“Hey, Sam!”
It was him. I was pretty sure. And honestly, I was torn between wanting to hug him and to yell at him. So I just turned around and smiled. He was standing in front of my locker and he was holding something wrapped in paper.
“What's that?”, I asked while taking out my binder and leaving the rest of the stuff in my locker. I was still a little mad at him because he left me at lunch yesterday.
“I don't know. Why don't you open it?”, he replied. He really annoyed me when he was trying to be funny but he was so cute at the same time. My feelings are kind of complicated.
I took the packet. The paper was pink, with flowers on it. Gift wrap? Okay, I was curious. I tore the paper and screamed. A bunch of people who were still at their lockers turned around and stared at me. I love you, too, guys. Anyway, I was so excited, I hardly paid attention to them. That was the latest book by my favorite author, Marissa Smith.
'Sunset in the Forest' is going to be the best book of the year! I was counting the days to the release date, September 12th since... Wait! Today was September 11th. The book wasn't supposed to be out. I think he noticed my confusion, because he started laughing.
“My uncle works at a bookstore. He got two copies for me. This one is yours.”, he said.
“Really? Oh my gosh, thank you sooooo much!”, I shouted and then I hugged him.
“I'm on chapter 7. Stephen is going to...”
“Shut up!”, I laughed.”You know how much I hate it when you do that.”
“That's why I keep doing it”, he said.
“Jason!”, someone shouted behind him.
“What?”, he turned around. A group of boys, Jason's friends, were walking toward us. He started talking to them and walked away without even looking at me.
The bell rang. I had 5 minutes to read before the beginning of the period so I left the gift wrap in my locker and rushed to my first class.
Biology. I threw the binder on my desk and opened the book. I still couldn't believe that was it!!! I had barely read a page when my best friend Chloe walked in.
“Hi!”, she said. “What's that?”
“A book”, I replied without looking at her.
She pulled the book from me and looked at the cover.
“What's that name? 'Sunset in the Forest'? Sounds stupid....”, she said.
“Shut up!”, I took it and opened it again. “It's the best. Book. Ever. And it was supposed
to come out tomorrow! I'm sooooo excited!”
“Nerd...”, Chloe laughed.
“That's why you love me.”, I answered with a smile.
“Wait, if it's coming out tomorrow, how did you get it?”, she asked.
“Jason”, I said and I couldn't stop smiling when I thought about him.
“He gave it to you?”, Chloe stared at me, wide-eyed.
I nodded and the teacher walked in. We were going to have a test in a few weeks and I knew I had to pay attention to the lesson but I kept staring at the book in front of me. The book my crush had gotten for me. At that moment, I was the happiest girl in the world.
Most of the day passed and he didn't speak to me again. I hated it when he did that. He did something really cute and then he acted as if he didn't know me. I liked him but I sometimes got really frustrated with him.
My last period, Literature, was the only class I had with Jason. We had a test (I did quite well, I think) and then we got to read until the end of the class. Finally! I took out the book and opened it. Soon I got so much into the book I didn't even realize someone was calling my name.
“Sam?...Sam!...Samantha!”
“What?”, I asked and I looked up. It was Angela, a friend of mine.
“I'm your partner.”, she announced. When she saw my confusion, she pointed at the paper which was laying on my desk. The teacher must have left it there while I was reading.
“So what are we doing?”, I asked. I was too lazy to read the whole thing.
“We have to choose a book and write an epilogue to it.”, Angela explained. “It can be any book we want but...”
She kept talking but I wasn't listening. I looked around the room. Where was he? I saw him sitting with Evelyn Davis. I wanted to shout. I had never liked that girl and the fact that she had a crush on Jason didn't really help. They were laughing and talking about something. He hugged her and for a second I just sat and stared, too startled to do anything.
Suddenly rage and jealousy started burning inside me. How could he do this to me? A few hours ago he was the cutest guy in the world, the one who surprised me with the best gift ever. Did he do this to every girl? For a really brief moment this morning, I thought he could actually like me back. And now I could see my hope vanish and I couldn't do anything about it.
“So which book do you think we should choose?”, Angela asked. Luckily, she hadn't noticed my distraction.
“Do you want to do this one?”, I showed her the book I was reading even though at that moment I hated it because it reminded me of Jason.
“'Sunset in the Forest'...”, Angela said. “What's it about?”
I spent the rest of the class telling her about the book. I think she liked it. She promised to buy it and start reading as soon as possible. I nodded just because I didn't feel like saying anything.
When the bell rang, I ran to my locker. I wanted to get away from him. Besides, I was hoping to meet one of my friends and talk about the sleepover she was having. She wasn't there so I sighed and started putting my stuff in my bag. Then I locked my locker, turned around and saw Jason. I was about to push him to the side and just walk away but he started talking.
“Hey, Sam, I wanted to ask you a question...”, he seemed nervous, which confused me. He seemed much calmer when he was giggling with Evelyn. “You know Homecoming is in two weeks...”
“Don't talk to me!”, I interrupted him and started walking down the hallway. He followed me.
“Wait, what? What happened?”, he seemed puzzled.
“Nothing happened, Jason. Look, I'm busy. Whatever you wanna talk about, Evelyn can help you, I'm sure.”
“What are you talking about?”, he asked and I could sense the confusion in his voice. “I was going to ask you to come to Homecoming with me.”
“Why? Did Evelyn say she didn't want to come with you?”
“What's this whole thing with Evelyn?”, he stopped and wondered for a second. “Is it because I hugged her?”
“Look, if you don't like me, I'm fine with that. Just don't play those games with me, okay?”
“What games?”, he was angry now. “I don't like Evelyn and I never did. I hugged her because she made me. I was going to ask you to be my date for Homecoming. If you don't want to, that's a whole different thing.”
I stopped and turned around. Oh my gosh, how could I be so stupid? When I looked into his eyes, I believed he was being honest with me. I hated myself for thinking he wasn't. At the same time I wished I hadn't trusted him so easily. Complicated feelings were taking over again.
“So you were serious?”, my heart jumped when I asked. I just stared at him. I had been hoping he would ask me out for so long and yet, I was so puzzled when he did it. I was afraid that I had ruined everything. He had finally decided to admit that he liked me and I had started accusing him of flirting with another girl. He nodded.
“Then I'd love to be your date.”, I smiled and I tried not to show how excited I actually was, and how ashamed, too. “Oh, and sorry about that...”, I added in the end.
“Cool!”, he said. “I'm glad we're clear now.” He still seemed a little annoyed but I could tell he was relieved and that made him seem even cuter.
Awkward silence. I guess neither of us knew what to say. In the end he saw one of his friends in the crowd in front of school and he left, quickly saying goodbye and giving me a smile. I didn't know he could be that shy. To me he had always been the boy who didn't care about people's opinion. I think I like the change.
“Sam!”, Chloe shouted.
I turned around and saw her walking across the yard. She looked excited.
“I talked to Harper about the sleepover.”, she said.”She said she was looking for you...”
My best friend kept talking. I tried to focus but all I could think about was Homecoming. I needed a dress. Maybe new shoes. I could wear my new earrings, the silver ones with the...
“Sam?”, Chloe said. “Sam! What's going on? Is everything alright?”
“Yes”, I smiled. “Everything's perfect.”