Chapter Six

Chloe's P.O.V

I could already tell Kason was a good guy just from our first five minutes of conversation. I wished I could have talked to him more, but our professor walked in and started our first lecture, going over what he expected out of us for this semester and so on.

I could feel my phone vibrate against the table. Dang it, I thought I had turned my phone off. I picked it up and tried looking at it where it wouldn't be a bother to anyone around me.

Hailee: CHLOE. That guy is SO into you.

I stared at it, a little confused at first, and looked at Hailee and whispered, "What?"

Hailee pushed up her glasses and looked at me as if I should have known who it was and began to type quickly.

Hailee: KASON. Luke's friend.

I laughed out loud before realizing everyone could hear it. Dr. Knapp even stopped talking and squinted at everyone in the auditorium and asked, "May I ask what was so funny?"

I could feel myself blush but luckily, he didn't know who laughed.

"Yeah, Chloe, what was so funny?" Kason whispered, leaning forward to look at me.

Oh y'know, the fact my delirious friend over here seems to think that you like me when we have only met five minutes ago, and for me that was a little crazy.

I could sense Luke's green eyes looking down on me, making me feel uncomfortable once more, but as soon as I smelled his cologne, it somehow made me relaxed. Seriously, what cologne did he use because it smelled amazing?

"Well if everyone has gotten their laughs out, I'll return to the lecture," Dr. Knapp said in a monotone voice, raising his bushy eyebrows. Why did he have to match him name?

For the rest of the lecture, I relaxed my head on my arm and stared at my notebook, thinking of all the things I could be doing rather than listening to this. When the class ended, I stood up and rushed down the stairs with the horde of people going down with me.

As I quickly walked out of the door, I thought I heard someone call my name, but I thought the better of it. There was probably another Chloe he was addressing. It wasn't like I was the only Chloe in the world.

I looked down at my schedule tucked inside my pink binder to remember what class I was going to next. I saw the name and remembered that I had Theatre Appreciation next with Dr. Cambridge. I really hoped that the class would actually be fun, and not one of those classes where they only studied Shakespeare. Don't get me wrong, Shakespeare was great, but there was more than just Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet in the world. I knew a thing or two about writing, not about writing plays, but books.

I had never told anyone that I wanted to write, only because I was worried that they would see me in a different way. Writing was my passion and was my best kept secret since Luke Armstrong. If I could, I would drop out of college right now if it meant that I could spend the rest of my life writing what I loved, but I couldn't. I have never even finished a book, let alone let others read one.

I walked into my Theatre Appreciation class, stunned to see that we would actually be in a small theatre. I walked to the front and sat in the last seat of the second row.

I could feel my stomach twist nervously and I felt as if I needed to pee once again. It was actually quite annoying that I always felt this way when I was nervous. I took in a deep breath and exhaled, hoping it would release some of my nerves.

I decided to take this chance to glance around and see who was to be in my class for the rest of the semester. As soon as I turned my head my eyes locked onto green eyes that stared at me from across the room.

My heart pounded, realizing that it was Luke immediately. In the seat beside him was this girl I had never seen before. She was skinny with long, dark smooth hair and a perfect complexion. Of course she was pretty, and how did they meet? Did she just walk in the room and was like, 'Hey, this is clearly the hottest guy in the room, so I must sit with him because I can only sit with people of my kind.'

I turned back around and sighed. It was weird that Luke and I had two classes together. I didn't even expect to have one class with him‒ let alone two. I wished that we didn't have any classes at all together. He was ruining the fact that I was trying to get over him, which was hard enough since it had been eight years since I started liking him. It wasn't like I didn't try, I even dated someone in tenth grade, hoping that I could like him and get over the nervousness I felt when Luke was near, but that didn't end so well.

The guy, whose name was Vance Underwood, was from a nearby school. I met him through an honor band where we seemed to get along pretty well, and he even asked for my number at the end of it. He was a year older than me, which Hailee thought was amazing because dating older guys was considered 'cool' for some reason. He seemed like the perfect combination of nerd and cute, and he made me laugh a bunch our first couple of dates together, which seemed promising. I thought I genuinely liked the guy‒ until he kissed me that was. It was so awkward, and it almost felt like I was kissing a member of my family, so I pulled away from him, a little horrified and extremely disappointed. I broke things off with him afterwards, which made him insanely angry, so he told me that I was a bad kisser and that he could find someone prettier than me. That part didn't bother me, it was the part that I just wasted my first kiss which bothered me. People would laugh if they knew that night I cried about it, wishing that it was with Luke instead, but we all knew that was never going to happen.

"Hey Chloe," I heard a male voice say that sent chills down my spine. I could recognize that voice anywhere.

I looked up to see Luke smiling down at me. I couldn't help but notice how white his teeth were, and I wondered if he ever had them bleached. Instead of responding, I just sat there and looked up at him, expectantly, too busy thinking about his teeth.

"I couldn't help but see you were sitting over here alone," he laughed a little, almost nervously even. "Are you expecting anyone?"

I shook my head and swallowed, realizing my throat was getting dry.

"Can I sit with you, then?" he asked, looking over me carefully.

"Sure," I said, trying to sit up straighter. I couldn't help but think over his words. It almost sounded like he pitied me, so he went to sit next to me, just because I was alone. Not that he actually wanted to sit next to me or anything.

He sat in the seat next to me, followed by that girl I saw from earlier who sat next to him.

"This is Jessica," Luke said to me as the girl leaned forward to get a good look at me. I wasn't new when it came to girls meeting other girls near hot guys. She was sizing me up, inspecting to see if I was hotter than she was, which probably relieved her the fact that I wasn't. "Jessica, this is Chloe, we went to high school together."

Jessica smacked Luke playfully on the arm, smiling while chewing gum. "I told you to call me Jess, remember?"

"Nice to meet you, Jess," I said softly, even though I knew she probably didn't hear me. She was too busy trying to flirt with Luke to even acknowledge me. If someone were to be like that, at least be polite and acknowledge the existence of others around, and then continue to flirt. It was only good manners.

"Sorry, I forgot," Luke responded, smiling slightly.

I rested into my seat, wanting to roll my eyes. I was in for a great semester, that much I could tell from the way Jessica already clung onto Luke. "How did you two meet each other?" I asked, hoping I could change the subject from whatever awkward flirting was happening.

"We're in Calculus together," Jessica grinned sheepishly as she chewed onto her gum.

"Yeah, Kason is the one who introduced us. He's in Calculus with us," Luke nodded while glancing at me.

And Hailee thought Kason liked me, I snickered to myself and nodded politely.

"Have you met Kason yet?" Jessica asked me, her eyes studying me for a reaction.

"Yeah, we have Chemistry together," I tried to smile. Why was she even asking me about him? He wasn't here.

"He's a cutie, isn't he?" she asked with a smirk.

I opened my mouth to respond, but a nervous laugh escaped my lips. I had to think back upon whether Kason was actually cute or not. He was tallish, probably several inches shorter than Luke but still significantly tall compared to my 5'2" self, brown hair that was short on the sides but medium length up top, matched with adorable brown eyes, and a straight nose. In conclusion, Kason was definitely cute.

"You don't have to admit it because I already know," Jessica winked. "I grew up with the guy. He has a thing for making horrible puns, but he is a damn nice person."

I smiled. I knew she was right. He already tried making puns about Dr. Knapp‒ no explanation needed for that one. It was just a little weird that she would even say anything about Kason at all, almost as if there was something more between them, unless I just got the wrong idea about it. Yeah, I probably had the wrong idea. She was most likely one of his best friends growing up and once she hit puberty he had a crush on her and she put him in the friendzone. Okay, now I was reading too much into this.

"Kason is a great guy," Luke agreed, nodding his head.

Before anyone could say more, our professor walked into the room. Dr. Cambridge was certainly different from what I expected her to be like. I expected a tall woman with glasses, no makeup, and a simple style to walk in but she was quite the opposite. She seemed super bubbly with her makeup done perfectly and wore bright clothing.

She was my best professor of the day. She didn't bore me to death like Dr. Knapp or terrify me like my Calculus professor‒ who acts like his class will be the death of me. It was also refreshing to get my syllabus and see that we will be going over plays that most people have not heard of, like Lysistrata.

"Now most of you might hate me for this but I expect you guys to write me a play at some point in the semester," Dr. Cambridge said as she looked across the room, making direct eye contact with every other person.

I could feel Luke shift in his seat. He probably hated the thought of having to write anything, and I didn't blame him. I didn't like to be forced to write things, especially when I wasn't inspired to do so.

"Ugh, I should have taken a different class," I heard Jess mumble.

"Don't worry," Dr. Cambridge reassured us, "I am not expecting something over twenty pages, because I do not have enough time to read and grade that many plays." She grinned mischievously and added, "But if I could, I would."

I laughed a little to myself. I didn't doubt a professor would make us write something more than twenty pages, but part of me believed that she was trying to joke with us, even if it pained us.

"I also expect a couple hours of volunteer work from you all," she said as she stood behind her podium, enjoying torturing us. "Now what do I mean by volunteer work? I just mean that over the course of the semester that each of you work at least one of the plays this fall. Trust me, theatre needs more helping hands than what is offered," she nodded. "We just need people to hand out pamphlets, work concessions, and help clean up after the show."

I could hear Jess groan as she smacked her gum.

"I can tell you're loving the class," I smile a little, entertained at her frustration. I didn't know what I thought of Jess yet. Part of me wanted to hate her because of her blatant attraction to Luke and ignorance of everything around her, but I couldn't blame her for wanting him. Saying something sarcastic would tell me whether or not I could like her. If she laughed, she probably has a good sense of humor and is carefree; therefore, I could potentially talk to her. If she stares at me, unamused, there was no chance we could ever be friends.

Jess turned to look at me, about to stare at me gloweringly, but once she caught sight of Luke smiling, she immediately smiled.

Well, that didn't answer anything. Now I have no idea whether I could like her or not, even if she smiled just because Luke was smiling. Luke's smile was infectious, whether I wanted to admit it or not.