MOMENT 1:658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjwUdJbQQKf
'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.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK2GRVOXl9b
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NXcqaI3h6
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZfyAxMduj
'I wasn't picking on you!'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRKgJxddcJ
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLAPOmIy1I
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBuLK3lnLd
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleo385F7qc
'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.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNFRncJqEX
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ2ZlHP95HV
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OHHLUykgR
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZK6KCRCacK
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRSCCK36PQ
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUJHGADMRGX
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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjwGmRnhiI
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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZ989yUQkH
'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.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡswpFYZfYzj
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEitbhOcB6
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKx1hbYjNp
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MOMENT 4:658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtV4fkH4sf5
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJoF4CTuMwO
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3gE04MPK5N
'Just people.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOG7HZHJymH
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NRCvD59Tr
'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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFMciuJ8Sh8
'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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39P7yRfhh3
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUzDeboOMP
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHnC7lpiJBK
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ62vRe5vSjD
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsEp8FSvrfN
'Bastard.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSBxJrDDBD
But I laughed.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLBVadNRu4
658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtN1OBwGqJ
MOMENT 5:658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfv0WL8StqZ
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzo6Uyj22y
'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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIPljUzFVfa
'Open em. Smaller one first.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQDAng2IgJ
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCsfalyoer
The other gift was canvas paper.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKtFmOXGr8q
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpbs4o198d
'Come on, take it.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePslyaKOR0
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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡET6J6U4b6V
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLRlp5rGKVH
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPec9hgazz
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd5c567omrc
'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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQL5XFxXP3
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPnHa81pwW
'Do you like it?'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpzqEhSvWSF
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZvbZ9XLNC
'But?'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tSms4bOXr
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJKaMybNhi
'John?'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4p0VMRC08
'Yeah?'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3TKaT8xcIU
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRQXiGxWO9t
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPb1CQH7IY
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGDkfMrIff
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WKsiJPmd2
'No, wait, that's not what I - '658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0vTnVzk6V
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4uARrSGLF
'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.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZuVeY67bxN
'I... I don't understand.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoISeQJe21O
'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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3lbQohRTwC
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qZW95QHIZ
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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5QcyTwwOa
'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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtNVLVI2WzW
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.
