Ms. Jamison was suddenly distracted by a knock at the door. The teacher from the class next to ours walked in and approached Ms. Jamison’s desk. They didn’t appear to be discussing anything work related; it looked more like friendly conversation, so they’d be a while. Leslie turned her body in her chair until she was facing me. She was always conscious of being friendly to everyone, so I wasn’t surprised when she struck up conversation with AJ.
“So, are you going to the dance tomorrow?” She asked him.
He whipped his head in her direction, obviously shocked when he realized that she was talking to him. “Yeah,” he replied, straightening his posture. “Wouldn’t that be against some rule not to go to the Homecoming Dance your senior year?” He asked jokingly.
Leslie smiled, “Well, if it isn’t, it should be. Are you taking your girlfriend?” She asked without even considering the possibility of him attending the dance alone. To myself, I wondered if her assumption was based on his above average looks. When the thought entered my head, I cleared my throat as if he’d heard.
“I actually don’t have one of those,” he joked. Good! He’s single – more info for Megan. “Me and a couple of my friends are riding together. I guess there aren’t any ladies that want to put up with us for the night,” he said through his perfect smile. I found it hard to imagine that he couldn’t find at least one girl to spend the evening with him. Subconsciously, my eyes wandered over the details of his face and body as I let my imagination run a riot. It startled me from my illicit thoughts when he glanced back at me briefly. I sat back hoping that he didn’t realize I was staring. His gaze was heavy and entrancing – leaving me to feel trapped in those few seconds that our eyes met.
Ms. Jamison finished her conversation and was preparing to pass the syllabuses out. She came to our group and handed us each a packet. I was a relatively good student – all A’s and B’s – and I had full confidence in my ability to complete the assignment without any complications, but this project was going to end up being a big deal. It was obviously extensive enough that the time we would be allotted in class wouldn’t be sufficient. We only had three weeks to complete all the research, compile the data, create the graphs, and put our presentation together.
“Wow, she must really be mad to drop this on us before the dance,” AJ blurted.
“I know. This is no joke,” Leslie replied with a sigh. “We’ll probably have to get together a couple times a week to get it done on time.”
There was a brief moment of silence.
“Well, why don’t we all exchange numbers now so we’ll be able to contact each other,” AJ announced. Without hesitation, he turned toward me to write his phone number at the top of my syllabus and then turned to do the same on Leslie’s. Next, he took his cell phone from his pocket. He stared, waiting for me divulge my phone number. It took me a half second to catch on, but I recited it to him and Leslie followed suit.
When he turned back around to face the front of the classroom, he ran his fingers through his hair subconsciously, leaving his hand at the back of his head for a few seconds. I tried not to notice the way his arm flexed as he made the motion. I glanced down at my syllabus to avert my eyes, but they locked on the digits he’d scribbled on the top of the page. It took me a second, but I retrieved my cell phone from my purse and stored the number. This was going to be interesting……
The remainder of the class was pretty standard. Ms. Jamison lectured for about 15 minutes or so. Then she gave us a short in-class assignment that only took about 10 minutes. When the bell rang I leaned down to pick up my backpack, naturally a little more cautiously than the last time. Leslie was at Ms. Jamison’s desk turning in her assignment. We walked out together, said our goodbyes, and then parted ways at the door, heading in opposite directions for our next classes.
On my way, I saw Megan at her locker and thought of the information I needed to pass on to her about AJ, prompting me to speed up in order to catch her before she walked off. Maybe they could hook up at the dance or something since neither of them had a date.
“Megan,” I shouted fearing that I wouldn’t reach her in time.