MOMENT 1:671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gG8oxIc7s
'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.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIJIR8hWQd
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn91qxRCWt7
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu9Vqnsg793
'I wasn't picking on you!'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUAURVOosBN
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvdNnhZkWAS
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkHQdUZqj7v
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7AsW956LhO
'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.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNh2C8YkySL
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFc2S2NjWj1
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQFaiOwhdqz
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUSfz6Cy7Es
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsuwpvmoiBr
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrSKHfecOk0
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.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9L3BNuf71R
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.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNKN6dac5V
'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.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZlbvnxJrW
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aISDVlnrs
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTL2vAHmpQT
671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPqdW52QIaL
MOMENT 4:671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqoylly22JT
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO7dOyZctYq
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKmUXR31e6
'Just people.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMYCID3Uqpu
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPsQBMS3ZPQ
'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.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ55Pi4jPMsb
'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.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfZ6rvvW1T5
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5523oKvmu5
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW73BLYL6tq
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPxds4vGTL6
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY29kEuhRwn
'Bastard.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvosaDpyyYG
But I laughed.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyiXAqTr1eS
671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlm7iWVG1cN
MOMENT 5:671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJo4gNGpOU
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVhuxr60BI0
'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.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39sdIO5n5P
'Open em. Smaller one first.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8svbmumIBc
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8S2jhVO6m6
The other gift was canvas paper.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNVE7B93Dgt
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGiTU25RIeS
'Come on, take it.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MVKUjvPpQ
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.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6XNAvHptSd
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb2iZMJDYAa
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevCkeGA1V8
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9bkxmXaWB
'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.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡauJLzj32qO
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NIq7cn7yF
'Do you like it?'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrP4sSs5XIy
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDmdwTc0QR
'But?'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSf5mwa9uA
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIBRnFypXz
'John?'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvft5ZZiYlh
'Yeah?'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10M10Ntv3D
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl0XW9gw6oV
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxP5cPwE5cq
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXTmN8JIpv
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb6FU1mIBZY
'No, wait, that's not what I - '671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoAUfBZp32
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMI16CPlIsc
'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.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9FVmNeg8G
'I... I don't understand.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9EQlaxDEc
'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.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjv02wAOgix
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLb39oKbIIq
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.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvOLIwDtYCH
'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.671Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2axxvDss97
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.
