It was maybe seventh grade when Ethan had his first crush. He had the feeling of butterflies, doing stupid things to get his crush's attention, secretly spying on them, he had done that all. Surely a crush at eighteen years of age should be a mature crush, with mature feelings, then why does all Ethan want to do is scribble Joshua Cruz all over his textbook?

Now that Ethan has an attractive name to go with that attractive face, he wants to see him again, talk to him, and maybe get his telephone number. But will he talk to him, where does he even live? 

Yeah, Ethan is getting ahead of himself, he caged his brain back to focus and tucked his heart away only to pump blood, not to pump Joshua's images in his head.

"Hello Ethan, Blake, Ryan, did you finish the homework I gave you?" Mr. Clarke asked, taking his seat at their table.

"Yes sir." replied Blake and Ryan enthusiastically.

"And you Ethan?" Mr. Clarke asked again.

"Nearly, sorry sir, I was a little short on time." Ethan replied, guiltily.

"It's alright, it happens sometimes, let me explain the whole play and we can discuss it together, ok?" 

"Yes sir." 

----------------------------

The sky was already dark by the time Ethan entered his house, his mother was washing the dishes in the kitchen and his dad was nowhere in sight, probably in his study, where he always is.

"Baby, you home?" His mother called, her long black hair tied in a bun and a rugged apron around her waist.

"Yes, Mom." he answered, putting his bag away to sit on the kitchen table.

"Here you go." his mom said, placing the warm dinner in front of him. "How was the tuition, you had fun?" she asked, pulling up a chair to sit opposite him.

"Mom, tuition is for study, not fun. And yeah it was good, did you know Shakespeare was gay? I mean maybe bisexual, he had a wife too." Ethan rambled, eating fast.

"Really? I didn't know, and why are you eating so fast, slow down, will you? What's the rush?" his mother complained.

"I have homework and I gotta ask Alice something." 

"But Alice is asleep."

"What? Why? it's not that late." Ethan asked pouting.

"She had a headache and wasn't feeling good. She had been working a lot these days, says it's something about a class representative friend of hers." her mother answered shrugging.

"Oh." was the only thing he answered as he started eating again, slowly this time, as there was nothing for him to hurry about.

-------------------------------------

"You have my book?" Alice asked running into Ethan's room, looking frantic.

"Can you knock before entering?" he called back, buttoning up his shirt. "What if I was naked?" 

"You are never naked in your room, just tell me if you saw my book." she said, going through the books on Ethan's desk.

"I haven't and you will not find it there." 

Alice rummaged a bit more but turned to leave, trying to look somewhere else. But before she could leave, Ethan stopped her.

"Alice, will you be with your friends in recess?" he asked.

"I don't think so, I have to take Joshua to submit his documents, he is having legal issues. Why do you ask?" she replied, raising her brow suspiciously.

"Nothing," Ethan replied instantly. Alice threw another look at him but left to look for her book, leaving Ethan to daydream a scene where he will 'accidentally' run into Joshua, and maybe he can get to talk to him.

Ethan later entered his classroom with a plan in mind, he would run out of the classroom as soon as he could and find his sister, then act as if he ran into her and in turn, would get introduced to Joshua, simple and easy.

"Man, what got you smiling like that, huh?" David asked, pulling Ethan by placing his hand on Ethan's shoulder.

"I am not smiling." Ethan answered, pushing David's hand off him.

"Don't tell me you got another proposal." David insisted, tightening his grip on Ethan.

"I did not. Get away from me, you idiot." Ethan said pinching David on the side, which made him jump away quickly, rubbing his sides.

"You are so mean." David said sulking.

"I just had a good morning." Ethan said, trying to stop David's pouting subtly.

"Wanna come with me for lunch? My friend invited me, it's his birthday so we all are celebrating on the school grounds." David asked.

"I am sorry, I cannot. I have to meet my sister, there is something she wants my help with." Ethan lied.

"You know you are boring, right?" David said sulking even more.

"Yeah, I am aware of it. Sorry, I'll try to come with you more, just let it go this one." Ethan said, playfully pleading with his friend. 

In the end, David cracked a smile, like always, and forgave him for ditching yet again, thankfully before their teacher entered the classroom.

All of David's classes were going so slowly that he feared he would never make it out of his math class alive. But thankfully, the bell rang for the lunch. Ethan does not remember the last time he pushed his books so hard in his bag. 

He ran out of his classroom to Alice's, hoping she would be there. But unfortunately, as he scanned the classroom, she wasn't there. Ethan walked to the office, hoping to catch them on their way, but the corridor of the office was empty, there was no one in sight. 

With a heavy heart, Ethan started walking towards the cafeteria, that is when he bumped into someone, both of them stumbled and were ready to curse the other one when they realized who the other is.

"Alice!"   "Ethan!"  They shouted at the same time.

"What are you doing here?" They shouted together yet again.

"What do you mean what am I doing here, its cafeteria, where else would I be?" Alice said getting up from the ground.

"I thought you would be somewhere with the new student, didn't you say some thing like that?" Ethan asked not making eye contact.

"I was supposed to, but apparently he had to be somewhere else today, had a friend emergency or something." she replied, eying him suspiciously. 

"What?" he asked, in a defensive tone.

"Nothing, just go away." she answered, dismissively.

"Wanna eat together?" Ethan asked, his voice soft and a little dejected.

"Ughh, fine, stop making that pitiful face." his sister replied, dragging him to nearby table.

After the lunch break, Ethan was sitting sulking on his seat when David arrived, confetti peaking from his hair.

"Damn the party was good, you should have come." David said excitedly.

"Yeah, I think so too." Ethan replied, quietly.

"Yeah, everyone was there, the whole basketball team, the football team, even the new guy was there." this made Ethan freeze.

"The new guy? You mean Joshua?" Ethan asked dreading the answer.

"Yes, who else." His friend replied.

SHIT SHIT ETHAN IS SUCH AN IDIOT SHITTTTTTT

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Hello readers!!!

To everyone who are still reading this, thank you soooooo much. I hope you guys like this segment of the book too, please VOTE and COMMENT what you think will happen next.