[Nicole's POV]
The second I stepped into class with Laura, I knew she was going to start. She had that smirk plastered across her face, the one that told me she was really going to finish what she started in the morning and tease me.
"So..." Laura dragged. "You like him don't you" she finished, grinning as we sat down on our seats.
I rolled my eyes, heat creeping up my neck.
"No, he's just...hot." Yeah, that was it, there was no feelings behind why I've been staring (alot). He was just hot that my eyes were always unconsciously drawn to him.
Before Laura could say anything else, Samantha- one of our friends, who we seat with at lunch, turned to face us from her seat, her ponytail whipping across her shoulders.
"Ohhh, talking about the new guy, aren't we?" She said her eyebrows lifted as if she just caught me doing something scandalous
She turned to Laura "lemme guess, Nicole likes Micheal." She said in a-matter-of fact voice.
"Mm-hmm, that's what I said but she keeps denying it." Laura said not missing a beat.
I folded my arms over my chest, a little annoyed by the fact they won't even listen to me. "Like I said, he's just hot, there's nothing else to it."
Laura and Samantha frowned, I knew they didn't believe what I just said. But that was the truth- he was hot and that was it, nothing else.
"Just hot" Laura muttered, folding her arms.
Samantha tilted her head, lips pursued like she was disappointment. "Yeah, sure. That's what they all say right before dreaming about getting married and having 5 hamsters."
I shook my head and shoved my pen into my backpack zip, a little too hard. "Believe what you want, it doesn't matter to me." But the way they kept looking at me made my stomach twist. It was like they knew something I didn't.
The bell rang for the next class, I had drama next which usually meant messing around on stage, till the teacher got fed up, but today was different Micheal was in my drama class, which would have been fine if Laura hadn't full my head with thoughts of me liking Micheal but now....
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In drama class, I hadn't interacted with Micheal yet, he was talking with other students, gradually fitting in, like today wasn't his first day talking with any of them.
To be honest, I was kinda sad, I wanted him to talk to me yet I was also relieved he didn't. This! is the reason they call girls complicated.
But my moment of solitude was short lived. Mrs Taylor, our drama teacher started pairing us for the next project.
"Michael and...Nicole" she called, scanning the room. My heart nearly dropped.
I froze for a second, thanking God, how grateful I was Laura wasn't in my drama class unless she would have teased me to maybe my early death, who knows. Gathering my stuff wanting to go over to where he was but Micheal saved me the trouble by coming over to where I was.
"Guess we're stuck together," he said voice low and friendly.
"Looks like it," I managed, hoping I didn't sound as awkward as I felt.
The thing was… he didn't make it awkward. Within minutes, we were bouncing ideas back and forth, laughing about how bad our acting skills were, finding out we actually liked the same movies. It wasn't forced at all- it just clicked, like this wasn't the second time we were talking- properly talking to each other.
By the end of class, I realized I wasn't thinking about Laura or Samantha or what they thought anymore. I was just… enjoying him.