Almost There

- 8 -

The class schedule at Eagle Point was complicated compared to what Tess was used to. Each class was associated with a color; Tess's Spanish class fell into "red block," Calc was "orange block," and so on. Mondays were long and intense. The days started at 8:00 AM and didn't end until 3:30, and students had all of their classes—the whole rainbow. But for the rest of the week, classes were 90 minutes each and the lengths of the school days, along with the daily schedules, varied.

Tess had appreciated the unique schedule on Tuesday, when she'd breezed right past Spanish on her way to Calc and had been released from school at 2:00 PM. But on Wednesday, Señora López made up for the reprieve with a conjugation lesson that left Tess's head spinning.

She'd had never had strong feelings about verbs, but Tess was beginning to think they were the most evil words in language—a theory that was supported when Señora López handed out la tarea for the evening right before the bell: a worksheet of 50 conjugation exercises. Her mind full of unhappy opinions, Tess put the worksheet into her folder and began to gather her things.

"Hey. That was intense."

Tess looked up to see Isaac standing near her. He smiled at her and raised his eyebrows, nodding his head toward the door as if inviting her to accompany him. She smiled back, tucking her book and notebook under her arm. "I don't think I'll ever get these tenses straight," she said.

"Right?" He led the way toward the door. In the hall, they joined the stream of students passing between their classes. "I guess we'll both have to study pretty hard."

Nodding, Tess said, "Yeah. Definitely."

At the intersection of hallways where they would part ways to go to their lockers, Isaac paused. "Maybe we could study together sometime."

Tess's heart skipped a beat. "Together?"

Isaac grinned. His easy confidence made Tess feel awkward—and it made him even more attractive. "Come on, Tess. I'm trying to be smooth here. Are you turning me down?"

"I—are you—?"

"Asking you on a date?" He shrugged one shoulder. "I'm trying."

Tess couldn't keep the smile from her face. "Yes. Sure. I mean, yeah." She realized she was hugging her book and notebook to her chest and loosened her grip.

"Cool." He glanced up at the bell high on the wall. "We should get going to class, but I'll get your number later, maybe?"

"Yeah. That would be great."

"Enjoy whatever class you have for yellow block."

"SAT Prep. What do you have?"

"Shop class. Never know when you're gonna need to know how to build a bird house." Isaac rolled his eyes, apparently as disinterested in shop class as he was in everything else about school. "See you later."

As Tess hurried to her locker to trade her Spanish book for her SAT guidebook, she was still smiling. The stress of the difficult impending homework assignment fled her mind, chased away by the memory of Isaac's confident grin.

***

Tess carried her lunch tray to the lunch table where Jacqui sat. There, the same crowd was assembled: Zack, Amy, Mackenzie, and Tisha were all chatting among themselves.

"Tess!" Jacqui scooted over to make room, popping a grape into her mouth. "How you doing?"

"Good," Tess replied. She smiled, realizing she truly was good. Really good. "How are you? How was Anatomy?"