On Ancient Ground

It's Chemistry

Anna sat at her work station and Dawna picked up her books. Dawna was so far ahead in chemistry that she only had to stay for part of the class and then head off to advanced chem with the older kids. Anna wasn't far behind her but didn't feel the need to push that extra mile. She was sure her friend Dawna would become a medical professional with all this learning but that wasn't in the cards for her. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do. So, she kept her options open.

Dawna smiled and waved her bye to Anna before exiting, leaving Anna sitting alone. That was okay. Anna didn't mind being alone. But then the chair beside her moved. She turned to see Jackson sitting there.

"Hey" he said.

Anna froze. Why was he sitting here? Twice in one day, he was speaking to her. She didn't have social skills for this.

Jackson waved his hand in front of her face. "Hello?"

Anna shook her head as if trying to awake from a dream. "Oh, hey." she said and stared back down at her books.

Jackson let out a small chuckle and then inched closer. "Is your friend always so serious? She looked like she was going to take off my head this morning."

Anna looked at him confused. Why was he asking this? She had literally never talked to this guy for a second in her life. He must want something like Dawna said. "She is okay. Protective."

Jackson smiled. "And she needs to protect you from me? Nah. I am harmless. I actually had something I wanted to ask you."

Here it comes Anna thought. What term paper did you want to be written? What favor did you need?

Jackson nudged her arm. "Did you want to come to see me practice today?"

Anna looked at him puzzled. "You want me to watch you play?"

Jackson chuckled again. "Not really play but get ready to play. It is a whole thing but yeah, I thought maybe you could come and check it out. You can bring your friend if you want."

Anna looked at his green eyes. Eyes she could easily get lost in. What was this guy up to? "Um..."

The bell sounded and Jackson stood up. "We start at 4 pm at the track, just show up and I will see you." He left so quickly that Anna still sat with everything out. Books on the desk and everything. She lingered a little too long in a confusion that the teacher looked over at her.

"Miss Bell, you may go."