♱ i take thee at thy word; call me but love, and i'll be new baptized; henceforth i will never be romeo.
the chairs in the old classroom creaked as the boy behind you, hugh james leaned back dangerously on his chair. your ancient chemistry teacher had warned him about breaking his back if he "flew too close to the sun", but he never listened. the students at st. ephrem never seemed to listen.
the teacher, however, had come down with a bad case of the flu that was going around the entire academy. therefore, a substitute took her place. the substitute was young and presumably inebriated the second he walked into work. he'd been asleep at his desk for almost an hour now, (and hugh james had even tested it by throwing paper balls at his face, and he still didn't move). some students were even convinced he was dead.
you glanced around the room anxiously, your leg bouncing under your skirt as you absentmindedly traced crosses on the outside of your hand. what snapped you out of your trance was a feeling of a tap on your shoulder. at first, you rolled your eyes, thinking it was hugh james playing tricks on you again (his favorite one was trying to make you say 'hell' or even the f-word.) but then the light tap was followed up by a familiar hiss of, "lizzy!"
well, only one person dared to call you that. you whipped your head around to see charlie, a dopey grin on his face. "what?" you groaned, resisting the urge to start rubbing your temples.
he slid a small piece of paper onto your desk, tapping it pointedly. his lips pursed together to mouth, "read", as if you needed that simple instruction.
but you did as he said, flipping over the sheet of paper. it had scribbles in blue ink of dinosaurs and flames, stickmen fighting and little hearts in the corner (about what, or for who, you had no idea). what really caught your attention was the little note scribbled right in the middle. you look pretty in blue! - charlie
hesitantly, you ran your fingers across the seam of your headband. it was light blue, and you decided to wear it today to spruce up the outfit a little. you were unsure of what inspired the change, but it couldn't hurt— right? not wanting charlie to get a big head about it, you glanced over your shoulder with a pointed look. "ha," you deadpanned.
charlie's brow furrowed, confused like a lost puppy. "huh? what are you laughing at?"
accusingly, you held up the note. "your joke," you scoffed. "real original, dalgeish."
"nono!" he yelped, making a few classmates glance up from their papers to look at him as if he were crazy. charlie leaned over the table, holding the back of your chair to get your attention. "i—i'm not joking, i would never do that. i'm serious, swear." to put the cherry on top, he even did the little "father-son-holy-spirit" hand motion.
and, well, you couldn't help the shy smile that graced your lips. quietly, you muttered, "oh. well... thank you, charlie."
charlie's expression was indiscernible if he won the lottery or just got a thank you from a girl (the latter was right) — and he broke out into a huge grin, the edges of his eyes crinkling. "anytime." he propped an elbow up on the desk, slumping his cheek into his palm and grinning at you.
"sooo, how's the book?" he chirped, leaning over your shoulder as you shied away from him, closing the book with a loud thud! it felt different, but refreshing, to read something other than the bible. and this book was cute.
cautiously you murmured under your breath, "actually, i started another one."
charlie's eyes almost popped out of his head, like how those cartoons you deemed sinful that were always in the paper were. "what? lizzy, spill. c'mon. i'm your best friend," he pried, pouting and batting his puppy dog eyes at you.
you rolled your eyes, holding the book close to your chest to make sure he couldn't see the incriminating cover. "first of all, you're not my best friend—"
"oh, really? then who is, huh?"
shooting him a deadpan look, because the answer was oh-so obvious, you answer "my lord and savior. anyway—"
charlie's eyes widened comedically. "what does he have that i don't?" he exclaimed, seeming genuinely distraught.
"...is that a serious question?"
"yes!" upon seeing the look of horror on your face, charlie covered up his yelp with a scoff. "...pfft— no. uh, you said you were reading something?" he gestured to her book.
you showed him the cover quickly, as if you was scared prying eyes would see what she was doing. charlie slung his backpack over his shoulder and let it fall with a slump onto the table. he pulled a thermos out of his backpack and started to eat soup in the library— right next to the sign where it said no eating!
"hey!" you hissed, trying to snatch the thermos away from him. "that's against the rules."
charlie rolled his eyes, shrugging. "i'm hungry." he chirped simply, putting a spoon to his lips. as your hand reached to take it, he put his hand on the side to keep it still. this made your hands overlap, an electric shock going between the two of you.
you weren't mouthy after that. to distract from what just happened, charlie asked you dozens of questions about the book until you two fell into a lull of casual conversation until the librarian told them she had to lock up for the night and they had to go.
"i can walk you home." charlie blurted, a dorky smile on his face. "protect you from all the bad guys roaming the streets, y'know."
you ran your tongue over your teeth, debating the pros and cons as you crossed your arms over your sweater. before you could let a yes leave your lips, charlie grabbed your arm and dragged you out of the library. he chatted incessantly to you all the way home, until he came to your door.
"hey—" charlie rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, chuckling. "my friends and i are a hosting a d&d night at my house tomorrow, if... if you wanna come." he offered, voice wavering.
you snorted, incredulous that he thought you would engage in that kind of devil worshipping. "maybe when you read the entire bible," you quipped, and shut the door.