Chapter 44

Without moving my head, my eyes cautiously scanned the area to make sure nobody had just seen that transpire. The fact that nobody was even looking at me was a good indicator. I sighed and proudly lifted my head again. I tightly held my offering of good spirits to Nora as I marched over to the group.

Nora was the first one to notice me. "Hey, Anthony!" she called out as she waved to me, causing the others to look over and greet me the same.

"Hey guys," I said as I stood before them.

"Nice rose," Frank remarked. "Who's it for? Your favorite teacher or something?" The other boys snickered.

"He has a secret girlfriend," Josh said. "I'm telling you."

"Actually," I replied as I held the rose out to Nora, "it's for you."

Nora took it and stared at it in disbelief for a couple moments. She then gazed up at me, her jaw hanging agape.

"Wha– seriously?" she sputtered.

"Yeah, seriously," I replied with a big grin. "I just wanted to give you something to help you feel better after what happened yesterday."

"Wow," she softly remarked as she gently took it and stared at it intensely. "This is... so thoughtful of you, Anthony! It's really a beautiful rose! It's so perfect and–" she gave it a quick whiff, "it smells so nice. Where did you get it from?"

"Oh, well, you know," I placed a hand in my pocket and shrugged with the other arm. "It just sort of... appeared out of nowhere and fell right into my hand."

"Ah," she remarked with a soft giggle, "one of those kinds of flowers."

"How are you going to carry it around all day?" Frank asked her.

"Um...," she thought for a moment. "Well, my first period teacher has a small vase. I could give it to her to hold onto and get it back after school." She then grinned from ear to ear as she looked up at me again. "But, really, thank you again, Anthony. It's nice to know you were thinking of me."

Nora leapt up and eagerly hugged me, placing a kiss on the cheek. I then held her for a moment as we slowly swayed from side to side. I think the others really wanted to make a kissing joke, but considering what happened after the last time Nora and I kissed they decided against it. Just a moment later, the bell rang. The others calmly got to their feet while Nora and I let go of each other.

"Thanks again," she quietly said before she and the others began to walk away.

"See you at lunch!" Frank called out to me.

"See ya!" I called back before sighing happily. I felt incredibly proud and accomplished as I gazed at Nora for a moment before heading off to first period myself.

First period felt like a breeze. I didn't know if it was the good mood I was in or if I just found the work easy, but I was done with our assignment with plenty of time to spare. By that point, the teacher was less surprised and more pleased by my work output. I'm sure he was ready to give me a gold star sticker any day now.

During second period, our Algebra teacher didn't feel like going easy on us just because it was Friday. So, class was more of the same. I did get to talk to Tamara again, who was in her usual sweet and bubbly mood. It certainly made enduring an otherwise boring second period so much more fun. Did I mention that she had an incredibly pretty smile? I swear bits of me turned to goo every time she flashed those pearly whites at me.

After class ended, I got to say my friendly 'goodbye' to Tamara and then departed from class. Once I entered the hall, I quickly pressed my backpack-covered back against the wall separating my first and second period classes. I patiently waited for Elizabeth to exit the classroom, which she did quickly enough that she didn't notice me. I smirked as she stood around searching for me. I then came up to her from her side, giving her a playful little push.

She immediately turned to me with an amused grin.

"You shouldn't push a girl like that," she remarked.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I feigned an apology as I lifted up the sleeve of her t-shirt. "Let me look. Is it bleeding?"

"Funny, papi," she replied, swatting my hand away. We then smirked at each other as we began to talk to third period together.

"You know," she said, "if people keep seeing the two of us together like this, they gonna think we're a couple or somethin'."

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked, my eyebrows raised with a playful smile.

"The worst thing," she spat. I then groaned and clutched my head, pretending to have a heart attack. She laughed in amusement. "I'm just playin' with you."

"I notice you seem to do that a lot."

She smirked as she leaned in toward me, "You would notice if you knew me..." she remarked in a sultry tone. I grinned happily as we entered the stairwell together.

"Maybe you and I should get to know each other better?" I suggestively asked.

"Maybe I'll give you a shot, papi," she said. "Someday. Not today. Maybe when you're a little taller."

"I think you'd find there's more to me than just how tall I am," I replied.

She quickly corrected me. "Uhh, you mean how short you are."

"Hey, I'm taller than you, aren't I?" I asked as I held the second floor door open for her, grinning in her face as she walked by.

"Fine, I'll give you that," she replied, sticking her tongue at me.

As we reached our classroom, I let her go ahead of me. She eagerly darted inside to go take her seat next to her friend. I smirked and shook my head in amusement. I then approached Talia, who looked up at me with a big smile.

"Hey Talia," I greeted her, mirroring her smile, "how's it going?"

"Great," she replied with a warm tone. I gently touched her shoulder, prompting her to smile even wider as she placed a hand over my own.

"You definitely look great," I said, drawing a soft giggle from her before I headed farther into the room to go take my seat.

Just a moment later, Eve and Lila walked into class together.

"Hi," Eve whispered to me from afar as she cutely waved at me. I waved back just the same before she took her seat. Lila stopped in front of me, causing me to look up at her. She had a strangely curious look on her face that I only saw for a split second before she quickly turned away and took her seat. I stared at the back of her head in confusion for a moment, wondering what that look was for.

Class was simple and relaxing, which I certainly appreciated. We were given a few pages to read from our textbooks and to copy down text with bullet points. It was so laid-back that I was tempted to put my feet up on my table. I then thought I could get bonus points for putting my feet up on Jennifer's table. The thought of Jennifer berating me amused me, but I ultimately decided to hold myself back.

A few minutes later, I noticed the sound of paper tearing. The last time I heard that, Eve was preparing a note for me. But when I looked over at her, she was still in the middle of doing her work. That's when I noticed Lila bringing her arm back over her shoulder, folded paper in hand. I stared at it for a moment which is when she impatiently dropped it on my table and went back to her work. I thought it was very strange that Lila would be sending me notes, but I was extremely curious and unfurled it.

I was shocked by what the note said.

"Please freeze time."