Class 101❖Jeff Winger

Move Along || nine

"You took business math, right?" Clark asked.

"Yeah, why?" I replied, raising an eyebrow.

"I found out that I need to take another math class next semester. Who did you take?" he asked, sighing.

"I took Mattheson. He takes class a bit slower, so it was easier to understand," I wrote the teacher's name down on a piece of paper and handed it to Clark. He thanked me and went back to figuring out his schedule for next semester. We always did this together towards the beginning of every semester. This way, we would be able to slack off during registration times. As long as we plotted it out, we were good.

I had already planned mine out, so I was really just sitting with Clark until he was done so we could get to Class 101. Darla, Luna, and Zack were off in their own worlds while working on their various projects. I considered doing the report for Communication Strategies but decided that I would rather wait and do it all the weekend before it was due.

We were sitting in the library at our normal spot, the section with couches. Since I had such a long break between my first class and Class 101, I was able to come and claim the spot. This ended up being one of the best places in the library as well. It's not too far away from the bathroom, and I can also see the study room that Jeff's study group uses. That sounded creepy. Let me explain.

Actually, there's no way to make that sound less creepy. Moving on.

"Good morning, Greendale students. This is your dean speaking! I would like to announce that we will be having our first dance of the school year! Join us for the Last Seconds of Summer dance on Friday in the cafeteria at seven o'clock! I hope to see you all there. On another note, whoever defaced the statue of our beloved alumni, Luis Guzman, I hope you are ashamed of yourself. I'll dean you all later!" The intercom fizzled out.

"Should we go? We haven't gone to any of the dances. Wouldn't it be fun?" Luna tried to persuade us.

"Dances are lame. You guys can go. I'm not," Zack stated, not looking up from the floorplan he was drawing. Clark agreed with him, and it was down to Darla and me to respond.

"I don't know, it's our study group night, and it's not like any of us could go. I always work, you have your family night, the boys have their game night, and Lou has whatever she does," Darla shrugged. My jaw dropped in surprise, but she quickly apologized when she realized what she had said.

"I have a Friday night commitment to watch Netflix, thank you. Plus, I don't like dances, and I don't need an excuse to dance. I dance all the time with Clark," I winked at Darla, making sure she knew I wasn't upset.

"I forgot about that. I guess we can't go then," Luna pulled out her phone and gasped, "We need to go. Class starts in five minutes!" We all rushed to grab our things, muttering curses when books wouldn't slide into our bag, and ran to class. We made it just before the class started and secured our spots, which had luckily been saved by Jeff.

"First, I start doing my homework. Now, you're showing up to class late? What have I done to you?" He leaned over, whispering in my ear. I gave him an exaggerated look of wonder, laughing as I pulled out my notebook.

Clark nudged me to get my attention, passing me a piece of paper. He had written a note on it.

are you and womanizing winger flirting right now? seriously?

I shook my head, laughing as I quickly wrote him a response and handed it back to him.

no :) passing notes is for middle schoolers. grow up

He looked at me, making sure it was visible that I had hurt his feelings. I rolled my eyes, pushing him. Clark could be a little dramatic at times, especially when the attention he thought was meant for him seemed to go to someone else. It was endearing but got old really fast.

The class went on as it usually did, today being a study hall day. One of the downsides to when we had these is that we weren't allowed to leave. Another downside was that Jeff typically ignored me to talk to his study group, but I guess that could probably be counted as an upside too. Today was different because Jeff was texting me for a large portion of the class instead of completely ignoring me. Mainly just him flirting with me. But one part, in particular, made me giddy with joy.

Jeff Winger: Are you going to grace us with your presence at the dance on Friday?

Me: probs not i don't care for dances. i feel safer dancing in front of my tv in jammies than in front of actual people

Jeff Winger: Really? So you're going to make me go alone?

Jeff nudged me to show he was pouting, causing me to laugh a little louder than I should have. This garnered a few looks from my friends, but I brushed it off as getting a funny text from my mom.

Me: like you would even let yourself be seen with me on the dance floor. we aren't telling anyone we're a thing remember? if we are a thing? idk what we are

Jeff Winger: We aren't not dating. Do you wanna just avoid a label?

Me: yeah? idk i dont even know if im ready for another relationship with or without a label lmao

Jeff Winger: We could talk about it on Friday then? I have to go to the dance for a bit, I promised the dean, but then I could come over. How's 9ish sound?

Me: yeah! that sounds great

I tapped his leg with my foot, smiling when he looked over at me. I was going to have to actually figure out if this was worth it. That also meant finally coming to terms with what happened with Blake and if I was truly over him. I wasn't going to put someone through the same thing I went through, especially knowing the pain it caused me. I couldn't do that to Jeff. He meant too much to me, and even if my friends disagreed, I knew he was a genuinely great guy. Maybe it's because he's older, but it feels like he just understands life. I feel like I can trust him. I just hope it's not misplaced.

Author's Note

Thanks for 200+ reads and for 25+ votes!! I am so thankful for every one of yall!

-Sam

ps- i name every chapter after a song and i was tempted to name this one fergalicious bc i listened to it 12 times while writing this lmao but it didn't match the theme so here we are