Love Happens (Stopped)

One

Jennifer:

Tall, dark, handsome, blue-eyed piece of heaven. At least that was what every girl thought when they tried to put a label on him - that guy. At the time I had not learnt his name mostly because I couldn't be bothered to do so. It was only my second day at this new school and I  was still studying the psychology of the place. I sat still by my desk as I watched the focus of the room turn on him as he walked in. He had an amazing way of turning heads and making skirts twirl. Girls would bat their eyes and pucker their lips, along with other varieties of ... uh ... mating calls, all in a bid to earn even just a few seconds of his time. 

He waved at a particular group of girls and that one gesture had the power to make all of them gush, blush and flutter. I noticed how it made the other males sulk, almost in jealousy. None of this phased me at all, like a bee buzzing in my ear I knew that it too would pass. However, I almost soiled my shorts when I saw that guy sit by the desk to my right. 

A teacher walked into the class and everyone settled down. His body language did not exactly shout 'I'm here and I'm ready to teach!'. It was more like 'I'm here because I have bills to pay'.
"K, so I'm gonna mark the register and I'll be off", he said in the sluggish tone of a mummy high on marijuana. "Faith Addams? Tess Baker?... " he went on calling everyone's names.

 It seemed everyone was present. I was unable to catch the name of the boy next to me as I was preoccupied. I was busy twirling my hair and chewing gum.

"OK so I understand we've had a new student for a couple of days now,  this has only come to my attention because I was too busy getting high.. I mean, stopping students from getting high", the teacher said. I knew he was on some kinda drug the minute he walked in. "Jennifer? Jennifer Walsh? Is there a Jennifer here", he asked.

 I raised my hand slowly and shyly since I never enjoyed having the glaring eyes of strangers. I could not help but feel they were ridiculing or mocking every square-inch of my frame. Maybe my posture was too slouchy, maybe my hair was too messy, maybe my clothes were a bit outdated. Maybe they were repulsed by the ridiculously short length of my nails as I occasionally found myself biting down on them whenever I felt scared or nervous. It doesn't take much to tick people off.

Given that I had been at the school for two whole days and hadn't had made any friends at all, it was clear that being 'the new kid' was not as smooth a sail as my parents had convinced me it would be. 

Jason:

Another Wednesday meant another one of Mr Johnson's episodes, he showed up in his usual; house slippers and a stained suit. I didn't get why they hadn't fired him already. As drunk as he looked, I was surprised he still had the patience to call the register. He called the room's attention to the new girl, who I did not know was hear for the second day now. She sat to my left. I studied her for a moment.

 I was always a very outgoing and confident guy and I was very aware of my devilishly good looks and charm, but for some reason looking at her seemed to subdue all those arrogant feelings. The legs, the hair and possibly the fact that when I walked into class she wasn't all over me like a police dog on a drug-filled suitcase. 

As much as I enjoyed the attention from the ladies, after all what guy wouldn't, I always yearned for someone who wasn't so clingy. I actually wanted someone who would like me for who I was, not what I looked like. The fact that this, Jennifer, seemed to have no interest in me whatsoever was a ... turn-on, I guess.

"OK, now let me tell you kids something about life..", Mr Johnson started. I knew immediately that he was about to go into one of his psychotic rants. so I ignored him and took out my sketchpad form my backpack. The sketchpad was almost full with random drawings of stuff I see around; my dog, nature etc. I regretted the one time I asked people to send me their pictures for me to draw and one girl sent me a picture of herself in her birthday suit - talk about slutty. 

I scratched my head with my pencil looking for some inspiration. Inspiration was very hard to come by and the closest thing to it was a thirty-something-year-old drug addict preaching about how education is a 'scam', which was ironic since his entire career depended on us coming to school. 

Suddenly two pink fingernails tapped on my shoulder from behind before a note was passed to me. It was from Elissa, one of the girls that was in love with me. This sounds very conceited but it was also very true. I didn't bother opening it but instead I looked to the left and took another glimpse at Jennifer. 

I drew a few curvy lines on a sheet of paper in my sketchpad trying to imitate her lush and wavy blonde locks. Having used the word 'lush' in my own thoughts made me question my sanity for a second. I don't talk like that. But anyway, I continued drawing. With my own creative license I drew in a rose in her hair. Several moments later I had a satisfactory outline of her. 

I looked at the drawing admiringly and then looked at the real thing. Not bad. Although I kinda felt weird realizing I'd just drawn a picture of someone I barely knew. She seemed to look my way. I panicked and crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it into my backpack. It turned out that she was just yawning and I had discarded my near masterpiece for nothing. 

I realized the girl was slowly getting to my head and I couldn't let that happen. I reset my mind and pretended that nothing had ever happened.