The Beginning of Us Read Free Page A

hallway.
    This was going to be the longest day of my life.
    I found the classroom and another realization hit me. I had no idea where I was supposed to sit. Who I presumed to be as Mr. Mulberry, a short, stocky man sat at his desk reading the newspaper.
    "Morning Teegan!" he greeted as I crossed in front.
    I looked up and smiled nervously. "Hi, Mr. Mulberry." A light bulb moment went off and I turned around and came close to his desk.
    "Mr. Mulberry, I had a question." I announced.
    "Please don't tell me you need an extension on your paper." he frowned. I shook my head slowly. I sure hope not, I thought.
    "No. I was just going to see if I could sit in the in the front today. My eyes have been giving me some problems. My mom is probably gonna take me to the eye doctor this week to have them checked."
    "I don't see why that would be a problem dear. Go ahead and take a seat. But don't put that appointment off, I started having problems when I was your age," he gave me a tight, apologetic smile and then continued with his paper.
    Crisis averted, I sighed with relief. I took a seat right in the front row in the middle, and started looking through my backpack. I took hold of it and started flipping through its contents.
    I heard him before I saw him.
    "Hey Mr. M., any good news in the world?" he asked. He sounded happy and cheerful.
    "Just a tad bit, Jax." Mr. Mulberry answered.
    I started taking deep breaths and looked up casually. His backpack was slung on one shoulder with a grin on his face, and then he sat in the chair right next to me.
    I almost dropped dead. I continued to breath deep and turned my attention to my folder.
    "Teegan, what’cha doin' up here? You trying to earn brownie points with Mr. M.?" Jax joked. I turned my head in his direction and gave a smile. Everything inside me fluttered and I was shocked at how handsome he was.
    "No, I just got bad eyeballs. Can't see anymore."
    Jax nodded, "Well, in that case, I volunteer to be your Seeing Eye dog the rest of the day." He winked at me and dug out his textbook. "You gonna get glasses like Raegan? You'd look hot."
    I giggled. Actually giggled and then I threw my hand over my mouth. He was totally flirting with me. What a ballsy little punk. But then that's how teenaged boys were, weren't they?
    His smile was wide, "Teeg, you're blushing. That's cute." He bit his bottom lip and shook his head slightly.
    During class I would catch Jax stealing glances at me from the corner of my eye. Our hands touched as we reached for my dropped pencil at one point, and butterflies attacked my insides. It was like the first time we’d met in college, and every time I was around him my nerves were erratic. I wanted to hug him and kiss those beautiful lips of his.
    I was excited when Mr. Mulberry asked us to pair up for a section read-and-answer and Jax scooted his desk closer to mine.
    “This cool?” he asked, facing me head on. His hair was in his eyes, in a sexy surfer boy type of way and all I could do was nod. I wanted to reach out and touch his hair, kiss his lips. Everything in me tensed and it took all I had to contain myself. I lost my train of thoughts several times during the pair reading, but finally relaxed towards the end.
    Finally, the bell rang. While nerve wracking, it was also nice to be in such close proximity with Jax.
    I was up before him and had started to walk out the door when his hand gently tugged at my elbow. A shiver went down my back as I turned towards him.
    "Hey, there’s a party this Saturday at Blythe's place. A barn party. You and Raegan should come.” He bit the bottom of his lip and cocked his head to the side; his hand was still at my elbow. And something in me snapped, and I finally relaxed. The gesture seemed way too familiar, but also comforting.
    “Why is that?” I asked playfully.
    “'Cause it’ll be fun, duh . But for reals though, it would be fun to hang out, you know, um, outside of school.” Nervousness clouded his icy blue eyes,