Crushed

Three

Kylie
"Here we have the parking lot. We've all been told that students and parents can't park here and it's just for staff but..nobody really listens to that." Tui grinned and placed a hand on her hip. "What brings you to New Zealand by the way?" She asked. Oh no. I was slightly dreading this question, but I knew it had been coming. "Oh- well- you see, um. Basically, I lived with my parents and brother in England. And we were fine it's just.." I thought for a second, wondering if I should tell her the real reason I was here. "..my parents wanted a change of scenery! Yeah, ahah.." Nailed it. I looked over to Tui. Her eyes had narrowed and she obviously was suspicious, however, chose to not press. "Neat." She said, with a slight nod. I smiled awkwardly and peered around.
"So..how long have you been attending this school for?" I questioned as we began walking through the car park. "Oh, since year 9," She stopped, seeing my look for confusion. "That's when you start high school. Year 9 is your first year. Your 'freshman' year." I still didn't fully understand, and she could tell. "Shit- you aren't American. Just..nevermind. I've been going here for a while, alright?" We both laughed at her frustration and continued walking. Our pace seemed kind of..slow? I don't know why, but I felt like she was dawdling to possibly get to know me. Jeez- that made me blush. The fact that someone as cute as her wanted to get to know me. Wow..
"Next up, the school pool. Since it's not summer anymore it's not used by like..anyone. So, it'll be going green quite soon!" She chuckled and gestured through the fence. "Does anyone..clean it?" I asked, slightly horrified by the fact that they didn't use indoor pools. "Oh, yeah. I think." She added. I shivered. "And you guys are okay with that..?" I asked, unknowingly giving her a disgusted glance. "Yeah man! Why, you guys don't have pools over in England or something?" She raised a questioning eyebrow. "O-oh, no we do! It's just..doesn't matter, haha!" I laughed awkwardly and walked in the other direction. Why was I like this? Why couldn't I just react like a normal human being to a pretty girl..? "Hey, wait up for me!" Tui called, taking two steps and catching up. Her legs seemed to be 20 times longer than mine.
"I'm meant to be the tour guide here, missy." Tui grinned down at me and nudged my shoulder playfully. "Yes, that's quite true." I giggled quietly. "Now! Come through this door, and we'll be in the technology block." Opening a quite large and heavy door, Tui showed me the classrooms. Obviously we didn't go into any of them, as classes were currently going on. I noticed that many of the students in the classrooms stared at me- and Tui. When they looked at her, they gave her this type of glance. One that said 'I know who you are'. In a friendly way, of course. But then when they looked at me- it's like they were intrigued? Confused..? Annoyed, maybe. I don't know really. All I did know was that I was actually being led around by a really cute girl..and god, I mean really cute. She had these big, brown eyes that lit up when she laughed. Hair that, although it was tied up, was obviously very poofy. She had pretty hands and seemingly freshly manicured nails. And gosh, her lips were beautiful. They stretched into the loveliest of smiles whenever she talked, and when they were just naturally resting..gahh! They were so full and looked so soft! I just wanted to kiss her so bad..
"Earth to Kylie? Helloo??" I was snapped back to reality by Tui waving her hands in front of my face. "You good there, dude?" She asked, chuckling a little. I blushed, caught off guard. "Hm? Oh, yeah! Yeah I'm fine. Totally!" A fake grin was plastered on my face to try and help her believe me. It seemed to kind of work. "Good- because we're coming up to the English block." We walked through another set of doors, and I realised just how quiet the school really was. It was just us. Hm. "What d'ya think of English? Considering you are English, yourself.." She snickered and I rolled my eyes. "Ha ha, very funny..but eh. I don't mind English. Never quite been the 'writer' type. That title goes to my brother." I placed my hands politely behind my back, continuing to walk with Tui. "Oh yeah- you mentioned him before, right?" She asked softly. "I think so, mm." I nodded, and my gaze had turned to my feet. "Is he any cute?" Tui grinned, narrowing her eyes and pulling a funny face. I laughed at the face as well as the question. "I mean yeah, if you're into pasty, tall, blonde guys with freckles covering them." I giggled and snorted a little, looking up at her. "Nice, nice.." Tui chuckled along with me, then we walked in silence for around a minute. "Soo..how come your brother isn't here with you?" She asked, slowing down her walking pace even more. "Oh, he's finished with high school. He finished his last year at high school in New Zealand and now he's at uni. He's on an..art course? I think?" I scratched my head trying to remember. "Yeah. An art course." Tui nodded and opened another door. We walked through, accidentally bumping into each other.
"Oh- sorry!" Tui said, rubbing her head. "It's fine, it's fine." I smiled, rubbing my head as well. We seemed to be in the science block now..judging by the amount of teachers in lab coats in their classrooms. Still. Thought I'd ask- to make some conversation. "Where are we now?" I questioned. "Ah, my bad. We're currently in the science block! A place for mishaps, fires, chemical burns and big words!" She shook her hands, smiling fakely at me. I giggled again. Seeing her do jazz hands reminded me of my brother quite a bit. He used to do that all the time for basically no reason at all. And it was always hilarious.
"The maths block!" Tui slid through the open door, nearly tripping herself up. "Woah- slow down there." I laughed, grabbing her shirt so she wouldn't fall. "You must like maths a lot..?" I queried, as she steadied herself once again. "Hell yeah! Maths is like..the only subject I'm good at, surprisingly enough." Tui's cheeks a flushed a tinge of red. She looked so cute! "That's cute- I mean cool! That's..cool that your brain is smart enough to comprehend maths!" I froze slightly, hoping she wouldn't point out my slightly mortifying mistake. "Ahaha, thanks man." She looked at the floor..nervously? "My friends tease me about my love for maths a lot. While I know they're just joking..ahh. It hurts a little." Her gaze shifted back to me. She seemed kind of embarrassed. "Well, your friends are dickheads." I grinned, seeing her laugh a little.
"Yeah, they can be..oh! Speaking of friends," she stopped in the middle of the hallway. "Do you want to come and sit with us at morning tea? I could text you our meeting spot, and you could get to know them!" Tui seemed excited, although she did hide it rather well. "Only if you want to though. If you have other friends, that's all goods as well..!" She added on, scratching her ear nervously. "That would be lovely! You may want my number first though.." I said. Then, I realised what I'd actually just told her. And what she'd now be wanting from me. My number. I mean- it's common sense, yeah. But I was awkward! And what if my gayness took control and I passed out from the fact that she had my number? A cute girl. And adorable girl. Had my number?! My thoughts were stopped by Tui asking if I had my phone with me. "Yeah- I do! Here," I grabbed it out of my pocket. Swiping it open, I clicked on contacts. "Do you want to just put your number in?" I asked, ready to give my phone to her. My hands already started to shake slightly, however I managed to camouflage it with some miraculous efforts. "Oh- yeah. May as well." Tui took the phone and typed in her number. She made the name '🐦'. "A bird?" I cocked my head to the side, completely and utterly confused. "Ah- that's my name in everyone's phones. It's because my name is Tui, and..well, that's also the name of a bird. Since there isn't an actual emoji for the tui bird, I just use this one instead." Handing my phone back, she smiled brightly. "It's a thing I do with all my friends, yknow?" Haha. Friend. "Yeah! For sure." I said, keeping the fact that being called a 'friend' crushed me a little bit. Tui nodded enthusiastically. "We should probably keep going, aye?" She chuckled and continued walking on, getting to another set of doors.
"We come across the art block now! There's five regular classes and one photography room. Speaking of which- two of my friends are in there!" Tui turned to one of the rooms, waving wildly at the door. After a couple of seconds, one guy tapped another, and the two waved back. They both looked at me, puzzled. "Just wave." Tui laughed quietly, grabbing my hand and waving it for me. I felt myself blushing a tad, but continued waving and smiling at the boys. We stopped after a while and kept walking through the hallway, arriving at another one of the big doors. Tui used all her weight to push it open and I quickly walked through, seeing that it led to the outside. "How come we're outside again?" I asked, puzzled. My eyes darted around and adjusted to the sudden shift in light. "Because the gym is over there," Tui pointed to the large building in front of us. "And we can't get to it through the hallways. So, now we're in Mother Nature's hands!" She laughed and skipped ahead, leaving me dazed in the sunlight.
I followed after her and the two of us walked up a set of stairs. "So here's the gym- as I literally just said before." Tui chuckled and let me in first. "Here we have PE classes, and sports teams come here to train." I nodded along as she showed the different rooms. "You play any sports?" She asked, passing me a netball. "Oh, not really. I used to play a little bit of football when I was younger..but no. Do you?" I passed it back to her and she opened one of the gym doors. The whole room was empty. "I play basketball and netball," she took a shot at the hoop. "As well as a bit of hockey and softball." The ball went in with ease and I clapped, mildly impressed. "Oh! And cricket. Fucking love cricket." She smirked and grabbed the ball, passing it back to me. "Jeez, you're quite the active one." I giggled as she took a dramatic bow. "I pride myself on my extra curricular activities." She put on another terrible British accent and I laughed.
Bouncing the ball, I ran up and took a shot. It hit the back board and came crashing down. "Damn, hard luck, aye." Tui took the ball, bounced it once, ran up and threw the ball in roughly. It went straight through, hit the floor and bounced towards me. "You're too good at this!" I whined, laughing and grinning at her. "Practice makes perfect, am I right?" She held her hands out, indicating for me to pass. The ball flew through the air, and mistakingly landed in her face rather than her hands. "Shoot- sorry!" I covered my mouth and ran over, helping her up. "You okay?" I felt extremely concerned and embarrassed. This is why I didn't play sports. "Hell yeah! I'm awesome!" After I got that response, we laughed and walked out of the gym. Tui placed the ball back on the floor, right where we'd found it. She seemed to be quite a strong person. And athletic, too. Honestly..perfect.