Unexpected (Published and edited edition)-SAMPLE

Chapter Three: Marissa

Me and Shawn walked into our history class hand in hand right as the bell rang. We took our normal seats in the front corner of the room and pulled out our textbooks as Ms. Allison went over attendance. She stood up from her desk when she marked almost everyone as present and began the lesson. "I am going to assign all of you into a group of two for a history project that will be due the day before Thanksgiving break. The assignment is to choose a specific event in history and write a paper as well as set up a presentation to show the class." Most students groaned at the thought of speaking in front of the class. Nobody likes doing that. Ms. Allison grabbed a sheet of paper off her desk and began reading it. "These are your partners. Mike Turner and Trey Carlson. Robbie Arnold and Mark Flynn. John O'Brien and Fiona Reed. Lea Roberts and Jared Cray. Marissa Thomas and Jake Murray."

I stopped her with a raised hand. "Who?" I simply asked. I seriously never heard that name before in my entire life. I don't think I have, at least.

"Me," a male voice from the back of the room said. I turned my head to see that the person who spoke was a pretty good-looking boy with dark brown hair and he was in casual clothing but nothing too flashy. How have I not noticed him before? How long has he even gone to this school? I felt like a bitch the moment he opened his mouth. He probably thought I was an obnoxious prep who didn't care about anyone outside my friend group. He gave me a small wave before turning back to his desk. Ms. Allison continued reading off the list and I was pretty pissed when Lorraine Jensen, one of the most beautiful girls in school, was partnered up with my boyfriend.

"I want you all to get with your partners and discuss your chosen topic for the remainder of the period."

I looked towards the window, trying to ignore everyone as they walked around the room and the chatter that followed. I had so many mixed emotions going on all at once. I know I can trust Shawn not to cheat on me. He's never done it before. But I still felt extremely guilty about making it clear that I had no idea who my partner even was. I was snapped from my thoughts when someone sat beside me, pulling the desk closer.

"Hey," I turned my head slightly to see Jake shyly sitting in the seat beside me with an opened notebook on the desk. "I'm Jake but I guess you already know that." He started writing some things down in his notebook. "I was thinking that the Holocaust, The Great Depression, or Pearl Harbor would be simple topics to discuss since it's easy to find in books and on the internet." I could tell just by the way he talked that he cared about school and his grades. This could be an easy A.

"What's your GPA?" I found myself asking quietly. Thinking I thought it.

His face became a tad red and his hand covered his mouth as he stifled back some awkward laughs. "What?" he eventually choked out.

"What's your GPA?" I repeated.

He started laughing into his fist, trying to stifle them. "You know, the very last possible question you should ever ask someone after meeting them is what their GPA is."

I felt a hint of a blush rise to my cheeks. I don't know why I asked that damn question. "I'm sorry. I was just wondering," I said and looked absentmindedly down at my notebook.

"No, it's cool," Jake said calmly making me look over at him. He was already staring at me when my eyes adjusted to him. "It's a 4.0, by the way."

My eyes went wide. He was way above average. I could barely even make it to a 3.0, no less a 4.0. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "Go stalk my files if you don't believe me. I'm also a shoe-in for Valedictorian."

I nodded. "That's really good. Congratulations." I knew in the future I would ask many more questions about him but the only one that was going to be soaring through my mind was why was he wearing that old black rubber band around his wrist? He was gently snapping it against his wrist while he spoke and listened. Leaving a pink mark on his skin.

He grinned at me briefly before focusing back on his notebook. "Thank you. Now, which topic should we discuss for our project?"

I shrugged. "I don't care. You choose."

"I'm going to feel guilty if I choose something you don't like. This isn't supposed to be difficult."

I sighed. "Fine. How about Pearl Harbor?"

He nodded in agreement and wrote the topic at the top of a piece of paper and then wrote the same thing on another piece of paper along with some notes on each. He handed one of the papers over to me. He apparently wrote down some notes and bullet points on the paper.

"Just so we can stay on the same page," he stated. "I was thinking we'd meet up out of school sometimes to make sure it gets done on time. My step-dad can help us out. He's a history buff." He chuckled softly. "I'm talking too much."

I waved it off. "It's okay. Thank you," I said and held up the piece of paper to look at it. I chuckled quietly and it almost came out as a scoff. "You sure are smart."

I could tell his cheeks were turning red with embarrassment. "Yeah. Being smart doesn't exactly get you the ladies," he joked. He stopped for a moment and wrote something in his notebook. "Are you free after school today?"

"I believe so."

He ripped out the piece of paper and handed it to me. "Here's my address and number if you want to ever meet up or go to my house."

I nodded at the piece of paper. "Thank you. How about we meet up at your place at four?"

"Is three-thirty okay? I have work at five."

"That works fine."

I gave him my contact information so we can both discuss anytime about what we should do next for the project. I liked his confidence to let someone know that he cared about school. He cared about his grades. It'd be no surprise if he actually was chosen to be Valedictorian.

"I have confidence in this project," I said and read through some notes. "This might be fun."

"We'll have to see about that," he said with a chuckle. "School's not fun."

I was surprised. "You seem to be interested in school."

He shook his head. "I don't exactly hate school but I do want to keep my grades up." He paused for a moment and then turned back to the notes. "So, the project..."

"Oh, yeah. What should we do with it?"

He flipped to a new page and started drawing something. He was pretty talented with art. He pointed at it with his pen. It was a plan for a poster. "I was thinking we'd make a poster that shows the timeline of Pearl Harbor, with each event being connected to a red string to make it look mysterious. Like on one of those crime shows. That would look cool."

I nodded. "I like the way you think, Jake. And, don't forget to put a title on the poster. I was thinking at the very top we'd write the title in a creative font and put our names in a smaller font just below it."

He drew that on the planner sketch. He nodded when he looked at it. "That'd be pretty cool."

"And, on the timeline we should have a picture with each event. Like the planes and the war."

He wrote up that idea. "That's another great idea. You sure are creative."

"And, you're pretty good at coming up with a plan."

We smiled at each other. His teeth flashing and a small dimple displayed on his cheek. He wasn't as shy as I thought he would be. I couldn't sense an ounce of negativity on him. He was nice. That's all I can put it at.