Chapter 10

"We need some paper towels or something," she said, walking over to the teacher's desk, "to clean all that up," she said as she pointed at the floor.

"Oh yeah," I remarked. I was just glad she was smarter than I was. She went for a small stack of paper towels on the desk, used for cleaning up any messes from biology experiments. I felt that our situation fit perfectly into that category.

I walked over to Jennifer when it became obvious she couldn't pick them up due to them being time-frozen.

"Gosh, that's annoying," she remarked. "Can't wait to get back to normal life after this bullshit."

I chuckled and touched the paper towels, making the entire stack tangible again. She smirked, impressed by the trick. She quickly picked off a few of them and went over to drop them on the floor and clean up the mess using her feet.

I approached her as she began to speak. "You know, you are really cute."

"Oh yeah?" I asked with a grin.

"Your appearance is just... disarming. You seem like a sweet guy to talk to, but sometimes you can be a real dick to deal with."

I sighed quietly with a smile upon my face and nodded. "I feel like this is as good a time as any to apologize," I said. She curiously raised her eyebrows as she turned to me. "I know that I can... you know, piss you off at times. Doing that doesn't exactly make me the smartest guy around, but... I respect you, Jennifer. You've got loads of personality and you're way cooler than most of the other girls in school."

"Well, thanks," she replied with a smile before focusing back on cleaning up. "It's pretty cool of you to admit that.

I grinned as I clapped my hands and rubbed them together. "Awesome. So that means we're cool now, right?"

She gave me an amused chuckle. "Maybe we are," she remarked. "I feel like I understand you a hell of a lot better than I ever did before."

I was more than okay with that response. I sighed in content. "That was so... crazy awesome, amazing, I... I don't even know how to explain it." She chuckled in amusement. "That was one hell of a first time."

Her head suddenly lifted from the ground and toward me. "... First time?" she asked with a confused scoff. "What are you talking about?

I looked her dead in the eyes and said, "That was... my first time, you know doing it? Having sex? That thing we just did together?"

She was dumbfounded. "Are you–yeah, right.”

"No, I'm serious!" I replied with a laugh. "That was my first time."

She shook her head in disbelief. "Wow, damn... you're pretty good." I was elated to hear her say that. I grinned as I grabbed a couple more paper towels and went over to help her clean up just the same as she was. "I bet with a little experience, you could be an amazing lover. Part of that, though, is to treat girls like actual people instead of things to piss off, and if you just learn how to talk to girls like a normal person then you wouldn't believe how far you'd get. I mean, I just went all the way with you."

"Well, yeah," I looked up from cleaning the floor as I replied with a sly smile, "that's because of how charming and irresistible I am." Jennifer laughed as she picked up the paper towels at her feet, walking over to the nearby trash bin and throwing them away.

"You have a little bit of that," she replied with a smirk of her own. "Always compliment girls—not just on how they look, but on who they are as well. You need to just man up, be confident, and go in for the kill."

I picked up the paper towels at my feet and threw them away as well. "You make it sound like a nature show.”

"Well, we are nothing but mammals, right?" she asked with a chuckle. "Just remember that girls can't resist a good distraction from the drama of their relationship. Even if they're in a good place with their man, there's no reason they wouldn't want to spice things up a bit. All you need to do is be fluent in flirting."

"Sounds simple enough," I replied before adding, "... I think."

The two of us stood there for a moment and it allowed me to take the time to admire her. She was so incredible, so smart, so sexy, and so pleasant. In a word, she was awesome. All I wanted to do at that moment was be right there with her.

"I have to say...," I remarked, "you're pretty awesome to talk to – like a normal person, anyway."

"So are you," she replied. "I'm glad I got to see this side of you. You're pretty cool when you can just relax and be yourself."

I then acted on the compulsion to throw my arms outward, causing Jennifer to snicker and walk toward me. I welcomed her into my arms and me into hers. We sighed almost in unison as we shared a few moments of tranquility in each other’s embrace. It felt like the most perfect way to cap off my first time with a girl.

She then broke the silence. "I don't want this to change things between us," she admitted. "You were right earlier. I do kind of... enjoy... having you bother me. It just feels like the norm."

"Well, if that's the case," I replied, "I can't wait to go back to pissing you off and ruining your day."

"Neither can I," she replied as she pulled away enough to look into my eyes. "I don't want you to ever change who you are, got it?"

"You're very persuasive," I remarked, causing her to grin. "I got it."

"Good," she said as she rubbed my back. She then gave a brief look around the room. "Now, maybe we could finally get back to real life?"

"Sounds like a good idea."

The two of us then parted ways and I followed her down the aisle, both of us slipping back into our assigned seats.

She quickly pulled out a hairbrush from her backpack and took a brief moment to straighten her hair with it. She then put it away before picking up her pencil from the table. She adjusted herself back into her position before she realized the time had frozen and waited for me. I looked back at her one more time. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Whenever you're ready," she said.

I smiled at her before turning back to my work. I took hold of my pencil and sighed in content. I didn't feel disappointed at all that we had to go back to our boring, old classwork—not after the amazing, satisfying experience we shared. I blinked my eyes and our ears were immediately greeted with the familiar sounds of pencils scratching against papers. It was nostalgic, enough to make Jennifer chuckle.

"Shh!" someone nearby shushed her.

"You shh!" she shot back.

I smiled to myself as I focused on my work for once. It was far less exciting than sex, but I was still on cloud nine. I had the fortune of enjoying my first time having sex with a gorgeous girl that I'd only dreamed about having, and I knew I would always keep that experience close to me. Yeah, it's kind of sappy bullshit, but I couldn't help feeling pretty sappy after bonding with her on a much deeper, emotional level than I could've ever imagined.