At the end of class the teacher gave them all time to talk. Aaron turned around and gave Jess a hug, “I missed you too.”
“How did the trial go?”
“It was a little scary but I won.”
“Oh, I’m so proud of you!” Jess kissed his cheek causing him to turn bright red.
“Excuse me Mr. Carter,” the teacher called.
“Oh-o,” teased Jess.
“Yes Ma’am?”
“I was wondering, on here it says to call you Jack… can I just call you Aaron?”
“Yeah, everyone can.”
“Thank you. Oh and there is a rule for public affection.”
“Um, I’m, ah, I’m sorry,” Aaron blushed a crimson red.
“She’s kidding with you,” Jess tossed him his stuff as the bell rang.
Once in the hall they burst into a fit of laughter. By the time they got to chorus they were having a conversation about Mary Poppins. “Hey Aaron,” Elise greeted them as they came in. she was smiling but her eyes showed there was something wrong.
“Sick?”
“No, I just got a weird feeling. I’ll be ok.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, now go sit down. You’re in the tenor section.”
“You know her?” Jess asked as they sat down. His seat was yet again in front of hers.
“Don’t you see the connection?”
“Huh?”
“Mrs. McLean, A.J. McLean…”
“Oh my god, I’m dumb.”
“I live with her.”
“Oh that’s cool.”
“Alright everyone, BE QUIET!” Elise yelled and after a few seconds everyone shut up. “Thank you,” she motioned for everyone to stand up then all of the sudden she covered her mouth and while trying to find her chair fell flat on the ground.
“Shorty!” Aaron screamed running up followed closely by Jess.
“I’m ok, look,” she pointed to the back of the room by the door.
Aaron smiled when he saw A.J. leaning on the doorframe beaming. “Hi there,” A.J. smiled and walked down towards Elise.
“How?”
A.J. leaned down and helped her up, “I skipped an awards show in Europe.” A.J. said beaming kissing her hand. “Oh Aaron, thank you.”
“No problem,” Aaron and Jess went back to their seats.
A.J. pulled Elise into his arms, “I missed you baby,” he whispered and gently kissed her to the cheers of the entire chorus.
When he pulled away Elise simply smiled and said, “You are disrupting my class, go take a seat.”
A.J. laughed and kissed her cheek before sitting next to Aaron. “How’s Nick?”
“He’s doing good, so is Erica.”
“Good.”
“He told me to tell you he loves you, he’s proud of you and he said something about giving you advice on that girl.”
Aaron scratched the back of his head and tried not to show his embarrassment. “She’s right there isn’t she?”
A.J. turned around, “Hi,” Jess whispered.
“Sorry about that.”
“Alex! Turn around and pay attention,” Elise was standing right next to them.
“Oh I’m sorry Mrs. McLean,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, ”will you forgive me?” he gave her the biggest puppy dog eyes known to man.
She blushed slightly and said, “Only if you sing for us.” Then as he stood up she grabbed his arm and whispered, “But please, not our song.”
“Dang,” A.J. teased and kissed her cheek. He led a sing-a-long to songs like ‘Quit Playing Games’ and ‘We’ve Got It Going On’ and then to end it he sang ‘By My Side’ and played the piano along with it. And just as he stood up and took a bow the bell rang.
“When’s your next class?” A.J. asked when the kids left.
“I’m packed the rest of the day, and here are more kids,” She quickly and gently kissed him and pushed him back into a seat. ”Hello,” he said to the girls around him who were speechless staring at him.
“Good morning everyone,” A.J. began to quietly sing ‘Everyone’, ”I’m sure you all have noticed our guest. All I Have to...”
“Give, without I don’t think I could live,” A.J. sang causing the class to laugh.
“All I have to say is if I can ignore him you can.”
“Ouch,” the girl next to A.J. said rather loudly.
“What was that?”
“Oh nothing,” A.J. laughed.
“Like I said, ignore him.”
The rest of the day A.J. proceeded to interrupt each class at least once.
“Hey Jess,” Aaron caught up with her at the end of the day, “Hey, um, will Caden be home tonight?”
“Uh-huh,” Jess smiled and slipped her hand in his.
The two walked into Elise’s classroom to find the couple making out, “God I missed you so much,” A.J. said to Elise.
“Yeah, we can tell,” Jess whispered to Aaron.
They both began to laugh causing the couple to turn around abruptly, “Oh Shorty, I just wanted to tell you I’m not coming home tonight. I’ll be at Jess’,” Aaron said smiling.
“Dang boy you sure work quick,” A.J. said with a laugh.
“Alex!” Elise smacked him.
“I have a brother,” Jess said blushing.
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Aaron and Jess walked out the door and to Aaron’s car.