Part 1: Cooper

The weekend was blurry. I spent most of it watching YouTube and eating. A typical weekend for me really. Nick came and sat down next to me, a grin on his pale face.

“Morning,” he smiled, putting his bag on the ground.

“I’ve got two questions: one, why are you so happy? And two: why are you so pale?” I asked.

Nick laughed. “Am I not allowed to be happy?”

“Not without reason.”

He shook his head, and picked up his copy of I was born for this. I cocked my head to one side. Was he going to make me beat it out of him? I’ll let him go this time.

“What on the lesson front today my friend?” I asked yet another question.

“Maths, History, PSHCE, PE, and Science,” Nick replied, not looking up from his book.

Suddenly, everyone was picking up their things. Nick and I followed suit, pulling our bags onto our laps and shoving everything in carelessly: or, I was shoving my things in carelessly.

“Have a nice day!” our form tutor said, much too brightly for a Monday morning.

Nick and I walked to the maths block and stopped outside my classroom. Since Nick is way smarter than me, he continued walking.

“Go and be smart.” I called after him.

He laughed: “Go be stupid.”

“When I see you next, I’m going to punch your teeth out.”

“Don’t count on it,” he calmly replied to my insult.

Jasmine walked passed, heading in the same direction as Nick.

“Hey, heading to class?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Nick replied.

They both started walking down the corridor. I stared, open-mouthed.

Nick turned around to look at me, confused.

“Why am I so pale?” he asked.

I laughed; “No idea, now go and do things I will never have the brain power to understand.”

Jasmine sniggered. They both continued walking, while I proceeded into the classroom.

Maths was almost as blurry as the weekend. I spent the whole lesson daydreaming about what Peggy said to Nick, and why Jasmine walked to maths with him. I mean, why?

Wait…

No.

That’s not possible.

Jasmine and Nick?

Nick and Jasmine.

I tried to shake the thought out of my head. Surprise: It didn’t work. I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. I suddenly sighed with relief. Nick likes Peggy. Jasmine must know. She’s smart enough to figure that out, I presume. All those feelings suddenly rushed out in the action of me breaking my pen and staining my hand with black ink.

“Damn,” I cursed.

I raised my clean hand. “Miss, my pen’s leaked, can I go to the bathroom?”

My maths teacher nodded, and I made a quick exit.

The bell rang twenty minutes later, and I was reunited with Nick.

“So.” I asked. “What did you ask Peggy?”

He shrugged the question off: “Don’t worry about it.”

Justin came and sat next to Nick.

“I mean, I wasn’t worried before, but like, what the hell did you ask her? I’m genuinely worried now.” he joked.

I laughed: “Nick and Justin, the worlds’ next best comedic duo.”

The teacher told the chattering class to settle down. We did as instructed, and the class began.

I relaxed, and all my thoughts about Jasmine and her relationship issues left my head for a bit. Little did I know, deep in the depths of Nick bag, there was a post-it note.

In black Biro, it read:

Cooper and Jasmine: Romeo and Juliet???

An answer was written in blue:

Yes.