Admiring From Afar

“Guess who,” the person said.

Cassandra lifted the person’s hands away from her eyes and saw Jason’s face.

“Hey," she said.

“Hi,” he replied with a big smile. “I just wanted to thank you for the directions to the music store.”

“Oh, it’s no problem,” Cassandra told him with a small smile.

“Well, not everyone is usually nice to the new kid so it means a lot to me,” he told her. “And I was wondering if I could take you out for coffee to show my gratitude.”

“I guess that’s okay…” Cassandra told him.

“Awesome! So when are you free?” he asked her with a huge smile on his face.

“Ummm, here I’ll text you sometime…” Cassandra told him. She took a pen and a scrap of paper out of her bag and wrote her number on the paper. She handed it to him.

“Thanks, I’ll see you History okay?” he told her and hugged her. He then walked away and into the school.

“Who was that?” someone asked her. Cassandra turned around startled at the sudden noise behind her. Jordan Marie.

“Who was that?” she repeated.

“No one…” Cassandra told her.

“Really? And you gave this no one your phone number?” she asked her.

“He’s just this kid in my History class…He’s new and I told him where the music store is and he was thanking me,” Cassandra told her friend.

“Really…well don’t get too close to him,” she advised her friend.

“Why?” Cassandra asked her.

“Does the name Zack ring a bell? You guys kissed twice? He’s practically in love with you,” Jordan told her friend.

“Zack? He doesn’t feel that way anymore…I kinda lost that chance with him,” Cassandra told her friend quietly.

“Really? Why do you say that?” Jordan asked her.

“Well, he confessed to me a few days ago but I said that I didn’t like him that way and now I’m starting to like him that way and it’s horrible!” Cassandra told her best friend.

“Wow, well, it’s obvious that he still likes you that way,” Jordan Marie told her.

“Really? Nah, I broke his heart…why would he still like me that way?” Cassandra asked her friend.

“There’s a band meeting today…why don’t you come and we’ll see how Zack acts around you.

{&&admiring&&}

Cassandra was on her way to History class. She arrived at the classroom and walked in. She greeted the teacher, Mr. Quincey. She walked to her seat and took out her notebook and textbook for the class. She started to doodle when someone poked her back with a pen.

She jumped up a little in her seat and turned around to see Jason laughing.

“What’s your deal?” she asked him.

“Nothing…I just wanted to get your attention,” Jason told her.

“Well, what do you need?” she asked him.

“Nothing…just wanted to chat with you,” he told her.

“Okay then…” Cassandra told him. She turned around in her seat and continued to doodle.

Suddenly she felt another hard jab on her back and turned around.

“Can you please stop it?!” she asked Jason angrily.

“Sorry, I said I wanted to talk to you,” Jason told her.

“What do ya wanna talk about?” Cassandra asked him. She was really annoyed with this guy…

“Class! Settle down…I want to talk to you about your next project,” Mr. Quincey told everyone. “Good. I got your attention. Today we’re going to start our new project. I’m going to choose your partner and it’s going to be about major events that have happened in history starting at 1000 A.D. Once you get your partner one person is going to come up to my desk and they’re going to be given a slip of paper that has their topic.

“Okay, now let’s start pairing you youngsters up. Julie with Karen, Donald with Edward, Jacie with Hector, Florence with Hailee, Cassandra with Jason, Thomas with Elena, Quinn with Tim, Lola with George, Xavier with Carolina, Demetri with Kyle, and Peter with James. Now, let’s all get together and pick our topics!” Mr. Quincey said.

“Hey partner,” Jason said in front of her. “I’ll go and get the piece of paper.”

He walked up to Mr. Quincey’s desk and was handed a slip of paper. He turned it over and smiled.

“We got the Renaissance,” Jason told her with a smile.

“Awesome,” Cassandra said.

“So, do you wanna do a power point, a poster, a paper?” Jason asked her.

“Oh, and I forgot to tell you guys! You have to turn in a paper and a poster,” Mr. Quincey told everyone.

“Well, I guess that takes care of that question,” Cassandra joked.

“Yeah, I guess it did,” Jason told her. “So, when do you wanna meet up?”

“When are you free?” Cassandra asked him.

“Today? Is today alright with you?” Jason asked her.

“Actually I can’t…I have to go to my friend’s band practice,” Cassandra told him.

“Oh, well, this is the only day that I’m free this week,” Jason told her.

“Well, I guess you’ll have to come. I’m sure that they won’t mind,” Cassandra told him. “Why I pick you up at your house at 4.”

“Sure, here’s my address,” Jason wrote down his address on the piece of paper that Cassandra was doodling on before.

The bell rang and Cassandra ripped out the piece of paper and shoved it in her bag and put her textbook and notebook in her bag as well.

“I’ll see you at 4!” Jason yelled to her as he exited the classroom.

{&&admiring&&}

It was no 4 o’clock and Cassandra was waiting for Jason outside his house. She called him and told him that she was there and he told her he’d be down in 5 minutes. Jason was actually really excited to be seeing the band practice. He always wanted to be in a band and couldn’t wait to see how this band performed.

Cassandra told everybody that she was going to bring someone along today because they had to work on a project. The only person she couldn’t get to was Zack. She hoped that he wouldn’t mind Jason.

Finally, Jason walked out his door and down the pathway. Cassandra unlocked the doors and he sat down next to her.

“Hey, and I hope this isn’t too much of a trouble,” Jason told her.

“Hi, and it’s no problem. They’re really excited. They’re always up for criticism so that they can improve and make it big someday,” Cassandra reassured him.

“Good, I didn’t want to be unwanted there and awkwardly watch them,” Jason said nervously.

“Don’t worry about that. They’ll totally like you and want to be friends,” Cassandra told him with a smile.

“Awesome,” Jason said.

It took them a few minutes to arrive at Rian’s house. Cassandra noticed that everyone was there except for Zack, which was understandable because he lived farther away. Cassandra and Jason walked up the driveway and Cassandra introduced him to everyone.

“Hey guys, this is Jason. Jason that’s Rian, Kara, Alex, Jordan Marie, Jack, and Ana. There’s also going to a guy named Zack here but he’s running a little bit late,” Cassandra explained to him.

“Hey,” he said while waving to them.

“So, I hear that you’re into music?” Jordan Maries asked.

“Yeah, I play bass and I sing a little bit,” Jason told her.

“Really? That’s awesome!” Ana told him with a smile.

“You’re gonna fit right in,” Alex told him.

“Hey, guys,” the heard someone say. “Who’s that?”