Life felt like it needed to pause for a minute. I couldn't recognize who I was anymore. I sat on my couch, reminiscing on the wild day I had. After Kellen ran inside, I quickly jumped up and told Rolan that I would talk to him later. I ran inside after Kellen and nobody was in the dance room anymore. They had all left and I had no idea what Kellen was going to do.

This all felt very bizarre and like an uncharted territory. I barely had a boyfriend in highschool and now I kissed two members of a band on the same day. I felt guilty and gross.

"Merry, you kissed Eli and Rolan!" Kristen exclaimed. "This is so crazy, your twelve-year-old self would die out of excitement!"

Maybe, but I wasn't twelve anymore and I knew better.

She noticed my unamusement.

"Seriously, Mer-, why're you taking life so seriously. This is going to be such an epic story in the future,"

It didn't feel like that. It felt like I was hurting people. It felt like everything was so messy, when it didn't need to be.

"Kellen saw," I blurted out.

"Kellen saw what?" Kristen asked, as she sat next to me on the couch.

"He saw that I kissed Rolan," I explained.

Kristen raised her eyebrows and sighed deeply.

"It's bad isn't it," I said as I sighed right after her.

"No, no," she tried to reassure. "It's not like you and Eli were dating or anything,"

I nodded rapidly.

I looked up at my dorm's ceiling and sighed again, "What am I going to do?"

Kristen squeezed my arm and smiled softly.

The next day, I felt an intense amount of anxiety fill in my stomach. Luckily, I had a whole schedule of classes booked to distract me from the dance practice after school. I had English 101 first thing in the morning and that was my favorite class. I was headed to a great start. I walked in and sat in my spot and reached for my bag. I couldn't find my book and an immediate pit in my stomach formed.

I shifted my entire body so that I was basically devoured by my backpack looking for my book. I scrambled and shifted through every crevice of my backpack, looking for this damn book.

All the sudden I heard gasps and ooo's and I looked up. In the front of my class stood, none other than Eli.

I felt frustration boil in my blood. Of course it's him. It wasn't just going to be some rational surprise, it was going to be a freaking Warflower because my life is surrounded by only Warflowers these days!

 Eli stood in front of the class with the professor, showing him his schedule. His lip was bruised black and I knew why but I heard the speculations around me from my classmates, "maybe he beat up some dude," one said. 

He wore a jean jacket with his black jeans. His hair was brown and shaggy and his green eyes looked lighter than ever.

I took deep breaths and tried to sink into my seat. I noticed that the seat next to me was empty.

No! This is not going to happen today, not in my favorite class. I took my bag and shifted it over towards the empty desk. I also subtly placed a pen on the desk. No one noticed due to their gaze fixated on Eli. I sat in the middle of the class, so it was possible to be overlooked.

Now I noticed Eli looking over at the class, scanning for a seat. He walked up and tried to scan again. I don't think he noticed me. He walked back to the professor and the professor now stood up as well. I sank in my seat as much as I could. I noticed them walking closer and closer to me until they were right next to me. The professor pointed at the desk next to me.

"Whose stuff is this!" the professor exclaimed. My eyes widened and I froze. Am I supposed to say something? My heart started racing.

"Let me ask again! Whose stuff-" the professor shouted again.

Eli looked over at me and finally noticed me. My head was tilted down and I looked up to meet his eyes. He looked at me, then at the bag and then at me again.

"It's mine, i'm sorry for not speaking up," Eli joked.

The professor looked down at the pink hearts backpack.

"Oh, okay," he said. "Did you drop it off before or?"

"I had my friend Merry here drop it off," he said shifting his body towards me.

The whole class was looking at me now and the professor nodded at me. I straightened up in my seat and nodded back. The professor slowly made his way back to the front of the class. I heard the class starting to whisper and talk.

Eli slid into his desk and pushed the backpack towards me subtly.

My face was bright red at this point and I did not even look at Eli. The next plan was to ignore him.

"You're welcome, by the way," Eli whispered.

I nodded slightly, still keeping my face facing forward and didn't acknowledge him in the slightest.

He licked his lips and looked forward as well.

"Okay class, now take out your literature books,"

Shoot. This day just keeps getting worse.

I raised my hand and noticed that Eli had his hand up too.

The professor acknowledged Eli first.

"Oh Eli, you don't have a copy. Here take mine, it's the last one," the professor offered.

"Thank you," Eli said, grasping the book.

My hand was still in the air.

"Yes, Merry," the professor called.

"I dont have my book, I'm sorry professor," I apologized.

The professor sighed, searching for a solution.

"Umm, well I just gave out my last copy. Umm, I guess scoot over and share with Eli," he suggested.

"I mean, I could just follow along by listening," I said, trying to find an alternative to that solution.

"How will you analyze the text's use of structure, then?" he asked.

I wasn't about to argue with the professor. I had been embarrassed enough today. I sighed and nodded. I got up and scooted my chair obscenely close to Eli. Here we go, the awkwardness and the annoyance of Eli was about to begin.

To my surprise as I sat down and Eli handed me the book. "Here, I'll just listen, I don't really care," he said.

I smiled and grabbed the book. This was, a dare-I-say, sweet side of Eli that I had never really seen before. I noticed Eli glancing over at the book, at every couple of lines so I followed the lines along with my finger to make it easier for him. He softly smiled when he noticed. 

The class after that point was seemingly normal and I was thankful. I couldn't handle more embarrassment.

After class, I think Eli could tell I had enough. On a side note, I don't think Kellen told him anything. He seemed pretty normal today.I grabbed my backpack and slung it around my shoulder.

"Um, thanks for.. you know," I said, trying to not explicitly state what for. Which was covering for me when I tried to not have him sit next to me.

"No problem," he said as he nodded. "I know sitting with me would be the worst thing in the world," he said sarcastically.

I felt a twinge of guilt. I didn't mean it like that.

"You and Rolan have fun though, seriously no hard feelings," he said harshly, as he brushed his shoulder against mine. 

I watched him as he started walking away, then he took some steps back to face me again. We were inches away from each other and our lips were so close. His minty breath was fresh and the light reflected in his green eyes. His shaggy brown hair was in front of his eyes.

"I hope you two are very happy together," he whispered in a raspy sarcastic voice, inches away.

I felt a pit of unwanted butterflies in my stomach.

He kept that position for a couple seconds until he closed his eyes, exhaled and then finally walked off leaving me standing there in shock. 

Kellen told him what happened  and now the practice in a couple hours was going to be extremely awkward. Something that I did not want to face but at least I still had a couple more hours till the awkward encounter with the Warflowers.