The Unlikely

I sit in the back of the library, hiding among the shelves. Looking down at the book in my lap, tears drop on the pages. I hear footsteps approach me. Quickly, I wipe my eyes, trying to hide evidence of my crying session.

The footsteps stop right next to me, but I don't look up. I flip a page, pretending to be engrossed in the book.

"Selena. I-"

"Don't," I say hastily. "You don't have to say anything."

I hear a scuttling sound followed by a thump. A large hand takes the book away from me and sets it on the ground.

"Andrew, what are you doing?" I say, looking into the muddy brown eyes of the boy sitting next to me.

"I'm, I'm..." he stops speaking, looking down at his nervous hands. "Don't listen to what the girls said back in class. They're just trying to rattle you."

I snort. "Sure they were," I say sarcastically, thinking back to what happened in class.
*******
Class had just begun and we were getting assigned partners for a project. I was only half paying attention to the partner assignments when I heard my name called. I waited in anticipation to see who would I would be partnering with, hoping it would be one of my friends and not one of the numerous idiots in my class. The name that's called next makes me drop my pencil.

My friend Emilia turns to me clapping and wiggling her eyebrows. She leans towards me, whispering, How do you feel about working one-on-one with Andrew?" She adds a wink at the end.

I give her a disapproving look before looking to my left where Andrew sits. We were the last pair to get called so everyone can now work on the assignment. I glance at him nervously. "I suppose we should start." My voice is barely audible as I say this, probably because it is more to myself than to him.

"Yep." He moves his desk next to mine so they are touching.

We get to work, though it moves along slowly. Both of us are not so keen on voicing our thoughts out loud. After a while though, we actually begin talking. We even get off topic, laughing and holding a legitimate conversation.

Our conversation is cut short when I hear a voice say, "Aww, aren't you two a cute couple."

I turn to see Ally, one of the girls I absolutely despise, looking directly at us. I quickly look away, picking the assignment we were suppose to be working on. "We should focus on the assignment now," I say, hoping he will not notice what Ally said.

No such luck. "Wait, what did Ally just say?"

I look away, not wanting to answer his question. Ally however heard what Andrew asked and speaks up. "Oh I see how it is. This is a one way thing. Selena has a crush on Andrew." She begins to laugh and others join in.

"No way that's ever going to happen," Becky, one of Ally's ally in the crusade to belittle people, says. "No guy in a hundred mile radius would go near her."

I pull my desk away from Andrew's and gather all my belongings. I ask Mr. Killy if I can go to the library to begin typing the report for the project. He says yes, but I'm pretty sure it is out of pity. As I leave the room, I glance towards Andrew. He looks anywhere except at me. It is then when the tears start streaming out and I exit the classroom.
******
I get up to leave, but Andrew grabs my hand, stopping me. I quickly pull my hand away. The idea of even touching him causes me to blush and become flustered.

Upon seeing my resistance to touch him, Andrew pulls his hand away, casually running it through his hair. "It's not true what Ally said, was it?" Although he says this nervously, I can tell he is joking, as if the notion of me liking him is ridiculous.

A tear I have been holding back since the beginning of the confrontation falls. I quickly wipe it away, praying he didn't notice it. I grab my book and once again pretend to be reading in order to avoid where the conversation is going.

"Selena," he says cautiously.

"If you don't mind, I'm trying to do some research for our project." I turn my body so he isn't in my field of vision.

"Selena," he says once again. I ignore him. "Selena."

"What?" I say annoyed while turning to face him. "What could you possibly want so badly-"

"Do you like me?" he says in a rush, cutting me off.

My breath hitches in my throat. My eyes dart around the library. "I. I..." I trail off, not answering the question. My eyes accidentally make contact with his. I hold the gaze, too embarrassed to look away.

He moves closer to me, though his eyes never leave mine. "Selena," he says much more gentle than the times before.

"Yeah?" I say meekly.

His hand goes up to my face, moving a stray hair into place. "Do. You. Have. A. Crush. On. Me?" His hand lingers on my face.

I open my mouth then shut it. I open, then once again shut it, still unable to answer his question. I open my mouth again and am about to shut it when Andrew's mouth comes crashing down on mine. My eyes widen in shock at first, but then close in reaction to the kiss.

Andrew pulls back and I just stare at him surprised, though I can feel a smile creep its way onto my face. "I'll take that as a yes," he says before pulling me in for another kiss.