The long awaited sequel to My Life in Romance Ep. 1.

I watched the students race out as math class ended. As it was the fourth day of my high school life, I was getting into the jist of things. I start heading to my next class, P.E.

I entered the boys locker room, opened my locker, and pulled out my Cherry Grove High P.E. clothes; red nylon shorts with the letters C.H.S printed on them and a grey t-shirt were the standard uniform. I quickly changed and stepped out of the locker room which always smelled like over baked potatoes and old socks. As I entered the gymnasium, I couldn’t help but notice Thomas Wilson surrounded by a menagerie of teenage girls. That happens to superstar Lacrosse players.
“Looks like someone is enjoying himself” Jacob said. I kept looking at Thomas; he turned his head towards me and gave me a stern glare. “What happened to you guys? You were close.” Jacob said.

Thomas and I became good friends back in elementary school and were practically inseparable, up until the middle of sixth grade. It started with him avoiding me and then escalated to him plain out wanting me on the ground lifeless. I don’t know what I had done to aggravate him so much; deep in thought I was completely oblivious to the continuous tapping of my shoulder. I turned my head and my mind went blank. I was greeted with the familiar chestnut ponytail that smelled like fresh strawberries in the sun; it was Caitlyn.
“Hi Henry, how’s it going?” she said.
“Uh…I’m…um…hello” I answer, stuttering. She smiled.
“Oh, hi Jacob” she said.  He raised his hand in acknowledgement.

I should say something to her, probably something suave I thought. I opened my mouth and was interrupted by the booming voice of our P.E. teacher. “EVERYONE FORM INTO TWO TEAMS!” he bellowed. It took the class a good ten minutes to correctly organize themselves into teams. I was pretty happy since I had Jacob on my team, along with a few other students who I thought were alright. We spent the rest of the class playing dodgeball: we won twice but lost three games. As the bell rang, all the boys rushed into the locker room to change back into their regular clothes.

Jacob and I walk down the busy hallways to our next class. Jacob waved to many of the students while I quietly watched. Sometimes I wonder how he gets along with so many people. We walked into the French room and was greeted with a large, Cheshire cat smile that came from Madame Blanchett.

“Ok, you guys will partner up to make a presentation on what it would be like to live in France; before you guys get excited, I have already formed all the partnerships” she said; the class groaned. I said Caitlyn’s name over and over in my mind, willing the teacher to pair us up. I waited, and waited. The list was endless. Caitlyn, Caitlyn, Caitlyn. “Henry,” my blood froze, “and Caitlyn” said Madame Blanchett. I looked over to where Jacob was and I saw him look at me, mouthing the words, “We’ll talk after class.”
I spent the rest of the class working with Caitlyn and learning about her. I learned that her dream is to be an elementary school teacher, that her favorite food is salmon, and that her favorite song is Thinking out Loud by Ed Sheeran. I had never dreaded the bell ringing before.

The day was about to end; I stepped out of the French classroom and turned; my eyes darted to a large crowd in the hallway. “FIGHT!” I heard someone shout. More people started chanting it as I pushed through the crowd; when I finally got to the source of the noise, my eyes widened like plates. I saw Jacob on the ground, nose and upper lip bleeding. Thomas was bent over him with bloody knuckles. I raced to Jacob’s side. “WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!” I shouted. The crowd quieted.

“He’s the one that bumped into me,” after he said that he lightly tapped Jacob’s shoulder with his foot. I balled my fist and stepped forward. Caitlyn’s chestnut ponytail distracted me.

“Let’s all keep our cool, we don’t…” she couldn’t finish what she was trying to say, because Thomas turned and yelled, “SHUT UP!” He tried to push past Caitlyn and she hit the wall of red lockers.

I saw red; that was the last straw. I walked forward and pushed him into the lockers; the crowd cheered then walked away quickly. I turned to see Officer King approach us. His stern glare was all he needed to convince us to walk to Ms. Anderson’s office.

She decided that Thomas and I would have ISA for the rest of the week. While Officer King led us to the ISA room, I looked into the clinic and saw Caitlyn asking for ice. She noticed me looking at her and she looked at me back; she gave me a big smile and thumbs up. I didn’t know what to do, so I just did the same thing back to her.

Stay tuned for the exciting FINAL EPISODE of My Life in Romance! It will be out at the beginning of June!

*Correction. It was not out at the beginning of June. It was released at the beginning of August. Read it here.