We had eye contact. I know we did. His eyes locked with mine. My heart fluttered. Did he know he was staring? He didn’t seem to mind. Neither did I.

Quietly, Cherri stood up to go get one of the markers from a friend. Both of them looked at me, mouthed agape. “Did you see?! He was staring!” One of them stopped coloring to whisper-yell. “I know! I can’t believe it.. Do you guys think he likes me?” They both eagerly nodded, but stopped right before he came back.

Every time he laughed, my heart pounded. Running a hand through his hair made my palms sweat. I was sure he would have noticed how chalant I was being, but I wanted him to notice. I needed him to notice that I liked him. A lot.

But, then, we were cut off. The bell rang. I sighed, putting everything away. I watched him walk away, talking to his friends. He looked back at me. Just for a moment. He stared. Only for a moment.

I stared back at him. Then he looked away. I thought I could have melted right there.

“Koralin!” One of my friends shouted into my ear, pulling me into reality. “Come on. We’ll be late for English.” She said, dragging me along.

The only thing I looked at ahead was him. During English, my gaze would fall over to him whenever my teacher was going in circles. He always looked back at me. My heart would do a somersault if he smiled.

I loved him. He loved me back. I was sure of it. No no- I knew it. I was confident in it.

I was so confident that he loved me, too. How naive.