Never Gonna Happen

12

By the time I got back to the dorm, Mindy was already there and pulling a towel off of her head. She looks over at me and shakes her head, "You should invest in some eye drops."

I plop down on my bed, "What's the fun in that?"

I can practically hear her eye roll as I start pulling Scooter's sweatshirt off of me, "You're not keeping that in here."

"And why not?"

"The smell is incriminating."

"You're incriminating."

"Jess, that makes no sense." I close my eyes and lean into my pillow, "You're still wearing jeans, you know."

"I'm well aware of that, Mindy."

I don't move, comfortable with how I'm laying. A couple minutes pass and the texture of my jeans start becoming uncomfortable. I shift my positions, not wanting to put in the effort of actually changing clothes. I open my eyes to see Mindy staring at me judgmentally as I move around again.

I huff as I start to pull of my pants, I look over to see Mindy quirking an eyebrow up at me, "Oh, shut up." I grumble.

Mindy shrugs, "I hadn't said anything."

"Your face did." I shoot back.

She rolls her eyes as she moves under the covers of her bed. I throw my pants at her and earn a glare that says she wishes me dead. I smile at her quickly before going under the covers of my own bed and nestling myself into them.

I wake up to my alarm blaring at me. I turn around and unplug my alarm clock, then proceed to throw it at my wall.

I hear a scoff and turn my head slightly to see an already ready Mindy looking at me as she puts on her earrings, "Good morning."

"Shut the fuck up."

"Jesus."

"Jesus needs to watch it."

Mindy sighs, "Every single year, I always forget what a joy it is to have you as a roommate."

I make a face at her and turn back around, snuggling into my bed once again.

By the time I wake up again, first period is halfway over. Since I'm already late, I make no haste in getting ready. I pull on a green sweater and some baggy jeans. I quickly put on my rings and then grab all my textbooks and leave my room.

I slowly make my way through the halls as I try and rub the sleep from my face.

It doesn't work.

I should just dunk my head in some ice water.

I push open the door to my first period and everyone's heads turn to look at me, I give a weak salute as I find my seat and sit down. Mr. O'Brien opens his arms and glances at the clock, "Well, it's so lovely of you to join us Ms. Buckley."

"Lovely, isn't it?" I reply.

"Mind turning in your assignment?" He asks, leaning on my desk with one hand, the other outstretched towards me.

I reach into my backpack and find the 'get to know you' assignment and hand it to him. Mr. O'Brien quickly looks it over and then smiles at me, "Thank you."

I smile at him and watch him walk away. Mr. O'Brien's whole aesthetic reminds me of the scholar from all those adventure movies. The sweater vest and the rolled up sleeves to his forearms. I lift one leg up on my chair and start biting on one of my thumbnails as I watch our teacher.

Scooter leans over and whispers to me, "Could you be anymore obvious when you check out our teacher?" I punch Scooter's arm and he lets out a small 'ow' as he pulls away from me and rubs his arm.

I make my way through my classes until lunch. I don't put much on my tray as Scooter leads me through the lunch line.

"Am I allowed to sit with you guys this year or is it still a 'varsity players only' typa table?" I jokingly ask him.

Scooter rolls his eyes as he hands me an apple, "What, you don't have any other friends to sit with? Hm? Oh, I know. You just don't want to sit with the cheerleaders."

I turn and look at the cheerleaders in line, "Would you want to?"

Scooter snorts, "Fuck no." One of the lunch ladies glares at Scooter, "Sorry."

"I love Mindy, but I seriously can't go through another year of that."

Scooter leads us to the varsity lunch table. I'm well aware that the boys on the team wouldn't mind if I sat with them, but sometimes it makes me nervous. As we approach the table, one of the boys, Mark, grabs my tray and sets it down on the table, already picking at my fries.

Scooter lightly hits the back of his head, Mark looks up at him, "What?" He asks. Scooter shakes his head at him and nods towards me, Mark looks over at me, "Oh, right. Thank you for your food, Jess."

I roll my eyes at smile as I grab the small bowl of fruit and take that off my tray, sitting down next to Mark and Scooter.

Before I can eat any of my fruit, a hand reaches down and grabs a strawberry slice from it. I grab the arm and am slightly spun around to face a smiling Owen, "Hi, Jess."

"Owen."

He pats my head and I let go of his arm, "Thanks for the strawberry."

I roll my eyes, "Anytime," I turn back around to look at Scooter, "God, what am I? The food bank or something?"

Scooter grabs one of the fries that Mark is still picking at, "Guess so."

"Hey, little man," Cole starts, "Yesterday's lunch was pretty good. What have we got today?"

I turn to see Cole and Rick picking on the small J.V. player again.

"Bag of chips." Cole continues. He starts tossing the kid's food around the table, handing it out to people. "And some cookies. What do we have here?"

"Just give it back." The kid pleads.

"Cole seriously, give the kid his lunch."

"Oh, shut up, Jess. Oh, look. A sandwich." He looks at the kid, "Get outta here."

Rick pushes him away, "Yeah."

I stand up and hit both Cole and Rick on the back's of their heads, "You guys are fucking idiots."

I walk away from the group and towards another table where I know some of the kids eating there. One of the girls, Sammie, looks up at me and smiles, "Oh, hey Jess. Where's your lunch?"

I motion towards the Varsity table, "Left it with the jerkoffs."

Sammie turns around and grimaces when she looks at the Hockey players, then she turns back to me and offers me an apple, "You can have my apple if you want."

I smile at her and take the apple, "Thanks, Sammie. You're a sweetheart." She smiles back at me and I get more comfortable with the table group as we all talk.

Eventually, we all hear a big commotion and I look over to see some of J.V. kids running away from the Varsity table. The whole Varsity team charges after them and I stand up, "God, I should probably go fix whatever happened. I'll see you guys later."

I run after the Varsity players and skid to a stop as I come face to face with my father, "Dean." Cole says.

"Fellas." My father replies.

"Dean, nice tie." Rick compliments.

"Lovely day!" Scooter says as they start running again.

"Hi, Dad!" I yell as I chase after the boys, desperate to see what exactly had happened.

We all run into the courtyard and I watch as Cole trips on his own feet and face plant into the grass, I see one of the J.V. kids turn and laugh as he keeps running.

"Scooter!" I yell out.

"Not now, Jess!" He yells back.

I stop chasing them and watch as practically the whole school runs, following what will probably end up with a fight. I shake my head and turn back towards the school.

"Ridiculous."