𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗜'𝗺 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴
𝗖𝗼𝗰𝗼 𝘅 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿
𝗢𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗰𝗼 𝗩𝗮𝗻 𝗗𝗶𝗷𝗸

"We're- we're partners?" My mouth lets out. She nods at me.

"We are," she says, "I was hoping if you could come over at my house today, so that we can begin working on it. What time is suitable for you?"

"Uh.. uhm.." I have no idea when I am free and when I have to attend my extra classes, so I decide to pull out my phone to see my schedule. My hands are shaky and just as I get a hold on my phone, it drops from my hand right in front of her feet. "I'm sorry," I mumble, bending down to pick it up, but before I can grab it, Coco picks it up and hands it to me, a genuine smile pinned on her lips.

I take my phone from her and access my schedule to see that I'm free for the rest of the day. I let her know that I can come whenever she wants me to.

"Well, do you want to come with me after school finishes?" She asks. Knowing that I have to do the project with her no matter what, I nod. The class is dismissed and we all go to attend the other classes of the day.

❄︎

AFTER SIX LONG, DREADFUL HOURS

I stand in front of the school, pacing forward and backward. Coco was supposed to take me with her to her house, but I can't spot her. And because of her, I missed the bus I take everyday to home.

I knew it.

She's just like every other partner I've been stuck with before.

Not doing any work on their own, leaving me to finish up the task.

Anger clouding my entire brain, I stomp past the gates of the school, realising I need to walk back to home. I cross my arms in front of my chest and begin to walk on the side of the road. It will take atleast 15-20 minutes for me to walk to my house. As I walk, I hear someone's heavy footsteps run up to me from behind. I turn around to see Coco running, her blonde hair bouncing off her shoulders. She stops right in front of me and sucks in a few deep breathes.

"I- I'm sorry I'm late," she begins, slightly panting, "I had to talk to my english teacher before leaving the school."

Oh.

So she is not like the others.

Or is she?

"It's okay," I say. "How are we supposed to go to your home?"

"I walk to school because it's only 5 minutes away from my house."

We both begin to walk under the cloudy sky. The clouds are moving slowly, giving peeks of the blue sky hiding behind them. Me and Coco walk in utter silence, the cars and other vehicles rushing past us. We kick stones in our path and jump over potholes. I notice a few butterflies in the air above us, flying on their frail brown and yellow wings.

Me and Coco walk for a few minutes until we reach her house. She opens the gate and allows me to enter. We walk inside the house, entering the living room. I see a couch, a few arm chairs and a TV in the living room, a path on the left leading to the kitchen, a path on the right leading to a bedroom, and a staircase.

"You can sit on the couch, I'll bring a glass of water for you," Coco says, walking in the kitchen. I drop my bag on the couch and sit next to it, looking around the living room. Coco comes out a minute with a glass full of water. I take it from her and sip onto it, before drowning all of it in one big gulp.

"Coco you came home?"

I turn around to look at Sylvie, her older sister standing on the last stair of the staircase.

"Just did," Coco says and Sylvie approaches to us and notices me sitting on their couch. Coco introduces me to her, telling her that we both are partners for the art project and I am over at their house for the same purpose. Sylvie nods at us and goes to the kitchen, where a hear a few pots and pans clacking, meaning she must be making something for herself.

"Do you want to work on the project?" Coco asks. I nod and get up from the couch with my bag. She leads me to her room upstairs, where I sit on the bed and she sits next to me.

"So, how do you want to begin working on the project?" I ask, pulling out a notebook and my clear pencil case from my bag. I open the case and pull out a pen, ready to jot down our ideas.

"I think we should get to know each other first and write down what we come to know about each other. That's what the project is; we have to showcase our personalities through artwork." Coco explains.

"All right," I say. And with that, me and Coco delve into a conversation, talking about all we can.

❄︎

THREE HOURS LATER

I rip open another packet of doritos, allowing a few of them to fall out of the packet. I pick one to put into my mouth, but I stop when laughter bubbles out of my mouth once again.

"He- he did that?!" I laugh out, the nacho escaping from my frail grasp.

"He did," Coco lets out, laughing herselves. "Sometimes I wonder whether Ruel is a 5 year old." 

My laughter slowly dies down and so does Coco's, as I look around myself. Me and Coco are half - sitting, half - lying in the bed, with chips, doritos, cheetos and what not spread around us, along with two empty bottles of soda. In the past three hours I got to know Coco very well, we discussed so many things and laughed our asses off remembering numerous childhood memories of our own.

"Oh and when he was a kid," Coco begins, "me and Sylvie used to dress him in our dresses and make pony tails of his hair. We called him 'Titi'." And with that, we both begin to laugh once again. I feel my stomach hurting everytime I laugh, but it's one of the most sensational feelings ever.

Our laughter dies down yet again, this time allowing us to plunge into a silence. I pick up my phone from the bedside table, which barely has any battery because I spent most of the power showing Coco pictures and videos from my childhood and other events. The number 7.30 flashes across the screen.

"Ah it's 7.30, I better get going." I say, picking up the empty packets around my legs and getting up with my bag and stuffing all of my stuff into it.

"I wish you could stay," Coco pouts, getting up herself. "Anyways, how are you going back home?"

"I guess I'll have to walk," I shrug, my bag slinging on my shoulders now, "it won't take long, just a few minutes."

"I have no problem dropping you, if you want, I can."

"No it's okay, I'll go myself."

We both walk out of the room and down the staircase. Adorned by her company, I walk out of her house and stand in front of the gate.

"See you at school?" I ask and Coco nods.

"See ya, bye."

"Bye."

I wave at her and turn around, walking to my own house.

❄︎

FOUR WEEKS LATER

It's today.

The day we have to turn in our project.

The last four weeks, me and Coco hung out whenever we could make out time for it. After school, weekends, you name it. And the more time we spent, the more close I got to her. And more my infatuation developed for her.

The project we have made turned out to be magnificent. On one half of the page you can see my personality, and on the other half you can see Coco's personality. In the middle, our personalities come together, discovering the things we have common amongst us.

I walk into the school, seeing Coco standing in front of her locker. I meet up with her and the both of us go to my locker. I pull out our project and my art file, and both of us walk to the art room, making conversation as we walk.

We walk inside the art room, sitting adjacent to each other. The sound of the door opening cuts through the light chatter in the room as Ms. Revren walks inside.

"I hope you are ready with your projects," she begins, "I'll begin collecting them now."

She names the pairs and everyone goes up to her to submit their projects. At the end, she calls out mine and Coco's name, and both of us get up with our project. We place it in front of Ms. Revren who begins to inspect it.

I feel my heart beating slightly, small sweat beads making their way down my face. Coco seems to notice that I'm tense, so she lightly grabs my hand and delicately laces my fingers with her own. Just as my skin comes in contact with hers, calmness shoots through my blood, and all my anxiety has left me, as if I had only dreamt of it.

Ms. Revren looks up from the canvas with a beaming expression on her face. Mine and Coco's eyes light up, as I press my fingers into hers purely out of happiness.

"That is," Ms. Revren begins, "the most beautiful art piece I have ever seen. The way you showcased your different personalities and then merged them into one is pure genius. I am so proud of you, my lovelies. Keep this up." 

"Thank you so much!" Me and Coco let out in unison, bursting into laughter a second later. Ms. Revren lets a chuckle escape her as she nudges her head to our seats, motioning us to sit back.

❄︎

AFTER P.E. CLASS

I sit on the bleachers in front of the basketball court with my bottle and a towel. I wipe the towel at my face, relieving myself from the sweat on my face. I look out at the empty basketball court, drinking some water from my bottle.

"You're here, I was looking all over for you."

I turn around to see Coco walking up to me. She approaches me and sits down right next to me. I shift in my position, looking at her.

"How great was Ms. Revren's reaction to our project?" She says excitedly and I vigorously nod at her, taking in a few more sips of water.

"I am so glad we were made partners, we got to know each other, and then we presented a killer project." I say.

"Yeah."

A silence drapes the two of us in itself, as we look around the empty court, not making any sort of noise. My eyes slowly turn around to look at Coco once again, and she looks at me back.

"I want to talk to you," Coco mumbles. I nod at her softly, motioning her to speak.

"What is it?" I ask, a gentleness in my voice, an attempt to let her know I'm there for her.

"I know this can entirely break the beautiful friendship we have woven over the past month, but I can't keep it in myself anymore. I like you, a lot."

My eyes widen.

She said that.

She likes me.

"You- you do?" I let out, my voice not able to go higher than whispers. She nods at me.

"I do, do- do you?"

My eyes soften up as I scoot closer to her. My hand reaches out for hers, interwining our fingers delicately.

"I do." I mumble, and a relieved look takes over her face. She slowly leans in, her eyes shutting close, and so do I. My lips touch hers, and I slowly move them against hers. My hands hold her face and hers drape around my waist, as we tenderly kiss, not wanting the moment the end.

She has no idea for how long I have wanted to do that.

Author's Note

Okay okay I know this might be veryyy horrible, and if you didn't like the time skips, welp, then I'm sorry.

But hang in there, because I have brainstormed some new ideas for this book, which I'm excited to post!!

N e ways, vote and comment or imma cut Ruel in two halves ✋🙄 you've been warned

With love through health and sickness
Keziah