“Tick, tock. Tick, tock.”

Looking at her from across the room, the sounds from the clock only taunted me further. How to go about this I wonder, should I just go up to her, or should I just be more subtle and hint at it. It felt like my heart slowly resonated with the clock, each tick matching a beat.

“Thump, thump. Thump, thump.”

Okay, I got until the end of this period, to find what to do, yeah, I can’t rush this. So, when I go up to her, what should I say? Oh, I got it! I’ll tell her about that time we first met in elementary school. I remember that moment like it was yesterday.

It was in the fifth grade, and I was writing on a desk. I was really bored since I already knew the material the teacher was teaching and because no one wanted to talk me, since who wants to talk to that weird, quiet kid in the corner. In my boredom I hadn’t noticed that my teacher had walked in front of me and noticed me in the act of vandalism. After a bit of scolding, she made me write a letter explaining that I was sorry and that it was wrong. After all that was done, she moved my seat to the back next to more well behaved people, in hopes that I wouldn’t cause more trouble. To my right, was some guy I didn’t know, so I knew I definitely was gonna avoid that person. To my left, was a girl I knew, she was Zoe Green.

My older brother knew her brother, so naturally I knew who she was, but we had never spoken together, so starting a conversation with the smartest girl in class would be hard. Even so, she somehow didn’t have a problem having a conversation with the quiet problem child that I was at the time.

“Hey, you’re Ben right? Do you know how to do some of this work?” she said.

This shook me, not many people approached me, and she did it so naturally, with no awkwardness whatsoever.

“Uh, yeah. You didn’t use the lighter can of soda in the equation, since you have the same values in both parts.” I said.

“Oh, you’re right, I totally forgot about that. By the way, I noticed the book you were reading in class is also the book I am reading, are you liking it?”

Just like that, we became really close friends, who talked about everything together. Every class we would sit next to each other, and every conversation would be so interesting. Now, being a junior in high school, makes it six years since I first fell in love with her.

“Tick, tock. Tick, tock.”

That’s it! I’ll start with the first time we met, tell her that it’s been six years since that time, then I’ll ask her to go out with me. I looked at the clock revealing twelve o’ clock, about halfway through the period. All I got to do now is go up to her, and ask her if I can speak with her in private. Come on, I can do it, just get up and talk.

“Thump, thump. Thump, thump.”

I got up out of my seat and walked towards her, going through my plan of action in my head.

“THUMP, THUMP. THUMP, THUMP.”

I was right in front of her now and my heart was beating erratically at this point.

“THUMP, THUMP! THUMP, THUMP!”

“Hey, Zoe” I said with a shaky voice.

“THUMP, THUMP! THUMP, THUMP!”

“What’s up Ben, you need something?” she asked.

“THUMP, THUMP! THUMP, THUMP!”

Okay this is it, all you need to do is ask. Come on, that’s all you need to do, JUST ASK!

“THUMP, THUMP! THUMP, THUMP!”

“Yeah, did you do that homework assignment, yet?” I asked.

Wait, what?

“Yeah, why?” she asked.

Wait, what did I just-

“I was having a hard time doing number seven, and was wondering if you knew how to do it” I said.

Did I really just-

“Yeah, I know how to do it, I can show you how to do it later if you want” she said.

How could I have just-

“Yeah, thank you very much, it helps a lot” I said.

I walked away back to my seat and slumped my head to my desk.  So many thoughts swirled my head, but only two words made it out of my mouth.

“Damn it.”