MOMENT 1:676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7J0DoE5zl
'Hey, listen, I think you're pretty cool.' Alice said this only after I had landed a detention for flinging my fists at her. 'We should hang out more.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtWETMzs3WL
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdSnNY7CKpM
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvZoxAn5ov
'I wasn't picking on you!'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNloVHgOoF9
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡypy03Kx5py
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQQGgzjdpzP
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU3vOIcvBFA
'You know it's not cool to gossip, right? A, I don't really care, and B, I thought I told you to leave me alone.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8nOLWfFUuU
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8LS2AnH9ZY
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTkd64V29g
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMa5EPoPxo
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjaXgFxi3O
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIN2NYivxm
I didn't want to surrender so early. 'Thanks.' I made an effort not to talk to her during the class, and she made an effort to show that she really didn't care what I thought of her.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD58DFfzRPi
The bell rung, and as she gathered up her papers I caught glimpses of strange little sketches - a nude woman lying inside the core of a rose, spheres and pyramids in a dappled desert - and as much as I hated to admit it, she had a way with her pen, no doubt.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidZe5t8dXK
'Oh by the way - ' she put her hand on my shoulder just before she left, and used the other to point at a figure on my page, 'it's 1954, not 1953.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMX4Kss1Mog
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGFj61cj9X
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYD6Wgv6xL
676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOY9ZAxHbQU
MOMENT 4:676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE024Hdy1Et
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9DGsbgFUDL
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx5bol7m3X4
'Just people.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGxRnC1h3vh
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh65tQdqe1T
'Woah, is that me?' It was a rhetorical question, of course - the sketch was so finely crafted there could have been no doubt as to who it was. I could see my tired eyes looking back up from the page, messy hair and one hand supporting the side of my chin, angular fingers curling up a faint trail of stubble.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVLzN23qgR
'Nah, it's my brother. Of course it's you, doofus. You can take a closer look if you want.' She handed me the book, and I flipped through the pages. All pen sketches, some surrealist and some gritty and all too real. And on the last used page, me.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHJj99Az4w
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZyFLKNw7Z
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9fOeKHK03V
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzYKgtBIjq
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGsgJbEe7dG
'Bastard.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJeefGdQqhq
But I laughed.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGiBrKviuQ
676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2SrYuDV3l
MOMENT 5:676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQk1SrjiX2
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVVrtdkxEQ7
'Oy, I didn't ask for anything. So I don't feel obliged to give you something in return.' A wink. She always had a way of avoiding saying thanks.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZ2zaEuj2m
'Open em. Smaller one first.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZQOAxrXSr
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkODFoO4Af3
The other gift was canvas paper.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ21xVQv9d1g
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCfCWzASHOg
'Come on, take it.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb80J2S4t7N
She smiled, but there was something else underneath. 'So long as you take these.' She handed the torn wrapping back into my hands before turning around and running away across the grass, footsteps light on the weeds below and laughter spiraling behind her.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIY0yxW9986
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEXlF7dzlz
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1n0eayvFe
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Ux0BcA06S
'I'll take that.' It was light, but firm. I tore the corner - canvas paper, and the smell of oil paints. 'Now that's cheating. Returning gifts much?' But she didn't laugh as I expected.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv5kLXhSfVl
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTn5o4JEF12
'Do you like it?'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS19dHhTUj9
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKCosbIAeMI
'But?'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYWnAY88xe
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyg7Rz1jyWY
'John?'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryhnARHPwA
'Yeah?'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNZaK3Cego2
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpcu2QWkSBs
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhEzoY2MrUH
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD6scKWpOhb
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCKtHT9O65
'No, wait, that's not what I - '676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡma1JnDPnzW
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVQEIQeyRQ
'Wait!' I took a long, shaking breath. 'Listen, I... I really like you too. It's just that - I don't want anything more than this. This is all I need, this is all I want.' I put the painting down and held her wrists. 'Just this.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7H5TnG4WAQ
'I... I don't understand.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRYawZJY2w
'Just the way we can insult each other. The way we can mess around, the way we can talk about all kinds of stupid shit and just not care, you know? It's all I want.' To be friends.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQFAh0qqPC
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaLgF37f7IB
I hugged her then, not whispering time old lies about love, just hugging her because I cared, because I cared about that girl who punched me, because I cared about what my feelings meant for hers.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡul0EsFUjm2
'I just don't want anything to change.' I could feel, in every struggled grasp of her fingers behind my back, the futures she imagined folding in upon themselves.676Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡei4MY38UkY
I don't know how long we stood there in that frozen eternity, holding each other as she gazed through tears at pastel smiles laying upon the ground in a sun-filled park only a single lost moment away.
