A Sky Full Of Stars And They Were Looking At Each Other

Chapter 3

-Michael's POV-

The school bell rang to end the day as fast it came to start it. Amai's locker was four down from mine, so it wasn't hard for us to meet up for the ride home. She seemed shorter than before and when I glanced down I realized she took off her heels and put on flats. "Now that's more like it. You're back to your normal height." I remarked, laughing almost tipping over because of how heavy my backpack was.
"Yep! I took them off at lunch, I wasn't sure if I could last the whole day, so I brought flats just in case." She said, laughing along. A boy with a letterman jacket walked up behind her and dropped a note on her book, then walked away. It fell to the ground and as she went to grab the note I couldn't help noticing the feeling inside of me that just wanted punch the guy. As she stood back up I tried to control my expression, but she had definitely noticed.
"Do you know that guy?" I asked, trying not to sound like I was grinding my teeth to refrain saying or doing something I would regret.
"Yea, I'm in A.P. Chem. He's my lab partner." She stated, looking over her shoulder.
"I don't want to pry, but what does the note say?" I requested, hoping she won't get too uncomfortable by the sort of personal question.
She opened up the small green paper and had a very shocked expression. Then I noticed her face and her cheeks were wiped with a tint of pink. A less harsh version of the embarrassing red I saw on her face earlier. "Well, what does it say?" I asked again.
"Oh uh, nothing important." She said, crumpling up the note then scrambling to put her books back into locker. Clunk! All the books crashed down on the concrete and on top of her foot. "Ow!" She yelped, grabbing her foot and holding it with her hand. Because of her decision of hastily grabbing her foot she lost her balance and crashed into me. For the second time I hit my head on a darn stinking pole.
"Really?! Who's idea was it to put up this many polls?!" I shouted, trying to sit up, but noticing that there was a heavy weight keeping me from getting up. The weight was none other than Amai and I couldn't help but feel relaxed and incredibly nervous at the same time.
"Oh my goodness! I am so sorry Michael!" Amai said, practically screaming. She quickly got up and stuck out her hand to help me up. I grabbed her hand and it was almost like nothing happened except for the fact that all of her books were sprawled across the floor. She bent down to pick up her books and the crumpled note fell out of her hand. She didn't notice, she didn't notice, she didn't notice that she dropped it. Should I grab it or leave it alone? I couldn't stop myself, I quickly grabbed the note and then a book to cover it. Amai grabbed the book, but I took the note and shoved it into my back pocket. A moment after, Jackson and his "crew" came strolling over, pretending they have "swag" or whatever you want to call it.
"Ok freshman, let's go." Jackson said, then pivoting back to his friends saying a bunch of random stuff.
"Ok, then let's go Mr. Stuck Up Senior." She retorted while grabbing him by the ear dragging him out the door. All his friends chuckled as he was being dragged out by his younger sister. That won't be good for her later because she just embarrassed her older brother in front of all his friends. Yikes! I scurried out the door following the sassy girl and the stuck up boy.
"DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" He exclaimed slamming the car door right behind him.
"Don't chop off my foot and I won't!" She yelled back glaring at the furious boy. For a different change of pace, I quietly got in the car and just stared at the bickering siblings. Looking at them I started to wonder if my sisters and I argued this much. I don't think we do, but looking at other siblings really makes me wonder if this is how my Mom and Dad saw me and my sisters. Considering that Amai and I were one of the last few students leaving the hallway, I glanced down at my phone checking the time-3:20. Oh my goodness, they have been arguing for over a ten minutes. I was just blankly looking outside the car window before I realized that the arguing had stopped. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder or more like a weight on my shoulder. I turned to look at my shoulder and it was Amai, she had fallen asleep.
"Must have been a long day. Michael is it?" Jackson asked, actually sounding like a decent person. I have only ever heard him like a cocky senior or an annoying brother.
"Yes, it's Michael and high school is tough." I stated, trying not to move my shoulder or head to hard. She looks so peaceful when she's sleeping and beautiful of course.
"I know that Amai and I bicker a lot and I MEAN A LOT, but I do care about her. Okay, so don't be a jerk and hurt her because I will make you regret it. If you want to avoid that situation, I suggest you guys just stay friends." He announced with a protective brother glint in his eye. I was frazzled by the way he was looking at me through the mirror and I could feel my face heat up.
"Don't worry about it, our friendship is completely platonic, and even if I did feel that way about her. She would never return those kind of feelings. Besides I think there's already guy interested in her." I said and while mentioning the last sentence I sounded almost sad, which was weird, but I brushed it off.
"What?! Who?! What grade?! What does he look like?!" Jackson exclaimed immediately pulling over the car and jerking his head towards me. Luckily for us we were in a neighborhood because I feel like he would have stopped the car no matter where we were. The whole car jerked along with the us in it, once he decided to make an abrupt stop. Amai's head swung forward and then fell on my lap, but still didn't wake up.
"Wow, she's a heavy sleeper." I said, avoiding making eye contact with the older brother.
"Answer the question, who do you think likes her?" Jackson demanded.
"I don't know his name or grade, but I know he's on the football team. He also has brown hair and is in A.P. Chem." I said, just stating all the facts I knew about him. "She also may have gotten a note from him," I mumbled, but I think he heard me.
"A note? What did it say?" He asked, sounding calmer.
"I don't know...she wouldn't let me read it, but she dropped it and I kind of took it," I announced.
"Hurry up and read it then! While she's asleep." Jackson said, making hand gestures to hurry up. I pulled out the crumpled green paper, and opened it. I wasn't as careful as I would've been because I knew she was a heavy sleeper, well now I know.
The note said: Hey Partner! I was wondering if you wanted to go to a senior party. My friend is hosting it, so I can easily get you on the list and feel free to bring a friend as long as it's not a guy. (^ω~) -Jason (805)-713-5326
First I read the note myself, then aloud. After reading it, I had that same feeling of knots twisting like a pretzel in my stomach. Why do I feel this way, could I be jealous? Jackson turned back around facing the front once again.
"I know who Jason is. He's a senior and our school's star linebacker-I heard a rumor that he took on three other guys, as a SOPHOMORE!" Jackson said, but shouting the last part. Which just woke Amai up from her quick cat nap. Luckily I think she was still a little groggy from her nap because she didn't notice or ask why I had the note. I took advantage of the fact that she didn't notice the note yet and quickly slipped it into her backpack.
"Morning sleepy head!" I said teasingly. Jackson started up the car a few minutes after she woke up. Soon enough we were back on a normal road and out of the neighborhood Jackson used as a shortcut.
"Hey! Shouldn't we be home already? I feel like we've been on the road for an hour," She said, rubbing her eyes and checking her phone. I noticed out of the corner of my that she was looking through through her backpack. What was she looking for? Then I see that she found what she was looking for, THE NOTE! She opened up her phone and clicked contacts! Was she seriously going to put in his number?! She glanced over at me, while I was in mid stare too. She looked at me very frazzled then pulled her phone close to her chest. Yep! She definitely noticed me peering over her shoulder. Great...
"What do you think you are doing!" She said, giving me her well known death stare. I leaned back into my seat, hoping she will forget about what just happened.
"Oh, I was just curious about what time it was..." I knew she wouldn't buy that, I sounded to uncertain.
"Yeah! Sure you were." She said with a little evil smirk on her face. " Tell you what? If you forget about me falling asleep on your lap, I'll forget about you being a total space invader," she proposed, holding out her hand, waiting for me to take it to make the deal. That sounded like a pretty good deal to me, so I eagerly shook her hand to put that awkward situation behind us. "You made the right choice. Pleasure doing business with you Mr. Hollister," after she said that I heard a little giggle escape her evil little smirk.
"Same to you, little Miss Sass Queen," I stated and we both laughed the rest of the drive. Jackson stopped the car at the end of my driveway. I grabbed my backpack, threw it over my shoulder, and grabbed the door handle. Before I could pull it open I felt a tug at the bottom of my shirt, I turned around and saw Amai with a worried look as I locked eye contact with her gorgeous jade eyes. "Yes?" I asked, waiting for her to release my shirt.
"Oh, umm... I was wondering if you wanted to come over and work on homework together?" She said, releasing my shirt and tucking her hair behind her ear.
"I'd love too," Maybe I could take this as an opportunity to get her to tell me about the note. I sat my backpack down next to her and gladly buckled my seatbelt back on.
"Great!" Amai exclaimed with a big bright smile across her face. Soon enough we were at her house and Jackson was acting very strange. He was quiet all the way home and was being a decent big brother, but not to her face. What angle is he playing at?
＊                                        ＊                                       ＊