Fire in the Classroom (Chase)

Sterling took the parchment appreciatively. He was speechless, not knowing what to say. "Thanks," he croaked out. He smiled at her and squinted at the address. It was hard to read in the darkness of the room. "Lumos!" he muttered. He read the the parchment. "I have a cell phone too," he said smiling. He'd never met another wizard who had one. Then again, he'd never met many wizards at all...

Chase smiled. "I don't bring it to school or anything, the magic likes to mess with it, and it's such a hassle to make those things compatible with the magic. My watch was one thing, and my MP3 was another."She said shaking her head silently. "But yeah, That's my number, call me sometime."She said smiling. "Seeing as school is almost over, we won't get to talk for a summer!"She said shaking her head and looking at him carefully. She hoped it wouldn't be to much, seeing as he just got one of the most popular girls in school phone number. That was an achievement for anybody under her. She patted his shoulder and pointed her wand at the logs, lighting them on fire again.

The fire and warmth comforted Sterling. He folded the parchment carefully and put it in his robe pocket. Wasn't getting someone's number an achievement to Muggles? He didn't know and tried to be casual, but was internally about to burst from the seems. "Thank you," he said again, giving her a hug, and smiling broadly and stupidly where she couldn't see him while he was behind her shoulder.

Chase laughed and hugged him. "Yeah, just call me if you need anything."She said smiling at him. This was to funny. He seemed so happy! It just made her smile and be Happy because he was smiling and being happy. The hug was so overjoyed. She could feel his smile when he hugged her because his chin was against her neck. She smiled and gave him an extra squeeze and let go smiling at him.

Sterling overcame the urge to seize her again after they released eachother. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. The thunder had stopped, the clouds passed. Night fell, the stars twinkled lazily outside.

A thought occurred to him--maybe studying and books weren't the secret to life... He gazed into the face of Chase... who was looking back.

Chase grinned at him. "Wow, it's night me already!"She said looking startled. She turned and looked at Sterling, who was looking at her oddly. "You ok?"She asked softly leaning forward slightly a strand of hair falling into her face. She was used to this though and didn't bother to move it away. Just a bother. Smiling at him she winked softly. "The stars a beautiful."She said slowly but didn't look at them. Just looked at him.

Sterling saw a strand of hair fall into Chase's face. Although it only accented it, the fact bothered him. He reached out and grabbed it between fingers gently. He tucked it back behind her ear wordlessly. He heard her comment on the stars.

"You're right. Breathtaking." He replied, staring directly into her eyes, which reflected the stars. But the stars weren't what he was looking at.

Chase felt her breath catch as he grabbed her strand of hair and tuck it behind her ear. She smiled slightly and looked away for a moment. It had been a long time since someone had looked at her like he was looking at her now. She looked at the fire in the middle of the classroom, the flickering light playing across her face. She slowly got up and moved to the fire her back to Sterling. She kept her back to him, holding her hands out to the fire silently.

She turned from him. Sterling's heart sank. He reached to place a hand on her back and restrained it. It hovered an inch above her back for a moment before he retracted. He reached out again and rested his hand on her back for a fraction of a second, before withdrawing it again and putting his head down on his desk as he was so accustomed to doing in class. He tried to breath as silently as possible, not wanting to draw any attention to himself... Chase seemed to be immersed in thought.

Chase felt his hand on her back for a split moment and she turned around. He had his head on the desk again. "Oh no! What did I do this time?"She asked looking frantic. She spun around and sat back down in her desk. "I'm sorry!"She said. "Well...I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry in advance!"She said looking frantic with worry. She hated it when he put his head down like that. She felt like she had done something wrong!