Her POV

You stiffen your spine because you can feel e/n staring at you, almost willing you to glance back at him.

 

Well, it’s not happening. 

You may have to work with him on this dumb project, but you don’t have to like it.  

The bell rings, and you gather your stuff to exit quickly without talking to him. 

“Y/n!” you hear him calling after you, but you ignore him. “Y/n!” he yells again. 

You round the hall fast and enter the girl’s restroom to gather your thoughts.

As you breathe in, you count down from ten to get a hold of yourself, your emotions, and your wildly beating heart. 

Maybe it’s a little childish. But he shouldn’t have yelled at you the other day in the library.

The bell rings again, and you wash your hands. The coast should be clear by now. 

The hallways are all empty, and you enjoy the silence and calm. 

You’re staring at the ground as you go to your locker. And you’re late as hell for your next class. 

“Chin up, y/n.” 

Suddenly, your entire body freezes at the sound of his voice. 

You meet his gaze and glare at him while you retrieve a book from your locker. 

“What is it, e/n? I’m late,” you say in a harsh tone. 

He bites his lip. And your heart melts just a little because you’ve always liked it when he did that. 

“About the history project,” he says. 

“I just wanted you to know that…” He swallows. “I wanted to ask when you want to meet for the project.” 

What? You don’t know what you expected, but it certainly wasn’t this. Upset, you slam your locker shut. “You have a lot of nerve, e/n. After the way you yelled at me the other day.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. It’s so quiet you barely hear it. He clears his throat. “I was wrong, and I’m sorry for that.” 

All the anger has been sucked out of your chest with those words, and you feel deflated now like a balloon on the ground without helium. “But why did you get so mad at me?”

This is the real question that you need to know. Why has he been acting so strange lately?

“I…” His eyes search for something to say, and a final warning bell rings for class. 

Shit.

Now you’re really late for English, but you don’t care anymore because you’re dying to know what he says. “E/n, what is it?” you add, hoping he’ll explain everything. 

His shoulders drop.

“Look, I don’t want to make you any more late than you already are. I just think we should meet for our project. Does tonight work for you?” 

You sigh, your heart is full of disappointment and more questions. “Yeah, it works,” you whisper. 

“I’ll meet you in a study room in the library downtown tonight at five.”

You walk to English class with your chin high, and even though you try to resist, you glance back at him. He’s still standing there with an almost pained expression as he watches you walk away.