MOMENT 1:638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡie6DEvg1Q4
'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.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOwQ9cF9G8C
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCfbaAbgDk0
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu98Y0NEbqa
'I wasn't picking on you!'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2MMSOBnWC
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsRQfcI9Ph
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqHzShXBPh
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBDctrqmp9
'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.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4V545VUJ6F
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHei07oZOpy
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqMJxo68aY
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7KBTQYrGr7
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcWtiJ44vWB
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡddQNBBnHDy
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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRDv97Q4yF
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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8e1s63GJsO
'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.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzNLjhgENJy
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGpJSxEhwy
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpfO5w9HmPv
638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVteZLVGgUO
MOMENT 4:638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGJX8YhyOP
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8kcx9dDxHo
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZe9hBw8QUL
'Just people.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaueSku2brj
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yLPikpLcR
'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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuOO4toGRBD
'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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZqdblMrS9
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskDUN1zafO
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqpMLgHTaPG
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRSAjRJFkRj
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPcmTu3F6lP
'Bastard.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXD98FWR02S
But I laughed.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEusCIBovmj
638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMXJWZQ1ZLC
MOMENT 5:638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjRRMKhPeX
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZcLvOZkcfD
'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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7k6dkbhtqg
'Open em. Smaller one first.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBP62c9BgV8
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjxXnyHjVY
The other gift was canvas paper.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUdotrv467k
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZfmvV1hLJ
'Come on, take it.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo2SbBS4mHI
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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJaBtbYVV4W
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfFkY1cOKhz
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrImZdKVqRv
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWdK5972l1w
'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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ971OAhJ4Iu
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJcCRxApy5I
'Do you like it?'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFFtLIELxFv
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1JkhMaoGT
'But?'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpCnSH7aSVu
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBFPjCYJCPJ
'John?'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcaDbmvlLJ
'Yeah?'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBeetHqAVh
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPE0swMJKJ
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBUgnb6brb6
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGBAFIqUQF
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ta3bZM51h
'No, wait, that's not what I - '638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkeWGpSrOwd
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQDaTeIg7V
'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.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFSV0M7NhF
'I... I don't understand.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiVQgCqTu6b
'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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCO8VcTJipm
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmacmnsbYm
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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHhaLhtyHbL
'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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2uZ4f9N42
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.
