It was finally here, the last semester of senior year. The only bad thing was Advanced Calculus and Economics. For Economics we were all going to be partnered up, a boy and a girl, and then the teacher, Mr. Sims “marries” you. You have to plan a wedding and raise a baby together for three weeks.
I walked towards room 307 with dread. I had a feeling that I’d get stuck with a slacker or someone I didn’t like. I stepped into the stuffy, loud room and quickly found a seat in the back next to my best friend, Emily.
“Am I late?” I whispered as Mr. Sims, started taking role call.
“No, he just got here,” she whispered back.
The whole class was very still as Mr. Sims finished role call. Everyone was waiting to know who their partner was going to be. He seemed to felt the pressure and cleared his throat.
“Okay, I know everyone wasn’t to know who their partners are, but first let’s talk about some of the things that I’m going to grade you on for this project,” Mr. Sims said as he pulled out a notebook.
A loud groan rose from the crowd of eager students.
“Shush, all of you. This project is over half of your grade. It’ll help you learn responsibility. The faster you be quiet the faster you can find out who your partner is.”
That shut everybody up. He began to drone on about the rules of the project. I zoned out and scanned the room, wondering who would be my partner.
A row over from Emily and I was my crush, Aaron Samuels. He, like most of the students, wasn’t paying attention, but doodling. As he drew, his shaggy blond hair fell over his cloudy blue eyes. Aaron looked up and began to study Mr. Sims. Then he started to draw again, concentration lines forming on his forehead.
On my right side was the captain of the soccer team, Brendan Smale. He glanced over at me and rolled his stormy green eyes at me about something Mr. Sims had said. I smiled and began to study his face. Brend has short light brown hair, and deep dimples that showed when he smiled. If I had to be partnered with someone, I wanted it to either be Aaron or Brend. Mr. Sims cleared his throat again and I looked up.
“Okay, once you’ve been assigned to a partner, I want the two of you to find a spot, somewhere quiet and start planning, alright?”
A murmur of yeses rose from the very over eager group of students. I sighed and waited for him to seal my fate.
“Emily Madison and Brendan Smale, partners,” Mr. Sims read off.
Emily smiled at me as she followed Brend out the door. I crossed my fingers and hoped.
“Aaron Samuels and Sara Jones, partners.”
I sat there in shock. He had just read off my name. Aaron stood up, grabbed his notebook and walked over to me. I looked up at him, my mouth probably hanging open, totally shocked.
“Let’s go,” Aaron whispered after a few seconds.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” I mumbled as I stood up and grabbed my notebook.
We walked out of the classroom and into the hallway; from there we went outside and onto the football field. He sat down on the fifty yard line and opened his notebook. I sat down beside him and opened mine as well.
“So, umm… This project is so stupid, right?” I asked, trying to fill the awkward silence.
Aaron looked up at me briefly and then looked back down at his notebook. I began to doodle on the paper in front of me. I sighed heavily and drew a random cloud in the very center of my paper. I felt something brush against my cheek and I looked up. I didn’t expect to be looking straight into Aaron’s blue eyes. I backed up slightly and blushed. He moved forward and I looked back up at him.
“Hold still will you? Geez, how can I draw you if you keep moving away from me?” Aaron asked.
“You’re drawing me?” I asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“I don’t know. I just didn’t realize what you were doing, sorry,” I said.
“You start throwing out ideas for our “wedding” while I finish this okay?” he said, looking back down at his notebook.
“Okay, we need to pick bridesmaid and groomsmen, maid of honor, and best man. The color scheme, honeymoon place, and a baby name. Oh, and if it’s a boy or a girl,” I paused to take a breath before continuing.
“So, where do you want to start?” I asked.
“The wedding details would probably be best,” he suggested, not looking up from his paper.
“Okay,” I said flipping to a fresh page in my notebook.
“What’s your favorite color?” I asked.
“Green.”
“Cool, mine’s purple. That’s okay with you right? Green and purple together, I mean,” I said.
“Yeah, that sounds fine,” Aaron said looking up at me.
“Do you want to get some ice cream after school today? To discuss some more of this stuff,” he asked.
“Sure,” I said, setting my notebook down on the ground beside me.
“Can you pick that back up for like two more minutes, please?” he asked.
“Whoops, yeah sorry. I forgot.”
I set my notebook back in my lap and began to doodle again.
“Okay, I’m down. You can move now,” Aaron said as he dropped his pen and flexed his fingers.
“Can I see?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said handing me his sketch notebook.
I looked down at it and gasped. Aaron had drew me so that I actually looked pretty, beautiful even.
“What? You don’t like it?” he asked.
“No, no, I love it. I really do. Can I copy it?” I asked, running a finger over my drawn hair.
“You can just keep it. I can draw another one,” he said.
“Really? Thanks, but could you do something for me first?” I asked.
“Sure, what is it?”
“Will you sign it?” I asked, sheepishly.
He smiled and nodded as he took the notebook back and flipped it over. Aaron wrote something on the back and then handed it back. Before I could read it, he covered up the words with his hand.
“Oh, wait you can’t read this yet.” Aaron said taking the notebook back and closing it.
“Why?” I asked.
“’Cause we’re not “married” yet,” he said simply.
“You’re enjoying this aren’t you?” I asked.
“Yes, I am.”
“Okay, back to the details,” I said picking my notebook back up.
Aaron’s hand stopped me as it took my hand. I sat there quiet, staring down at his hand over mine.
“Let’s just talk for the rest of the hour, get to know each other better, you know?” he asked.
“Yeah, sure,” I said, distracted by his hand still.
Aaron lay down in the grass and looked up at the clouds. I followed his lead and laid down too. The sky seemed to open up like curtains for us as it turned a deep blue with small clouds sprinkled around it. He turned on his side so that he was facing me. He reached over at brushed my brown/red hair away from my face so that he could see my copper brown eyes. I watched his hand as it brushed the dirt off of my arm.
“Can I ask you something?” he asked.
“Sure.”
“Do you believe in love?”
“Yeah, who doesn’t?” I asked.
“My dad,” he whispered.
“That sucks.”
“Yeah, pretty much,” he said, shrugging.
Silence engulfed us once again, each lost in our own thoughts. We heard the faint ringing of the bell signaling the end of school. Aaron smiled down at me as he stood up. He helped me up and held onto my hand longer than necessary.
“Shall we go?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah. Should we take your car or mine?” I asked, letting go of his hand.
“Let’s take mine,” he said as we started walking towards the school.
I nodded and opened the door. We walked into the school and towards the parking lot. Aaron stepped outside first and I followed close behind. We walked outside and passed most of the cars until we were back in the very back near a silver and blue motorcycle.
“This is your car?” I asked as he picked up a spare helmet and handing it to me.
“Yeah, is that okay?” Aaron asked, putting on a helmet himself.
“Umm… Sure,” I said hesitantly.
I got on the motorcycle behind Aaron and snapped on my helmet.
“Put your hands on my waist,” he instructed before turning on the engine.
I loosely put my hands on his waist as he revved the engine. As soon as Aaron stepped on the gas, I squealed and squeezed him tight. His whole body shook as he chuckled. We zoomed down the city streets towards where ever we were going. Aaron pulled up in front of a popular pizza place and parked beside a lime green convertible.
He got off of the motorcycle and unsnapped his helmet. I followed his motions only shakier.
“Are you okay?” Aaron asked as I tipped slightly.
“Yeah, I think so,” I said slowly.
I tipped forward and Aaron caught me and set me back on my feet.
“Maybe I should’ve warned you about this. It happens to everyone on their first ride,” he said.
“That may have been helpful,” I said smiling.
“Sorry, I’ll remember next time.”
We smiled at each other and went inside. Aaron pulled me towards an empty booth near the back of the restaurant. We sat down and waited for someone to come and take our order. He turned and smiled across the table at me.
“So, should we get started again?” I asked, pulling a pen out of my back pocket.
“Sure. Okay, so green and purple scheme. What about bridesmaids next?” he suggested.
“Okay, well Emily definitely as my Maid of Honor and I really haven’t thought about the others yet. Have you decided on groomsmen?”
“No, I really haven’t thought ab-“ Aaron began, but was interrupted when a tall, skinny blond sat down in his lap.
“Hey Aaron! You didn’t call me last night. What happened?” she asked, running a hand over his cheek.
She than noticed me sitting there.
“Who’s this? Are you cheating on me with her?” she demanded, turning back towards Aaron.
“No, Madison. I’m not cheating on you with Sara. We’re working on a school project together,” he said, calmly.
“Oh, well… Just watch her. School projects bring out strange things in people,” Madison warned as she stood.
With one last flip of her long blond hair and she was gone. I sat quiet for a moment, pondering what had just happened.
“So, yeah. That’s Madison.”
“Yeah, I kinda figured,” I said.
“Sorry about her. She’s got a jealousy problem. Every time I even look at another person, even a guy she flips out. I hate it,” Aaron said sighing.
I remained quiet as a waitress hurried over and asked what we wanted. After we’d ordered we got back to work.
“Okay, boy or girl?” I asked.
“Can we have one of both?”
“I don’t know. Let’s just pretend like we do. Name suggestions?”
“Kayden,” Aaron said.
“Pretty and a boy’s name?” I asked, writing down the girls’ name.
“I don’t know, what do you think?” he asked.
“I like Kix, wouldn’t that be cute? Kix and Kayden,” I asked, looking up.
“Yeah, I like it. What else?”
“Umm… Our house is next,” I said after checking the list.
“Okay, but do we have to be reasonable?” he asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” I said, shrugging.
“Okay, I have the perfect house in my mind. It’s on Second Street. You know the one for sale?” Aaron asked.
“Oh yeah. I love that house. You’re right it is perfect!” I exclaimed as our pizza came.
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