way, it’s Florence.”

“That’s fine. Thanks.”

He writes and I realize he is also doodling.

I smile. “Nice drawing there, Asher.”

“Why thank you.” He looks up at me and grins.

Maybe Asher Corbett is a nice guy.

*

“But this is great! Don’t you see? Now we can say that you and Logan are dating right now, since after the party you discovered your undying love for each other...” Leslie clasps both hands on where she thinks her heart is.

“I don’t have ‘undying love’ for him!” I protest. “What does that even mean?”

“Nevermind. The point is that we can start Stage 2 alot earlier!”

“What if I don’t want to?”

Leslie freezes. “You don’t?”

“Well...”

“I thought that, like when you agreed to the Plan, you liked Logan.”

“I don’t. I just wanted to be popular, Les. I don’t know how I’m going to do this.” I bury my face in my hands. Take deep breaths.

“It’s alright. You’re going to be amazing.” Leslie hugs me. “By the way... I’m dating Casper.”

“No!”

“Yeah.” She makes a face. “At the party. You’re the first I told. Not even Rubia.”

“No kidding. Casper Delaroy?” I try to sound bored but I’m very excited.

Leslie trusted me.

“Uh huh. And I’ve decided that I’m going to tell everyone that Casper and I are dating at the same time that you tell about Logan and you. That way we’ll be in it together. And make a double-bombshell.” She adds as an afterthought.

I laugh at her typical ruin the moment and hug her tightly.

“Casper’s agreed?”

“Yeah.”

“When will you tell everyone?”

“That’s for you to decide.” We arrive at my house and I get out of the car. “Bye.”

“Wanna come over?” I can’t believe I’m asking her this. It’s not like I want to hear a boring lecture about Jacqueline Johnson or Natasha Hardy.

“Sure why not.”

But as soon as we get into my house, Leslie halts. “Uh, I’ll be back in a sec. Bathroom.”

“Okay.”

But since she looks very -lying like- I decided to listen in. The bathroom is right under my room and there’s a little hole in the floor so I should be able to hear everything.

I run up to my room and lie down on the floor with my ear stuck to the little hole. I hear Leslie close the door, lock it and fumble around. I hear the sound when her phone opens. Oh that’s it. She’s gonna call someone.

“Hello?” I hear her say. “Wait hold on a second, I can’t hear anything, I’ll put you on Speaker Phone.”

I then hear Rubia. “Les, where are you?”

“Rubia... I’m really sorry, but I can’t come to the mall with you.”

“What? Why?”

“I’m at Flo’s.”

“Flo’s!” Rubia now is sounding angry. “Les, you promised that Flo wasn’t going to take my place. You promised that I was your best friend. And now look, what you’ve done!”

“Rubia... I’m just here for a while. I promise I’ll make up some excuse and get to the mall real quick.”

“You’d better.” Rubia’s voice comes out, angrily.

“Keep your voice down.” Leslie reminds darkly. “Flo might be able to hear you.”

“You’re calling from her house?” Rubia questions incredulously. “Damn, you must be getting stupider!”

“Oh, ha ha... see you soon.”

“It better be soon.”

I hear Leslie click the phone, and open the door. I sit, my heart thumping. Then I hear her open the door again.

“Oh damn, the toilet...” I hear it flush and I sit on my bed, trying to look natural. I grab a random magazine and stare at it without reading.

Leslie comes in. “Hi Flo!”

Hello again Wattpaders!

I'm so sorry for the short chapter, I've been busy. The next one will be longer, I promise! I'm dedicating this chapter to Habiba and Ghada, two extremely amazing girls with an extremely amazing book that you should definitely read. Thanks for reading and voting for Now Or Never guys! You're awesome! :)

Brant Daugherty as Asher  Corbett on side :)

Isn't a new character (Asher) exciting? I certainly found it exciting to write Haha :) 

You're all amazing! Love ya :)

-Val