5 Chapter Five

Luke's P.O.V

"Hey, Luke," Kason said as we were walking out of room 204. "Can you wait for just a moment?"

"Sure," I smiled and moved out of the way of the horde of people.

"Thanks," Kason said as he caught up with me, trying not to get run over by the others. "I was going to ask you this, but I completely forgot because of Cal I, but what is your schedule? Do we have any more classes together?"

"We can compare, I just need to get out my schedule first," I said as I pulled out my folded schedule from my pocket. I unfolded it and looked at my next class, which started in twenty minutes. "It says here that I have Chemistry with Dr. Knapp from 2:40 to 4:00 p.m. and Theatre Appreciation with Dr. Cambridge from 4:20 to 5:40 p.m." I said as I stared at my schedule.

"That's great! We have Dr. Knapp together then, but not Theatre Appreciation. I took Music Appreciation instead because I heard the professor was much easier," Kason beamed.

"Damn, I knew I should've signed up for that class instead," I shook my head as we walked to our Chemistry class in the Science Building. "I thought for some reason Theatre Appreciation would be easier."

"I mean, it could be, depending on your professor. I don't remember anyone mentioning Dr. Cambridge was horrible, so you should be fine."

"Should be, but probably not," I sighed as we continued to walk to the Science Building. I scanned the area, looking for honey colored hair, but found nothing.

As soon as we walked into our Chemistry class, I felt overwhelmed about how large the classroom actually was. It was in an auditorium that could probably fit up to three-hundred people if it wanted to, but my amazement soon came to an abrupt end when I felt my phone vibrate. I took it out of my pocket and looked to see who message me.

Hailee: LUKE. We are in the same class TOGETHER. You HAVE to sit by me.

I looked around for Hailee, but it seemed pointless. With a room this big it would be impossible.

Me: Where are you?

Hailee: 5th row up to your right, 1st seat.

"Hey where do you wanna sit?" Kason nudged me.

"One of my friends just texted me, saying they are in this class. Do you want to sit with her?"

Kason playfully punched me in the arm and grinned stupidly. "Ooh Luke has a lady friend? Yes, I would very much like to sit with you guys, as long as she has a friend," he winked at the mention of 'friend.'

I laughed nervously and felt my heart pound a little harder. "Yeah, follow me," I said and walked up the steps.

I spotted Hailee waving frantically at me with her frizzy dark hair while she pushed up her black rimmed glasses. I smiled at her as we went up to her.

"You have to sit right beside me," she smiled and patted the seat next to her.

"Okay," I said and sat in the swivel chair attached to the table beside her.

Kason sat in the chair next to me, elbowed me, and whispered. "So, this is your lady friend?"

I smirked. "Hailee, I would like to introduce you to Kason, who plays football with me, and Kason, this is Hailee, who is from my high school."

"Nice to meet you Kason," Hailee leaned in her seat to get a good look at him.

"Nice to meet you, too," Kason smiled. "Is there anyone else coming to Chemistry that you know other than Luke?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot, but it really isn't that important. I'd love for you to meet her though, she's my best friend, Chloe," she nodded excitedly, propping her elbows on the table while resting her face on her hands.

My heart threatened to burst out of my chest at the mention of her name. I cleared my throat and tried to remain as calm as possible. "Chloe Claire? She's in this class?"

"Duh," she rolled her eyes.

My mind was racing with excitement. "Isn't she going to sit with you? Aren't you two inseparable? I mean, you guys are best friends after all. I haven't seen you guys apart since fifth grade."

She tightened her lips and nodded. "We are, but she'll understand. I'll save her a seat next time."

It wasn't my place to ask more, considering I wasn't them and didn't know how their friendship worked, but it just seemed a little odd. I shook my head, remembering what great friends they were and realized Hailee knew more than I did.

"That's too bad, I was looking forward to meeting her," Kason said and leaned back in his chair.

"Yeah, Chloe's great! We've been best friends since fifth grade and she is one of the funniest people I have ever met‒ on her good days," Hailee said and looked at her phone.

From what I remembered, Chloe was the funniest person I had ever met, and being at the coffee shop proved that once more to me. Granted, her sense of humor wasn't for everyone, but it matched mine perfectly.

"Hailee," I heard an all too familiar voice say.

I looked to see it was Chloe, looking beautiful as always. She was dressed in some flowy top and leggings, but that was all I could say about what she was wearing since I didn't know much about fashion. Her layered, wavy honey colored hair was pinned back, and her brown eyes quickly glanced over to me then back to Hailee. I didn't know what it was about her brown eyes, but they were the most beautiful eyes I had ever laid eyes on. Jacob used to tell me his favorite eyes were green, and I would respond that mine were brown‒ which he would snort saying they looked like shit.

"What?" Hailee raised her eyebrows defensively.

Chloe just stared at Hailee and sighed.

I looked at the seat next to Kason to see if it was empty and quickly looked back to Chloe. "We can scoot down a seat for you, so you can sit next to Hailee," I offered and stood up along with Kason. I nudged Kason to move a seat down so there would be an empty seat between Hailee and me.

"You don't have to do that," she smiled slightly. "I can just sit in the row below y'all."

"No, I insist that you sit here. Hailee would want you here," I smiled. I could tell that she was uncomfortable, and I wanted her to be okay. The best thing for her was to sit with Hailee.

I could see the corner of Chloe's mouth curl into a smile. "If you say so," she shrugged and sat in the seat next to me.

If there was no one around I would have probably broke out into a happy dance, but unlucky for me there were two-hundred and something people in here. I sat down next to her and smiled, reminiscing the times where we sat together.

"Valentine's Day is tomorrow," Hailee had smiled from ear to ear, her hair in pigtails that looked more like frizzy bushes. "You know what that means?" she asked excitedly.

"What?" Chloe had scrunched her eyebrows together.

"We will find out if anyone has a crush on us!" Hailee laughed. "They'll send us one of those candygrams with a note saying they like us."

I raised my eyebrows. "People do that?"

"Of course they do! Luke, don't act like you don't know. You have to send a candygram to your crush with a note saying that you like her," Hailee nodded, acting proud of herself.

I laughed nervously and glanced at Chloe, my little heart pounding what felt like a million beats per second.

Chloe shifted uncomfortably for a second and made a small smile. "You know what I told Felix and Elijah I would do for Valentine's Day?"

I couldn't help but grin. "What?" I asked. Whenever she made a small smile like that she was thinking of something that entertained her. I was sure whatever it was, it was going to entertain me, too.

"I told them that for Valentine's Day I would get them a card with a peanut inside that said that I was nuts about them!" Chloe said and burst out laughing.

I couldn't help but laugh with her.

"Oh I get it," Hailee said and laughed a little. "It's because your brothers are allergic to peanuts."

"Yeah! It was me saying that I loved them so much they would die from it," Chloe giggled, tears starting to form in her eyes.

The smell of Chloe's perfume brought me back to the present, making me realize how long ago that was. I wondered how Elijah and Felix were doing. I haven't seen them since ninth grade at a pep rally.

"Hey, I'm Kason," Kason grinned as he leaned forward, looking directly at Chloe. "This knucklehead here didn't introduce us but aren't you Chloe?" he asked as if he didn't know already.

Chloe tucked one of her wavy strands behind her ear and smiled softly. "Yeah."

He held out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Claire."

She eased a little and shook his hand. "Please, call me Chloe."

Kason laughed and pretended to tip a hat on his head. "Thank ya ma'am."

She laughed, and Hailee nudged her, but she ignored it. "You're a weird one, aren't you?"

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" he raised his eyebrows in curiosity, a smile still playing on his lips.

"It's a good thing, I think," she said as if she still wasn't sure, but the amusement was apparent on her face. I wasn't sure I liked where this was going.