Chapter 9
When we got back in from the fire drill, Mrs. Gibson told Michael and I we were allowed to go back to the room. He put his arms around my shoulder and walked to the room with me.
“We only have ten minutes left now,” I tell him.
“That’s enough time.”
“For what?” I ask.
“To ask you what I want to ask you.”
“What do you want to ask me?” He rubbed his thumb on my hand and looked down. “What?”
“Nothing. I’ll ask you later. It’s too early. It’s only been three days.”
“Too early for what?”
“Nothing.”
“Okay. Well, Michael, can I tell you something?” I ask feeling nervous.
“Sure. What is it?” I feel the butterflies in my stomach as I open my mouth.
“Are you okay?” He asks as I hold my stomach. God knows how embarrassing that’ll be.
“Well, I kind of………….. like you,” I say and look down awaiting his answer.
“You do?” He asks. I can hear a smile in his voice. Oh, gosh. He’s about to make fun of me. I knew I shouldn’t have thought I was literally that bold to tell him that. “I like you too,” he says and lifts my chin.
“Really?” I smile.
“Yeah. I’ve liked you since you first came here. It wasn’t obvious?”
“It kind of was. The way you were treating me and how you asked me to go to the movies with you and such.”
“I’m glad you noticed. I think it’ll be easier for me to ask you now that we got past that,” he smiled shyly.
“Ask what?” I laugh. My heart is still beating fast since I told him I liked him.
“Would you like to be my girlfriend?”
I smiled and bit my tongue. He smiled back and pushed my hair behind my ear. “Yeah, I would love to.” I’m pretty sure he heard my heart. It was so loud the entire room could hear it.
“Great,” he said and held my hand.
“It’s time to go back to class.” I take my quiz and leave the room with him.
When we enter the classroom, everyone looks up at us as if we’re totally different people than before. Maybe because we’re holding hands. But we held hands when we left too.
“Here you go, Mrs. Gibson,” I hand the quiz to her.
“You two are holding hands,” she smiles.
“Yeah,” I smile back and walk back to my seat.
He takes his quiz up to her and moves his desk closer to mine, “Janet told you I was going to ask, didn’t she?” He whispered.
“Yes, she did.”
“I got her,” he laughed and played with my fingers. “You have soft skin,” he whispered and lay his head on the desk as he still played with my fingers.
“Thank you.”
“Why is it so soft?”
“I don’t know. It’s natural, I guess.”
“That’s beautiful. I like soft skin.”
“Can I meet your parents properly this time?” He asked.
“Sure. I mean, if it’s okay with my parents.”
“Okay, great.”
*At Lunch…*
Today, I grab a salad and water and see that Michael picks the same thing. After we pay, he takes my tray and carries it to the table Janet and Randy are sitting at.
“Hey guys,” I say and sit next to Janet.
“Hey, Harmony. What’s up?” Janet asks.
“Nothing. I just had to take a quiz in math today that I didn’t understand until Michael helped me,” I smiled as I took a bite of my salad. Michael sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulder.
Randy looked at him and smiled, “what’s with that, Mike?”
“What’s with what?” Michael looked up confused.
“Your arm is around Harmony.”
“Oh. She’s my girl now,” he smiles proudly.
“Really?!” Janet screams. “Oh my gosh! How did you ask?” She asks excitedly.
He takes his arm off of my shoulder and drums his fingers on the table. “Well, I tried asking during class, but that didn’t work out. Then we went to the tutor room cause she didn’t understand the quiz. I tried asking there, then the alarm went off so that didn’t work out either. But when we got back, I started off and stopped because I figured it would be too early and she comes out and tells me she likes me and I tell her I like her back, then next thing you know, she says says.”
“Aww! You got interrupted so many times,” Janet laughed.
“I know. I was so pissed off. I’m like, ‘why can’t I just ask this beautiful girl out?’” Everyone laughed.
“I’m going over her house again tonight to meet her parents.”
“‘Again?’ What do you mean again?” Randy asked.
“I went over last night and I’m going again tonight to meet her parents properly.”
“What happened last night?” Randy asked.
“Well… they were a tad bit busy,” Michael laughed.
Randy didn’t get it at first, then understood and laughed.
“I don’t get it,” Janet said.
“You’re too young to know, Janet,” Randy told her.
“No, I’m not. I’m in the fifth grade. I’m not that young.”
“Janet, you’re too young,” Michael says again as he takes my hand and kisses it. I blush and drink my water. “You’re so beautiful, harmony.”
“Thank you very much,” I say and get up to throw my food away.
He follows and takes my tray, “you could’ve just gave it to me.”
“It’s fine.” Michael gets behind me and wraps his arms around my waist like he did last night and walks along with me. “I wonder if your mom approves of me like your dad does.”
“She probably does. You were nice enough last night. We’ll see tonight.”
“Michael?” Someone asks as we sit down. I turn around to see Rebecca.
“Yes?” He asks, clearly frustrated.
“You two are so lovey dovey. I thought she was just a friend,” Rebecca says and squeezes between Michael and I.
“She’s not just a friend anymore.”
“Oh. What happened? I hope you’re not mad that she doesn’t want to be your friend anymore.”
“No. I’m not mad.”
“Oh, well. That’s great,” she smiled hard.
“Why is that so great, Becca?”
“Just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out tonight.”
“I’m busy.”
“With what, Michael?” She was frustrated. It showed a lot.
“I’m going to meet Harmony’s parents tonight.”
“Since when do you meet your friends’ parents?”
“She’s not my friend. Harmony is my girlfriend.”
Rebecca turned around and looked at me in disgust then back at Michael, “she is your girlfriend?” She pointed at me.
“Yeah. Is there a problem with that?”
“Well, for one, she’s from the dirtiest state in the United States. You’ve only known her for three days and she’s ugly.”
“It’s her personality that counts, Becca. Looks are just a bonus.”
“Well,” Becca said and got up.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to escort Harmony to her next class,” Michael got up and held his hand out for me to take.
“Bye, Janet and Randy,” I said and walked with Michael to my locker. “She really likes you,” I pointed out.
“She’s never liked me this much until you came.”
“Oh,” I said and got my books out for chemistry.
“I wish we had that class together,” Michael said as we stood at the door waiting for it to be opened.
“Me too.”
“I may go get my schedule changed to fit your schedule.”
“Really?” I smiled.
“Yeah. You want me to?”
“It’ll be nice.”
“Alright, I will after school. Which reminds me. Can I take you home today?” He smiled and placed his hand on the wall behind me. He was so cute when he did that. I looked up at him and said yes. “Great. I’ll see you after school,” he smiled and kissed my cheek then raced off to his own class.
Gosh, he gives me butterflies!