It was the first day of classes and I was extremly tired by the time lunch came around. I met Natalie by the cafeteria doors.

“Nat,” I whined, “Are you sure about this?”

“Yup. And you’re not running away this time.” She grabbed my arm and pushed the doors open. Over in our usual corner sat a group of our best friends, “Hey guys!” She ran over, dragging me along, and plopped down beside them. “I hope you don’t mind, but I invited a new friend to come sit with us. He should be here soon.” They all smiled and nodded,

“Ohhh. Natalie. A guy?” Seth, one of our guy friends .

“Hey. Ivy has total dibs on him. Hear that girls?" She eyed all of the girls around the table. They all laughed and nodded, sending me knowing looks while I tried to dig a hole and crawl into it. Darn these tile floors!  

“I’m gonna go get food. You want anything?” I stood up and asked Natalie. “Yeah!” She told me what she wanted and I nodded before walking off to get in line. When I came back I froze. AJ had come while I was gone. I approached slowly with my tray. He sat down next to Natalie. I approached her from the other side and dropped her food down before her. Then I walked around to the farthest side of our group as I could get from AJ. And that wasn’t even enough to calm my palpitating heart.

Natalie shot me a look as I sat down and I just stared past her in a total daze. Natalie put on a smile, as though nothing was wrong. She started going around introducing people. She finally came to me,

“And that’s Ivy.” He smiled,

“Oh! The girl from yesterday?” She nodded and he smiled, “Hi!” He waved and I froze. I stared at him for a moment before quickly ducking my head and messing with my food. I heard Nat sigh, but I ignored her.

As soon as I finished my food, I got up and left. Natalie tried to stop me, but I just kept going.

“Sorry. She’s just… shy.” I heard Natalie tell AJ as I ran away.

~~~ 

My last class of the day was musical composition. I entered the class with a tired expression. This had been a long day and I was ready for it to be over. But this was my favorite class so I wanted to be able to enjoy it. I walked in and took a seat somewhere in the middle. Students continued to file in and I began searching through my bag for a pen.

“Excuse me,” I looked up and froze. AJ?! “Yeah. You’re Ivy right? I’m AJ. Do you mind if I sit here?” I just continued to stare at him. “I guess that’s no.” He chuckled and took a seat beside me. I resisted the urge to move seats. That would just seem rude. He already thinks I’m some rediculously shy person.

Through out the whole period I couldn’t concentrate. I was too preoccupied with the fact that AJ of UKISS was currently sitting to the right of me. I mean, I could feel the heat emanting off of him. That’s how close we were. I was going crazy. I was totally torn. One way I wanted this to end as soon as possible. But on the other hand, I wanted to sit here forever: with him.

Class finally ended and I jumped up. I gathered all of my things as quickly as I could and began heading towards the door,

“Wait,” I froze, “Have a good day, okay? See you tomarrow.” I never turned to look at him and just kept running.

~~~

“Oh! So you have music comp. with him? That’s exciting! Maybe he’ll let you hear a song he wrote. And you better keep sitting with him!” I had told Natalie all about our encounter and she was super excited. I just groaned and rolled over. She smaked my leg, “And sit by me at lunch.” I nodded pittifully and she smiled, “Good.” She sighed and stretched, “Well, I’m tired. I’m going to bed. Goodnight.”

“Night.” She turned off the light and got in her bed. I laid back and stared up at the ceiling.

I can’t believe this is happening to me.