Strangled

Not Himself

    Mark and I arrived at school the next day, Mark offered to drive me in his convertible and I did not want lose any bonding time with my brother. That "bonding time" did not really work. He had only said three words the whole trip to school, I was trying to come up with conversations but it didn't work out. Mark actually ran over a poor bunny but he didn't seem worried about that.

  I walked in the school doors with Darren and everyone was staring at Darren like god had just walked in.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer!" I yelled out to the students and one actually did take a picture.

Darren seemed to hate the attention he was getting. He was blushing furiously.

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"So, how many girls have asked for your number today?" I asked Mark as we were going through the lunch line.

"One but the only one I like is Gabi," Mark replied.

Gabi has been Mark's crush ever since 6th grade. I do not get it, they both like each other so why won't they just date? Gabi is kind of nice but she is one of those girls who walk around the school like they own it. I am just a book nerd who wears thousands of pairs of skinny jeans.

Kate interrupted my thoughts, "Earth to Lydia! Are you with me?"

"Sorry Kate, I was, um, thinking..." I said.

"About what? Of how hot your boyfriend is? Or of how gross it is for me to like your brother?" Kate questioned.

"Neither of those, although my  boyfriend is totally gorgeous and it isn't that gross for you to think of my brother like that."

"Oh, that's great! Cause your brother is totally not into me but I am totally into him and I want him to notice me.." She carried on.

I was walking towards Darren with my tray at hand and the next thing I know, I am falling on my face. Someone tripped me and the spaghetti sauce splattered all over me. Everyone started laughing and I was more red than a tomato. I pulled a noodle off of my head as Darren picked me up and quickly carried me to the bathroom. He set me down on a chair near the sink and started washing my hair out. Darren took a wet paper towel and started wiping off my face.

"Don't worry, love, wait here while I go get an extra sweatshirt from my locker." Darren reassured softly.

He ran out of the girls bathroom. I cannot believe that just happened. I didn't even see who tripped me. My Glee shirt was covered in spaghetti sauce and noodles. My hair was drenched in sink water and my face was already dry. I looked in the mirror. Some of my mascara was running down my face and I could not tell whether if it was from the sink water or from my tears of embarrassment.

Darren ran back into the room, "Here, darling, put this sweatshirt on and these basketball shorts."

I ran into the stall and closed the door. The sweatshirt was dark green that said "Go, Eagles!" The shorts were also dark green with light green stripes down the sides. Darren plays on the basketball team for our school. He is really good at it, too. I walked out of the stall.

"Thank you, Dare bear. I owe you a lot." I said and kissed him on the lips.

He hugged me and said, "You owe me not. But, Mark was the one who tripped you."

"Was it on purpose?"

"It looked like it, he was laughing as well. I can handle this if you want?"

"No, no it is fine. I will talk to him after school."

We walked back in the cafeteria. Darren picked up his books and I picked up mine. Kate was waiting for me at one of the tables and Darren followed to sit with me.

"OMG! Are you okay? What happened? Did you hurt yourself?" Kate asked worriedly.

"Yea, I am fine thanks to the love of my life." I replied.

Darren kept an eye on me for the rest of the lunch bell. Darren is somewhat protective over me and I love him for it. The bell rang and we filed out, I got lots of stares from students.

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    Later at show choir practice, we were in the auditorium doing our own things. Darren, Ariana, Kate, Matthew, and I were practicing the dance moves to each song, while others just talked amongst themselves. I have met most of my friends in show choir. We all auditioned individually and just became friends after we saw the list for who joined. I got in freshmen year because I had practice in 8th grade. I do not know everyone else's stories but Darren joined a year later because he needed something extra to do, other than basketball.

    This show choir is called "Snapbacks" because there is always at least one competition where we wear snapback hats. The Snapbacks are quite intense. We go all out on makeup, we have a good budget for all of the costumes. We have a professional choreographer as well.

"Come on, Lyd!" Matthew nearly yelled.

I didn't even notice that we were dismissed. I ran towards Matthew and accidentally tripped into his chest.

"Watch yourself, little missy," Matthew said.

"Geez, I feel so clumsy today," I stated.

"Yea, it was kind of stupid for someone to trip you and then record it."

"What!?! It was recorded? Was it posted online?"

"Yea, I saw it on YouTube and it has one million views. Do not fret. Your friends, boyfriend, and I will protect you," Matthew reassured.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

I quickly walked out of the auditorium and burst into tears. This is not like Mark. There is nothing more embarrassing than that.