The Problem With Jayden Cole
September 3
Dear Diary,
I have decided that today officially qualifies as the worst first day of school ever.
And considering I’ve survived six first days before this one, that’s saying something.
First, my alarm didn’t go off.
Then I couldn’t find my uniform skirt.
Then my little brother somehow managed to spill juice all over the front of my shirt five minutes before we were supposed to leave.
By the time I got to school, I looked like I’d fought a lawn mower and lost.
And then—
I saw Jayden Cole.
Which should probably be a good thing.
Except I wasn’t prepared.
Nobody warned me that he had gotten taller over the holidays.
Nobody warned me that his hair looked annoyingly perfect.
And absolutely nobody warned me that he would look directly at me.
Because he did.
He looked at me.
Then he smiled.
I immediately looked away.
Smooth, Amara.
Very smooth.
I nearly walked into a locker.
“Are you okay?”
I heard the voice beside me and already knew who it was.
Noah.
Of course.
“Perfectly fine.”
“You almost walked into a locker.”
“I was avoiding someone.”
“By walking toward a wall?”
I glared at him.
He grinned.
Noah has this extremely annoying habit of smiling whenever I’m trying to be serious.
We’ve been best friends since we were eight, so unfortunately he knows exactly how to annoy me.
He also knows when I’m lying.
Which is why he looked past me toward Jayden.
Then back at me.
“Oh.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Noah.”
“Nothing.”
“You’re doing the face.”
“What face?”
“The face where you pretend you don’t know something.”
He shrugged.
“I don’t know anything.”
Liar.
But before I could interrogate him, the bell rang.
We hurried to class.
And that’s when my actual problem began.
Our teacher assigned seats.
Guess where I ended up?
Third row.
Beside—
Jayden Cole.
I am not making this up.
I swear.
He looked at the empty seat beside him, then at me.
“Guess we’re partners.”
I forgot how words worked.
“Yeah.”
Brilliant response, Amara.
Absolutely brilliant.
He laughed softly.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re quiet.”
“I’m always quiet.”
Noah would have laughed at that.
Because I am absolutely not quiet.
Jayden smiled again.
And somehow that stupid little smile stayed in my head for the entire lesson.
I don’t even remember what we learned.
Something about equations.
Something about numbers.
Something about me completely losing my ability to function normally.
At lunch, Maya noticed immediately.
She dropped into the seat beside me and narrowed her eyes.
“Something happened.”
“Nothing happened.”
“Something definitely happened.”
“No.”
She looked across the cafeteria.
Her eyes landed on Jayden.
Then she looked back at me.
“Oh.”
I sighed.
“Don’t.”
“Amara.”
“Maya.”
“You sat beside Jayden.”
“Unfortunately.”
“And he was talking to you.”
“About school.”
“And he smiled at you.”
“People smile.”
“Not like that.”
I rolled my eyes.
Maya leaned closer.
“I am telling you right now. You two are going to end up together.”
I almost laughed.
“You’re insane.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
She pointed across the cafeteria.
Jayden was talking to his friends.
Then, as if he’d somehow heard his name being mentioned from across the room, he looked over.
Straight at me.
And smiled.
My stomach did something weird.
Maya’s eyes widened.
“See?”
I looked down at my food.
“Coincidence.”
“Sure.”
Then someone stole a fry from my plate.
I slapped their hand.
“Noah!”
He laughed.
“You weren’t eating it.”
“I was.”
“You’ve been staring at it for five minutes.”
“It’s called thinking.”
“About Jayden?”
I froze.
Maya’s mouth fell open.
Noah raised an eyebrow.
I narrowed my eyes.
“How did you—”
“You’ve been staring at him all morning.”
“I have not!”
“You have.”
“I haven’t.”
“You literally almost walked into a locker.”
Maya started laughing.
I wanted the floor to swallow me.
Noah leaned back in his chair, looking far too pleased with himself.
“Relax. It’s not a crime.”
I crossed my arms.
“You’re annoying.”
“You’ve said that since we were eight.”
“And I’ll keep saying it until we’re eighty.”
He smiled.
“Deal.”
For some reason, that made me smile too.
And maybe that’s why I didn’t notice the way he looked at me for a second longer than usual.
Maybe I wasn’t supposed to.
Maybe I didn’t notice because I wasn’t looking for anything.
Because as far as I knew, Noah was Noah.
My best friend.
My annoying, impossible, chocolate-stealing best friend.
Nothing more.
At least...
That’s what I thought.
Dear Diary,
Today Jayden Cole smiled at me.
Everyone thinks that means something.
I’m not sure yet.
But I’m going to find out.
— Amara 💜
