𝒎𝒂𝒇𝒊𝒂

𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒊

Alayah's POV
10:30 a.m.

I was in my fourth period tired as hell. I kept dozing off just to be jolted awake again. I guess Maverick noticed because he was looking at me with concern on his face.

"Are you ok?"

I nodded my head and gave him a tired smile. "Just dandy," before plopping my head down on the desk using my arms as a cushion and groaning.

"How much sleep did you get last night?"

"Does sleeping at your house count?"

"No."

"How about when we were in the car?"

"No. Alayah stop playing and just tell me."

"No..."

"And why not?" Oh because I caught my hoe of a brother getting top that later led to a heartfelt conversation.

"Nothi-"

"Alayah Paisley Kasongo," he said in a deathly calm voice. I rolled my eyes and said, "Me and Jacoby were talking about some stuff." He narrowed his eyes at me. "Mmm," he said but didn't push me further as he continued to draw.

Mrs. Dunkin just taught us the basics of sketching. She said something about it being the foundation of any good work of art but I had already clocked out after the bell rang. I did hear her say we had to do a self-portrait.

I sat up and looked down at my sketch.

Ehh. Could be better. I shrugged and continued to shade my drawing finding it hard to keep my eyes open.

I looked over at Maverick's sketch and rolled my eyes. No surprise he'd sketch the best drawing in the class. I love his drawings for your information, but he never thinks their good.

"Are you just naturally good at everything?" I said working my eyebrow.

He looked up at me and smiled. "Yes," he said giving me a cheeky grin.

I grumble and said, "It was a rhetorical question," before going back to sharing my interior sketch. "È mio figlio stanco?" (Is my baby tired?) He whispered in my ear as he nuzzled the side of my face.

I nodded my head and pushed him away in a fit of tired stubbornness. Because I practically live at his house, I've picked up a little Italian here and there.

Just then, the bell had rang for lunch. "You sketch's are due next class. Make sure to use some color to add some flare!" Mrs. Dunkin said in an all too cheerily voice as we left her class. I rolled my eyes and started walking to the cafeteria when someone grabbed my arm halting my movement.

I turned to see it was Maverick before huffing and crossing my arms. "What?"

When I'm sleep deprived, I get grumpy, which Maverick knows and is probably why he was unfazed by my rudeness. He just held my hand and led us through the crowds.

As we were walking, we took the wrong hallway to the cafeteria. "Maverick we're going the wrong way."

"I know." I glanced at him and furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Would you like to enlighten me as to why you took the wrong way to the cafeteria?" We abruptly stop a few lockers from the school exit. He peaked his head from behind the edge of the hallway wall and looked left and right. He started walking towards the exit of the school.

"Maverick?" I said as we were getting in his car. He remained quiet as he kept his eyes trained straight ahead. "Maverick? Why are we leaving school? You have a football game!" He chuckled and said, "I know," before returning to silence.