~Monday January 10th~

Like every other school morning, I wake up at six in a room that's still dark because even the sun isn't awake yet, internally groaning as I turn off the standard ringtone blaring from my phone's alarm. I once tried setting a song that I liked as my alarm, but after just a week of waking up to it I learned to hate the sound of that song starting, so I switched it back. I unplug my phone and pull it towards me in my warm bundle of blankets. As I fight to keep my drooping eyelids open, I distract my sleeping brain by checking through my notifications. Among the usual snapchats from the early-risers of my friend group, I am surprised to find a text message from the one and only, the infamous, despicable, notorious, and - most importantly - unpredictable, Noah Thompson, whose contact name I have yet to change from That-hot-guy-who-got-you-a-detention.

"When can you tutor me next?" It's simple, casual, informal - yet mysterious. Why? Because he sent it at freaking two o'clock in the morning. What kind of person would willingly stay up until two in the morning when they would have to get up again just four hours later? Don't get me wrong, I've pulled an all-nighter or two myself - being a night owl - but definitely not on a school night. The latest I've stayed up on a weeknight is probably half past midnight, and even that was only because I was doing school work. Something tells me Noah was not doing homework at two in the morning, but god knows what he was doing.

"How about Wednesday before Melody's class?" As I send my response, I realize this is the first time either of us have acknowledged the fact that I assist Melody's class, or even that she goes to the same studio as me. I'm quite surprised that I was the one to bring it up first, considering how embarrassing I find the whole situation. It's been replaying in my head, haunting me as I try to fall asleep every night. It's safe to say that leotards don't leave anything to the imagination.

After a solid two minutes of drifting in and out of consciousness while staring at my phone screen, I realize that the "delivered" icon isn't going to change to "read." I'm sure he's still asleep, I know I would be too if I had stayed up that late the night before.

Well, it's now or never, I think. While "never" is quite tempting, I put my phone down and rip the cozy and warm covers off of my body and stand up. I stretch and yawn, feeling the joints in my back and neck cracking with the movement, the tenseness from laying still all night fading with the sounds. I begin my morning routine by walking to my bathroom and immediately splashing cold water on my face. Truly the most fun part of my day, but it ensures that when I walk back to my room I won't be as tempted to give in and go back to sleep.

When I do return to my room minutes later I turn on the light, squinting as my still-sleepy eyes adjust to the brightness. I pick out my outfit for the day - a simple purple knit sweater and dark blue skinny jeans. Though it's not my favorite color, I read somewhere that wearing purple is supposed to bring out green eyes, and I trust the internet more than my own sense at choosing outfits that accentuate my features. However, instead of changing now, I decide to stay in my warm pajamas for as long as possible. Instead, I plait my long dark hair in a french braid down the center of my head. When I finish, I move on to makeup. I don't wear a ton, I don't really believe in needing makeup to feel good about myself. So I don't rely on it, but I do enjoy it most of the time. However this morning I will admit that I rely on my concealer to make my face look presentable. Otherwise I would look like an actual zombie, my dark circles standing out against my fair complexion. Even though I got a full eight hours of sleep last night, I still look like I haven't slept in years. This probably also has to do with needing to drink more water, but what's easier - drinking more water and sleeping more, or just blending some concealer under my eyes?

Definitely the concealer.

After that, I begrudgingly change out of my pajamas. Grabbing my backpack and brushing my teeth on the way, I head downstairs to grab a quick breakfast before I drive to school on this chilly Monday morning.

Since I drive myself to school instead of taking the bus I usually arrive on the earlier side to avoid traffic and get a decent parking spot. Today is no exception as I pull into a prime spot close to the entrance of the school. As I pull my keys out of the ignition of my car I glance at my phone to notice a text from Olivia. It reads, "running late, won't see you until class." Normally Olivia and I meet at my locker before school to walk to our classes together. We stick together whenever we can throughout the day to avoid looking like loners. Desperate - I know - but company beats trying not to look awkward while standing by myself on my phone in the hallway.

Today I have history with Mr O'Connor first, meaning that I have class with Olivia. As I walk into the school and through the mostly empty hallway I decide I'll make a quick stop at my locker as usual, then head straight to our classroom. Most students won't be in the room yet, and anyone who is will probably be in the same situation as me.

As I predicted, when I walk through the door with twenty minutes still left to spend before the first bell, there are only three students in the room so far. Two girls who I've met before are whispering from their seats next to each other and when they see me come in they look up. I smile politely and they return the gesture before continuing with their conversation. The third person is a boy sitting by himself in the middle of the room -  the seat where I normally sit. I don't recognize him, in fact I don't think I've ever seen him before, especially not in this class. He doesn't look up when I walk through the door but instead continues to stare down at a piece of paper on his desk.

I decide to live on the edge a little bit and sit down next to him, placing my backpack on the seat in front of me to save it for Olivia. When he notices that someone has sat down next to him he looks up. Our eyes meet and I give him the same polite smile that I gave the other two girls, but instead of returning it he looks back down at his desk, seeming shy. I try not to snoop, but notice that the paper sitting on his desk is a schedule.

"Oh, are you new here?" I ask into the quiet classroom.

"Yeah, I transferred from Westerly," he responds.

"Cool. It kinda sucks that you had to move halfway through senior year though."

"I'm a junior, actually," he says, finally meeting my eyes again.

"Oh, sorry. I just assumed. This is a really advanced class for a junior."

"I was in an accelerated history program at my old high school, so they let me take this class for the rest of the year."

"I'm Theresa, by the way," I say extending my hand and smiling warmly at him.

"Charlie," he says shaking my hand and giving a weak smile.

"Can I see your schedule? Maybe we have something else together."

"Sure," Charlie's eyes flicker to behind me for a brief moment and he swallows hard before he responds, but I ignore it. He seems like a really shy kid, which is understandable since he's new to this school and the only junior in a class full of seniors. He hands me the paper and I begin to look it over, noticing that his eyes keep flickering between the paper and - I'm assuming - my face. All of his other classes are normal junior-level courses.

"I don't think we have anything else together," I say handing the paper back to him. "I'm sure you'll meet lots of great people in your classes though."

"Teresina," I hear from my left, the seat opposite from where Charlie is sitting. I immediately turn my head to look at him, surprised to hear his voice saying my name so close to me when I hadn't even noticed is apparent entrance.

"Hi Noah, when did you get here?" I say, still slightly surprised.

"A couple of minutes ago. Did you get my text?" I feel kind of bad that I was completely oblivious to him sitting in the seat next to me. However, my mind is more preoccupied by the fact that he chose to sit next to me out of any other seat, and then got my attention. I didn't think he exactly enjoyed my presence.

"Yeah, I responded this morning."

"I left my phone at home."

"Well, we can meet on Wednesday before Melody's class, if that works for you?" I restate what I sent earlier.

"Sounds good. Your house again?"

"Sure," I respond with a smile. Curiously, I notice the ghost of a smile on his face and can't help but notice how good a smile looks on Noah. Sure, everyone is used to his typical smirk, but an actual smile is a new expression for him from my perspective, and boy is it nice on the eyes. I tear my eyes away before it looks like I'm staring and luckily Noah seems to have not noticed, busying himself with something in his backpack.

It's then that I remember about Charlie and how I totally cut off our conversation with him. I turn back to his seat to find him engrossed in a book and decide to just leave him be. He doesn't seem like a very social person, and I know I don't like being disrupted when my nose is in a good book. Luckily there are only a few minutes left before the first bell will ring, and I am able to busy myself with my phone.
Seconds before the bell Olivia rushes into the almost full classroom and upon her entrance I remove my backpack from the seat I saved for her.

"What took you so long?" I ask as soon as she sits down.

"Ugh, I slept through my alarm, and then of course I got stuck in traffic. I had to wait in a huge line to drop my brother off at the middle school and it took me forever to find a parking spot. I didn't think I was going to be able to park on campus," she says still panting slightly, making it obvious that she ran from her car.

"Well you made it just in time, not that Mr O'Connor is too strict about tardiness as it is," I comment. As I say this the second bell rings, and Mr O'Connor walks through the door seconds later, immediately starting the lesson.

"The project that I assigned last Tuesday will be due at the end of class today. I know it was a big task, but you've had almost a week and the next hour and a half for work time, so get to it." With those words the classroom re-erupts into noise as partnerships start talking about the project. I'm about to turn to Noah when I remember that Charlie doesn't have a partner. I then anticipate offering that he join our group when Mr O'Connor speaks again. "Charlie, come up to my desk, I've got a different assignment for you." With that covered, I focus back on Noah.

"Who's he?" He asks, noticing how my attention was split for a moment.

"A new kid, he's a junior." Noah grunts in response. I open my laptop and silently pray that Noah actually did at least a portion of his part, and apparently my nervousness is more obvious than I had intended.

"Stop making that face. I worked on the project," Noah says with an exasperated sigh. I feel my cheeks heat up slightly at his observation, but try not to think about it.

"You can't blame me, you seemed pretty reluctant to last week," I say laughing slightly.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Noah responds with a subtle grimace.

"It's okay," I say distractedly, in awe at the fact that he just apologized to me. Not only did he acknowledge that he was a jerk the last time we worked on this project, but he also showed remorse about it. I look up from the loading document on my laptop screen to look at him but he doesn't catch my eye, instead keeping his attention focused on his screen. Once the document loads I am pleased to see that there are only two out of the ten tasks left to complete. "Just two left, easy-peasy. I'll take nine, you do ten?" Did I seriously just say "easy-peasy" out loud?

Noah doesn't say anything but simply nods in response. Though I do notice the ghost of yet another smile - likely caused by my ridiculous word choice.

~~~~~
Written 1/17/18, Published 1/21/18

Wow, last week we were at 800 reads, and since my last update we've gotten to 900! That means I can expect 1k by next Sunday, right...? Also I'm going shopping for my prom heels today since my prom dress came in the mail on Wednesday. Comment if you want to see pictures! Comments from FandomFreak9838 do not count, she's already seen my dress.

Thank you for 900 reads, please vote, comment, and share! :)