"Hey, bro. I think I'm making progress," Nick says, startling me. He chuckles, seeing me jump.

"What did you say?" I ask, not really paying attention.

"I think I'm making progress with Marissa. She doesn't check my work anymore. We actually were able to talk to each other without one getting annoyed. We have a lot in common."

Lying, I say, "Really? I would never have guessed." I knew they had a lot in common. They just needed to see it for themselves.

"How'd it go with Stacie?"

"Great! I learned a lot about her today, and she learned a lot about me. She actually seemed to care about the things in my life unlike other people..."

"Like your parents?" Nick states more than asking. Being my best friend, he knows a lot about my family life, and I don't mind telling him since his family is the same way. Nick doesn't get paid much attention at his house, which is why I think he acts out at school. Here, he gets the attention he doesn't get at home.

"Yeah, like them."

"I know how you feel," Nick says, sighing.

"Hey, I'll meet up with you later, okay?" Nick looks at me, shocked, but nods his head anyways. He's probably shocked I'm leaving him with four minutes left until the bell rings. We usually split when there's two.

I leave Nick and swim towards my next class. Hopefully, I will pass her by on my way. I need to ask her something, something important.

As I swim through the hallway, I glance around me frantically. Please, let me pass by her.

At the end of the hall, I can see a familiar, purple tail swimming next to an orange one. I hastily swim towards it.

As I arrive near her, I clear my throat, making Stacie look up at me. God, she is so beautiful. I can't believe she is partnered with me. I can't believe I am so lucky to have her as my partner. Just look at her. I can't believe Stacie is so beautiful. Her flawless skin; her big, beautiful eyes; her big, pink lips; and her perfect body are only a few qualities of hers that amaze me. I don't deserve her. Why should I even ask her?

"Alex?" Stacie asks, concerned, bringing me back to Earth. Marissa chuckles a little, making me blush.

"Uh, yeah. Hi," I stammer.

She giggles, "Hi. Didn't we already say our hellos in history?" I blush even more.

"Yeah, right. I forgot."

"Was there something you wanted?" Marissa asks questioningly but in a nice way. I nod.

Should I ask her? I don't know. She might say no. Ugh, Alex! You are such a coward!

"Well? What is it, then?" Marissa asks, chuckling.

"Um, I wanted to know if you wanted to meet up at my house sometime to work on our project?" I ask stuttering, turning towards Stacie. She looks at me, wide-eyed. Marissa nudges her. "Um, Marissa and Nick can come over sometime, too. We can all work on our projects together..." I say, hoping this might make her say yes. Stacie opens her mouth, but nothing comes out.

"We'd love to," Marissa says, interrupting Stacie. I look at Stacie before quickly nodding to Marissa. "Does Nick know about this, though?" Marissa asks.

"Um, yeah..." I say.

"Okay, good. We can talk about this later, then. I can't be late to class, and neither can you two," Marissa says, smiling. She swims away, waving goodbye. I wave back once out of politeness.

Why did I have to chicken out in the middle of asking? I didn't want there to be other people with us. I wanted Stacie all to myself. If only she didn't look at me like she did, we would be all alone.

Wait! Nick doesn't know about this at all! Hopefully, Marissa doesn't see him before I do. That way, I can let him know about my plan before she does.

I glance over at Stacie, who looks as if she's thinking hard about something. Is she thinking about coming over to my house? Hopefully, she is okay with it. I wouldn't want her to come out of niceness and not purely wanting to.

I notice we have only a minute left until the bell rings. I place a hand on Stacie's shoulder, scaring her. She looks at me in shock.

"We're going to be late, if we don't leave now," I try to say calmly. She glances and must notice how much time we have because she nods with a wide-eyed expression.

"I'll be late!" she screams as she takes off towards our class. I watch her go before realizing I'll be late, too. I follow her to our class. It's a good thing we are in the same class right now. It's a good thing our classroom is close.