The Songs in Our Hearts: A Young Adult Romance(3)

I didn’t give Jennifer a chance to say anything else about it; I turned and walked in the other direction. What was the chance that Micah knew—or cared?

But he’d winked at me.

He must have heard Samantha. She was pretty loud at lunch. If he hadn’t heard then, he had to know by now, given the way my afternoon had gone. My face started to warm as I walked quickly toward the main doors. Some students were crowding the lobby, taking selfies while they waited for their friends, or to be picked up to go home. A few of us pushed through the masses to the line-up of buses outside. As I climbed on the bus and sat down, relief washed over me. I had made it to the end of the day.

I was surprised when I looked up to see Micah hovering over my seat, smirking down at me.

“Is anyone sitting here?” His voice was smooth and rich, almost as if he were straight out of a Hollywood high school movie.

Why was Micah Jacobs speaking to me? I could feel my voice catching in my throat as I shook my head. “N-no…no one’s sitting with me.”

“Great!” He plopped down beside me, hoisting his backpack in his lap.

“I didn’t know you—” Rode the same bus as me. “I didn’t see you on the bus this morning,” I offered as one of the most humiliating conversation starters.

Micah’s smirk turned into a slow and almost sexy grin, as his dark brown eyes softened. “This is my first time, actually. My dad gave me a ride this morning.”

A few of the guys he sat with during lunch came onto the bus and gave him high-fives.

“Yo, man,” one commented, tipping his baseball cap at Micah.

Micah turned, directing his attention to his friend, who took a seat behind us. I pulled a book from my backpack, deciding to distract myself with something worthy. I opened the crinkled pages of my well-used copy of Romeo and Juliet, and tried to read the lines on the page.

“So, I heard you have a crush on me.”

His blatant statement forced me to look up from my book. As I met Micah’s face, his lips turn up into an all-knowing smile. Almost as if saying, Yup, I have you pegged, Charlie. Leave it to the entire school—or really, just Sam—to make something out of nothing. I decided I wasn’t going to indulge him. Instead, I eased back into my book.

“Look, it’s all right,” he tried again. “I mean, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I replied.

“This girl, uh…what’s-her-name…” Micah snapped his fingers. “Sam, I think…she told me you have a crush on me.”

Of course.

“Does it matter?” I asked, annoyed. “I mean, really? Is that why you sat down next to me?”

Bracing my hand on the seat in front of me, the bus engine revved to life and we started to move out of the school parking lot and onto the main street. Thank God I was only a few stops from home.

“So you do have a crush on me!”

“No! God, no!” I said quickly. The guy behind us apparently overheard because he started to tease me.

“Oooooooooh! Micah’s got a girlfriend.”

I ignored him. Guys were so stupid.

“Micah, sounds like your girl is playing hard-to-get,” the guy continued.

“Shut up.” I turned around to glare at him. He was chubby with freckles all over the bridge of his nose. I imagined he was the kind of boy who sat in his boxers and played Xbox all day while his mom brought him peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with no crust. I couldn’t find anything nice to say about his shaggy red hair or his blue plaid shirt that screamed my mom dressed me.

Micah grabbed the book from my hands. I protested, reaching for it, but was held back by his arm and a tsk.

“What are you carrying around? Shakespeare? Really?”

“Give it back.” I watched as he flipped open to the title page, where I had printed my name carefully in the right-hand corner.

“Caroline Blake,” Micah read aloud. “But everyone calls you Charlie.”

“They do,” I said, emphasizing my extended hand. “I’d like my book back.”

“Why do they call you Charlie? Is there a story to your nickname?” He raised an eyebrow curiously.

“No, not really,” I lied. I wasn’t about to tell him the reason why my nickname had stuck since childhood. Maybe I had been obsessed with All Dogs Go to Heaven and maybe I’d insisted on being called Charlie. Maybe.

“All right, then. How about a please?” He sported a devilish smirk. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Please, may I have my book back, Micah?”

He squinted, giving me a teasing eye, and slowly handed the book back to me.

Thankfully, my stop had come. I hoisted myself up from the seat. Micah stood and gave me enough room to slip past him.

“Here, text me. We should talk about this crush thing.” In his hand was a piece of torn notebook paper with his cellphone number scribbled down. I had a feeling if I didn’t take it, he would follow me off the bus. Wanting to avoid any more of a scene, I took it and walked toward the front of the bus.

“Talk to you soon, Charlie!” he called after me, just before I escaped out into the fresh air. I didn’t bother turning around to watch the bus drive away. I kept my gaze straight on the road until there was nothing left but exhaust fumes.