Page 4 of Already Falling

“Are you psychic or something?” I return his fist bump.

“Dang, I might be! I also predicted it would be sunny today.”

“You sure are in a good mood for the first day of school.” I look up at our teacher, who is still waiting for a few more kids to file in.

“History is my favorite subject, so I’ve been looking forward to this class all day.” He pulls out his binder and pencils.

“You’re kidding. History is so boring. What do you like about it?” I glance over Reid’s shoulder and see Chloe blowing kisses in my direction, which makes me blush immediately.

Reid flips his head around, and Chloe almost falls out of her chair.

He turns back to me, laughing. “Oh man, it is going to be a trip to be in the middle of you two, isn’t it?”

Our teacher starts talking, introducing himself as Mr. Francisco, and I realize that I still don’t know why Reid likes history class so much.

A month into the school year and we start learning about European history, more specifically, the Vikings. Reid makes a fist-pump gesture as he walks into class, reading the whiteboard. It says, “Viking’s Unit” with a picture of a mean-looking Viking next to it.

“Wow, I’ve never seen anyone so pumped about Vikings before,” I say to Reid as he takes his seat.

“This is why history class is so cool. We get to learn about different time periods. I think it’s fun to learn how people used to live their everyday lives. Imagine living in Sweden or Norway, sailing around in fancy boats and making your own bowls out of rocks.”

“I thought the Vikings weren’t very nice.”

“Yeah, they were big jerks, but still, it’s interesting to learn things were so different from they are now.”

His eyes light up when he talks about the subject. I could listen to him talk all day about anything, really. I rest my head on my hand as I continue to listen to him talk about different time periods in history he thinks are cool. He likes the Renaissance era because of all the new things that were discovered. Ancient Greece had cool buildings, but his favorite time period was the Roaring Twenties for the way people dressed and when women could vote.

Our teacher starts playing a movie, and I see Chloe scribbling something on a small piece of paper in the corner of my eye. I try to ignore her and keep my eyes pointed toward the projector playing a documentary about the history of Sweden.

“Psst, Anni.” Butterflies start swirling around my stomach as I hear Reid whispering to get my attention.

I look over, and he has a folded piece of paper in his hands.

“From Chloe,” he whispers.

I take the paper making sure the teacher isn’t looking, and open it up.

Do you want to marry Reid?

O - Yes O - No

I bug my eyes out, crumpling the paper on my chest, and look over to Chloe, who has her head lying on her desk tucked in her arms. I can see her chest bouncing up and down, holding in her laughter.

Reid looks over at me and Chloe with an eyebrow raised before shaking his head and turning his attention back to the movie.

I scribble a note back to Chloe.

Do you want to marry Reid?

O - Yes X - No

I do NOT like him like that!

I nudge my foot against Reid’s to get his attention. I slide him the note, and he starts to open it, filling me with panic.

“No!” I say loudly.

Reid stops opening it and turns to me, as well as everyone else in the class. Chloe clasps her hands to her mouth, trying to hold in her laughter again. My teacher looks up from the movie with their head angled to the side and pauses the movie.