• "He's staring at you again!" Jason called from across the class room,
    "Could you be any more obvious?" I asked him, rolling my eyes,
    "Seriously, Grace! He creeps me out!" he continued, tapping his fingers against his desk, "I think he has a thing for you!" I shook my head and laughed,
    "You and your imagination."
    "Ms. Thompson!" my english teacher called from the front of the class, "Would you like to share what you were talking about with the rest of the class?" my eyes met John's, the new guy.
    "We were discussing the possibilities of Shakespeare not writing his plays, and wondering whether the rumors of the woman writing it could be true. I mean, that's a lot to write in a life time. Don't you think, Mrs. Hamilton?" her face brightened and then she began discussing the rumors that maybe Shakespeare's lover actually wrote some of his plays.
    I walked out of class in a hurry, I had to get to science! I had a test. Tim ruffled my hair, he was probably the tallest 11th grader I knew.
    "Hey, Gracie!" he mumbled, "Nice save back there. Who knew you could control yourself in a situation like that, huh?" he laughed and ran his fingers through his shoulder length hair.
    "Yeah, I know! What's even cooler is the fact that she bought it!" I laughed, too, and started to skip trying to keep up with time. Then John caught up with me,
    "Hey." he mumbled accidentally bumping into me. I fell to the ground and dropped my books all around me. He stopped and turned around. "Oh gosh! I'm sorry. Here you go." he picked them up with one swooping movement and I was up in another two. I admitted to myself he was kind of sexy. He smiled and started to walk away,
    "Thanks!" I called after him in the hall way. He just simply put his hand up and kept on walking. There was something about those... purple eyes that made you want to stare into them for hours and hours. Maybe even days. I caught up to him again and tapped him on the shoulder, "My friends and I are throwing a party and we were wondering if you wanted to come." he nodded,
    "Sure, thanks! When?" I told him the time and he thanked me again, "Oh and, Grace... good job keeping your cool in front of Mrs. Clingon!" it was true, she had a forehead bigger than those things. It made me laugh, the joke, I mean, not the butterflies flying at the speed of light in my stomach.
    "Hey, Grace. Did you just invite him to your party?" I nodded and smiled at Jason, "Dude! He gives me the creeps." I laughed and patted his arms,
    "Don't worry about it! He's really nice, I just think he's shy!" he rubbed my arms,
    "You're too innocent, grasshopper!" he laughed and started to run as the bell rung. Even running I didn't make it on time. Traditional Grace move.

    The party was a huge success, about twenty people were there! Jason walked up to me,
    "Wow! This is nice. Your basement suddenly seems WAY smaller!" he laughed and started dancing. I danced with him and then left to get a drink. John. John was there! John. Oh, wow. He looked nice, the leather jacket matched his eyes.
    "Hey, John! Are you having fun?" he nodded and gulped down the last bit of punch,
    "I just don't know anyone, that's all!" I pointed to Jason and Tim dancing like a bunch of goofballs in the back round,
    "You can dance with me and my friends!" I took his arm and lead him to my two best friends in the world, I took a sip out of my coke and laid it down in front of us. Tim and I danced together at first, he twirled me under his arm and laughed as I tripped over the coke can.
    "I know you envy me!" he laughed as I fell again. John caught me, picked me up at the waste, and spun. I laughed and pursed my lips lifting my leg and imitating a ballerina.

    After the party I agreed to walk John, Tim, and Jason each home. I had nothing better to do! John was the last stop. He walked me into a park,
    "Okay, I'll see you later!" he said,
    "No, I'll walk you to the door, it's dark out!" he shook his head and pointed to a valley.
    "I live in the mountains over there!" I cocked my head,
    "Like, not in a house?"
    "Like not in a house." I cocked my head and took a step closer to him.
    "Why?" I asked foolishly, he put his hands on my shoulder,
    "I don't need one." he answered slowly, "So, yeah. Thanks for the walk home. Have a nice night. See you tomorrow, maybe we could walk to school together." I nodded and gave him a long hug,
    "If you want to stay at my place... any time! Really!"