"What're you lookin' at, man?" I heard Mack ask as he stood over my shoulder to look into the same direction I had been gazing in. "Isn't that Kylie? Good luck with that."
"What do you mean?" I set my backpack next to my desk.
"Besides the fact that she is eons out of your league? She's an A student and rumors say she's going to be jumping a grade at the end of this year." Mack answered. "I'm just telling you how it is."
"You act like I'm into her." I let my hair fall back. "She's cute, yeah, but I know I don't stand a chance."
Mack hadn't said anything that wasn't true. It was all painfully true. Honestly, I was into her and had lied through my teeth, though he probably knew that much. Even if I had said all that to him, what would that have changed? As he had put it, Kylie was eons out of my league, light-years away - only to be found by those in a similar atmosphere. I had been a bottom-feeder while she had and would continue to ascend.
Kylie had been the ideal student in every sense of the word. She had never missed a day, she had never been late, nor had she ever gotten into trouble. Her grades topped out the district, and putting the icing on the cake? She had been the prettiest girl in the school. She had been talented and beautiful, caring towards everyone and everything. She was literally perfect.
She had been the prototypical popular girl - looks, grades, and talent - yet I hadn't believed it. It almost seemed like a facade at some points, and I had wanted to see what the real Kylie was like. I wanted to take off her mask and see what had been behind the wall she built to protect her reputation. Was she the same behind her wall and mask, or was there a different person entirely behind them?
"Everyone, quiet down. I am your new homeroom teacher, as Mr. Mayock is out on medical leave. For now, I'll be reading your new seating assignments. Further, these seating assignments will dictate your partner for paired projects." he cleared his throat. "Now, please listen for your name..."
Our junior high had been somewhat odd, comparatively to the typical classroom-to-classroom format that had been used in the United States, at least. Given the schools lack of a large student body, they had decided to rotate teachers out of the classrooms for each subject - much like the Japanese school systems had worked. Students stayed in the classroom while different teachers had come in for different subjects. Efficiency has always been what made money.
Names were called in alphabetical order by last name, starting with the A's. As he continued taking roll call as he seated the students, my eyes had once again drifted off into the space that had been Kylie. What had attracted me to her, and why had it been to such a degree? As I continued to practically stare, her head turned as she still whispered to her friend. In that single second, her eyes caught mine staring at her.
Her expression hadn't changed, nor had she averted her eyes - even after I had done so with mine - until a minor yell had caught my ears. "Aiden Jacobson! Seat 17. Start listening a little more next time."
"Yeah, whatever." I groaned as I stood, picking up my backpack on the way.
Just as I had begun to walk to my assigned seat, the seat of the person next to me had been called - and needless to say, I hadn't expected to hear her name.
"Kylie Kelso. Seat 18."
"Okay." she grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder, smiling with every movement.
I had only been able to question my sanity, or maybe it was my luck? What had I done to deserve sitting next to her? Had I seriously been on the only person with a J to start their last name? I continued to walk, listening as every beat of my heart had sounded like thunder in my chest. I had been caught in such a flurry of feelings, thoughts, and I hadn't been sure of what to feel or say. Should I have said anything to her?
Maybe it would have been better to stay silent like I always did. I hadn't ever been messed with, and I had been fine with just myself for all these years. I had a few friends, but at the end of the day, I had survived by always keeping my mouth shut and keeping my head out of other peoples issues. It had been better for me, and for anyone else involved.
I hadn't ever gotten pity from others, and I hadn't needed it either. Everyone had known that I was something along the lines of antisocial, and never messed with others or their problems. I had never been the person to depend on, or confide in. Much like a haunted piece of furniture, I was just there to be avoided and walked around. The only difference between me and furniture is that I hadn't been sat or walked on.
After what had felt like an eternity, I had reached the desk and sat down. Kylie had already sat moments earlier, only because she had been closer. Out of the corner of my eye, I had caught her whispering to a friend who had still been waiting to get their seat. As though she had eyes on the side of her head, she turned to catch me looking at her once again.
At that point, she had likely figured that I was just an obsessive weirdo. A girl I had never spoken a word to had now caught me staring at her twice. What other assumption could she come up with? That I had been into her? Could she have gathered that from just looking at her? Even then, she would have only laughed in my face and continued to ignore my existence like she always had.
After what felt like minutes, she had appeared to make some sort of decision as she pulled out a notebook and began to write something down in it. Before I had known, she had scooted it over onto my desk and moved her hand out of the way. In what had likely been the 'prettiest' handwriting I had ever seen up to that point in my life, she had asked one simple question on the paper.
"Do you have something to say to me or do you just like looking at people?"
Smiling, she handed the pen to me and tapped on the paper. Had she been teasing me? What would I say to her, that she hadn't heard before? Taking a breath, I took a moment to clear my head of all the loose thoughts she had created in it. She had known exactly what she had been doing. She was just going to use this to laugh at me later behind closed doors, and it probably wasn't going to be just her.
If she had just been planning to laugh at me later, then what was the point of holding back? I had done exactly that. I had thrown caution to the wind and said fuck it.
"Lets hang out after school." I wrote on the paper.
Leaning over onto my desk, she took the pen and wrote. "Sure."
That single word had been followed by a series of numbers, which I had assumed to be her phone number. I had sat in shock for a moment, unsure of why or how the events had unraveled in the way they did. Obviously it had been a good thing, right? Or had this been some kind of setup for something messed up? Or would it be completely normal?
**
The final bell had rung minutes ago, and there I had stood in front of the school with my skateboard in hand. Over my left shoulder, my backpack hung as I waited for her to come out. As the clock continued to tick, I had waited. Soon, fifteen minutes had rolled by and that had been when I questioned it. Had I actually taken her seriously? Hadn't I left myself open to be played like a fool? If I had expected this, then why had I felt just a ting of disappointment? Dropping my skateboard, I had been about to take off when I heard a whistle.
"There you are." she jogged to me, softly smiling. "Sorry for making you wait so long."
"It's fine." I brushed my hair away from my eye, and reached out my hand. "Do you want to carry your bag?"
Had I looked as cringe-worthy as I had felt? A moment of silence had passed as I waited for an answer from her. As I nearly forced myself to look up, I had seen simple, yet stunning sight. With a simple smile, she had been biting her thumbnail as she looked at me. What had this been? This feeling, this sensation in my chest, and in my head. It had been as though, only for a second, everything was in unison.
"I can smell the weed in your backpack..." she answered, smirking. "How about we go smoke and maybe talk a little instead?"
"Fine with me." I threw my skateboard over my shoulder. "Can I ask you something?"
"Ask away, loverboy." she unzipped my backpack and pretty quickly found the weed as we walked towards the park. "As long as I can ask something, too."
"Why would you even want to hang out with someone like me?"
"I dunno. Maybe I just feel like I don't have to be a fucking barbie doll around you." her cursing had caught me off guard. "I kinda saw it when I saw you looking at me in homeroom. Now, then. I kinda have two, but I'm sure you'll answer both, right?"
Kylie sped up slightly, and then curved her way in front of me like a drunk driver at three in the morning. She pushed her hand into my chest, stopping me on the spot. Standing at only a inch or two higher, she was nearly at eye level with me as we stood across from each other. What had she been planning to say - rather, what had she been planning to ask me?
"What made you ask that in homeroom?" she then walked around me again and took my skateboard.
"...and is this a date?"
ns 15.158.61.6da2
