The Race to May 27th

Chapter 1

"Is Reece here?" My teacher looked around the pretty empty classroom.

"Here." He slightly raised his head and hand, then lowered them back to tend to his phone. That was the first thing he had said. 

It was an unhealthy admiration. He was a senior and I was a basic junior. Despite his popularity I knew he was smart, we had the same AP class after all. 

Walking into Economics I felt more than happy. Not only was it the last period of the day, but it was a class we shared. It being a class of only 12 students only made it easier to slip into casual conversation with him and his friend that I was familiar with. 

I always made sure to look cute when I knew I would see him. Pathetic, right? I never thought I would be one to dress up for a guy but there I was, my hair styled and my outfit premeditated. I sat down, starting my drill and waiting for him to arrive. 

After the bell rang, he slipped in while the teacher had her back turned. Freaking smooth. 

I noticed he was wearing a 90's looking tommy jacket that I've never seen before. Another thing about him, his dressing is impeccable. He doesn't just wear the basic Jordan's and true religion, he's creative and fashionable which I really appreciate. 

I was answering most of the drill questions as usual. Our teacher has a habit of passing out jolly ranchers once we got a question right. She also loved handing me the nastiest flavor, green apple.
"Does anyone want to trade?" I offered openly

"I got a cherry." He offered. I showed him my green apple and he opened his hands signaling for me to throw it across the room. 

"I can't throw for my life." I said while laughing, standing up to trade flavors.

I was able to gawk at him as I walked towards his desk and he quickly peeked at his phone. This dude... Jesus.
While paying attention to the lesson I could feel him looking at me. Of course I knew this because I would be looking at him too. He was just so good looking, like God literally took the time to make his face because wow.

Mrs. Martin had passed out a double sided worksheet with a bunch of empty graphs. I rolled my eyes and looked at my friend Mariah next to me. She understood too, graphing was a pain the the butt and economics was full of it.

"This... nearly empty side, do the front." She pointed to the side Mariah and I was on, along with 3 other students, "and this side, do the back." She pointed to the other side where he sat. I quickly began my work as soon as she stopped talking, remembering the graphs from a note packet she had given us. I helped Mariah when she said she was lost and soon we were both done.

"Everyone done? Now you will find someone from the other side to get their answers." 

I watched as he and his friend came over to Mariah and I. Of course she was cool with everyone and greeted his friend with an inside joke I guess. I'm pretty sure my hands were beyond sweaty as he sat down and gave me a whiff of his cologne. Jesus help me. 

I couldn't speak without stuttering, and eye contact was a joke. Explaining the graphs of total variable costs and fixed costs were once simple, but now impossible. Once getting through my side of the paper and getting to his I realized he really didn't understand the content. 

He flipped over his sheet to show the empty graphs. 

"Yeah I really didn't get it so yeah." He said sheepishly. I was too nervous to even help him. I just working out the graphs on my own sheet and told him to copy. Definitely not one of my proudest moments

2 weeks later

The last bell rang, forcing all the students to stuff their notes into their bags and speed through the door. I knew this was my chance. 

"Hey Reece," I started as I tapped his shoulder. He turned around and raised his eyebrows, signaling I should continue "if you still need help with Econ, I could maybe tutor you sometime."

"That's cool," he gave me his phone to put in my number. Once I was done I gave it back, "thanks Precious." He said, taking back his phone and walking away. 

"It's... Promise" it was useless, he was already gone.

I walked into AP Calculus the next day with the biggest smile on my face. As soon as my friend Tazz walked in, I nearly pounced on her to tell her the good news.

"Why are you cheesin' like that?" She gave me the strangest look as I continued to smile.

"Because I've found bae #1." I said completely serious. She started laughing. "What?"

"I thought Lucky Blue Smith was bae #1? Or what happened to Zayn, he isn't #1.5 anymore?" She kept laughing at me. Okay maybe I have a slight obsession with boys. I can't help it, I'm a 16 year old girl.

"This one is real! As in we share a class and I can get him to like me." She seemed interested at this point.

"Is it Tay?" She smiled like the sly dog she is.

Tay was another boy in our Calculus class that she 'shipped' me with. I did try to talk to him and it was clear that we both liked each other to an extent. He was really funny and at times cute, but he couldn't dress, had a really weird hairline, and didn't understand the fact that I was a black girl and saying certain stuff wouldn't fly with me. Plus, he was 100% Trump 2016 and I couldn't rock with that.

"Girl, no. This is another senior, he is so fine, like the dude was sculpted by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. I didn't know people that beautiful could exist, especially at this bum school." She laughed, thinking I was joking. Probably because she hasn't seen him yet,

"What's his name?" She asked curiously.

"I don't want people to know, so we'll call him Derek for now." She rolled her eyes as she smiled, used to my code names.

"Does he know you exist?" She asked again, this time raising an eyebrow. She knew she caught me.

"Well... kinda. He called me Precious the other day." I said shamefully and she obnoxiously laughed, making our teacher glance at her over her thick-rimmed glasses.

"But you know what Tazz? Not only is he going to notice me, but before the seniors leave on May 27th, he's going to like me." I said firmly, despite my flimsy belief in it truly happening.

~~

Hey guys! I haven't written a romance/teen fiction/fan fiction in like 2 years so I might be a bit rusty lol. I've been reading for a while and seeing what I like and don't like about teen fiction and I want this to be my perfect representation of what it should be. I will try my best to not be cliche, but then again it is a high school story so it is inevitable lol. Since I can never really relate to most stories I read, I'm making this as close to my true life as possible. See if you can guess the true components in my life v.s. the exaggerated in each chapter and comment them below! I'll post them all in the authors note at the end of each chapter. I'm wrapping, bye!

TRUTHS

1. My name is Promise

2. There is this fine dude in my Econ class that I have a crush on (obvi not Reece duh)

3. Mariah and Tazz are based off real characters and I love them

4. Story about Tay is real and thats his real code name... yes I may just be that shallow

5. Lucky Blue and Zayn were the holders of my heart before Reece came into my life

6. People call me Precious all the time. One of my sisters name is Precious and my best friend's name is also Precious so.... yeah I get salty when ppl call me that lol