Oh, Dakota

8- Madhouse

“Okay, well this is awkward.” Owen chirped about halfway to school. I rolled my eyes at him but didn’t actually respond because he’s just so ridiculously stupid sometimes.

The rest of the ride to school was pretty silent and very awkward but eventually it ended and I said a quick goodbye to Owen before hurrying into the school.

When I got to my locker, I was quickly assaulted by a wildly grinning Marnie, nearly jumping up and down in excitement about something.

“What’s up?” I laughed, opening my locker.

“Have you seen the new guy?” She squeaked.

“Braeden?” I wondered. “Yeah, I met him yesterday, why?”

“Why didn’t you tell me this yesterday?” She screeched and then began a rant that only Marnie could rant. “He is the definition of perfection, Dakota. Did you see his face? Like, I would do so many things to that-“

“Hi,” She was interrupted when the guy himself, Braeden,was standing there beside me.

I heard Marnie let out a small squeak of both excitement and embarrassment, but I just offered him a small smile. “Hey.”

“So, I know this probably sounds stupid, but you’re the only person that I know here and I can’t find my first class.” He explained sheepishly before looking over at Marnie and offering her a small wave and a smile. “Hello, I’m Braeden.”

Marnie was still kind of dying so she wasn’t able to speak for the time being, so I figured I should save her from the weird look he was giving her by speaking for her. “She’s having a heart attack, don’t mind her.”

“Oh, alright.” He said slowly, giving her one more strange look before returning his gaze to me. “So any chance you could tell me where 284 is?”

“Who’s the teacher?” I wondered, since I didn’t know room numbers, I only knew the teachers’ names and which rooms they taught in. “And weren’t you here yesterday?”

“Mr. Fallon and I didn’t get here until halfway through the day.” He justified. “I had to get my schedule sorted and everything.”

“Oh, Mr. Fallon, Marnie has him first period so she can show you. It’s not too far from here.” I chirped, shutting my locker. “Good luck with your first full day, I have to get to class.”

“Alright, well thank you.” Braeden chirped with a friendly smile. He liked to smile a lot, I noticed. But that makes sense because he has probably one of the most adorable smiles ever.

I offer him a smile back before retreating down the hall towards my own class just as Marnie seemed to get her mind in order and began babbling to Braeden as they walked in the opposite direction towards Mr. Fallon’s classroom.

During the rest of the day, whenever I would see Marnie, she’d be talking about Braeden and everything that she found perfect about him… which was everything. His hair, his laugh, his smile, his eyes, his sense of humor, his- yeah, you get the point. It was adorable, considering she hadn’t been that into a guy since Sam Thompson sophomore year. And Sam wasn’t even cute.

However, I didn’t get to sit with my friends at lunch like I usually do because Coach Bradford needed me in the gym to sort out some uniform stuff for the competition on Saturday. I was kind of relieved because then I didn’t have to sit at lunch, which is where Caleb would have probably showed up and I still can’t talk to him without stuttering like a lunatic.

“He’s coming to the game today.” Marnie filled me in as we showered after dance practice, getting ready for the baseball game that night.

“Okay,” I laughed. “Is he going to sit with us?”