meant to be

chapter 11: mikaela

Mikaela didn't know what prompted her to wink at him during the game. It was just a sudden burst of confidence and she had no idea where it came from.
She thought back to his face at the game when she had done it. She had winked, and he had stopped walking and just stood there, blinking as if in disbelief, then continued shooting the basketball in his hands. His expression was surprised, yet still had a sort of blankness to it. She didn't know how to describe it.
Slowly she picked herself up and off her bed, dragging her feet a little on the way to her closet. She opened the door and pulled out shorts and a tank top which wasn't at all appropriate, on account that it was the middle of February, but she didn't care because it was one of the most comfortable outfits.
She put it on and unclipped her wet hair, letting it fall onto her shoulders and collapsed onto her bed, exhausted.
Today had been a tiring day.
She closed her eyes and let her mind wander for a while. She thought about her English essay. She needed to finish the conclusion for it soon as it was due in two days, and she wanted to reach out to her old friend Savannah, who had moved away a few years ago but she still talked to every now and then.
'Add that to the growing number of things to do.'  She thought.
She kept her eyes shut as she formulated a too do list in her head. After item number 4, she gave up. She didn't want to think about everything she should be doing at the moment. She let her mind wander again and somehow she ended up thinking of brown curly hair and deep dark eyes.
'Jake Turner, in my head again.' She thought, but didn't try to stop thinking about him either.
He wasn't the tallest on the team, but he wasn't short either, which she liked. Taller than her, but at a height that just made sense. His gaze sometimes scared her though. He had such dark eyes, and she felt like they just pierced into her soul. As cringey as it sounded, that's exactly what it was like.

She remembered the first day she saw him. She had been going to her history class on the first day of school, and he had been right in front of her. All of a sudden, he had stopped in the doorway and she bumped into his back with an "oof"
He turned around and looked down at her.
"My bad." He said, even though it wasn't his bad.  She couldn't say anything she was so shocked. It wasn't even that she struck him as this amazing looking guy, he just struck her as one of the nicest people she had met at the school. The first day had been particularly rough for her, and that small interaction had made her feel a lot better.
"It's fine." She breathed once she remembered to talk.
"Ah. You're Jacob I assume?" The teacher inside, Ms. Caralise, said.
"Yup." He said.
She looked behind him, noticing Mikaela. Jake followed her gaze, and moved to the side once he realized he was in front of Mikaela.
"And you're..." she trailed off, looking down at the attendance sheet.
"Mikaela." Jake said quietly. Ms. Caralise didn't hear, continuing to move down her list.
"Mikaela. Her name is Mikaela." He said, much louder this time. As soon as he said it, he looked over at Mikaela quickly. There was a glimmer of something in his eyes... panic maybe?
"It is Mikaela, right?" He asked quickly.
She nodded. The traces of panic left his face.
"Ok. Thank you Jacob. You can both sit down." She said, glaring at the two.
Mikaela glanced around the classroom. Almost everyone was staring at them. Her face flushed. She hated everyone looking at her like that.
There were only two seats left in the middle of the classroom.
"Well, guess those are for us." Jake said, smiling at her.
He had a sweet smile, she noted, before pushing the thought aside and sitting down beautiful him.
She could still feel the whole class looking at her and she hated it, but she felt a little better knowing that Jake was there with her.

She heard a knock on her bedroom door, bringing her back to reality.
"Mikaela, dinner!" She heard her mom call from the other side.
"Coming!" She said, getting up and opening her door.
"I made you're favorite! Vegetable lasagna!" Her mom said.
"Thanks!" She said, sitting down at the table as her mom put a hot plate in front of her.
She picked up her fork and cut a piece, but all she could think about was a boy with brown curly hair and dark eyes.