1 The First Glance

Janie

A new school year has arrived, ninth grade. Seeing my friends after all these online schools was exciting.

"Hey Mia" I said to my forever best friend and hugged her.

"Long time no see, Janie," she said.

"Where are the other girls?" I asked. "Do you mean Eva, Amelia and Emma?" reassured Mia.

I nodded my head.

"They are over there," she pointed at them.

"Hey girls, how are you doing?" I said cheerfully.

Eva was my sweet childhood friend and we haven't had any arguments before, but after hanging out with Amelia and Emma things started to change between us.

They waved back at me coldly and continued their gossip.

I glanced at someone I've never seen before. I didn't care at first but I found it weird when all the boys knew him, because I thought he was new. I asked my friends but they didn't know him either.

Apparently, he joined school last year which was given online, he wasn't even in the same class as me, then.

The class started and the teacher decided to change everybody's places and I had to sit next to that boy. His name was Martin. He looked cold and arrogant at first but when I got to know him he was sweet and friendly. He was funny, too

Martin

I arrived at my first day of school. Technically, I was new to the school building but not to the students because I joined the school online last year. I saw my friends and they knew me instantly. I was surprised that I wasn't in the same class I was in last year, so there were many students I haven't met before who are in this class.

The teacher made me sit next to the principal's daughter, Janie. I heard much about her but I acted like I didn't know her. Well, I tried to start conversations with her but it seems she never cared. At first, I thought she was a snitch who had no friends but it turned out she was a nice person who can keep secrets. I had a strange feeling. Could I possibly like her? No, no way. It has been ages since I liked someone.

Janie

A few weeks later, I got to know more about Martin. I could feel like he trusted me since he told me so much about himself. I felt butterflies in my stomach since nobody had trusted me before. They always thought I was a snitch. Teachers had to change our places and put us far from each other since we chatted a lot in class. That was one disadvantage. He was a great guy friend.

" Dudeee. That boy named Martin won't stop looking at you. Even when the teachers changed your places he kept staring at you" Mia commented.

"Cut the nonsense. Why would he look at ME?" I replied. Mia smirked and told Eva, Amelia and Emma. All of them started teasing me about it. They even started shipping us.

His friends, especially Henry, somehow started shipping us, too! I guess rumours spread so fast. Whenever the subject came, I would either deny or just pretend like I couldn't hear them. At first it was really awkward between us but then we got used to our friends' "jokes".

Martin

I could sense Janie's friends acting suspicious. For example, one time I told her "Hey Janie!, "What's up" and her friends went crazy. They started saying "I ship, I ship" and .I was so confused. Henry joined them too.

Henry was my partner in crime. We always got into trouble together so we became friends. "What is going on?" I asked Henry.

He started mocking me "Do you REALLY not know? He said.

"The whole school is shipping you, both" Added Henry.

I was speechless. Was it obvious that I liked her? I kept denying because I didn't want them to know and tease me, but in the end they didn't listen.

Janie

I was mad at Martin and tried to ignore him but he kept trying to break the ice. He acted as if being shipped together wasn't a problem. But for me it totally was a BIG problem. It's just that I was the "principal's daughter" and I wasn't meant to make mistakes. I tried not to take these jokes seriously and just carried on.

One question occurred to my mind "Why me? Why was I the person who is getting shipped with Martin?" Of course it wasn't because he was looking at me in class. I just wanted to know the reason why. So, I asked Mia and she told me it was because of the way we treated each other. She said we were "passionate" . I laughed but she was serious. Eva said the same thing too. That kind of made me feel strange. "Me? Treat someone different from others? No way. I'm just nice to everyone" I replied. "You don't see yourself while talking to him" Amelia interrupted. "Yeah, you're totally smitten with him" Emma added. "Nah, you're just seeing things," I said nervously.

Martin

"Look! Look! She's there!" Henry said, trying to embarrass me. Janie looked my way and her friends started laughing. She was really cute trying to shut her friends up because she was embarrassed. I smiled at her and everybody walked their way. Later that day I was admiring her when Henry caught me "I saw you, simp" He said. "SHHH. What are you doing!" I replied.

I was sick and tired of keeping it a secret from Henry, so I decided to tell him how I feel about Janie. "Henry, listen, I want to tell you something" I said hesitantly. "What is it Martin?" He replied. "I LIKE JANIE" I said while closing my eyes of nervousness. "I know. But I'm glad that you admitted it" said Henry. "You knew?" I asked. "Of course I knew. Everybody knows. Listen man, there's something about feelings that you just can't hide." Henry replied. "What was that? You sounded like an expert." I said jokingly. "Expert, my foot" He replied and we both started laughing.