My Obsession with Chloe Claire: BOOK ONE

Chapter Twenty-one

"Yeah..." Luke's voice fell as his green eyes glanced in Kason's direction.

"I made a one-hundred too," I blurted out before Kason could say anymore. If he was going to get upset that Luke made a one-hundred, he might as well get upset at me too.

"Of course, you did," I heard Hailee mumble.

Kason's eyes lit up. "That's amazing, Chloe! I knew that you were smart but damn girl. You and Luke must be fucking Albert Einstein," he laughed.

I laughed along with him nervously, my eyes flitting over in Luke's direction, who was also laughing nervously.

Chemistry class was boring as usual with Dr. Knapp droning on in his monotone voice. Hopefully, Kason made a couple of jokes during his lecture that kept me awake and aware of my surroundings.

When class ended, I made my way down the steps, went out of the auditorium and waited for Luke to come out.

It was pretty easy to spot Luke, who was a head taller than most people.

"Luke!" I called out, waving my free arm at him as the other gripped my backpack strap.

It took less than a second for him to look in my direction, a beautiful smile growing on his face as he recognized me as I stood against the white walls.

Darn that smile of his, I thought as he made his way through the crowd. It didn't take long before he was looming over me like the freakishly tall guy that he was.

"I'm surprised that you waited," he continued to smile beautifully as we started to head out of the building.

I shrugged. "I thought that was our thing."

"Our thing?" he raised his eyebrow, stopping in place with his hand in his front pocket.

I paused. Oh goodness. What did I say wrong? Well let's see, I said, 'our thing!' Oh no. I didn't mean it like that–

"I guess it is our thing," he nodded, and we continued to walk to theatre.

Good thing I didn't say my thoughts out loud...

As we walked to our next class, I couldn't help but appreciate everything around me. No one talked about how beautiful the University of Alabama was compared to other universities. I was sure the other universities were beautiful, but there was just something about here that made me take in a deep breath and smile.

"So, I've been thinking," Luke said, interrupting my thoughts.

"I'm glad you can think," I joked.

Luke jokingly scowled at me. "You know what I meant."

"I do," I nodded, a smile plastered on my face.

"I've been thinking about our theatre exam next week and I was hoping that you, me, and Jess could get together and study for it. I admit I'm a little nervous about it since I'm not that interested in the subject."

I had already started studying for the theatre exam, but it couldn't hurt to study with them. I could probably learn a thing or two. "Sounds good to me," I winced, adjusting my backpack on my shoulders. I hated carrying my backpack around sometimes. It caused a lot of back pain.

"Is your backpack hurting you?"

"Hm?" I looked up, not even realizing what he was asking.

"Your backpack," he flicked his head upward at me, his green eyes staring directly at my backpack. "It looks like it's hurting you."

"I'll be fine," I reassured him. "I'm used to it."

"Uh it doesn't look it," he said.

"No really, I'll be fine," I tried reassuring him again. What would it take for him to leave me alone about it?

"Just give me your backpack. I'll carry it for you," he offered.

"C-carry it for me?" I stuttered. "Why would you carry it for me?"

I saw a hint of pink in his cheeks that was probably caused by the summer's heat as he responded, "Because...Why does it matter why I want to carry it for you anyway? I'm just trying to be nice since I can see how much it's bothering you."

"Well, I guess since you want to be nice so much you are welcome to carry it," I shrugged as we stopped on the pathway to theatre appreciation. "But I do have to warn you, my backpack is pretty heavy."

"Sure it is," he joked as I took off my backpack and handed it over to him. His arm almost dropped under the weight of my backpack. "Damn, Chloe, what do you put in this thing? Bricks?"

I laughed. "I told you that it was heavy."

"No wonder you were uncomfortable," he said and slung my backpack over his shoulder like it was nothing.

"Do you want me to take your backpack so that you're not carrying two?" I offered, feeling awkward and lighter without my backpack.

"Nah, I'm fine," he smiled, showing his brilliantly white teeth. "And I'm not lying either."

"Sure," I squinted my eyes at him and we both started laughing.