The Songs in Our Hearts: A Young Adult Romance(8)

“What’s Charlie’s chance?” My brother and David came up behind Jennifer. “What are you girls talking about?”

I rolled my eyes and tugged on Jen’s arm. “Nothing, Josh. Since when do you talk to me at school, anyway?”

“Oh, I’m not, trust me,” Josh chuckled. “David wanted to talk to Rachel.”

I glanced over at Rachel and then quickly back to David. Was he going to talk to her now? Rachel’s cheeks burned and she looked down. At least I knew enough to grab Jennifer’s arm and pull her back quickly. Rachel and David deserved their space. Josh shoved his hands in his pockets and winked at David as he trailed behind us.

“What in the world was that about?” Jennifer asked as she pushed my hand away. I shrugged, hoping she’d believe the lie I was about to tell. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but it certainly wasn’t my place to say anything to Jennifer.

“I’m not sure. We can ask Rachel later, in class,” I replied, doing my best to keep my voice clear from alarm. We wove through a crowd of freshmen to get to our lockers at the end of the first hall. I banged on the top compartment (all of us rigged the tops of our lockers so we didn’t have to fiddle with the actual combinations), and tugged out my English book. Jennifer groaned as she hauled three large books into her backpack.

“Ready for class?” Micah’s voice startled me from behind. I turned to see him standing there, hands in his jacket pockets. He smirked as he braced his elbow against one of the locker doors.

“Figured we could walk together…wherever it is you’re going.”

I could hear Jennifer snigger as she closed her locker beside me. “Go on without me, I have to run to the bathroom, anyway.”

She left a sting of betrayal as she turned and left me alone with Micah. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad...

“I have English with Mrs. Tenner my first period. Where are you headed?” I asked, raising my brow in curiosity.

“Just so happen to have the same exact English class, too,” Micah replied with a smile. “Want to walk with me?” he asked again, a little unsure.

After a moment, I looked at him and replied, “Sure, I guess,” and closed the door to my locker.

“Don’t sound so thrilled.” Micah laughed. “I’m not the dentist.”

I tried to grin at his lame joke. At least I’d give him that. We set off together to Mrs. Tenner’s English class. Everyone’s eyes were on us as we entered the room, though it was probably Samantha’s gaze that blazed the strongest. She shifted in her seat, a smirk on her mouth as she pushed a strand of hair off of her shoulder. I imagined I hated Samantha Walters just as much as anyone watching Mean Girls hated Regina George.

Finding an empty desk, I maneuvered my way through the aisle and took a seat. Withdrawing my English book, a notebook, and a pencil from my bag, I did my best to ignore the unwanted attention. In our small-town school, something as innocent as walking to class together was liable to spread like wildfire. Did you see Charlie walk in with Micah? Are they dating? I could hear it already.

It was easy to focus on Mrs. Tenner’s curly brown hair, and the way she neatly illustrated her fancy letters on the blackboard. Grazing the point of my pencil over my notebook paper, I tried to imitate the gentle curve of her writing.

“I’m assigning everyone into groups for the new reading material and project. In your groups….” Mrs. Tenner’s words snapped me back to reality and I quickly looked around, wishing Jennifer and Rachel were in my class. Groups. Micah glanced in my direction and I quickly looked away. No way. Absolutely not. It would only give Samantha more ammunition to make my life hell; to turn this whole crush-rumor-thing into something it wasn’t.

“Caroline Blake, Micah Jacobs.” Ugh! While this wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened to me, it sure wasn’t on my list of “The-Ten-Most-Amazing-Life-Changing-Experiences” either. Mrs. Tenner continued to separate other class members, randomly pairing everyone together. Feeling Samantha’s eyes on me, I tilted my chin in her direction. If her sneer could have been any wider, I would have started calling her the Joker.

“You may now change seats to sit with your partner, and I’ll reveal the topics for the project!” Mrs. Tenner smiled, turning with delight to the blackboard and gracefully writing William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, The Bronte sisters, and Mary Shelley.

Micah took his seat beside me as I pulled my gaze away from Samantha.

“I say we vote for Frankenstein. It’s a pretty epic movie.”

“We’d have to read the book, Micah,” I grumbled. If I was going to have to do a project with him, I wanted to at least pick something I’d enjoy.

“I get that. But I’m just saying, we could watch the movie, too. Maybe do comparisons. Haven’t you seen the Robert De Niro version of Frankenstein?”

I recalled seeing the film one boring, rainy afternoon on TNT.

“Fine, if you want Mary Shelley, we can choose her.”

“Which author did you want, then? I’m not about to go around quoting Shakespeare,” Micah said.

“I wasn’t going to pick him anyway,” I replied curtly. Honestly, I had my eye on the Bronte sisters. I wanted to focus on Wuthering Heights and analyze the characterization of the troubled, love-scorned Heathcliff. I loved that novel. “I’d prefer the Bronte sisters.”