MOMENT 1:715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKdFe958ls
'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.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvCmBsYJUvE
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPD1fco6DOp
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6Rb0cLJYA
'I wasn't picking on you!'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45T0enPOEp
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKkawu5SgR
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWquskZE0b
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8SZxND8zQ
'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.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4qjwiUr2DX
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6BSNdUTsM
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4jmWCj6dd
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbtWOhbMJKV
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQ797qOrP0
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FmOotVu3W
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.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF4hYCLnaCX
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.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJaXsGWfUaW
'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.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJUPJcTs0A
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjjxvsTOjh
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbV0n2V05W3
715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDOL2W2uDk
MOMENT 4:715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCOrSxuLANG
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuu8n9O6EiK
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS8GMwWdHUV
'Just people.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2EyR1EGhD4
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmfd7BJoVC
'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.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdvjKntLDaF
'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.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaXMdaH5r9o
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYtAddGHQM
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWFC82muxz5
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDf3DYYhVEy
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJ8s5PSzEi
'Bastard.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbD3XWRLHdf
But I laughed.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8cxTm3cPJ
715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSwk9jamD8i
MOMENT 5:715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBVzG7IFke
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6IsJBBpyP
'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.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfoLq9rGLg
'Open em. Smaller one first.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Mmt8e6oMw
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gOJM9TZTr
The other gift was canvas paper.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSzqqRvLZkm
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLUh3VfETh3
'Come on, take it.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYrTyxhvWiP
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.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvvIRazx36
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTKb4zzuVNn
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapRokDt3J4
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJHJoOLT1X
'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.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kJXS6PNUh
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeeAvHD7ALm
'Do you like it?'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2dPbDmb44n
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOwsdx3HBB8
'But?'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBGk18l7s2O
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXXrAR3Nx9I
'John?'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR4TkCetHqM
'Yeah?'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuW2Pg3ai55
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBTgr3HAUvv
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQi5zQT8bpG
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvUi3nCOuv8
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHcV7G88mRD
'No, wait, that's not what I - '715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ns2Wrfpi7
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVIkfoliyxK
'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.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47Qyt93yjm
'I... I don't understand.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHfoYF6ATl
'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.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHywZwiL86o
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQT9xpmH67B
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.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxB3inj0Sz
'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.715Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qilrGzeO3
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.
