My Obsession with Chloe Claire: BOOK ONE

Chapter Twenty-two

Luke's P.O.V

Theatre appreciation was uninteresting as usual. It would have been more painful that Dr. Cambridge was going over our last section before the exam, except that Chloe made it more interesting. It was actually entertaining to see how into theatre she was. She sat upright, slightly leaning forward with her eyes wide with intent as she scribbled her notes neatly in her notebook. I remembered back to fifth grade when I would see her reading constantly when she thought no one was paying attention to her. Except that I did. I always did.

"Don't forget that next time we meet will be the review, and then the time after that is the exam," Dr. Cambridge smiled, showing her brightly painted lips.

It was then that I realized that I didn't pay any attention to the lecture whatsoever. My notebook page was completely blank, and there was undoubtedly a red mark on my cheek where my fist had been pressed up against it. I was too busy admiring Chloe to pay attention to anything else. In my defense, she looked radiant with her navy-blue top complimenting her pale skin and honey colored curls that sparkled in the sunlight.

Chloe glanced in my direction as we packed our things to leave, and I became acutely aware of myself. I decided now was the best time to ask Jess about the study group. "Hey Jess, Chloe and I were making a study group for the theatre exam and wondered if you wanted to be a part of it," I said as I slung my backpack on my shoulder and shoved my free hand in my front pocket.

Jess looked up at me, blew a bubble with her mint blue gum, and popped it with her teeth. "Sure," she smiled, her gum showing between her teeth. "When did you guys plan on meeting?"

I looked over to Chloe, who seemed alarmed that the attention was shifted to her. She smiled nervously and said, "We actually haven't decided yet. Maybe since we are all together right now we can?" She finished putting her pink notebook in her pink backpack and zipped it up.

"Okay," Jess nodded, looking Chloe up and down. "I didn't notice it before, but I like your outfit today," she said, her dark eyes filled with scrutiny.

"Thanks," Chloe smiled warmly, her uncomfortableness slowly fading away. "I like your hair. It's very long."

"Thanks," Jess smiled, now playing with her dark hair. "I actually planned on cutting it to my shoulders, but now that you say you like how long it is, I kinda don't want to cut it anymore," she said and turned to look at me. "Do you like my hair, Luke?"

I was caught off guard. "Hm?"

"Do you like my hair, Luke?" she repeated with a sly grin on her face, her fingers running through strands of her long, dark hair.

I didn't know how I was supposed to respond to that. Her hair was just hair to me. There was nothing significant about it.

"We should probably get back to discussing when we should meet," Chloe cleared her throat.

Never have I been so thankful to get out of a situation in my life. Chloe was my saving grace in that moment. "I don't know about you, Jess, but Chloe and I have somewhere to be on Saturday night and won't be finished until late, so we can't do our study group then."

Chloe nodded. "I can't do it at all this week since I'm so busy, but I can do it Sunday."

Jess shrugged as we a started to head toward the door. "I'm good for Sunday, unless you have time for another study session beforehand," she said as she looked at me in my eyes. The look almost seemed desperate in some way.

"I think Sunday will be good," I swallowed, unsure about what to do about the look Jess gave me. We walked through the double doors, outside of the building and stood on the pavement near a bench with a tree looming over it.