Cheyanne barely made it to class by the first bell, and she was so tired and zoned out, I couldn't talk to her until lunch. I met her at her locker, planning to walk to lunch with her, but she wasn't there. I pulled out my cellphone to text her as I headed toward the cafeteria alone.
"Where are you?" the text read.
I went through the line and paid for my lunch. I didn't really eat alone, since I always had Cheyanne, so I wandered along the edge of the cafeteria until I found a table that wasn't too full. The cafeteria tables at this school were just long tables that had round seats jutting out on the sides. They were set up in rows going length-wise down the room. There was a an aisle left between two columns of table rows. Usually the ends filled up last because the lunch-duty teachers would make sure students filled out the table from the middle out to make it easier for students to take a seat without having to squeeze between rows of students with a tray full of food and their book bags.
I kept my head down until I found a table that wasn't too full that was kind of in the back, near the entrance to the restrooms. I sat down and checked my phone, and still no reply from Cheyanne. Has it already begun? Is she already forgetting about me and assimilating into her new group of friends? I looked around the cafeteria to see if I could see her, but in a seated position I couldn't see much. There were too many people. I decided to just eat my lunch and go to the Library during recess. I still had to think of some ideas for my science experiments on matter and reactions with Finnegan.
Ah! Finnegan. I daydreamed about him through the rest of lunch, remembering all the wonderful things that have happened between us. I fantasized about the more that was to come, considering we would be alone in a field together, and partnered up for the next two weeks. I finished eating with 20 minutes left in the lunch hour before a 30 minute recess. I took my tray to the dish area to dispose of my trash and return the tray before walking to the library.
Just as I started out of the cafeteria, I heard Cheyanne calling my name. I turned to see her sitting in the middle row with some other cheerleaders and football players. She was trying to wave me over, but I just waved back at her and turned to walk away. Halfway up the hallway, she caught up to me.
"Hey! Sorry I didn't come find you before lunch. Jennifer and Miley are in my Second Period, so I just walked with them to the cafeteria after class without going by my locker. They made the team too."
She was smiling and out of breath. "It's ok. Didn't you see my text though? I tried to find you before I sat down." I said to her.
"Oh, no. Sorry. I haven't looked at my phone. I had a lot of fun last night, and I was really tired all morning because of it. The girls on the team are really nice and Jennifer know Austin because Austin's brother and her brother are on the same Middle School baseball team. Anyway, Austin is so cute, so she's trying to help me spend more time with him. You would like them. They're really nice. Come hang with us during recess!"
I didn't really want to hang around with those types of girls. I know Cheyanne always talks about boys and I go along with it, but I couldn't stand it if I had to listen to more than one boy-crazy girl.
"No, thanks. You have fun. I need to focus on my science project. I'm going to the library through recess." The tone of my voice must not have seemed sincere when I told her to have fun because her expression changed to serious and a little sad.
"Hey, are you ok?" she asked.
"I'll be fine," I tried to assure her. "You're busy with the cheerleading squad now. I know how important it was to you. I'll find ways to keep myself busy too, but I don't really want to hang out with that crowd. Sorry." I turned to walk away again.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so stupid! I completely spaced on your big news you had yesterday. I'm so sorry. I really do want to know, just everything happened so quickly yesterday afternoon."
With my back still turned to her I said, "It's ok. I don't really feel like talking about it right now. Maybe if you aren't busy after school we can talk."
"Oh, man. I can't. Today is the first practice. We'll be having practice everyday after the last bell for an hour. Can I call you tonight?"
"If you're not busy," I said. Then I went to the library, leaving her to stare after me before returning to her new friends.
The library was completely empty. The Librarian greeted me cheerfully when I entered, and I chose a comfortable chair in the lounge area to work. The lounge area had two cozy chairs with a side table between them on one side of a coffee table, and a couch on the other side. The library also had two small, private conference rooms, and a row of privacy desks along the back wall. It was so nice to have the whole library to myself.
I took out my Science book and flipped to the chapters we were working on. I took out my folder for the class and looked through the packet. I had already finished the first page of it, but there were still 8 more pages to do. The last page in the packet described the criteria for the two experiments on one side, and the criteria for the essay on the other. I took out my notebook and started trying to brainstorm for the experiments. I wrote the criteria for the matter experiment and drew a line under it to leave the bottom half of the page for ideas. Then I did the same on the next page for the reaction experiment. I skimmed through the chapters to try to get an idea, but i couldn't really come up with anything for Matter. About 5 minutes before the end-of-recess bell, I had written an idea for the Reaction chapter, but it wasn't really a project that could be done outside in a field.
My next two periods went by, and after the last bell, I waited by my locker for about ten minutes. I busied myself with sorting my books and notebooks in my locker and book bag. Cheyanne had practice, so I had to go and catch the bus today. I started toward the loading area, but Finnegan walked around the corner and stopped me in my tracks. He came to find me again? Does this mean he likes me too? No, maybe he is just nice, and is focused on doing well on the project.
"Hey, Elise! I haven't seen you all day. I wanted to talk to you about our experiments." he said smiling.
"Hi. Ok. I have to catch the bus today. Cheyanne is on the Cheerleading team now, so she will have practice everyday after school."
"Oh, well do you want me to give you a ride home again? I don't mind." My heart lifted. Two days in a row I get to spend with him. Riding in his car, being close to him alone. Is this heaven?
"Ok, thanks." We walked to his car and he told me he thought we could try to craft a model of a water molecule from things we find outside. He kept talking about how water is such an interesting element and how it is unique compared to all of the other elements. I wanted to tell him that Hydrogen and Oxygen were the elements, but as he talked, I realized he meant like the Four Elements: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. He was so knowledgeable about the topic, and I was just glad he was talking to me. I could listen and watch him talk forever. He seemed very passionate about it. He would wrinkle his nose when he was trying to find a way to explain something, and his dimples would appear and reappear. I got lost in those dimples.
"So, what do you think? I doubt anyone else will try this hard considering who is in our class, besides the two smart girls. I don't even remember their names."
"That sounds really good. I don't really know how to craft stuff, but I'll help however I can," I said lamely.
"Well, I actually do this stuff all the time...sort of. I have a hot glue gun at home, so if we can find everything we need and lay out a design, I can finish it at home. If that's ok?" Finnegan suddenly realized he had talked the whole way and felt a little embarrassed.
"Sure, if you don't mind. I feel bad, though. I wish I could do more to help."
"Never mind, it's no problem really. Did you think of anything for the Reaction project?" he said to try to give her a chance to contribute to the conversation.
They were about to turn down her driveway. "Well, I could only think of one thing, but it's really something that has to be done in the kitchen. I might have all of the stuff, but my kitchen isn't adequate enough for two people to work, and my mom and I don't really have a dinner table, since it's just us." This was true, but also Elise just wanted to try to see Finnegan's house before the two week partner project was over. This might be her only chance.
"Hmm, ok. Well, I'll talk to my parents and see if it's ok if you come over Monday after school. I'll let you know tomorrow. I think we're gonna ace this project." He was smiling again. Come to think of it, Elise hadn't really seen him excited talking with anyone, even his best friend, in all the times she watched him from afar. Could he really like her?
"Ok great. If not, I don't know, we'll think of something. Thanks for driving me home again." Elise started blushing. She hurriedly gathered her bag and got out of the car.
"Ok, see you at 12:15 tomorrow." He backed out of the driveway and drove away.
This girl, Finnegan thought, is so quiet. He never paid any attention to any girl before, but now that he was working with her on this project, he couldn't stop thinking about her and looking for her. She listened with interest to everything he said, but she seemed hesitant to add anything. Also, he never really talked this much with anyone. Water. Water was special in his faith. he could talk for hours about any of the Five elements. They were represented by the points on his pentacle ring. And when he started to talk about Water reverently, she didn't get weird, per se. She just got kind of...shy? On the drive home, he thought about how he was glad she was his partner for the project. But he was also wondering how close he should get to her. He still didn't know if she would judge him wrongly if she saw his true self, his pagan self. And how was he going to ask his parents about inviting a girl over? Oh, Gods, they were going to make it weird, probably.