Claire's POV;

I woke up early and drank a lot of water to keep myself hydrated. I ate my breakfast which was fruits and berries. I then did some morning stretches as per my routine and then I took a bath and changed into the clothes my mom got me few weeks ago. My mom is a fashion designer and she always brings me latest designs of clothes and jewellery. After I got ready, I grabbed my school bag and then started walking towards school. On my way, I met up with my best friend, Elaine. We have been best friends since elementary school. And since we live close to each other, we always walk to the school together.

"Hey have you finished the project that we were given last week?" She asked me

"Yup. Haven't you finished it?" I asked

"Not really....Jackson is my partner and you know how he is. I've done my part of the project but his part is still left." She replied. Jackson is also one of our best friends since elementary school.

As we reached the bus stop, I saw Tyler standing right across the road waiting for his school bus to come. Tyler is also our friend from elementary school. We are a group of four. Although he goes to a different high school than us which is another story.
Instead of calling out to him, i just stare at him. He looks so great today as well. If only he'd notice me in that way. I've liked him for a long time now, and truth be told I confessed to him last week but he didn't give me a response yet. He looked surprised when I confessed and after that nothing happened. Oh god! This suspense is killing me! There are million questions I want to ask him! But I'm too nervous. What if he rejects me? I mean that's got to be it, right? The reason he hasnt said anything yet. If he wants to reject me then he should just quickly get it over with. I was still in my thoughts when suddenly someone creeped up from behind and scared me. I screamed and jumped up at this. I turn around to find Jackson standing there, laughing.

"Jackson! You idiot! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" I said

"You should've seen your face! Your reaction was just hilarious!" He said as he laughed

"I admit that was funny...but you know what's going to be even more funny, your face when you don't finish the project and get beaten up by me!" Elaine said angrily as she glared at Jackson

"Project?" He replied as he looked clueless

"Dont say you don't remember which project!" Elaine said

"Err....i wont..." He replied as Elaine glared at him, "I mean....I do remember what you're talking about and I am working on it." He said as he averted his eyes

"Oh really? Then tell me what the project is?" Elaine said as she puts her hands on her waist

"Ummm...." Jackson said as he moved a bit back and then looked to the other side of the road, "Oh look! Tyler!" He said as he ran towards him. Elaine followed after him saying, "Wait! You idiot!"
I followed after the two of them chuckling.

"Yo bro! Whats up?" Jackson said as he puts his hand over Tyler's shoulder

Tyler who was into the book he was reading didn't even glance at Jackson and said, "I'm reading"

"Hey!" Elaine said to him as he looked at her and replied, "Hi"

"Hi..." I said nervously as he looks at me and then quickly averts his eyes and says, "Hi." Okay, so that wasn't awkward at all. The thing is that Jackson and Elaine doesn't know about my confession and I will tell them...soon...I think.

"So are we still on for this weekend?" Jackson asked

"Yeah. Mike said he will come early." Tyler replied

"On for what?" I asked

"Oh well we are going to have a game night. Me, Tyler and his high school friends." Jackson replied

Jackson looked at Tyler and said, "Hey is Atlas coming as well? He didn't come last time."

"He will...atleast he said he will." Tyler replied

"Man if he ditches us this time, he's paying for dinner." Jackson said

"Hey if this guy doesn't come, can I come?" Elaine asked

"I don't know....it's us guys hanging out...and so..." Jackson replied

"Oh right, you wouldn't want girls to intrude in your guys night out" I said as Elaine rolled her eyes

"Well me and Claire are gonna have our own fun" Elaine said as she sticks her tongue out at them

"What? What are you guys gonna do?" Jackson asked

"You don't talk to me unless you finish that project. I don't want to fail." Elaine said as we saw our bus coming

"Oh the bus is here! Lets go! Bye Tyler! See you later!" Elaine said as I also glanced back at him and said, "Bye!" as Jackson followed us

As I got to my high school, everyone greeted me. Why? Because somehow I was popular. I don't know what it was. Maybe I helped everyone a lot and that's why everyone knew me. I walk up to my locker and as I open it, cards and chocolates fell down, while some were still inside the locket.

"Looks like someone is still famous as ever." Jackson said as he started picking them up from the ground, "and look you've got lots of varieties here...boys and even girls and..." he said as he started going through them, "oh wow, this guy says he has watched you since grade 1! Sounds like a stalker to me..." he said as Elaine hits him on his head.

"Ow..." he said, "what was that for?"

"Stop making fun of people's feelings." She said as she collected them all and then handed them to me.

I put them aside in my locker. I don't know what to do with them....although I'm happy, I'm truly sorry for them because no matter how many things they give me or whoever asks me out, I've got my heart set only on him.

Just then John came and greeted us. John is in the same high school although he is more Elaine's friend considering they are family friends. Not to brag but I'm pretty perceptive and I know John has had a crush on Elaine since forever although Elaine is oblivious to it. Jackson says they don't really make a good couple, even I can't see those two together as a couple.

"Oh shit!" Jackson said as he pulls out a book

"What's wrong?" I asked

"I accidentally brought Tyler's book. I borrowed it from him a week ago." He said

"You borrowed a book? For what? It certainly is not for studying." Elaine said

"Excuse me, I do study." Jackson said as they all started walking to their class

"Right." Elaine said as she didn't believe him

"I'm pretty sure Jackson has a good reason behind borrowing this book." John said

"Thanks man. Actually last week, dad had me grounded and I needed to go play video games." Jackson said as Elaine interrupted him and said, "See. I knew it."

"And so I told mom I was going over to study and borrow a book from Tyler as an excuse so that she'd let me go." Jackson explained

"Smart." I said as we entered the class and sat on our seats. I sat at the front next to Elaine on my right and Jackson on my left. Okay maybe I sat at a wrong seat today because these two would bicker all throughout the lecture and I'm gonna be stuck.

"So when are you giving it back to him?" John asked

"After school. I'll visit his school. You guys wanna come?" Jackson said as my heart skipped a beat. Go to Tyler's school to meet him there? Oh god yes!

"Oh that sounds great!" Elaine said, "How about you Claire?"

"Sure" I said as I made sure not to sound too excited

That day after school we walked to Tyler' school. Now this school had this whole different kind of aura around it. I don't mean to be discriminative but this was a school for the top class and the you know, people with higher IQ.

As we went in, various people eyed us up and down. They were giving us looks like we didn't belong there.

"Just look at this school! It's so much prettier than ours!" Elaine said

"I know right! Just look at all these classes!" I said as we peeked inside random classrooms

"Shush...we aren't allowed to be here without a pass." Jackson said as he looked around to find Tyler

"Why didn't you just message and call him to meet us outside?" Elaine said

"Because I wanted to surprise him. Plus we wouldn't get to see this school if we did that." Jackson said

"You're stupid. I'm pretty sure he would've" Elaine stopped talking as one boy pushed her as he ran through the corridors

"Hey!" Elaine called out to that guy but he was long gone. She didn't even get to see his face.

Just then a girl and then another boy run pass them. This time Jackson pulls Elaine to the side.

As we look at the three people who just run passed us, we heard someone call out to us. We turn to see Tyler standing there.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked

"To give you back your book." Jackson said as he handed him his book

"Oh thanks. Although I did get scolded for not having it already but still thanks." Tyler said as he looked around and said, "Looks like I've lost them."

"You mean those three running people?" Elaine said

"Yeah. They are my friends." Tyler replied

"Why were they running?" Jackson asked as we started walking towards outside

"Well it's a long story. One of my friend smokes and we all tell him not to and today he was again smoking so the other two got angry at him and then one thing lead to another so now they're just running around after each other." Tyler said

"Hey! Guess what happened today." I said as I started telling him about the funny incident that happened at canteen today because I just had it enough. I couldn't stand this awkwardness anymore. I'm not being over-confident or something but when I say I'm perceptive, I mean it. I can tell Tyler loves me too so why the heck isn't he saying anything?

As Jackson and Elaine were walking in front of us talking about something, I was walking besides Tyler telling about all sorts of fun things that happened at school today.

As I stopped talking, it again got a bit awkward.

"Hey Can I ask you something?" He said

"Yeah Sure." I replied

"Why me?" He asked

"Huh? What do you mean?" I said as I slightly tilted my head to the side

"I mean your confession and you saying wanting to go out with me. Why me?" He said

"That's a strange question." I said

"Not really." He replied

"Well It's you because it's you." I said

"What does that mean?" He asked

"I love you for who you are. You are gentle yet strong. Kind and Caring. You deeply cherish the things and people around you. Although you don't like sports that much, you get anxious a lot and when you hear a really bad news I'm pretty sure you're gonna faint. But those are also one of the things that I just love. And it doesn't matter who else it is, as long as it's not you then it's not worth anything." I said as I smiled

"Thanks. Sorry I took so much time to answer. I was trying to figure out why me. But Claire, I now realised that the why doesn't even matter. I love you. Will you go out with me?" He said as he holds my hand

"I thought that was already obvious." I said as I chuckled. Oh my god! I can't believe this is happening, I just can't stop smiling!

He holds my hand as we start walking hand in hand.

"Isn't that true, Tyler?" Elaine said as she and Jackson turns around. They see us holding hands and starts smiling.

"Finally!" They both said as we both smiled at each other