Biology Quiz and Karaoke

The art class came pretty soon that I thought and all my excitement converted to nervousness. When the teacher called our names, I slowly got up and went to the front of the class. I guess Carter saw my nervousness. He gave me one of those assuring looks and I immediately felt good. Am I sired to him or something? I questioned myself. I shrugged that thought and waited for the teacher to give us a sign to start the presentation.

"Actually guys, I decided to give this project a twist." Mrs White said and my eyes widened in surprise. I was already tense about the presentation and this announcement was not helping it.

"I gave you guys this project in pair for one other reason. You will be explaining the other person's project so I will know if you really worked together or not." She finished and motioned for us to start. Good thing is I know about Carter and I am hoping enough for me to explain his art.

Carter put his canvas in front of the class and I have to admit, it was beautiful. He painted himself in his usual clothes on the top of the canvas and four versions of him were standing horizontally, sorrounding him. One of them looked carefree, one looked like a child, one was sad and one was romantic. But they all looked lonely and were looking ahead where there was a person hiding in the shadow. Only her head was visible but it wasn't detailed. I knew what he was trying to indicate.

"Carter is trying to show different versions of himself. He maintains different personalities and hides his real self from the world because he doesn't trust others. He wants to be happy and he feels that the only way to do that is to keep his different personalities with him because he feels safe with them. He feels free with them. But the real him is putting his hand out as if to reach someone in the shadow. A female. He feels that maybe she is worth his real self. He feels that he can open up to her but her face is not detailed which means he is still not sure if she is the one." I finished and looked at Carter for approval. He was looking at me in surprise and his mouth opened and closed to say something but nothing came out. I considered that as a win.

"That was very insightful Ms. Claire. Good work! Now Mr. Grayson, if you may?" She asked Carter but he was still looking at me with admiration. I cleared my throat and he snapped out of his daydream. He looked at me in confusion and I signalled him towards Mrs. White.

"Your interpretation of Ms. Claire's work?" She said and he nodded eagerly. He saw my work and studied for a minute.

"Olivia believes in herself. She knows that she is strong yet elegant. She likes her life to be full of surprises and adventures. She hates monotonous stuff and she keeps changing her hobbies so things remain interesting. She likes her life. She likes all the obstacles she had to face because that just made her tougher. Even though she is who she is now, there is a little part in her that wants things to go back to normal. She is fully aware that people love the idea of her but they don't know her. She seems confused in her painting which means she doesn't even know who she is or what kind of a person she wants to be. She is searching for herself." He completed and honestly even I didn't think that much about it but he was right. Everything he said was right. I gaped at him and he winked.

"You guys worked really well. I can see you did your project in pair and I am impressed. Thank you, Mr. Grayson Ms. Claire." Mrs. White said and we went to our seats. I didn't say anything to him during the whole class and as soon as the bell rang, we made our way to the cafeteria walking side by side.

"I don't like that you know so much about me." I said not looking at him. It's true. I like my walls up high and I hate that someone as untrustworthy as Carter has already broke much of it down.

"Well, then don't give away yourself so easily." He said chuckling.

"So it means either you are comfortable with me knowing you so well or I read your painting wrong?" I asked and he smirked.

"You read everything right sweetheart but missed the most important detail of all." He said and went in the cafeteria to our friends before I could grill him anymore.

"Hey you guys! How was the project?" Noah asked and all of our friends looked at us.

"Nailed it! Those suckers didn't even talk to their partners. It was an easy win." I said and hi-fived Carter.

"Well good for you guys. I had a surprise biology quiz today and I sucked at it." Ashley said in a gloomy voice. Noah placed his hand on hers and she smiled sadly at him. I love how awesome they look together. They take care of each other all the time and I can see Noah being absolutely in love with Ashley and I think she is serious about him too.

"You are not alone buddy. I am pretty sure I fucked up literature myself." Emma said.

"Hey! You said you did good!" Mark said in surprise.

"Yeah well I did better than you dumbass but not good on my scale." She said and he pouted.

"Boy that's a lot of sadness in one table." I chuckled and they all nodded lazily.

"What are you guys doing tonight? Anyone has any plans?" Sofia asked and we all shook our heads.

"Good. So, there is this restaurant-cum-karaoke. We all should totally check it out tonight." She said and we all looked at each other with questioning glances. Carter was the first to speak.

"Dude, that sounds like an awesome idea." He said in excitement and we all nodded like idiots.

"Then it's settled. At 6, we will all meet there. I will text you guys the address." She said.

"7 please. Football practice." Mark said raising his hand.

"Cool, 7 it is." I said and we all went back to eating talking about random GoT theories. I, for one, was particularly excited for this. I love singing and I am a foodie so this place sounds perfect for me. I have been working a lot too and I feel like I deserve some rest. I am pretty sure mom wouldn't mind. I will be home before 10 anyway, I thought.

I, Emma, Ashley, Sofia and Mia decided to get ready in my home. And here we are hiding in the pile of clothes trying to find something decent for today. For some reason, my girls decided not to stick with our usual jeans and jacket kind of clothes and try something more, girly? I don't know. I was not repulsed by the idea but I felt weird trying new clothes. We tried dresses after dresses and we all chose our final ones. I settled with a black lace one piece and black boots. By now, it must have been evident that I love black. None of us knew how to do makeup so we just did eyeliner and lip gloss and went down to the living room to wait for the guys. We started watching a random episode of Brooklyn 99. I love Andy Samberg aka Jake Peralta. Who would have known an official detective with daddy issues would make such an awesome series, I thought. We were somewhere in the middle of Halloween Heist when the doorbell rang. I went to open the door and gaped at Carter for far too long than I should have. He was wearing black loose jeans, white t-shirt and an olive green jacket. I stared at his hair and a strand came in front of his eyes. Damnit! I really wanted to shrug it off but it would be awkward. He stared at me as well and I blushed under his gaze. He had the typical teen fiction gaze and I realized why the girl in those novels freeze up. His eyes were intense and I saw his pupils dilating.

"Geez, get a room." Mia commented and Carter and I smirked.

"I will." We both said in unison and all of us laughed out loud. I heard another car being parked and looked out to see Mark getting out. I ran and hugged him tightly.

"I am sorry, who are you?" He asked with amusement clear in his eyes and looked at me up and down.

"You mom, asshole!" I said and smacked his head lightly.

"Ouch! Now you look like the Olivia I know." He said and put his hand across my neck on the shoulder. We both went in and he saw Emma with the same look as Carter saw me. Speaking of him, our eyes met and we both smirked.

"You guys are making me feel so single, right M?" Sofia said looking at Mia and she gave her an apologetic look.

"Actually buddy you are alone in this." She said and all of us looked at her in shock.

"WHAT?" I, Sofia, Emma and Ashley exclaimed in a shrill voice and she blushed.

"You guys, it's no big deal. I met him at a café. He is a waiter there. He works part-time and he is of the same age as us." She said.

"That's not enough information! Which café? What's his name? Did you guys have a meet cute? How long has this been going on? Did you guys kissed yet? Did you guys have sex?" Ashley said in one breath and I didn't even know it was possible.

"Geez relax. It's a café little bit far from here, its name is Coffee? His name is Joe. We did have a meet cute, actually it was embarrassing really. He asked me my number and I was so afraid and tense, I panicked and said lol." She said and we all laughed.

"This has been going on for a week now. We haven't kissed yet." She said and we all sighed dreamily except Sofia. She crossed her hand in front of her chest and huffed.

"So, you are not single anymore either?" She asked Mia and she nodded slowly.

"Bro I am with you." I said. Everyone looked at me and shook their head in disbelief.

"What? Why are you guys doing that?" I asked in annoyance.

"We are not telling you anything. Figure it out yourself." Mark said and everyone except Carter nodded in agreement. I looked at Carter and he was looking anywhere but me. I wanted to ask more but Noah parked in the driveway and he came running towards us. He went straight to Ashley and placed his hand on her waist kissing her. After about thirty seconds, it felt way too much.

"Get a room, you guys!" Carter said and went to his car. We decided that the guys will refrain from drinking too much and are the going to be the ones driving us back home. Sofia knew where we have to go so we followed her lead. She took us to this huge restaurant and we parked our vehicles in the parking area. I took my helmet off and gaped at the magnificent building that stood in front of me. We all walked in and the interior was even better. There were navy blue colored couches on both sides of the room in pairs facing each other with a table in between them. On the far end, there was a stage with a guitar painted on the wall. Neon lights gave the guitar's boundary a more attractive look. People went there and started singing some random songs. Some were good, some were bad, others were horrible. We sat on one of the couches and ordered drinks and food. After two glasses of sex on the beach, I started feeling a little trippy. I got up and went to the stage without falling which definitely was a big deal.

I grabbed the mic and everyone shushed at my sight.

"Hey everyone. This hotness right here..." I said pointing to myself, "is Olivia Claire and that right there..." I pointed at my friends, "are my friends. And we are going to have..." I said and breathed in to make an dramatic effect, "A KARAOKE CONTEST." I said and everyone cheered. Let the fun begin!

.........

She is right! Let the fun begin!!!!!