Here With You

“Your lab partners are on the white sheet of paper located at the front of the room, taped on the whiteboard. Your table number is also listed beside you and your partner’s name. Find your table and your partner will meet you there…hopefully.”
Unlike the rest of the class, I waited until Mrs. Heger was finished giving directions until I raced to the front of the classroom. I waited for the crowd of students to dispersed before I approached the board. Clancy, Valerie.........Darmody, Nathan...........Table 8

It is going to be impossible for me to concentrate in this class now. I wasn’t complaining though, I could have been stuck with one of the brainiacs that failed to explain anything and completed all of the work themselves, leaving me confused when it comes time for the test.

I took my seat at the back left table of the classroom, closest to the window, and sat down on the black lab stool under the table. I watched as the majority of the class sat down and began talking with their partner or shouting across the room to their friend. Nathan came flying into the classroom a minute before the bell. He stopped at the board to read the arrangement and he turned around and looked around the classroom. His eyes stopped searching when they met mine and he gave a smile as he walked towards me.

He plopped down on the stool and set his notebook on the black surface of the table with a thunk that was much louder than it should have been.

“What’s up Dread Head?” Invisible pat on the back for the clever nickname!

“Is that my nickname?” he asked.

I nodded, “do you like it?”

He shrugged, pondering it. “I dig it. How’s your day going?”

“It’s been good. I lost my only pencil.” I let out a chuckle.

“How’d you manage that? It’s been like four hours!”

“Do you know who Connor Faber is?”

He nodded, “shaggy brown hair, football guy, right?”

“That’s the one. He asked if I had an extra one, I was missing what the teacher was saying, so I just gave him mine…and then I realized it was my only one.” No way in hell was I telling Nathan that I was too flustered to think straight.

“Bummer!” he held up a finger and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a standard No. 2 pencil and handed it to me. “Don’t give this one away.” He smiled, exposing his white teeth and a pair of small dimples on his cheeks.

“Okay! The person sitting at the table next to you is your lab partner, obviously. You’ll be partners for the rest of the semester. If you have a problem see me and we can talk about getting you a new partner, but only if it’s a legit problem. I don’t want any elementary school excuses, “I don’t like her,”” she paused and the class gave a laugh. “This is a lab, we will primarily be doing experiments and all that goes along with them. This is an AP class, we will be moving at a faster rate and I expect more from all of you. If you can’t handle that, I suggest you go see your counselor and ask to be switched out of this class. I expect we’ll have a lot of fun this semester, so let’s get to it!”

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My first week of school wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I have been anxiety free, knock on wood, so I was feeling high on life without it there to weigh me down. Zach and the band plus me, Sarah and Emily were all going to the beach today. We were holding onto the little bit of summer that was left. Soon the water would be getting cold and school would be in full swing, leaving hardly any spare time.

“Black or white?”

“I don’t know Val, does it really matter?” Sarah heaved a sigh from the other end of the phone.

“Yes, kind of! Nathan is going to be there and well…yeah.” I paused, waiting for her to say something. “Okay so it’s not the most important thing, but can you please help?”

“The white one. It gives you a bronzed glow without making you look orange. Wait, you’re not on your period are you?”

“No! If I was I wouldn’t have even considered white.”

“Just checkinggggg,” she sing-songed. “I have to get going, Emily is picking me up and should be here soon. You all set?”

“Yep! Thank you! See you in a bit.”

“Bye!”

I hung up and tossed my phone on my bed. I pulled my white string bikini out of my dresser drawer and changed into it. I pulled a white V-neck t-shirt over my head and slipped my pair of light wash jean shorts back on. I grabbed my over-the-shoulder bag and grabbed my phone and beach towel off of my bed. I grabbed my car keys out of my purse as I walked downstairs and out the door, briefly pausing to yell that I was leaving.

“Let’s go!” I called over to Zach. He was shooting hoops in the driveway with Vic. He picked up his things and jogged over, climbing into the passenger seat. “Hi Pookie.”

“I have not missed your nicknames.”

I shifted the car into reverse, “What’s wrong with Pookie?”

“It makes me sound like a punk.”

“You are a punk, you’re in a garage band!”

“Touché,” he mumbled before turning up the radio and looking out the window.

“Did you really bring homework to the beach?!” I asked, astounded. We all had just arrived at the beach and were in the process of setting up our spot.

Sarah looked up and shrugged, “Mr. Gray already gave us a whole chapter to take notes on.”

“Don’t worry, I already teased her enough in the car,” Emily remarked. She sat down on her towel and pulled a bottle of sunscreen out of her teal bag. The boys were already stripping down and preparing to race towards the water.

“Zach!”

He stopped running and turned around. “What?”

“Sunscreen! You know you burn easily and then you whine about it for days.” He jogged back over and took the bottle of sunscreen from me, squeezing some into his hand. He handed it back to me.

“Will you get my back? I’ll do yours.”

“Deal,” I said as I squeezed the cool lotion onto my hand. I rubbed my hands together and began applying it to my arms, before squeezing out more and rubbing it all over my stomach and chest. I then moved onto my legs, finishing just as Zach did.

I signaled for him to spin around and squeezed more lotion onto my hand. I began applying it to his upper back, making sure to coat his shoulders well. He always burnt there. I squeezed out some more lotion and covered the lower part of his back. I smiled to myself as I remembered that he was extremely ticklish on his sides. I moved lower and started in the middle before slowly sliding my hands towards his side. I tried not to laugh as he began to squirm. I quickly pressed on his sides with both of my hands, causing him to yelp.

“VALERIE!”

I let out and extremely girly giggle and took off running. “I’m sorry! I forgot!”

“Oh bull!” I heard him yell from behind me.

I took a glance over my shoulder and saw him catching up. I turned around and stopped and held my hands out in front of me.

“I’m sorry!” I laughed.

He moved closer to me, “No you’re not!”

“Yes I am! Would you stop walking towards me?” I knew he was going to get me back. “Truce?”

“No way in hell!” He lunged at me and I ducked into a ball on the ground. He then picked me up and threw me over his shoulder and began walking towards the shoreline.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” I pleaded, hoping that he would put me down. He kept walking and walking and walking. We reached the water and he kept walking until he was knee deep.

“How much do you love me?”

“A lot,” I screeched. “Put me down, pleeeease?”

“I could…but I won’t!” He threw me off of him and into the water just as a wave came rolling in.

I stood up and splashed him, “Zachary David Porter!”

He smiled and laughed, causing me to laugh along with him. I splashed him one last time and jogged back over to our spot where Emily and Nathan were standing.

“So they’re not like, dating or anything?” I overheard Nathan ask Emily.

“Nope.”

“Who’s not dating?” I asked as I laid down on my towel.

“Just this guy and girl in my Lit class, they seem like a couple,” Nathan shrugged and watched as Zach jogged back towards us.

“Where’s Michael and Cameron?” he asked.

Nathan pointed to the right, our heads following his finger. They were talking to a pair of girls lying on beach towels.

“Figures,” Zach remarked. He picked up a boogie board, “we can go without them.” Nathan picked up his board and they both walked to the water as Sarah sat down next to me with a smoothie in hand.