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Jared irls’ locker room, since he was at school every day He didn’t look at h we shared a class together I had transferred out of a Co already exceeded the senior syllabus in France, and transferred into The he was in that class, too The elective was supposed to be a cruise course, lots of

"Tate, do you have an extra pen I could borrow?" Ben Jamison asked e sat down in Themes He, thankfully, had continued to be friendly and respectful in French, despite the current talk, and I was relieved with the distraction fro, searching "I think so Here we go" Ben awarded me with a brilliant sreen eyes Our fingers touched, and I pulled away quickly, dropping the pen before he’d grasped it

I don’t knohy I’d pulled away, but I felt Jared’s eyes wash over the back of rab it "Don’t let h"

"Keep it" I waved my hand in the air "I’m stocked I mostly use pencils, anyway With all of my Science and Math classes, it’s a necessity Especially withat humility, but it caht I forgot you were into that stuff" He probably didn’t forget He almost certainly had no idea My nostrils flared with the ree Jared had done He was the reason et into Columbia, pre-med What about you?" I inquired I hoped I didn’t sound like I was bragging, but I didn’t feel self-conscious with Ben His fae He’d probably be applying to Ivy League schools, too

"I’ to a few places I have no head for Math or Science, though It’ll be Business for oes with Economics, you know?" I pointed out His eyes widened, and I realized he didn’t know

"Uh, yeah" He looked confused, but recovered quickly "Absolutely As long as it’s not toofroe the subject, "you’re on the Ho?" Ben looked excited

"We’ll see Have you booked a band, or is there a DJ?" Band Band Band

"A band would be nice, but they tend to play one genre of music, so it’s hard to please everyone We’ll have a DJ I think that’s what everyone decided He’ll keep the party going with a good mix: pop, country…" He cast a sled to keep a happy face

"Oh… pop and country? Can’t go wrong there" I istered another snicker behind o like the last tilanced back to Jared, whose eyes were downcast as he fiddled on his phone But I saw his lips turned up and knew his pent-up amusement was provoked by my conversation with Ben

Jackass

Jared knew I hated country music and had little tolerance for pop As did he

"So, you like pop and country?" I redirected my attention to Ben Please say "no" Please say "no"

"Mostly country"

Ugh, that’s worse

Math and Science? Negative Musical tastes? Negative Ok, last ditch effort to find so next to in two classes this se to be in soon

"You know, I heard we get to watch The Sixth Sense in here this semester Have you seen it?" My phone beeped with a text notification, but I silenced it and stuck it in et it I’ fan of those thriller-mystery type movies I like coled his eyebrows teasingly

"Hey, Jamison?" Jared piped up from behind us, his inflection overly polite "If you like Bruce Willis, Unbreakable is a good one You should give it a shot…you know, if you’re looking to change your mind about thrillers that is"

My desk had suddenly beco view I refused to turn around and face Jared Words failed me when I realized that he’d remembered

Ben turned in his seat and responded, "Yeah, I’ll remember that Thanks" He turned back around and flashed me a smile

Jared was bold He wanted me to know he remembered that Bruce Willis was my favorite actor We had watched Die Hard one day when one, because Dad wouldn’t letJared had a lot of knowledge about ht to claiht, class," Mrs Penley called out with a stack of papers in her hands "In addition to the packet I a you a template of a compass Please write your na North, East, South, and West blank"

We all took papers, stuffing the list froarding the co class with an activity relievedinto the back of , to say the least

"Ok" Mrs Penley clapped her hands together "The packets I gave you are lists of filues occurred As we’ve already started discussing ues and their importance in Fil up a few of these on the Internet for research We’ll discuss, during toue to the class"

Solo presentation Ugh! Acting out a h!

"Also," Mrs Penley continued, "for various discussions this year, you’ll be asked to pair up with a different person in class You’ll knoho to pair up with based on this compass You’ll have fivepartners for your North, South, East, and West Whoever you pick to fill in on your North, for example, they will also put you as their North, and so on Kind of eles up"