Blake's P.O.V
Gosh, she just looks so perfect. My feelings for her grow every time I see her. Olivia's desk is far from mine since I am all the way in the back, but I don't mind. It gives me a better angle to see her from.
Wow, creep much? My sub-conscience tells me. I just ignore it.
I am not "creeping" or whatever, I just want to see her. I mean, can you blame me? I like her. I really, really like her.
I notice that she is wearing jeans with a gray t-shirt that says, "Got OJ?". So she likes orange juice; I will keep that noted. She also has her beautiful light brown hair down. Plus she has a pair of white, shiny Vans on. Although, her sparkly Vans don't compare with the sparkle of her spectacular eyes. They are breathtaking, spectacular, astonishing; pretty much any word you can think of that is a synonym for amazing.
"Alright guys, please take your seats. I know the final bell hasn't rung but we have a lot to do today." Ms. Traylor says. I sit down at my desk and take out my iPad.
What?!? You never know when you're going to have to take notes.
Ms. Traylor takes attendance and then continues to speak. "I have an announcement to make. This weekend, in spirit of back to school week, a carnival is going to be held here at the school. There will be rides, games, a dunking booth, and lots of food!" She says.
Ring! There's the final bell. Ms. Traylor continues, "All the proceeds will go to a charity of some sort. I believe it is for the Make A Wish foundation. It is a really good cause, you should all come."
Maybe I will. I think. I could even ask Olivia to go with me. But it isn't really romantic or whatever. I don't really know if it is. Like I said before, I've never really gone out with someone. But this is for Olivia, so it needs to be something amazing, just like her. Not just a carnival. It would still be fun to go with her, though. That way I could get closer to her; really get to know her.
"Hello? Earth to Blake. Anyone home?" Olivia says with a huge smile on her face. I tune back in and realize she is laughing at me for zoning out.
"Sorry," I say blushing a bit. "What's up?" Really?!? What's up? I must appear like such a dork to her.
"The ceiling." She replies, still laughing.
"Funny. Are you a comedian now?" I say with a witty look.
"Only on weekends, and as a side job." She says with a hint of sarcasm. Wow, she's good. "Anyways, here you go." She hands me a piece of paper with a chart on it. "It is the grading rubric that Ms. Traylor will be using to grade our projects. She said to pick one up from the front of the classroom, but you were too zoned out so I picked one up for you. It also has the due date of the project, which is on Tuesday."
"Thanks." Is all I manage to say. Then, my fears came true. It became awkward! That was the last thing I wanted between us. I decide to be the one that breaks the silence between us.
"Sooooo..." I begin. I realize she is debating talking about what happened to us yesterday. I man up and start to speak. I mean, no one could hear our conversation anyways since we were in the very back of the room and everyone was talking. "Look, about yesterday, I uh...umm...I..." Then she interrupts me.
"We should work on our project, right?" I am taken aback by her response. I thought she would want to talk about it. I guess just not right now.
"Okay, yeah. Right." She looks at me apologetically but then starts to work on our project.
Silence. It fills the space between us. We work on our project in it. No eye contact, no speaking, nothing. Olivia works on organizing our information in our presentation while I work on finding the pictures and citing our research. We are actually really far in our project. All we need is to find an interview or something to support our information. But other than that we just need to do some editing and we're done.
I decide to look over at Olivia. She looks a bit scared and frustrated. She quickly looks at me and speaks.
"Blake, can I ask you something?" Now I'm the one that's scared.
"Ye-Yeah. What is it?" I stutter.
"I've been looking for interview videos for the past twenty two minutes and none of them have what we are looking for. I was wondering, if you didn't mind, if we could go to your foster home and ask your foster parents some questions. You know, interview them about the points we made in our project." I stay silent for a bit, thinking if that was okay. I guess it is. I must have taken longer than usual to think about this because the next thing I know Olivia has a worried look on her face.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. I don't know what I was thinking. I will keep looking. I am so sor..." She says before I interrupt her.
"Olivia, it's okay. We can interview my foster parent. It's fine." I say reassuring her that it is okay. Relief washes over her. It is actually a really good idea.
"You only have one foster parent?" She asks.
"Yeah. It's a long story and it's probably best if you don't bring it up to him."
"Okay, great. And if you want we won't have to say he is your foster parent. We can just say he owns a local foster home, you know?" She says.
"Okay. When would you like to interview him?" I ask.
"Would today work? We can go after school. We can take my car." Good thing she has a car because Josh has practice after school. Otherwise, would have had to take the bus or walk. I usually preferred to walk. The house wasn't that far so I would just walk home.
"Alright. We can meet at the front office and then head to your car. Is that okay for you?" I respond.
"Perfect!" We gathered our things right as the bell dismissed us. I go to my locker to get my things and then head toward the front office. On my way to the office, I bumped into someone.
"Oh, sorry." I say.
"Uggg, it's fine Blake. Man, I forgot you apologize for everything." Jo says with a hint of sarcasm.
"Whatever." I reply back and start to walk away.
"Wait!" I stop and turn around.
"Yeah?"
"Josh told me to give you a ride home since he has to stay after school for practice."
"It's okay. I don't need a ride today. I have other plans."
"Really? With who?" Jo looks at me with disbelief. She knows I like to walk home; it gives me time to think.
"Don't worry about it." She gives me a serious look but then it quickly turns into a smirk.
"Are you hanging out with your crush?" Her eyes bulge from excitement. I quickly turn away and then realize I shouldn't have done that. Now she knows for sure that it is my crush.
"Ohhh, this is great! Now I can just follow you and see who it is!" Crap! I have to think fast.
"Fine," I start. "We are hanging out in the library. You can get a head start and meet us there. I have to go to the front office for something." I am completely lying but she doesn't notice it through all of her excitement.
"Awesome!" Is the last thing she says before rushing away toward the library. I can't actually believe that she fell for it. I guess years of wearing a fake personality helps with lying.
I rush toward the front office and see Olivia there.
"Ready?"
"Yup! Let's go." I say. We quickly get into her white Camry. I give her my address and she puts it into her phone and starts to drive. I receive a text seconds later.
Jo: Where are you? I am sitting all alone!
I can't help but smirk a little.
Me: Oh, I'm sorry, did is say hang out in the library? I meant she is giving me a ride. Whoops! XD
Jo quickly replies back to me.
Jo: Jerk! You are a dead man tomorrow.
I shake my head and turn my attention back toward Olivia. She seems a bit lost.
"Do you need help with the directions?" I ask.
"Uh, yeah. Could you tell me where to go from here? My phone is about to die." She says a bit embarrassed.
"Sure. Go straight for another mile, then take a right." She follows my instructions all the way until we pull up on the driveway. We walk up to the steps and I open the door.
"ATTACK!"
Next thing I know, Olivia and I are hit with Nerf darts. Olivia jumps behind me for protections while I try to see what is going on.
"Stop!" I yell. They instantly stop.
"Hey Blake!" It was George and a couple other foster kids. "Sorry we ambushed you. We thought you were Josh. We decided to get him back for eating the last apple pie." George says. George is another kid that lives in the house. I don't actually know his back story but in the end he is the same as all of us; an orphan. George is about ten years old.
"It's fine." I turn my attention toward Olivia who is still behind me. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Olivia says with a smile. Even after being attacked by a bunch of ten year old kids, she still manages to smile. "Hi everyone, I'm Olivia." All the boys say hi, then leave to await Josh's arrival. I take Olivia to the kitchen.
"Do you want something to eat?" I ask.
"No, I'm good. Can I just have a water?"
"Sure." I head toward the fridge to grab a water bottle when I hear a loud, high pitched scream. I instantly know it's Cassie. I rush toward the living room where the scream came from.
"Cassie! What's wrong?!?" Olivia comes up behind me. At that moment I see Cassie squeezing Frank's waist. Afterwards, she lets go and starts to jump up and down. It is then that I notice a doll in Cassie's hand.
"Guess what Blake? Frank got me a new doll!" She says while hugging the doll.
"I went toy shopping today and remembered Cassie wanted a look alike doll. So, that's what I got her. I also got the boys Nerf guns." Now it made sense. Then, Frank and Cassie turn their attention toward Olivia.
"Oh, right. Guys, this is Olivia. We are working on a project together and we wanted to interview you, Frank, if that was okay."
"Hello dear. I'd be glad to do the interview." Frank says. Cassie then walks up to Olivia and speaks.
"Hi Olivia! I'm Cassie." Cassie stick her hand out. Olivia crouches down and shakes Cassie's hand.
"Nice to meet you Cassie." Olivia says with a bit of a chuckle. Cassie then lets go of Olivia and skips out of the living room. Olivia stands back up.
"So, shall we get started?" Frank says before taking a seat on the couch.
"Sure." Olivia says.
"I will get our stuff from the kitchen and your water as well." I say toward Olivia. "You can take a seat."
"Thanks," she says before I turn around and head toward the kitchen. I grab our backpacks and three water bottles and make my way back toward the living room. I hear Olivia laughing and pointing at something.
"Awww, that is the cutest thing ever." Olivia say. I see she is looking at a picture but I can't see what is in the picture.
"Hey Blake. I'm just showing your friend here some pictures of the children here."
Olivia turns the portfolio toward me. "This is the cutest Halloween picture ever." She says still laughing.
I then realize it is the picture that Frank took three years ago. Cassie was only three at the time. She wanted to dress up that Halloween as Piglet from "Winnie The Pooh" but she didn't want to do it alone. She asked us to dress up as characters from the show. Obviously we said no, but Cassie had such a special way with us that we ended up giving in. I was Tigger and Josh was Eeyore. It was pretty embarrassing but it made Cassie happy.
I blush from the embarrassing picture and that just makes Olivia laugh harder.
"In my defense, Cassie was a very persuasive three year old." I say with sarcasm. "Anyways, shall we get started?" I say trying to change the subject. It takes a couple seconds for Olivia to calm down from her laugh attack. We start our interview and finish pretty quickly. She asked questions like:
How has fostering changed your life?
Why should people found foster homes?
Should there be more awareness of this topic (Child Abuse, Labor, and Orphans)?
Frank answers the questions truthfully and now all we have to do is add it to our presentation.
"Thank you, Frank, for helping us with our project. It means a lot." Olivia says.
"No problem Olivia. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to make dinner." With that, Frank exited the living room and walked into the kitchen. I hear a battle cry and someone yell "ATTACK!", again. Olivia and I rush toward the entrance hallway but stay hiding. We see Josh get hit with Nerf darts as he backs up into the door.
"What the heck?!?" Josh yells. Olivia and I can't help but start to laugh a bit. Who am I kidding? We burst out laughing.
"This is for eating the last apple pie!" George yells back. They hit Josh with a couple more darts and then quickly run away. All that's left are the darts on the ground and our laughter filling the hallway.
"You guys think you're so funny, huh?" Josh ask.
"Just a little." Olivia says. Uh, oh. I think.
"Well, hello Olivia." Josh says while smirking.
"Hi." She replies.
"Bye Josh." I say to Josh while giving him a death stare.
"I'm leaving, I'm leaving." Josh puts his arms in the air as if to say he surrenders.
"I better get going too. I have to get home for dinner and I still have to do homework." Olivia says.
"I'll get your stuff." I say leaving Olivia by the door. I turn to go into the living room when Josh mouths something to me. At first I wasn't sure what he was saying, but then I got it. He was saying, "Ask her out". I just rolled my eyes at him and grabbed Olivia's stuff, heading back to the door. By then, Josh was gone, probably in his room.
"Here you go." I say while handing Olivia her backpack.
"Thanks." She says smiling.
"So, are you going to go to the carnival?" I ask. This is it. I am so nervous I can hear my heartbeat in my ears. She opens her mouth to answer when she is interrupted.
"Carnival? Can I go?" It's Cassie.
So close! I think.
"Sure Cassie. Do you want to go with me? I would be honored if you said yes." I say to Cassie. Her eyes beam of excitement and laughter.
"Ok!" Cassie replies.
"Would you like to accompany us to the carnival Olivia?" I ask her. She is taken aback by me asking her to go with me and Cassie. I can tell she is mentally debating her answer.
"I don't know...." Olivia starts.
"PLEEEEAAASE!?!" Cassie pleads. Olivia smiles at Cassie and nods her head.
"Sure! Why not?" She says. I look into her eyes and I swear I see her blush a bit, but I can't confirm it because by then she says goodbye while exiting the door.
Yes! I'm hanging out with Olivia at the carnival! . . . And Cassie of course.