James Taylor

James's POV

Hey, my name is James Issac Taylor and I am a real bonafide genius. Yep, I had an intellect way past my age group capable of doing college graduate-level studies before I even entered middle school. I spent most of my time working on inventions such as artificial intelligence. Over the summer I had spent many sleepless nights trying to get the darn thing to work. Even down to the last night of the break I stayed up still trying to fix flaws I had found from the previous night which led me to try sleeping in. Of course, that wasn't likely to happen as my mother wouldn't allow it

"James!" My mom yelled from downstairs. Too tired to even answer I just looked in my closet and slowly reached for the clothes I had prepared the previous night

"Hurry up! You're going to be late" my mom yelled but I just continued to slowly put on my clothes letting out many exhausted yawns 

"Finally. I was just about to come up there and drag you out myself" Mom said as I lazily drew out the kitchen chair

"Sorry, mom. I was up late trying to get my invention to work. I barely got any sleep" I yawned taking a seat and started eating my breakfast

"I told you to stop working on your inventions so late into the night." she nagged

"I know but I was so close to finishing it. I swear I almost got it working. So I told myself what's another five minutes. But then five minutes turned to thirty minutes, and that became five hours and by that point, it was already too late to go to sleep" I tried explaining but she only sighed

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you. Just hurry up and eat your breakfast"

"Okay" I smiled

"Oh by the way James your father and I won't be here when you get home okay today," Mom said

"Why not? Where is Dad?" I asked only just noticing he wasn't at the table

"Your dad's gonna be out of town for a management meeting and I'm working late at the shop," she said

"Another management meeting? Again? Isn't the company doing this a bit too frequently? I feel like I barely get to see Dad these days"

"James it's not your father's fault. He's up for another promotion so he's really busy. We just have to bear with it" she said trying to convince herself

"I know mom. I'm just making an observation. But what am I suppose to eat for dinner? Surely you aren't expecting me to cook?" I asked

"God no. I still want a kitchen to return to" she laughed

"There should be pie leftover from last night's dinner and if you don't want that just order something," she said picking up her bag

"Okay mom," I said before she checked the time

"Oh no look at the time I have to open the store" mom said heading for the door

"Bye mom," I said

"Bye James love you," she said

"Love you too," I said as she walked out.

Shortly after she left I heard my name being called so I looked out the window and saw my two best friends. Carlton Augustus Stewart but we just call him Carl, an red hair overweight guy with freckles, and Carlos Antonio Estevez, a Mexican boy who is a total and complete comic fanboy going as far as creating his own fanfics. The three of us have been friends since I came to town all those years ago

"Sup guys," I said

"Yo James you ready," they asked

"Yeah just let me finish eating," I said eating the last piece of pancake and drinking the orange juice in one gulp before putting away the plate

"Come on James we're going to be late," Carlos said impatiently as I came out of the house and locked the door

"Sorry" I smiled opening my car door and getting in

"Shotgun" Carlos said

"No fair Carlos you always ride shotgun," Carl said

"Because you're too slow" he teased jumping into the car

"Come on guys we're late," I said

"Fine" Carl pouted sitting in the back before we drove off

(Sophia)

"Sophie darling" my mom yelled from the living room.

"Yes, mom!" I yelled as I combed my hair in the ponytail. My name is Sophia Aurora Vortex and I'm a bit of a prodigy. I am a straight-A student, though I always come second place to stupid James, an elite pianist and a karate champion. I was also incredibly popular because of my good looks

"Do you want me to drive you to school before I leave for work?" Mom yelled

"Don't worry mom Nick's picking me up" I yelled

"Okay. Sophie darling, remember I'll be out of town for a while. I have a management meeting for a couple of days" mom yelled

"Okay bye, mom!" I yelled.

I assumed she left right after that because I didn't hear anything after that. I sighed as I got up and walked over to the window and looked outside to see Taylor slowly trying to get dressed. The bags and dark rings around his eyes along with his constant yawned showed that he had once again stayed up the whole night. The exhausted look on his face as he sluggishly ran the comb through his hair before he decided to just give up and decided to leave it as is. 

 I watched Taylor chuckling a bit before I heard a horn beep looking down to see Nick sitting cooly in his blue convertible

"I'm coming," I said as I ran down the stairs and walked over to the car, and opened the door

"Hey babe," he said kissing my lips. That was my boyfriend, Nicholas King. The most popular guy in town and my boyfriend of four years. His parents owned the largest car dealership in town. 

"Why were you so late," I asked pushing him off me a bit.

"Sorry babe I had something to take care of," he said leaning back in the driver's seat

"Well I hope it was important because now I might be late for the first day of the senior year," I said folding my arms and looked out the window to see Carl and Carlos walking up the street

"Hey Sophie" they called out to me

"Hey, guys. You going to see Taylor?" I asked

"Yeah he's driving us to school," Carl said

"Why don't you wait and we can all go together?" Carlos asked

"Sorry guys I-" I said before Nick cut me off

"She can't she's late," he said before he drove away.

"What the hell was that about?" I asked

"I thought you said you were late," he said not looking at me

"Don't you see I was talking to my friends?" I said

"Come on babe those losers don't deserve to be your friends," he said

"Excuse me what's that supposed to mean? Who are you to tell who does and doesn't deserve to be my friend" I asked

"I wasn't trying to..."

"It sure sounded like you were," I said

"You know what never mind. Let's just drop it and pretend I didn't say anything" he said.

The rest of the trip was made in silence. Soon we arrived and I got out of the car but he remained in his seat

"Aren't you coming to school?" I asked

"Nah I'm suspended" he joked with a smirk

"It's the first day," I said my face void of a smile

"I know. I'll pick you up after school" he said before he drove away.

Not wanting to ruin my mood, I shook my head and walked away spotting Libby talking with two girls about some new earpods

"Hey Libbs," I said walking over to her

"Hey girl what's up?" she asked sending off the other two left. This was my best friend and Carlos' girlfriend Liberty Danielle Hall or Libby for short. She is a musical talent that can do play almost any instrument, sings any genre, and even dance and DJ. All in all the girl was a freaking beast destined for greatness. Her music had made a pretty big splash on youtube and she had close to five hundred thousand subscribers

"Nothing," I said

"You sure because you look like you're about to pop a vein," she said

"It's Nick," I said

"I should have known. What are you fighting about now?" she asked holding back a sigh

"Can you believe he had the nerve to pick me up late and make up some stupid excuse about having something to do and of course he wouldn't even tell what it was?" I said

"Is that it? Don't you think you're over-reacting a bit? Are you still upset about yesterday's argument" she laughed

"No. He also said something about Carl and Carlos" I said

"Oh hell no what did he say about my man," Libby said upset

"He said those losers aren't good enough to be my friends," I said

"Excuse me? What did he call Carlos" she said preparing to put her war face on

"Libby," I said 

"Come on Soph nobody trash talks my man like that and gets away with it," Libby said

"Who's talking about me?" Carlos asked walking up to us alongside Carl

"No one," I said

"You sure because Libby looks angry and she's only angry when someone messes with her music or talks bad things about me," Carlos said

"You know me so well my Comic Book king," Libby said in a baby talk

"Of course my Shinning one. You're my favorite topic of conversation" Carlos said slightly kissing her lips

"You two have a weird relationship. But It's cute" I said

"At least they aren't fighting all the time" Carl joked

"Yeah and it's not the cute play fight she did with James," Libby said

"Where is Taylor anyway?" I asked

"Oh he went inside already," Carlos said before the bell rang.

"I guess that's our cue to join him" I sighed before we all went our separate ways. Carlos walked Libby to her music class, Carl went to his bio class and I went to my chemistry class managing to make it just before the second bell

"You're late," the teacher said not even looking at me as I walked in

"Um the bell just rang," I said

"And your point is? Students of this class are expected to always be here fifteen minutes before the bell rings" she said continuing to look at the file in her hand

'I'm sorry. My boyfriend-" I started before she cut me off

"So you're one of them," she said

"One of them?" I asked confused

"Please take a seat Miss Vortex," she said finally looking up at me.

"Yes miss," I said as I looked around to see that all the seats in the class were filled except for one and just guess who it had to be beside.

"Something wrong Miss Vortex," she said

"No," I said as I walked to the seat dropping my bag on the ground next to my seat

"Okay class now that everyone is here. Let's begin first off I must congratulate you on successfully making it to your senior year. Give yourselves a hand" she said

"Unfortunately everything from here on out will be ten times harder. My name is Mrs. Jones and unfortunately for you, I am your chemistry teacher. I have some rules and I expect you to follow them. First, all homework and assignments must be given a day prior to the due date to get full marks. For example, if the work's due on Monday I expect to have it on my porch by Sunday morning. Second, as I told Miss Vortex earlier in order to be early for this class you have to be here thirty minutes before the bell rings"

"I thought you said fifteen?" some guy asked

"That was to be on time. To be considered early you must be here fifteen minutes before that and in the future try not to interrupt me Mr. Issac" she said

"Third all students should carry their own equipment in order to do any graded activity unless he or she has a valid reason. And just so you know, Miss Vortex, boyfriend trouble is not a valid reason and finally no one should get any lower than a B- on any graded piece and all works are graded. If a student does in fact get this grade three times a request form will be given to them so that they may drop the class and if they fail to comply they will be transferred to a class of my choosing. Do I make myself clear" she said sternly

"Yes ma'am," the class said

"Good as for lab partners the person sitting beside you will be your partner for the entire year," she said

"Just perfect," he said sarcastically as I sighed

"Now let's begin and just so you know you have homework due tomorrow," she said as she turned to the board and so the class started.

The day went by relatively fast. School had just ended and I had been standing in the parking lot waiting on Nick when he walked past with his head buried in a book

"Hey Taylor," I said catching up to him

"So you do remember me," he said not looking up from his book

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked

"What do you want Vortex?" he asked still not looking up

"It's about the homework for chem class," I said

"Yeah what about it?" he asked

"I was wondering if we're going to do it at your house or mines," I asked

"Does it really matter we practically live the same place?" he asked annoyed

"Can you just pick a house?" I said irritated by his attitude

"Fine you can come over to my house," he said before I heard Nick's car horn

"Okay see you at six," I said

"Six?" he said as he stopped walking

"Yeah I have piano lessons now," I said

"Fine" he sighed frustrated before he walked away.

I walked over to Nick and got in the car

"What was that about?" he asked

"What was what about me?" I asked

"You talking to Taylor," he said

"Oh that's nothing," I said

"That didn't seem like nothing," he said

"It's really nothing. Plus it is not really any of your business what I talk about with Taylor" I said turning my head still upset about his comment about my friends

"The hell it isn't!" he yelled immediately getting everyone's attention

"What the hell Nick people are staring," I said

"Let them I want to know what you were talking to Taylor about and we're not leaving until you tell me what you were doing with him," he said

"Maybe you're not but I sure as hell am," I said as I walked out and walked away

"Sophie! Sophie!" he yelled

After that huge fiasco, I just took a cab to my piano lessons. Unfortunately, my blood was still boiling and I found myself unable to properly play hence I decided to just leave. Needing a distraction as to not think of the embarrassing situation Nick had forced me into, I went into my backyard to practice my high kicks. I hadn't known just how many hours had passed of me releasing my frustration out of the poor dummy in my backyard when I heard the doorbell. Taking a break I picked up my towel wiping the sweat off my face before throwing it over my neck and heading through the backdoor walking slowly to the door taking sips from my water bottle. Opening the door I spotted Libby waiting on my pouch with her head looking down in her phone 

"Hey girl what's up?" I asked

"That's what I came to find out," she said walking in

"So you heard about the argument" I sighed

"Girl the whole school heard," she said throwing her bag on my Mom's expensive leather couch before heading to the kitchen

"Great an excellent way to start the school year" I sarcastically said as I followed behind her

"So what were you talking to James about?" she asked taking a bottle of sparkling water from the fridge

"We have a project and we were discussing where to do it," I said as she got a scandalous look as she placed her phone on the porcelain tile counter

"The project Libby," I said

"Oh," she said disappointed

"So when do you plan on going?" she asked

"Around six," I said

"No you aren't," she said picking up her phone

"Why not?" I asked as she showed me her phone

"Because it's almost eight," she said

"Oh crap I'm late," I said racing up the stairs, discarding my gi somewhere on the bathroom floor before jumping into the shower. 

About half an hour later I came down wearing a pink T-shirt, blue tight jeans, and red sneakers as they were the closest things I could grab out of my closet after my shower

"See you later Libbs," I said dashing down the stairs

"Bye," she said as she plugged in her earpods 

"Hey Libbs want to have a sleepover tonight," I asked stopping for a minute

"Don't you have to ask your mom?" she asked

"No, she won't be home for a while. Management meeting" I said

"Okay I'll tell my Dad," she said as I walked out.

I ran over to Taylor's yard but just as I was about to knock on the door it opened

"So you finally decide to show your face" he scoffed

"Sorry I lost track of time" I apologized

"Let me guess boyfriend troubles" he mocked

"You have no idea. Anyway, can I come in?" I asked

"Do what you like but I'm just going out" he said as he stepped out

"And where are you going?" I asked

"To my lab," he said walking away

"But what about the project. We're supposed to mix elements and write a report about what happens" I said walking behind him

"Well all my equipment is in the lab," he said putting his hand on the hand scanner

"I guess you upgraded from a simple lock and key" I tried making a joke but was met with the cold shoulder. The lab seemed to have gone under some major construction. Just four years ago it was nothing but an old shed that he kept his inventions in. Now after having his hand scanned a stainless steel elevator opened up and he walked in 

"You coming?" he asked

"Yeah," I said as I walked in. I looked around admiring the shiny interior of the elevator before he pressed the down button. There were only two buttons. One to go up and the other down. After we arrived I was blown away by the lab. I saw wide-eyed as I looked the room staring at every single piece of equipment in awe. I reached out to touch one of the microscopes 

"Do not touch anything" he said sternly 

"Sorry." I apologized backing away from it

"Wow Taylor, I've got to this place is impressive. Where did you get all this stuff?" I asked

"I don't think that's any of your business," he said taking a seat around his lab table 

"I was just trying to make conversation," I said

"Unfortunately I'm not in the mood for conversation. I'd rather just finish this project so I can return to my experiments" 

"Okay fine. Where is the equipment?" I asked

"They're in the cabinet over there," he said getting up.

"Here Goddard. Here boy" he called as Goddard came running up to us. Goddard was Taylor's pet dog. He has been with Taylor's ever since he moved into town as a little pup that always use to follow him around. Now Goddard was no longer a pup but a rather big Golden Retriever

He looked at Taylor then at me yipping happily before he jumped on me and started licking my face

"I missed you too, boy" I laughed happily

"Okay down boy" he ordered with a small smile that he was trying to hide. After wiping the smile off his ace he regained his cold stare as he gave another order

"Goddard can you make sure she doesn't touch anything while I go get my chemistry set please," he said before I glared angrily at him and Goddard whimpered at his cold statement as he left

As soon as he came back we changed into our lab coats and starting working. We took turns writing the reports and mixing the elements.

About two hours later I was mixing two elements when Taylor went over to a vending machine in the corner and started to search for a coin that he failed to find

"Damn it," he said hitting his head on the machine as I chuckled and searched for a coin

"Here," I said as he turned towards me and I threw the coin

"Thanks," he said with a charming smile that made me blush and accidentally throw too much of the element I was mixing at the time creating a green smoke. We both freaked out when we saw the smoke then we ran to the elevator with Goddard not far behind quickly returning to the surface.

"DAMN IT VORTEX WHAT THE HELL, WERE YOU DOING BACK THERE?!" he yelled 

"What are you screaming at me for," I said as the elevator stopped

"I don't know. Maybe because there's a potentially poisonous gas in my lab and IT'S YOUR FAULT!" he yelled as we walked out

"COME ON IT WAS AN ACCIDENT. WHY THE HELL ARE YOU BEHAVING LIKE THIS?" I yelled back now complete irritated as we walked back to the house

"DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT'S GOING TO TAKE ME TO GET RID OF THAT SMOKE?!" He yelled

"CAN'T YOU JUST SUCK UP THE GAS?!" I yelled back

"AND PUT IT WHERE?" He yelled

"YOU'RE UNDERGROUND JUST PUT IT THERE" I yelled back

"Whatever Vortex," he said as he began walking away

"What's your problem, Taylor. I've been trying to be nice to you all day but all you've been doing is behaving like a jerk" I said

"What's my problem? What's your problem. First of all, we haven't even said hi to each other in god knows how long, and now you just want to come back and pretend that everything is fine" he ranted angrily

"Look I know we've been out of touch for a while but all I'm trying to do is be a good friend and we're lab partners we have to talk to each other," I said

"Maybe you should stop. Maybe I don't want your friendship. Just because we're lab partners doesn't mean we're friends" he said turning away from me

"Wow Taylor I thought your ego would have shrunk along with your head but I guess not," I said

"Why does every argument we have has to involve my head size," he said

"Maybe because-" I said before both our stomach growled.

We stood there silently and embarrassed before breaking out into laughter

"Okay okay. Let's call a truce" he said

"Fine do you have anything to eat around here?" I asked as he went into the kitchen with me following and opened the fridge

"Nothing but last night dinner," he said

"Which was?" I asked

"Blackberry pie," he said

"I'm allergic to blackberry," I said

"Oh yeah, I forgot. So what we order food?" he asked

"Isn't there anything to cook in there?" I asked

"Um nope," he said closing the fridge awkwardly fast

"You sure," I said skeptically

"Yep," he said moving away

"And if I said you were lying," I said walking towards the fridge

"Why would I lie?" he asked sweating as he jumped in front of the fridge door

"Maybe because the boy genius can't cook," I said

"Are you kidding, of course, I can cook" he lied

"Then you wouldn't mind moving out of the way," I said 

"Um...no," he said nervously

"Then why aren't you moving?" I asked with a cheeky smile

"Because I don't want you to release all the cold air," he said grabbing tightly

"I didn't want to do this but you leave me no choice," I said as I smiled rising my hands up

"You wouldn't," he said before I started tickling him

"No...fair...Sophie" he said in between his laughter

"Just give up Taylor. You know you're weak to tickles" I said as I continued and soon enough he moved from the fridge door and I opened it to see everything needed to make spaghetti and meatballs

"How did that get there. I think I need to get my eyes checked. I think I might need glasses" he said 

"Mm-hmm," I said disbelievingly before he sighs

"Fine Vortex I can't cook," he said in defeat

"Don't worry that's why I'm here" I said as I walked past him and turned on the stove

"Anything I can do to help," he asked

"How about retrieving the project that's due tomorrow," I said playfully

"Looks like I'm about to clean up your mistake again," he said playfully before he walked out.

After around forty-five minutes he came back

"Wow something smells great," Taylor said as he walked into the dining room to see me setting the table

"You're back," I said

"Yeah," he said smiling

"Sit down I'll get the food," I said

"Sure," he said taking a seat before I walked over to the pot and took it up bringing it to the dining room

We ate rather quickly and began having a conversation

"Wow Sophie I forgot how much of an amazing cook you are?" he said smiling

"Thanks. So what about the smoke?" I asked

"I took your advice," he said

"And?" I asked

"Some bugs might be dead but everything else is fine. The vents might also need to breeze out before I go back down there again" he said

"That's good to hear" I smiled at him before looking down on the table

"Something wrong?" he asked 

"Taylor, can you tell me when we lost touch?" I asked

"September 1 at exactly 7 hours, 45 minutes, and 12 seconds into the day. I had just returned from summer camp and was planning on apologizing for the way we ended things in middle school but I saw you kissing Nick" he explained

"I'm so sorry you had to find out like that. I was planning on calling to tell you but-" I apologized 

"It's fine. I mean why would you tell me I was just your ex. Anyways after that, you started coming by less" he said

"I stayed away from you," I said coming to the realization

"More like your boyfriend made you stay away from me," he said

"There's no way Nick would do something like that," I said

"Really Vortex? Even Carlos notices how he reacts when our names are even in the same sentence" he said as I think back to all the times he pulled me the other way when Taylor was coming down the road or he drove off when Carlos asked me to wait on Taylor or the fact that he would get angry if I'm even near him

"I'm sorry James. Nick really is a nice guy but sometimes he just gets jealous too easily" I said as I went over to the end of the table he was sitting at and took up his empty plate

"What's there to be jealous about. There's nothing but Chemistry between us" he said as our eyes met making me stop and stare at him

"Right nothing but Chemistry," I said not noticing the distance between our faces closing

"Nothing but Chemistry," he said as our lips met in a passionate kiss which our tongues soon got involved in.

We kissed for five minutes before breaking for air.

I stood beside him watching him as he sat in the chair watching me.

We stared at each other for another five minutes before Taylor's mom walked in

"Sophie what are you doing here at this hour?" she asked as I quickly stood up straight

"Um, I was...I was just..." I said completely flustered

"Don't worry mom we just had a project that's due tomorrow" Taylor said

"Oh that's okay but you should really go home it's rather late"

"May I ask what time is it?" I asked

"Um it's midnight," she said

"Oh crap I lost track of time" I freaked as I looked for my bag

"You didn't carry a bag Sophie" Taylor informed me

"That means I left my key in my house" I sighed

"What about your mom. Can't she let you in?" she asked

"My mom's out of town," I said

"Oh yeah, the management meeting. So how will you get in?" she asked

"Don't worry I just remembered Libby's there" I said

"Okay see you tomorrow," Taylor said

"Sure and goodbye Mrs. Taylor"

"Good night Sophie," she said I walked out their door and straight to mine, and with one push it opened and closed the door and went into the kitchen to see Libby sleeping on the counter. Not wanting to go through the trouble of waking her I sat down beside her and laid my head and started thinking about all that happened when a blush suddenly came on my face.

'Can't believe I kissed James Taylor" I thought closing my eyes