meant to be

chapter 17: mikaela

Mikaela woke up with the worst migraine in all of history. 

She lifted her head off her desk and yawned. She really did not want to be in English. She was lucky though, since her teacher hadn't noticed she had dozed off. 

"Please look at the poem projected on the board." Ms. Laney said to the class. "What do you notice?"

Mikaela squinted. She wasn't wearing her contacts today and was practically blind without them. 

"Yes Yousef." Ms. Laney said.

"Uh. the poems about love?" Yousef said, phrased as a question.

"Yes, it is indeed." She said with a soft smile. "Everyone, I was you to write a 3 page minimum creative writing piece about what love means to you. It's due on Friday. You may get started now if you'd like, I have paper up by the front of the class if you'd like to plan out your piece first." 

Students chattered among themselves as they moved to sit with friends and get paper from the front of the room. 

Mikaela didnt know what to write. How would you describe love? She loved her dogs, she would just write about that maybe? 

She felt her watch buzz, and she pulled up the sleeve to see what notification it was. It was a text... from Jake. 

"Just left science. Going to "the bathroom." 

She knew what that meant. It meant he was going to skip as much of class as possible my simply roaming the halls. She jumped out of her seat and dashed to the door, an excited feeling bubbling in her stomach. 

He was standing there with his hands in his pockets when he turned around and saw her. She threw her arms around his neck and pushed herself into him. It was the first time she had seen him since their tender moment in the art room, and she was glad he wanted to see her again after that. 

"You look tired." He said, placing his arms on her shoulders. 

"I am. I stayed up until 11 last night studying for my math test today. Its next period." She sighed. "But right now I just want to be here with you." She said, burying her face in his hoodie. 

"I didn't quite hear that last part." He said, hugging her back. "C'mon, lets go get some chocolate milk."

"What?" She asked, confused. 

"From the cafeteria. C'mon, you need a boost. It'll be good, I promise." He said, shooting her a half smile. 

"Ok Jake." Mikaela smiled back.

Jake extended his hand towards her. 

"Such a gentleman." She said, rolling her eyes as she took his hand. Together they walked down the hall, down the stairs, and to the lunch room which was completely empty. That made sense considering it was only second period. He led her into a back room which was filled with crates and crates of little chocolate milk containers. He grabbed one from the side of a crate and handed it to Mikaela gingerly before grabbing one for himself and putting his other arm around Mikaela who led them out the back room and out of the cafeteria.