| 3 |

❝ How did the elevator describe his job? He said it had its ups and downs. ❞

START WITH SHANE, she supposed. Then she'd go down the list. Shane, then Malcolm, then Theodore. And if none of their handwriting matched up, well, she was screwed.

She had been acting on impulse; she didn't nearly think her plan through, and later on she realized it was cringe worthy, but she did what she thought would work.

She pretended to stumble into him in the hallway.

Shane had been conversing with some friends near his locker before class, and the bell was about to ring as the crowd dispersed. She saw him walking to a class with books and a notebook in his arms, all alone. Charlie needed to get to that notebook to see his handwriting, this was her only chance.

As she got progressively closer, she became more and more aware of how utterly moronic her plan was. Her pulse began to quicken with nerves and her hands began trembling with anxiety. Soon, she found herself just behind of him. She could smell the strong scent of his axe cologne, and crinkled her nose.

The hallway was empty. They were alone. It looked like he didn't realize she was there yet, probably because she had the quietest footsteps known to man, her boots muffling the sound of her walking. After a couple minutes of ferocious procrastinating, she finally made up her mind.

It was showtime.

She threw her books in front of the two of them and leapt onto Shane in an attempt to look like she tripped onto him by accident, kind of side-checking him. He stumbled a bit whereas she fell to the ground with a thud. Her books were everywhere, her body sprawled out on the linoleum flooring. A whimpy groan escaped her lips as she lay there.

Apparently he was nice. He dropped to the floor and set down his books, helping her up. Thank god, or she would look like a complete idiot, laying flat in her back on the white tiles, surrounded by her sprawled out books all alone.

"Are you okay?" he grunted out, kneeling on the floor beside her, his hands darting to stack her books.

In that moment, she could see why everyone fangirled over Shane Marshall.

He was going to be late to class because of her, since he was sweet enough to stop and help her pick up her books. And he did have extremely good looks.

His eyes caught her attention. They were big, hazel eyes, doe-looking and innocent, his eyelashes long and so pretty. It was so weird to call a boy's eyelashes pretty, but they were, she had no other words for them. His jawline was honestly perfect, making her gulp. His figure was tall, slightly towering over her, which was probably given since he played basketball. His muscles were slightly showing through his thin, dark colored, cotton t-shirt.

"Ermfnnthnk," she stuttered, not making any sense, staring at his eyes. They were captivating in a strange way, his eyes lazily scanning her body for injury. It made her shiver, being stared at like that.

"You're Charlotte, right? In my Algebra class?"

How did he know her name? Oh my word.

"Yeah. You're Shane?"

The bell rang, startling her and Shane.

"That's me," he stated, ignoring the bell and handing Charlie her books and chuckling. He flashed her a smile, making her a little woozy.

Whoa. Shane was talking to her. This was strange, to say the least, as she hadn't talked to anyone all year, yet right now the most popular guy in school was talking to her.

Her mouth was sort of open [probably subconsciously drooling at his incredible jawline] as she stared blankly at him. Shoot, what does she say now?

He looked concerned now, staring at her with a disgusted kind of look on his face. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I need to see his writing. I need to see his writing.

"Uh, my, uh... Ankle is kind of hurting me."

She pretended to shakily stand, putting her balance on her left foot, faking pain in her right.

He grabbed on to her shoulder in an attempt to stand her upright. Her eyes shot to his hand in a confused and bewildered glance.

"Don't want you to fall," he mumbled, picking up both piles of fallen books off of the ground.

Thank god for that summer theater club she participated in. Her lying was actually getting somewhere.

"I'm going to take you to the nurse," he said in his deep voice. "You might have sprained your ankle."

He was holding onto their books as he instructed her to wrap her arm around his shoulders. When he told her to do that she gave him a shocked stare that he laughed off.

•|•|•

They must have looked strange.

An unknown girl with untamed, stringy brown hair hopping down the hallway with her arm stretched around the most popular guy at Jefferson High School's shoulders.

What a sight to see.

They made it to the nurse's office after what seemed like forever and she mentally racked her brain for any way to see Shane Marshall's handwriting in that notebook.

They walked inside and the nurse took one glance at them and headed for the fridge, presumably where ice packs lay. Shane led her to one of the cots and laid her down, sitting beside her.

She was so going to regret this.

"Could I write something in your notebook really quickly?" she blurted out. Dear god, why did she say that? Why was she so awkward and bad at lying?

He blinked a couple times before handing her a pencil and his notebook. "Yeah, sure."

She flipped to the first page, a page full of writing, and scanned his handwriting. Not a match.

Shane wasn't her note writer.

She still needed to write something though, or she'd seem even more strange than she already did. Asking, 'hey, can I write something in your notebook?' and then not writing in it. Gosh, but what would she write?

She awkwardly scribbled, Thank you for your help! Maybe call me sometime.

And she wrote her number beside the message.

Man, she was so weird. She was creeped herself out.

She closed the notebook so he wouldn't see what she wrote and blushed as she handed it back to him.

This was such an awful plan. He looked completely confused at her actions and she didn't blame him.

The nurse came over with an ice pack in her hand and gave it to her.

"I think it's just a bruise, I'll be fine." Charlie laughed nervously.

"If you say so," the nurse replied, giving her a look. "I think you'll be fine. Doesn't look swollen."

Charlie shoved the ice pack into her right foot's boot so she didn't need to hold it to her foot all day.

She thanked the nurse and stood up with Shane high on her heels.

"Thanks, Shane," she whispered to him before quickly [fake] limping out of the nurse's office to class, leaving Shane in the dust. She faced forward, feeling Shane Marshall's big, doe eyes on the back of her head.

He was off her list, and her heart lifted yet shriveled at the same time. Relieved, yet feeling even more anxiety than before.

Two to go.

a/n

i've written up to the fifth chapter so far and the fifTH CHAPTER I THINK THAT'S MY FAVORITE RIGHT NOW OKay erm anyways

so shane... thoughts on shane?

i need to thank everyone who has votes and commented on this book so far because they honestly make my day. thank you all so so so much, i read evey single comment and try to reply to all. i love you all, even though i may not know you all individually. but i do try to. these are really short chapters but once i progress into the story they'll be longer

i'm going to try the dedication to the best comment again. this dedication was hard to choose [because everyone's comments were so funny and sweet], but i liked the comment by @trixehstories

"I don't understand how Charlotte is handling this so well. Cause if this happened to me, I'd literally be standing in a puddle of my own melting heart. Like I'd inflate into a balloon of happiness and float up to cloud nine. Not to mention, I'd probably squeeze my note maker to death (and then cry at the loss and try to resurrect the [probable] love of my life)"

That's my thoughts through and through, girl. Charlotte's, as well.

i'm wondering, does anyone have any ideas for a cast? for shane, malcolm, theodore, and sadie? i have a couple ideas [dylan o'brien (bae), logan lerman (other bae), alexander ludwig (so mady baes) etc.] i have an idea for someone, but i just want to see what you think...

i'm going to go all out for the goals for this chapter. last chapter's results were far more than i expected, so i tried to aim a little higher??? idk lmao. bye, for now!

GOALS:

10 votes

20 comments

500 reads