Splinters: Part One

Part One | 5

He smiled at me and turned, showing me his back pack.

My face heated. How come I hadn't seen it before?

"Oh."

Grady laughed. "Yeah."

I took out my History book and together, we walked to class. I was beginning to learn my way around Constance, but it would still definitely take time.

When Grady and I entered History class, my stomach dropped after hearing Collie's voice. She was in the third row, and she noticed me too. Her friend stopped talking once she realized Collie had gotten distracted. I grew nervous as they both stared at me, so I looked away.

"Where do you want to sit?" Grady asked me.

I glanced at Collie again as she whispered something to her friend. The other girl frowned, stood up, and moved to sit somewhere else.

"Um..."

"Boys, please take a seat." The teacher said, putting both her hands on our shoulders.

As Grady and I walked through the aisle, Collie leaned toward me.

"You can sit here," she said, placing her hand on the chair next to her. Grady, thinking she was talking about him, stepped forward. "Brayden." She added.

I pressed my lips together and looked over at Grady. He seemed a bit upset for a moment, but took the spot next to where Collie's friend now sat. The girl groaned once Grady sat next to her and started conversation.

Slowly, I pulled out the chair and sat down next to Collie.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Colleen, I can assume that that spot is fitting for you and that you both will pay attention." The teacher said sternly.

"Of course, Mrs. Beck. I was just asking Brayden if we could share the textbook. I forgot mine," she said sweetly.

Mrs. Beck didn't answer, but instead turned around and told us to open our books to a certain page just as the bell rang. I could see Collie glance at me from the corner of her eye as opened the textbook to the designated page. 

Collie leaned to the side of her desk and pulled out a notebook from her backpack. Opening it to a clean page, she scribbled on the notebook and that passed it to me, the mechanical pencil clipped to the spiral rings. I looked down at the page and read:

I talked to Ursanne. All is good!

I frowned. I looked over at Collie who was smiling kindly. Did they argue? Or was it civil? I couldn't imagine Ursanne speaking to Collie from the way they have interacted with me around. I was curious, so I asked her.

I took Collie's pencil and wrote my response. I felt a little self-conscious writing. I didn't have the prettiest penmanship and I didn't want to risk the fact that Collie might not be able to read my message. I couldn't necessarily whisper to her either, so I just tried to write as neatly as possible.

How did it go?

It looked like I had been shaking the whole time, which I kind of was. Realizing that Collie probably won't make fun of me, I handed it to her. She took the notebook and read my message. She had a face of confusion before writing down her answer. Her hand writing was neat. I liked it.

She seemed to be writing back for a while. I tried to pay attention to the class, but I couldn't help but look at her. Strands of blond hair fell in front of her face. She was really pretty. She was almost... perfect.

She handed the notebook back to me.

Awkward, but she knows I want to get to know you. She was understanding about it. Are you okay with being friends?