*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

CHAPTER THREE COMING OF AGE MOMENT

BETH WAS GOING ABSOLUTELY CRAZY. She was smart enough for this, she knew she was smart enough for this. So why was this math worksheet so hard for her? She could do math like nobody's business, but for some reason her brain was just not having it today. It didn't help that Kaelyn was off with Peter Parker now that she and him were suddenly study buddies which was a development she had utterly failed to inform Beth of. She wasn't jealous, per se, but doing homework with a friend was just more fun. That was common knowledge.

A small, clear cough garnered her attention as she stopped bouncing her pencil between her fingers. Questionably, she looked up at whoever had cleared their throat and Beth did a double take when she realized Liz Allan was looking straight at her.

"Oh, um, hi," she mumbled. Beth was never meek. She was loud, exuberant, it was her thing, but when Liz was around? She was as quiet as a mouse. Beth and Kaelyn called it the "hot girl affect." One can feel inferior in the presence of someone so utterly gorgeous such as Liz Allan.

"You know, staring angrily at the paper won't solve the problem for you, right?" Liz asked with a teasing smile as her fingers drummed at the back of the chair across from where Beth was sitting. The girl was fairly sure she was dreaming as she eyed the way the girl's manicured nails tapped gracefully against the aged wood.

Beth smiled softly, scoffing as she said, "Yes, I'm aware. Thank you."

Looking at the shift in the girl's expression, Beth realized how little tact her statement had and tried to back track. "Sorry, sorry, that sounded totally mean, ah, I'm just... struggling a little. Usually I'm good at math, I'm just—"

"Having an off day?" the girl asked with a smile, "Let me see, I totally aced algebra sophomore year. Can I?"

Liz motioned to the chair and Beth nodded and the girl took a seat. Beth honestly wasn't sure if this was really happening, but there really was no reason for her to think that it wasn't. Liz has been awfully kind to her lately, but Beth didn't want to waste time wondering why. She just wanted to enjoy it. Liz made a grabbing hand for the paper and she handed it over, resting her head on her hands as she watched the girl look it over. She could admire Liz all day if she was being honest.

"What are you staring at?" Liz asked with a laugh as she reached over for Beth's pencil, "Ah, shit, I remember this lesson. Mkay, lemme see if I can figure this out for you. Do you have another piece of paper? I'll write out the steps for you so you don't forget."

Beth's initial response was to decline the help, insisting, "No, it's fine you don't have to do all that for me, I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out. I seemed to work it out fine in class but my mind is just totally blanking, so..."

"Don't worry about it, math can be a bitch," the girl scoffed, laughing gently as she looked down at the paper. Beth sighed and handed over a second piece of paper, noting how her face scrunched up when she was concentrating and of course it was adorably perfect just like everything else about Liz. "I can feel you staring at me, is there something on my face?"

"No, no, you're just really pretty," Beth said, not even noticing the words had slipped out until she saw the dark pink blush spread across the other girl's cheeks. "Sorry, sorry, that was uncalled for. Ah, you can just pretend I never said that."

"It's fine," Liz said, clearly biting back a smile as she got back to work on the worksheet, scrawling words down on the second piece of paper Liz had given her. "You're really pretty, too."

"Oh, thanks," Beth mutters, wishing she could just disappear. The girl was usually okay with taking compliments, but from Liz that was going to be a whole other story. She wasn't sure if she had said it just to be nice or if she actually meant it. Either way, it sent Beth absolutely reeling.

Liz cleared her throats before she passed the papers back over to Beth, "Okay, okay, so I highlighted the solution for you and all the steps are listed over here so you can use this method for the other problems. I think I wrote it clearly enough? If not, you can just text me."

"Text you?" 

"Yeah, right here," Liz said with a smile, pointing to a small scrawl in perfect handwriting (because of course she had perfect handwriting) at the bottom of the paper. It was a phone number. Liz Allan had given Beth her phone number. Someone pinch her. "Uh, I've got academic decathlon, I think I'm already late. I... hope I get to hear from you."

She began to grab her bag and stand up and Beth was still partially in shock as she looked at the paper. Glancing up at the girl, she smiled and nodded, "Uh, yeah, yeah, for sure. Uh, good luck at practice."

"Thanks!" she exclaimed as she waved goodbye with a smile and left the library. Beth couldn't believe that had happened. Liz Allan had not only spoken to her, but she helped her with homework, and gave Beth her phone number. Still, it was nowhere near flirting and was probably just something Liz did out of the kindness of her heart because that's just who she was. Beth was never going to live this down in her mind. She couldn't believe she called Liz Allan pretty good her face. Or that Liz Allan had returned the compliment. Was this her coming of age moment? This felt like a coming of age moment. Wait, someone wasn't supposed to be aware of their coming of age moment. Shit, Beth spoiled it. She was worried too much about this. Not to mention she was still frozen to her seat in the library and still not doing her math homework even though thanks to Liz's help, she had no excuse not to.

"Oh, shit," Beth muttered as she stared through the doors Liz had just left through, "I have got to text Kaelyn about this."

it's been like three months since i updated this i am SORRY guys I SWEAR i love beth i just am busy with lots of stories so sometimes they get a little lost in the dust but imma try and update this a bit more often because i miss beth tons