Yes & No

I Do and I Don't

Monday came quicker than I expected. Usually on weekends when I have very little to do, time seems to freeze on me. This weekend, however, went by so quickly, it freaked me out. Before homeroom, I walked around the floor in search of Darrel. I owed him an explanation for leaving him to eat by himself.

When I saw him taking books out from what looked to be his locker, I quickly walked over to him and waited a second before greeting him.

"Hey." I greeted, trying to sound as casual as possible. When he turned to look at me, I could tell he was confused and amused that I was talking to him.

"Oh, hey..." Was all he managed to say. I could feel my heart shrivel a bit as he tried to glance away from me.

"I'm so sorry about Friday," I said, trying to sound as sincere as possible. "I had forgotten to do something really important and lunch was the only time I had to do it. Honestly, I had completely forgotten about it-"

"I understand." He said, buying my partially-true excuse. I did have something to do. That something was seeing what Mr. Hutch needed. Not a forgotten assignment or project.

For a few seconds we stood silently. Unable to think of any way to continue the conversation, I thought of a way to make up for me abandoning Darrel at lunch.

"You want to have lunch with me and my friends today?"

"Umm....  I don't know-" He attempted to wimp out but I interrupted, persuading him it'd be nice to have someone new, him, eat with us.

"It'd be awesome if you would. Eating and talking with the same people everyday gets so boring."

"You think they'd mind if I ate with you guys? I don't want to disrupt the social order at your table."

"Not at all. And don't worry about 'social order'. At our table, all are welcome." As soon as I said this Darrel relaxed a bit and a pleasant, relaxed smile flashed across his face.

"Then it's settled," Darrel said as he shut his locker, zipped his backpack, and slung it onto his back. Backing away, Darrel looked at the watch on his wrist and began to walk backwards, not even bothering to look behind him as he did. Instead, he paid attention to me. "I have to get to homeroom. See you later, Emma."

"Later, Darrel!" I said, backing away. To make sure I didn't bump into anyone, I turned around and headed straight to my locker to pack for my morning classes. As I walked, I felt eyes piercing at me from all directions. I'd gained much attention talking to Darrel. Even though I don't usually like attention and I reprimand everyone to mind their business, I continued to walk to my locker with a tiny smile plastered on my face. As I passed Blake at his locker, I heard him ask, "She's hanging out with the new guy?" I couldn't help but smile even wider.

When I reached my locker, Becca was watching me curiously as I unlocked my locker and grabbed out my books. "Why is everyone looking at you?"

"Don't exactly know... I really don't care to tell you the truth." Ending at this, I shoved my books into my backpack, shut my locker, zipped up my backpack, slung it onto my back, and walked to homeroom in silence. From behind me, I heard Becca say, "Today is going to be extremely weird."

*****

Taking my time, I walked to my locker slowly. After putting my books away, I headed down to the lunchroom. Today, I decided I was in the mood for a "California Bowl", a school speciality salad made with avocado, cucumber, iceberg lettuce, turkey, tomatoes, and a simple lemon and olive oil vinaigrette. With this, I also got a chocolate- oatmeal cookie and a bottle of water. As I was paying for my lunch, someone greeted, "Hey." from behind me. When I turned to see it was Darrel I couldn't help but smile. "Hey. You nervous?"