It was Friday morning and Sky and I were pumped. Today was the day we put operation Jody into motion.

"C'mon Cora we have to go! I want to find Jess and see how red I can make her face by teasing her about tonight!" Sky exclaimed, impatiently waiting at our door.

"Rushing never helps." I mumbled under my breath before zipping up my bag and following Sky out the door. She was one relentless girl, making our poor friend tomato red before class.

Sky seemed very pleased when we ran into Jess, five minutes before the bell, giving her enough time to get our blushing friend all flustered. And although I wanted to stay and watch the blood rush to Jess' face, I had to continue my walk to class since I was on the fourth floor and I certainly didn't want to be late again. The teacher already hated me thanks to Cody and Matt.

Once I was in class and comfortably sat in my spot between the two boys, I let myself think about what could happen tonight.

I knew Cody would make a move on Jess if they sat together, so no need to worry about that, and maybe Matt would sit by Sky. He was a good guy and I thought him and Sky would be great together. Now all I needed to do was find myself a guy.

That idea kind of scared me though. I'd never had a boyfriend before, although I have kissed a boy. But It wasn't the best experience. I was at a dance when I was in grade 8, and a boy I didn't even know just came up to me and kissed me. I pushed him away when I realized what was happening, and cried for the rest of the night because my first kiss was stolen.

"Miss Steele, I don't know why you suddenly have such a fascination with the wall, but I suggest you turn your interest to the lesson." Mr. O said, breaking me out of my traumatizing memory, and making everyone in the class laugh.

"Sorry sir." I apologized, and started to take down notes. I really should start paying attention in class, math wasn't my strong suit.

"What in the world were you thinking about?" Matt whispered, training his confused brown eyes on me.

"Just stuff." I answered vaguely, not taking my eyes off my notebook.

"I think you were fantasizing about being next to me during our movie date." Matt stated, obviously trying to get a reaction out of me.

"Well duh." Was my response. Hopefully now the conversation would be over so I could completely focus on my work.

I heard Matt cough in reply.

Eventually, after what felt like a lifetime, class ended and I was off to second period, which thankfully passed a lot quicker.

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

"Cora!" Jess called from the lunch line, waving me over frantically.

I rolled my eyes and made sure to walk over to her slowly, causing her to scowl at me.

"You need to help me I have no idea what to wear tonight! Do I dress up? Dress normally? Do I wear my pajamas, oh which ones should I wear? I think my fluffy blue pants and that cute white t-shirt. What do you think? Oh and my hair! I like to put it up when I wear pajamas, but I should wear it down so I can hide my blush. And I need to wear a lot of concealer so I don't look like a tomato the whole time."

I looked at my friend, baffled by her rambling. How could someone be this nervous about watching a movie in the same room as their crush?

"Okay slow down." I told her, putting my hands on her shoulders, "You need to calm down, it]s just a movie, in a dark room. No one is even going to see your clothes, or your blush."

Jess took a few deep breaths, then smiled at me, "Thanks Cora, you're the best."

Sky joined us ten minutes later, and we were all sat at our usual table talking and joking when they showed up.

Matt, Cody, and Drew.

Why the heck were they standing in front of our table?

"So we're still on for tonight, right?" Matt asked, looking at me.

I rolled my eyes, "Of course."

"Alright, it's a date." He replied, sending me a small smile.

"Can we go now?" Drew suddenly snapped, and didn't wait for his friends to follow as he stormed off to his table.

"What's his problem?" I asked when the other two left.

Jess smirked, "He has a stick up his butt, I'm sure that would make anyone cranky."

"Probably." I laughed.

After that we all ate in silence for a few minutes until Sky spoke up.

"I think Matt likes you."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, I like him too, he's cool."

"I don't mean like that." She replied, sounding disappointed in my obliviousness.

"Hey, maybe that's why Drew's mad." Jess chimed in.

Why would Drew be mad that Matt had a crush on me? It wasn't his business. Maybe he thought I was going to steal his friend away?

"What if Drew has a crush on you." Sky squealed, bouncing in her chair, clearly excited with the idea.

I scoffed, "There's no way Drew would ever have any kind of positive feeling for me, especially a crush."

"He's never really dated, so maybe he just doesn't know what to do. Maybe he's scared of his feelings for you because he's never experienced them before, and he's just pushing you away." Jess explained in a hopeful tone.

"So do you think Cody's going to put the moves on Jess?" I asked Sky, successfully changing the subject.

Their little theory about Drew was dead wrong. This wasn't some romance book, Drew and I were not meant to be together, all we'd ever be was two people that didn't like each other, nothing more.

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

I dragged my feet along the fancy tiled floor as I walked to my last class; Music. I would be excited if he who shall not be named wasn't in the class. But of course, lucky me got stuck with the jerk.

"Good afternoon." The music teacher, which I found out yesterday was named Mr. Cleffer, greeted me.

I gave him a small smile in return and sat down in one of the chairs.

As the class filled up dread washed over me. I knew I would have to work with Drew again today, and I certainly wasn't looking forward to it. I got lucky the last few days because we did theory work, which didn't involve partners or any human interaction at all. But today we were being partnered up again for an assignment.

As soon as the bell rang, Mr. Cleffer got right into the lesson.

"Today, as you know, is the day you will be partnered up for a fun little assignment. You and your partner will create an original piece of music, and preform it to the school in two weeks time."

"Why are we preforming for the school?" Louise, a saxophone player, asked.

"Well, it will be the school's 100th anniversary. The singers, dancers, and musicians will all be preforming. It'll be a fun day, no classes, and lots of activities to do."

I wasn't very excited about that. I hadn't played in front of a crowd since my parents died.

"Alright, enough wasting time, I'm going to pair you up now."

And he did just that, until the only two people that weren't called were Drew and I.

"Drew Bates and Cora Steele."

I knew it was going to happen, but I was still very disappointed when Mr. Cleffer made it official.

I opened my mouth to ask about changing my partner but one look from the teacher told me to shut up. Drew and I were his favourite pair so there was no changing his mind.

Once we were set up with our instruments a heavy silence fell over us.

"Okay, listen here." Drew suddenly said, turning to look at me, "This performance is important to me, so you better not mess it up."

I rolled my eyes, he thought I was going to mess up?

"If you haven't realized, I play with my eyes closed and I never mess up. You don't have to worry about me ruining the performance. Worry about yourself." I retaliated.

"Just don't mess up, okay?" He repeated, a little bit nicer this time.

"Fine." I replied, realizing that this really was important to him, and not worth arguing over.

We played for a while, experimenting with different styles and tempos, but it was sad, melancholy music that we did best. The only problem was that I didn't want to play something so personal for the school.

"Can we try to do something happier?" I asked, doing my best puppy dog face.

"We don't sound good playing something upbeat and happy." Drew replied, shooting down my idea without even considering it.

"I just, I don't know." I started, but I didn't know what to say.

Drew looked at me with slight curiosity, which was enough to encourage me to explain myself.

"The music we play just feels too personal to play for the school. Like I'm telling everyone my whole life story or something."

Drew looked like he was thinking hard about what I said.

It took him a minute, but eventually he replied, "That's what music is supposed to be like. It's mean to be personal, that's what makes it beautiful. You're supposed to connect with the audience and wear your heart out on your sleeve when you perform. That's what gives it the extra push to be great."

I stared at him in shock, what he said was kind of beautiful, and it convinced me to make the best song we could. Even if it had to be sad.

"Okay, lets get started."

And for the rest of class we played the best we ever have, and finished almost half of the song.

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

It was finally time for operation Jody. We were currently on our way to Matt's dorm, and Jess was completely freaking out. It was really strange seeing her nervous since she was usually a very outgoing and confident person. But when it came to Cody, she was just a bundle of nerves.

"We're here." Sky sang when we arrived at the dorm that would set our plan into motion.

Unfortunately Jess started to panic even more, "Oh God, I can't do this. I have to go back."

Sky grabbed her arm to keep her from running away as I knocked on the door, and a moment later Matt it, a grin taking over his face.

"Hey." I greeted as I stepped into the room, and he did one of his "cool" head nods in reply.

Cody was already there, snacking on some popcorn and sitting on the couch in front of the T.V.

Matt's dorm was so much bigger than mine. They had a living room and two bedrooms whereas mine was just one room with two beds and then the closets and bathroom. This was so not fair.

"So what movie are we watching?" I asked to distract myself from the stupidly awesome room.

"The Forest." Matt informed me.

I smiled at that. The Forest was a new horror movie that I'd wanted to see it since it came out.

"Oh God." I heard Jess whisper.

So she didn't like horror movies huh? She could just use Cody as her shield. Good thinking Matt.

"Okay everyone take a seat because the movie is about to begin." Matt said in a dorky announcer voice.

Sky made Jess sit beside Cody, of course, and I sat on the couch next to her.

Matt and Sky took the floor because I took up the whole second half of the couch, pushing Jess even closer to Cody.

Once the lights were out and the movie was on I took a quick peak at Jess and saw that Cody already had his arm around her. The plan was working!

I grinned from ear to ear as I watched the movie, It was just as good as I expected it to be. I was sitting up and practically leaning towards the T.V, so engrossed in the action that was playing out in front of me.

All of a sudden there was a big jump scare, and the person to the left of me jumped. But Jess and Cody were to my right.

I looked over and guess who was sitting beside me?

Drew Bates.

Why in the world would he sit next to me? If he hated me so much he should've sat on the floor with Matt.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Drew said, startling me into the realization that I was staring at him.

"Why are you here?" I asked, ignoring what he said.

He ran a hand through his hair in what looked like frustration, "This is my dorm."

I guess I should've expected that.

"No, I mean why are you sitting next to me?"

He let out a small, humorless chuckle, "It's my couch and this is the only spot open. I'm definitely not sitting on that floor, it's probably filthy."

Of course the princess wouldn't sit on the floor, it wasn't good enough for him.

"Did you just call me a princess?" Drew asked, looking at me with a mix of disbelief and anger.

"Sorry, didn't mean to say that out loud." I laughed.

"Whatever, I need to talk to you." He said through clenched teeth.

I rolled my eyes, of course he wanted to talk to me right now, in the middle of a movie. "Okay, speak. And make it quick, I want to enjoy the rest of then movie."

Instead of saying whatever he wanted to say, he grabbed my wrist and practically dragged me into one of the rooms.

"Hey! You can't just manhandle me like that!" I exclaimed as I ripped my arm out of his grip.

"Yeah whatever, I want to talk about our assignment." He said like he didn't just force me into what looked to be his room.

I scoffed, "Can't this wait until Monday? I was enjoying myself until you came along and ruined it."

At that he balled his hands into fists. "Okay I'm trying to be civil here, and you're not helping. I want to make this assignment perfect. Unfortunately we got stuck together, but we need to get over it and start acting like partners."

I'll admit I did kind of feel bad after hearing his little rant.

"I'm sorry, now lets just get to the point and discuss the project." I apologized, and even gave him a friendly smile, which wasn't returned.

"Tuesday, Thursday, and the weekends, that's when I want to work on the song." He stated, quickly continuing so there was no room for me to argue. "We meet in the music room at 4:30pm and work for a couple hours. Okay?"

Wow he actually asked if I was okay with it. What a miracle! But I wasn't in the mood to argue so I just nodded to confirm that I was okay with the plan. The sooner this conversation was over, the sooner I could get back to the movie.

"Alright you're free to go." Drew dismissed, waving his hand in a shooing like manner.

I quickly exited the room and sat back on the couch, only to find that the movie was over.

What a jerk, making me miss the best part.