Chapter Twenty One
These Dumb Feelings.
Anna
Thursday, 2nd of January, 9:00 AM
I'm confused.
And no, it's not about my existence or my life or this messed up world or how every Marvel superhero is so good looking.
I'm confused about my feelings, not towards Alex or any K-POP band member or any 5SOS member. I'm confused about my feelings towards Luke. Shocking, I know. Just thirteen days ago, I was talking about how I check Alex out.
Now, his best friend got me puzzled about how I feel.
It's kind of odd how things took such a 180 turn. I was convincing the girls and my family that he's just a friend and now I'm trying to convince myself that he's just a friend, but I can't ignore these feelings.
So, I decided to ask the girls about it. They're better at figuring out this romance crap than I do. Even though they do it by the stupidest way ever.
I honestly don't know why I started thinking about the fact that I might like Luke. It's just by the way that everything has been going lately, I couldn't help but feel like I like him.
It would explain the stupid sparks that explode in my body whenever I touch him.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that my friends can help me with these dumb things because I'm getting tired of my hormonal self.
"Miss Falls, answer the following question. A star appears to shift back and forth over the year through an angle of 0.03". How far away is the star in parsecs and light-years?" Mr. Brown's voice booms through the class room.
"Since the angle is equal to 0.03" that means that the change in apparent position stated to be 0.03 are seconds. The observed star's parallax is equal to half the angle as we know and it will be in seconds as well because the angle was given in seconds as stated earlier. Anyways, the observed star's parallax will turn out to be to equal to 0.015"," I scribble down the calculations, not looking up from the notebook once.
"Now we will assume that the parallax is from Earth, so the distance to the star being observed will be equal to one divided 0.015". The distance will be equal to 66.7 in parsecs and since the distance is needed in light-year as well, we will multiply 66.7 by 3.26 and the distance will be equal to 217 in light-year, so the star is 66.7 parsecs or 217 light-year away." I look up from my notebook finally and lean back in my seat. "The star is almost as far as the red dwarf star, only a difference of seventeen light-years away."
Every person in class stares at me with a flabbergasted, a confused or a dumbfounded look on their face.
Once upon a time, a seventeen-year-old girl was just like that, only in every other subject besides Astrophysics, English and History.
"Miss Falls, all your calculations are right," Mr. Brown utters in disbelief. "Marvelous job!"
"Thank you, Mr. Brown," I grin proudly.
"Please see me after class," he requests and I nod.
"Mr. Carter," he calls out and I turn my head to look at Luke.
"Yes?"
"Answer the following question. An observer on Earth measures a nearby star to have an annual parallax of 0.10". An observer on another planet measures the same star to have a parallax of 0.15". How far is this planet from the sun?"
That's complicated.
Luke purses his lips for about five seconds, then he speaks up, "Two point twenty five multiplied by ten to the power of eight, so approximately two hundred million kilometers."
So, either he's a robot which would explain the good looks and the flawless face or he has a mini Einstein in his brain and I have a feeling it's the latter.
"Good job, Mr. Carter!" Mr. Brown beams. "Please see me after class as well."
Mr. Brown proceeds to ask more students who seem unfocused, as I continue staring at Luke, thinking about what I was writing in my notebook a few minutes ago.
Luke catches my gaze and he sends me a lopsided smile, I smile back at him.
'Nerd,' I mouth, teasing him.
He rolls his eyes, 'So are you.'
I laugh quietly to myself, then I turn my head to Mr. Brown who went back to explaining the lesson.
Time passes by in a flash and the bell's ring shrills from outside in the halls. People hop up from their seats, impatient to get out of the classroom. I take my sweet time, packing my things and everything since Mr. Brown wants to talk to me, before walking to the front of the class.
"Mr. Brown, you wanted to talk to me?" I ask.
"Yes, Miss Falls," he replies, connecting his hands together. "You see, I was thinking about choosing a person to do a presentation for the next lesson and I think you'd be the perfect person to do that job."
"You want me to do a presentation? Alone?"
"That's why I asked Mr. Carter to help you," he answers.
"I'm pretty sure Luke wouldn't want to help me," I tell him.
Why would he?
"I already agreed on doing it," A voice pops up from behind me and I whip my head around to find Luke sitting on the chair with his arms crossed. I didn't even see him.
"Please take a seat," Mr. Brown gestures to the desk and I sit on top of it .
"Look, the thing is, Miss Falls," Mr. Brown starts, "This would be a good opportunity for you–both of you as there are lot of universities that are requesting students from our school. These universities have been in a partnership with us for years."
He holds out two pamphlets and Luke and I reach out to take one. I look down at the blue cover, observing it.
Northern Hills' Scholarship Programs.
"There's Harvard, Oxford, University of Toronto, University of Melbourne and Sapienza-University of Rome."
"University of Rome?" Luke and I ask.
Sapienza is my dream university. Everything about it, is fabulous. It's one of the prestigious universities in Southern Europe and it has a high ranking as well.
Back in Year 9, my mum told me that I should start planning which field I'm going to enroll in and which university I'm planning to attend, so we started looking for one until I found Sapienza and I immediately chose it.
However, we saw how much it costed and I was a bit disappointed at first, but I didn't let the hopeless feeling get to me too quickly and I started saving money for the fees of the university and even mum helped. Dad wasn't keen on the idea because he wanted me to stay in the country and attend the same university Josh and Cole did.
Mum ignored dad and she went on with helping me to save money for my future and I felt really accomplished when I was able to collect the needed amount.
"Yes. Sapienza is currently requesting students from our school and they're mainly interested in people who're wishing to roll in science majors," Mr. Brown continues. "The presentation you're going to make will be sent to the university and they accept the best works, so there's a huge chance they might accept your work."
"That is, of course, if you're majoring in Astronomy?" He questions.
"Yes, I am actually," I answer.
"So, what do you think, Miss Falls?"
I was going to agree anyways, so...
"Yeah, sure. I'd love to do it."
"Alright. I'll give you about two weeks to work on the presentation and then you can present the lesson to your classmates. How does that sound?" He switches his gaze between me and Luke.
"Sounds great," We both confirm.
| | | |
"You guys, I need your help," I say, sitting down on the chair and placing my backpack on the lunch table.
"That really depends," Sophie replies.
"I don't wanna sneak out at one in the morning to get you Sour Patch Kids again," Riley groans.
"No, not with that."
"What is it?" Colette asks.
"I think I might like Luke," I spill out.
The three of them stop what they're doing and turn their attention to me, sending me surprised looks.
"What?" Sophie questions.
"I think I might like Luke," I repeat.
"I heard you! I just can't believe you actually admitted it," she responds.
"I said, might. Red line under might. I'm not sure," I claim. "That's why I wanted your help. I thought that you're the ones could figure this out."
"Okay, let's start this," Riley clasps her hands together and places them on the table.
"How do you feel when you're around him?" She questions.
"Normal. A bit nervous."
"What usually happens when you guys are with each other?" Sophie queries.
"Sometimes we fight over stupid things and other times we get along."
"What happens when he touches you or vice versa?" Riley adds another question.
"It's dumb, but I actually feel sparks."
"Last question, do you like him?" Colette asks, leaning in.
"That is literally what I want to know and you're asking me?" I exclaim.
Colette ignores me, "Do you like him?" She replays.
"I don't know!"
"It's either a yes or a no, Anna. Not knowing is not an answer," she presses on.
"Well, I don't know!"
"You're still in the confusion stage. We can't confirm anything until you do," Sophie explains.
"That didn't help at all," I huff.
"It will later. You'll see," Riley says.
I never got how their little interrogation helps later. They just ask obvious questions and end with the big question that I question myself and yet, I end up knowing the answer to the question myself.
Currently, I'm not sure about Luke. He could be very nice sometimes, but I feel like my heart hasn't confirmed this yet. For now I'll just remain crush-less, which is not bad, now that I'm thinking about it.
"Hi there," a familiar male voice says and the four of us look up to find Zach grinning at us.
"Hey, Zach," I greet him.
"So, as you can see," he pauses to gesture to his table with his hand, "Miss Bitch and her 'boyfriend' are spreading germs all over our table and I was wondering if I could sit here?"
I take a look at Zach's table and notice Jennie and Seth being too cozy and I grimace. Feeling bad for Zach, I turn to him and smile.
"Yeah, sure."
"Hold up," Colette says. "You're fine with this?" She points at me.
"Yeah. Zach is like a friend. Nothing's wrong with that."
"What about you two?" She turns to Sophie and Riley. They shrug in response.
Lottie sighs, "Fine. You can sit here," she grumbles.
"Thanks, Ginger," he grins at her, taking a seat on the chair next to mine.
"Don't call me that," she snaps.
"Why not, Ginger?" He smirks at her.
"Because I said so," she retorts.
"I don't know. I like the name. It suits you."
"Well, I don't like it, so shut up before I send you back to your germ hole table," she seethes.
"Ouch. You're being mean, Ginger," he pouts at her.
"You're annoying."
"Thanks, love," he chuckles.
Colette just rolls her eyes, but I could see her cheeks turning into a light shade of pink. Sophie, Riley and I send knowing looks to each other and grin at our fourth best friend.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce you to my other two friends, Zach," I tell him.
"This is Sophie and Riley," I point at each one of them.
"Nice to meet you," he says.
"You too," Riley replies.
"You have a nice accent," Sophie remarks.
"Why, thank you," he smiles at her cheekily.
"Um...Zach?" I pipe up, suddenly remembering his two other friends.
"Yeah?"
"Where are Luke and Alex?"
"Shit," he mumbles.
"Where the hell were you, asshole?" Luke asks Zach, glaring at him as he and Alex approach us.
"I was looking for a new table and I found one," Zach responds. "Leni and her friends gladly accepted me."
"Zach, we need a table for the three of us. I'm pretty sure the girls want their own privacy," Alex tells him.
"Actually, we don't mind. You guys can sit here as well," Colette says sweetly. "Right, Anna?"
I know what she's doing.
"Yeah, I guess," I reply.
"Awesome. Go ahead. Take a seat." Smile still plastered on her face, she gestures at the two seats left with her hand.
"Thanks, Colette," Alex tells her, sitting down beside Sophie.
"No problem. You're like our friends now," Colette says.
Her voice is starting to scare me now. She sounds like one of those sickeningly sweet people from Sugar Rush in the Wreck-It Ralph movie.
"Is your friend okay?" Luke asks, whispering in my ear.
"Definitely no," I reply back.
"I figured," he says. "You're coming tomorrow, right?"
"What?" I frown in confusion.
"For the project," he responds. "I thought we could start working on it tomorrow, if that's fine by you."
"Yeah, that's alright."
"What project?" Sophie butts in.
"Mr. Brown assigned us to do a presentation for the next Astronomy lesson, so we'll be working on it tomorrow," I explain.
"I see," Sophie nods slowly, her lips twitching in a smirk.
"Whatever you're thinking right now, it's the complete opposite," I say, pointedly.
"So, you're going to do the complete opposite of working on the project?" She asks. "Wow, Anna. I didn't know you were that kind of person."
"Damn, Cherries, I didn't know you think about me that way," Luke joins in, teasing me.
"You guys are the worst," I mumble, as I cross my arms across my chest and lean back in the chair. The six of them laugh.
| | | |
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Feelings are sure getting in the way now.
Until next time!
Don't forget to leave a comment, hit the star button and share with people!
Bye, fantastic peeps!
-W.A❀