Yours Truly

Chapter 4

"And that honestly surprises me," she says. "But you don't make things uncomfortable for me. In fact, you kind of do the exact opposite," she smiles shyly as she reaches over and gently overlaps Lily's fingers with hers, Carina's fingertips rough and calloused, which doesn't surprise Lily in the slightest because Carina shared in one of her letters that she's a guitar player. "So thank you for that."

Lily hopes and prays that Carina can't hear her heart beating violently in her chest and she's officially lost all control of herself, her body frozen against her soft and innocent gesture. Then the bell obnoxiously rings, forcing Carina to tear her eyes and hand away as she turns back around in her seat, leaving Lily blushing madly.

--

The rest of the class, unfortunately, was pretty much Ms. Ashworth speaking the entire time which didn't allow Lily to really talk to Carina and because it would be rude as hell. So she just let her favorite teacher go on and on about the racism and societal background that was present during the time in which Huckleberry Finn was written while her mind kept repeating Carina's proclamation of fondness for her "anonymous" partner. The best part about it was that Carina meant every word considering she has no idea it's actually Lily she's been writing to. Lily was just someone she confided in with the genuine information and surprise, surprise! It's about her.

Boy, what a lovely Monday morning.

Lily hopes to god no one noticed her during her random moments of grinning from ear-to-ear while Ms. Ashworth discussed the awful thing that is racism. How horribly inappropriate that must make Lily look like to others if they caught her in the act.

The bell rings and Lily's temporary daydream gets interrupted when she hears the collective sound of desk and chair legs scraping against the tile floors, folders and binders and notebooks being shoved into backpacks, and the increasingly loud clamor of her classmates' voices fill her ears.

Lily quickly puts her things away and slides her arms through her backpack straps, the heavy weight causing her to ever so slightly stumble backwards. She really needs to empty out the crap in there before she strains her spine and shoulders.

Carina noticed Lily's little misstep and she chuckles. "Now look who's the clumsy one," she teases, her nose adorably scrunching up. Oh dear god. Carina is actually trying to kill her.

"Still you," Lily throws back sticking her tongue out like an immature little 5-year-old, which at that age, was a teenager's equivalence of sticking up their middle finger.

Carina rolls her eyes playfully but smiles nevertheless. "So where you headed?" she asks curiously, her voice still quiet and small, but at least she's comfortable enough to initiate conversation and that makes Lily feel really good about herself. It's flattering to know that someone as shy as Carina feels pretty okay with speaking to her.

"I have physics next, then history, then math," Lily answers as they begin to walk out the door. "What about yourself?" Lily then chivalrously steps aside and gestures for Carina to walk through first.

Carina smiles appreciatively as she passes by the taller girl and once Lily is right by her side again as they maneuver through the sea of what seems to be a million students, she says, a little louder this time for Lily to actually be able to hear over the commotion, "I actually have the same classes as you, but different periods. So next I have history, then math, then physics."

Damn. Of course she would have different periods.

"Also, I'm really kind of nervous about this presentation in English in a few days," Carina adds, fumbling with her hands a bit as they walk rather slowly together, Lily very much enjoying every second of the way.