We were asked to draw any living object we could lay our eyes on. It could be a person, an insect, a bird, anything really.

I wasn't really good at drawing humans, I was more of a cartoon artist, so I chose to draw Bubbles, Mrs. Johnson's pet goldfish. She brought Bubbles with her to every class she had. Wierd, if you ask me. Lucky for me, Bubbles was resting at the moment, so that should be easy.

I started with the fish bowl and then moved on to draw Bubbles. She moved a little towards the end of my drawing but I had a photographic memory, so I just completed it from my head.

"Alright, time's up, come on out and show the class your drawing" Mrs. Johnson suddenly said as I was adding the final shades to my drawing.

Out? No one said anything about coming out. My palms started to sweat as my stomach went into knots. Ugh! I hated public speaking even thought it was only for some seconds.

"We'd start from first row and then second row, until everybody has had a turn" she said as the first student on the first row went out. I was on the back row but I knew that in no time, it would get to my turn.

The second and third row had gone now and I was up next. Okay Daniella, you can do this, I thought as I stood up, almost knocking over my canvas stand. Now even more eyes were on me. Just great.

I walked to the front of the class, as boldly as possible. I then faced the class, my eyes fixed on my canvas stand. Everyone was staring at me now, even Blake.

"Any time now, Miss. Robinson" the teacher said as I was mute for some seconds.

"Right" I replied, holding up my sketchbook and looking only at it. "Uh, I drew, um Bubbles"

"You're not very audible, dear" she said again.

"Okay. Sorry uh -" I started again but stopped when I saw Blake walking towards us.

"It's not your turn yet, Mr. Harper" she said to Blake who had taken a position beside me, what was he doing?

"I actually have somewhere to be right now and I've not done my presentation. I'm next so I thought I should just do mine along with her and besides at the pace at which she's presenting, I'll probably be late" he explained, earning an eye roll from me.

"Alright then" she agreed "that's fine"

"Okay, uh, I drew a bird perched on a tree branch just outside the window. It's flown away now though" he said, showing the class his sketch pad.

"Oh wow, Mr. Harper, that's beautiful. It's a marvellous job" Mrs. Johnson praised him and he flashed her a bright smile. Show off.

"Thanks Mrs. J" he replied and then turned to face me "what did you draw, Dani?"

"Oh, I drew Bubbles" I said looking at him "I'm not really good at drawing humans, so I decide to draw her"

"Really?" Mrs. Johnson asked, all gooey eyed "You drew my baby? Ma cher? (My dear?)"

"Yes, Mrs. Johnson" I turned to look at her, surprised she had heard me, infact it seemed the whole class had heard me. Oh my, does that mean I don't have to present on my own again? I mean I technically just did.

"Didn't she move through out?" She asked.

"She did, but I have quite the photographic memory and I was almost done, so I drew the rest from my head" I explained.

"That's great Daniella, nice work" she praised me and a smile slipped onto my face. I looked to see Blake smiling and a thought crossed my mind. Did he just do that for me? I remember telling him that I had stage fright. Well technically, I didn't 'cause I denied it but I'm sure he saw through that.

Ugh, now I feel even worse, he was understandably angry at me for my out of line behaviour but that didn't stop him from helping me. I honestly felt like the worst person ever at the moment.

"Thanks ma'am" I replied as we went back to our seats. When we got back, Blake picked up his backpack, excused himself and left the class. Great, now he's gone again. I never knew trying to make up for one's mistake could be so hard and now I also had to say thank you. I groaned.

After the class, I headed to Blake's locker determined to talk to him this time, once and for all. Unfortunately for me, he wasn't there. I knew he said he had somewhere to be, but a tiny part of me felt like he only said that to help me out. I don't know.

I had a free period next so I decided to check the gym. If he was in school, that's the only other place I could imagine him to be.

When I got to the gym, I entered to see that it was almost empty. For a gym that's always busy, now that's a first. I walked further in and spotted Blake on the court with like two guys. As usual, they were practicing but it was just the three of them.

I noticed his backpack at the bottom of the bleachers and decided to wait for him there, that way, he couldn't pretend to not have seen me. The practice was short so after his friends had gone, he came over.

"Hi" I greeted with a nervous wave as I stood up.

"Hey" he replied, taking huge gulps of water from his bottle.

"Uh, thanks for what you did back there" I started nervously.

"What did I do?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

I took a deep breath before replying. He may have actually had somewhere to be and I was just about to embarrass myself, but I said it anyways.

"You know, for saving my stage-fright ass back there" I chuckled.

"You have stage fright?" He asked, looking confused "I thought you said you didn't"

"Yeah, well I thought you.....wait so you didn't pretend to have somewhere to be, so you could come out and somehow make me do my presentation in front of the whole class?" I asked and now that I said it out loud, it sounded ridiculous.

"I don't know what you're talking about" he denied. Oh crap. I kind of expected it but it wasn't any less embarrassing.

"Sorry, it's just that I thought you....never mind" I said looking at my entwined finger, with a reddened face and then he started laughing, making me look up.

"Oh you should see your face right now" he said, still laughing "You look so embarrassed"

"Yeah, thanks for pointing that out, Einstein" I replied, glaring at him.

"I'm just kidding Dani, I saw you were having a hard time out there and I knew why, so I thought I'd help you out" he said after his laughter had reduced to chuckles.

"You jerk!" I cried, pushing him, a smile on my face. It barely had an effect on his posture but I think he got the message. "I can't even be mad at you right now, I'm just so happy you're not mad at me anymore"

"Who said I wasn't mad at you anymore?" He asked frowning now. "I'm still mad alright"

"Look, I'm really sorry about what I said Blake" I started "I didn't mean to, I was just angry at you for asking questions I couldn't answer to just yet. I shouldn't have said those things, you are my friend, one of the best friends I've had in a long time and I don't want to lose you due to my bad temper and insensitivity. I'm really sorry and I hope you forgive me."

"Hmmm, was kinda expecting you to grovel at my feet and beg for forgiveness, but this works too" he joked, earning a jab from me and then he got serious.

"Listen Dani, I want you to know you can trust me. It's fine if you don't want to tell me what's going on just yet but please don't lie to me again, okay?" he replied.

"I won't, I promise" I said, desperation in my voice.

"And I wouldn't lie and say that I don't want to know what's wrong, cause I do. I just want to make sure you're safe." He replied, putting his hands on both my shoulders.

"I am Blake, thank you" I said and he hugged me. I was happy now, genuinely. He had forgiven me and the fact that he cares that much about me makes me so happy that it scares me.

"Alright, so my place after school?" He asked, pulling back.

"Sure" I replied, smiling.

"Are we telling Stacy?" He asked, amusement evident on his features.

"Uh, maybe not, she 'quit' remember?" I replied, as he picked up his backpack and we made our way to the exit of the gym.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot she did" he laughed "Later then"

"Yeah, bye" I replied and we went our separate ways, a stupid smile plastered on my face.

*  *  *  *  *

Hi!! So Blake and Dani have finally made up, what do you think?

I loved this chapter by the way, I hope you did too 🥺👉🏽👈🏽.

Please don't forget to VOTE, drop COMMENTS and SHAREEE! Ily♡