Chasing a New Sunrise

Chapter 14

Avoiding someone who sits right next to you is harder than I could have ever imagined. It's like his body heat is radiating and there's at least a good few inches between us. Just the feeling of him there is bringing back every single tingle I felt when his body was against mine. It also doesn't help that Ms. Ryan didn't say we weren't allowed to talk to each other, everyone around is quietly chatting.

Today's assignment is fun, she has us listening to eighties music while drawing how we feel the decade looks in our minds when we listen to the music.

Levi leans over, his right shoulder touching mine. I try not to let him see the effect he has on me, because I'm not those other girls who fall at his feet.

"Love the neon colors," he says.

Ms. Ryan told us we could use whatever type of drawing instrument we wanted, I chose colored pencils. I don't know why, but listening to Poison singing about having a good time makes me think of pink and green neon lights and mullets.

"Thanks."

I can't look up, I won't look up. He will never know the effect he has on me.

"Should we talk about what happened yesterday?" He whispers, just loud enough for me to hear over the music.

Now I look at him, and it's the dumbest mistake ever. The moment I do I can't pull away, it's like he's got some kind of weird magnetic pole inside of him that draws people in.

"And you think art class is the perfect time to chat about what happened?"

He chuckles, "you liked it."

He points to me and a smile lights up his face. I shake my head and try to hold in my own smile, but my lips defy my wishes and I probably look like a crazed person or like I'm taking a crap. Either way, my face heats up, my cheeks are definitely red.

"I didn't say anything."

I focus back on coloring neon pink zig zags on my paper. He doesn't say anything more and goes back to drawing a picture of a guy with a mullet and headband.

After the bell rings he doesn't try to talk to me, and I'm thankful he doesn't. I'm not sure I'm ready to share my feelings to him yet, when I have no idea what is going on in my head. I race to my next class hoping it will distract me from thinking about my kiss with Levi.

Levi didn't try asking me about the kiss, but every pass we made throughout the day has consisted of him winking or playing hard to get. Now at practice I've been trying so hard to keep my eyes focused on the coach and not the football field where I can feel the energy off of him as if he was standing right next to me.

There's only a few more minutes left of practice. Coach comes over with a clear bucket and tiny scraps of paper folded inside. She blows the whistle that hangs low around her neck to get our attention, then shakes the bucket a little.

"Ladies," she calls, as we all fall in standing in front of her. "The first game of the season is Friday. In this bucket I hold the names of every football player on the team," she says.

Some of the girls groan, others start whispering to each other sounding excited about what we are doing with those names.

"Each of you will come and pick a name from the bucket. That player will be yours to cheer on. If you are new here or don't know what that means, it means that on game day you celebrate the player you chose."

She stops speaking again, shakes the bucket a little and glares at all the girls giggling like children. I hear Levi's name mentioned a few times.