She has been watching him from afar everyday for the past few months. She makes it sure that she enters a little earlier than him so she can watch him walk to his chair. Front row. Center. A place that suited him most.
There are times where she’d watch the girls who are confident enough to go up to him and talk. She’d time the moment on where they’ll laugh or cover their face when he compliments them. She’d count to seconds so she will have an idea how much she can count before flipping her hair. There’s no definite time, she’d notice some will laugh at about two seconds some will take longer.
This is what she likes about sitting at the last row. She can watch people as if she is watching them on her television.
“Hey Dylan, have you seen the other section’s group presentation about puppy love?” Courtney, the prettiest girl she had ever seen said in a dreamy voice. Courtney cannot be compared to anything but a Barbie doll. If Barbie is made human, she is quite sure she will talk, act and look exactly like Courtney.
“Yeah, I did.” He answers. She noticed he doesn’t talk much, he’ll just answer whatever question it is that they asked and then he’d shut up as if silently hinting them to leave him alone. They never did.
“What do you think of it? It’s been done by pair, and the winning pair from this class will end up competing with them. I’ve heard a lot of important people are coming for the competition.” And then as if on cue she drags a chair in front of him and then seats gracefully. Every time she does that Bree would instantly think of a song as a background. When she walks or sits or move, do they think of a background song as well? She thought. Something with the word loser in it, it made her laugh which causes a stir inside the room. The group of girls crowded in his seat moved their heads in her direction, she immediately covers her mouth and looked down.
She thought she’d be in trouble, but then she heard the usual laugh and talk again, she lifted her head and they were back to their usual talk as if they never heard anything. As if she was invisible. But then, there’s nothing really shocking about that. She’s used to it. No one will ever want to get to know someone as plain as her. So instead she puts her headphones on and shuts off the world in front of her.
He watched her as she smiled. It was a smile he had often seen when she thought no one was watching, but she must have noticed he was there, hiding at some place, every time she enters the room and sits at the back.
He once timed her arrival so he can know when to look at her properly, he was just curious at first. And then he’ll make an excuse to himself that he hasn’t quite taken a better look and then the next thing he knew he’s been waiting for her and looking at her ever since.
He had long before wanted to hear her laugh, when she did he slightly tilted his head to her direction and almost laughed with her. He had never heard something so musical, so dreamy.
He can sense that Courtney is about to throw him yet again another question, so he made his move and smiled at her. He can tell she is pleased, but she didn’t make an effort for it, girls like Courtney plays hard to get. He stood up and all they ever did is to watch him, he has that certain magic where all people can do is watch him. He grabs his bag and walks straight to the girl with a music like laugh.
As he walks he cannot help but smile as he looks right into her eyes.
For a brief moment there he thought he heard music playing. He grabs a sit next to her and smiles, at last…
She immediately shifted her gaze to the window and he cannot do anything but to remove one of her earphones and tried to listen to what she is listening to. He didn’t hear a sound.
“You are listening to nothing.” He says.
“I was… I was…” he finds her stuttering irresistible at once.
“You are weird.” He says again with a smile and both are aware that they are being watched.
“I…” she seems lost for words but it doesn’t matter. This is only the start. There are plenty of times to know her more, he thought.
“I’m Dylan.” He reaches his hand to hers.
“Bree.” She answers.
Yes, he thought. He’ll make sure there will be plenty of time to get to know her more.
