Ripples

Chapter 6 Mr.Snuffleupagus

HELEN

I stumble into the classroom doors of our first period with Brooke, Mikayla, and I laughing the whole time.

I look around at the students in this class and notice a few new ones.

The first person I recognize is Tyler, then Caleb right beside him, and of course Marissa in front of him.

Brooke and I internally groan and take our seats somewhat near them. I sit to the right of Caleb except one seat back, behind Tyler. Brooke sits beside me to my left and Mikayla sits behind me.

"Caleb, baby there's a party this weekend and only the cool people are invited...but I could squeeze you in." Marissa winks at me and pops her gum in her mouth.

"Um sure I guess." he turns to face me. "Are you going Helen?"

"Um..." I look towards Brooke who nods her head a little too viciously. "yeah, I guess."

"Great I'll pick you up." he says smiling and turns back around as Marissa snorts and turns to face the front too.

"O-okay." I say quietly.

Brooke squeals, excitedly and Mikayla looks at me with a "your so lucky" expression.

"I'm going too." Tyler pitches in.

"Great man, I'll pick you up then go over to Helen's." Caleb smiles innocently.

Oh, God.

"You're going to have to pick me up too then, because Helen's staying with me for a while." Brooke glares at Tyler but speaks to Caleb.

"Oh! Might as well pick me up too." Mikayla pitches in and I groan at the amount of people going.

"Yeah. whatever." Caleb mumbles with an unknown emotion.

Weird.

...

"Hey Helen, walk me to lunch? I don't really know my way around this school yet." Caleb chuckles scratching the back of his neck.

"Sure." I say coolly, but on the inside I'm as excited as a little boy on Christmas.

We open the cafeteria doors and I instantly feel all eyes on me, kind of dramatic but it's true. I take a second and look around and find out everyone is actually looking at the new boy, of course.
God, my school is the typical drool-over-the-new-hot-boy-while-glaring-at-the-somewhat-pretty-but-not-as-pretty-as-you-girl.

Shame.

Awkwardly, we both walk towards my usual table where Brooke, Mikayla, Tyler, and now Marissa sits. Great.

"Hey guys." Caleb says at the same time I say, "Why are you here?" Towards Marissa.

"Um it's called freedom. Remember Ealonor Roosevelt and how she sat on the boys side of the bus?" She rolls her eyes.

Damn, she really is stupid.

"Yeah. First of all, it's Rosa Parks and she sat on the Caucasian side of the bus." I sit down next to Brooke and Caleb sits next to me, directly in front of Marissa.

"Hey Caleb, excited for the party." Marissa asks in a high pitch voice, ignoring my remark and the chuckles that followed.

"Yeah, it should be cool." he gives her a small smile and begins to eat his food.

"You know, we didn't believe when Helen, here, said she had a fling with a guy named Caleb." Mikayla butts in putting her chin on top of her hand and ogling Caleb.

"Is that right?" Caleb raises an eyebrow at me and I blush.

"I told them it wasn't a fling!" I defend myself, "but God, you should have heard all the crap they were giving me before you showed up." I laugh.

"Well, the Helen I know doesn't usually hook up with -" Brooke stops herself when I give her a death glare. " I mean...talks to - no I mean hook up with any guy." Mikayla laughs as Brooke winks at me.

"They thought you were like my Snuffleupagus or something, and hell I was beginning to think the same." I laugh, but no one joins me.

"Your snuffa-what?" Caleb knits his eyebrows, confused.

"My snuffleupagus.. you watch Sesame Street right?"

"No..not really..I was more of a power rangers-anime-type of guy."

"Oh no, okay well Snuffleupagus is like this big, hairy, moppy, um... elephant thing that only Big Bird can see and so whenever he talked about him to other people, everyone thought Big Bird was just making him up." I fold my hands together and smile at the memory of one of my favorite shows I watched as a kid.

"Well... now good thing I'm here." Caleb leans in closer a bit.

"Yeah good thing." I say, biting my lip.

Mikayla clears her throat, loudly and Brooke smirks at me. Tyler is just staring with an unamused expression and I don't really give a fuck about what Marissa is doing right now.

"So the party.." I change the subject and everyone gets busy with how we're all going to get there together. All the while, I'm still wondering why that slut Marissa is still here.

"Mikayla, what are you doing?" Brooke asks warily.

"I'm organizing my ketchup." she answers as if it's obvious.

"I don't get it..." Tyler says. Oh, I forgot he sat here.

"When I do that it's easier to get to, and I don't have to waste time trying to rush and..." she pauses and looks around at our astonished faces. "...nevermind."

We all laugh at this and Caleb secretly grabs my hand underneath the table. I can't contain the butterflies erupting in my stomach.

The electricity between just holding hands is overwhelming, reminding me of the perfect kiss we had in the lake, our lake. This sudden action has my whole body tingling, and I got to say I love it.

"I think I'm going to like Honey Grove." Caleb looks at me as he says this and I can't help but wonder what he is doing here in the first place.

"Uh Caleb, how did you know I was here in the first place?" I bite my lip to hide my smile.

"If you're implying that I'm your stalker..your right." he says seriously and I widen my eyes in shock.

"I'm kidding, my dad recently died and my mother is a mess...so we moved here into my old grandparents house."

Oh, he once lived here?

"My mom lived here as a kid then went away for college...i never lived here." He answers my thoughts.

"Oh. That explains it." I laugh lightly as the bell rings, signaling dismissal. I let go of Caleb's hand, thankful my hand wasn't sweaty.

"I'll see you around Helen... and don't forget about that party." he winks at me and walks in the other direction.

Marissa and Tyler both stomp off, seemingly in a bad mood of some sort.

"God! I swear, you are the luckiest girl on the planet." Mikayla fans her face.

"Yeah, hand holding and everything." Brooke bumps her hip against mine.

"What are you talking about?" I say innocently and cluelessly.

"You know." Brooke smirks while Mikayla frowns.

She is so jealous, and it kind of makes me happy.

"Maybe he'll ask you out at the party. That's probably why he's so excited about it." Brooke claps her hands squealing.

"Maybe." I say hesitantly.

It's not that I don't want him to ask me out, I just don't know if I want to get into another relationship. Tyler and I somewhat just broke up...

And I might still have feelings for Tyler.