Crushed

Four

Tui
We continued walking for a long while, seeing the rest of the blocks, classrooms and other 'lovely' things in schools. "Hey, what's the time? I feel like we've been out too long." I asked, looking around nervously. The two of us were almost at the office again but I still felt..uneasy about it, for some reason. "Oh, it's 9:16." Kylie smiled, placing her phone back in her pocket. I sighed a sigh of relief and stretched. "Well then..I guess that means the tour is nearly over, hm. How'd I do?" I put on a British accent for the last time. She laughed. "You did pretty mean, bro. It was fuckin' awesome!" Kylie's 'kiwi' accent still sounded as hilariously awful as it had before. "Oh my- thanks." I exclaimed, bursting into laughter. The pair of us continued to laugh and make faces as we walked up to the main office door. I dusted off my shirt, making myself look semi-presentable. Kylie opened the door- for once- and I walked in, her following behind. My feet led me to the front desk. "Mrs. Kea?" I said, quietly knocking on the desk. "Ah! You're back. How was it?" She asked, looking to Kylie. Kylie nodded politely, "It was quite nice." Her face seemed slightly red. Hm. Maybe she was shy with some new teachers?
"Alright well, Tui, you can go back to class now. You'll only be there for a little while since the bell is about to ring..but I don't think Mrs. Jones would want you to stay and miss even more class time. And I wouldn't want that either." Mrs. Kea smiled at me, standing up and walking around the desk to where Kylie and I stood. "Okay, okay. Thanks Miss." I nodded to her and flashed a grin at Kylie. As I walked out the door I subtly waved to her. She noticed with ease and waved back. Then the door closed and I was alone once again. A sigh escaped my mouth. Seemed I'd been holding my breath for a while. Hm.
I wondered to myself afterwards, on the way to class, what she'd thought of me. I hoped she'd liked me, and my stupid, corny jokes. Because wow..she was really pretty. I was surprised I hadn't melted into the floor while we were walking. And I was surprised she hadn't noticed my red face..but why had my face been red anyways? Why did I like her so much? Kylie seemed so much prettier than any other girl- like a little, pure dove. That sounded weird. But- she was just..perfect. I'd just wanted to grab her hand and..and like..hold it, I guess. Why was I like this? The thoughts and questions whirled around my mind like a hurricane. It was so weird.. I-I didn't have a crush, did I? I couldn't- I was straight. Not..I wasn't- no. I'll just..I'd see her later, and prove to myself that I didn't like her. Easy as that.
"Tui! Where have you been?" My English teacher, Mr. Louis interrupted my internal arguing with his obnoxious voice as I walked into class. "Oh- uh- Mrs. Jones called me into the office to give a..new student a tour." My eyes shifted around the room as I sat down. "Oh. Okay." He sat back down at his desk, probably to play solitaire for the last few minutes of class. The usual.
I placed my bag down on the back of my chair and decided to grab out my laptop. Opening the main pocket of my backpack, I reached in and dug around to find the device. Eventually, after what felt like forever, the computer was on the table and my bag was zipped up again. I flipped open the lid and waited a few seconds. The logo popped up on the bright screen, showing that it was alive. I waited, then logged into my account. A few tabs were still open from the last time I used it. Last term. There was something for social studies, another thing for social studies and the final tab was a YouTube one. I raised an eyebrow and checked that my sound was off before clicking on the last one. Oh. Just some cat video that Guy had shown me. I snorted quietly to myself and watched the video again, feeling slightly nostalgic. It had only been like- two weeks but it felt closer to ages and this video was amazing. Like- so adorable. Kinda like..Kylie-level of adorable.
The bell rang just as the video finished. I closed my laptop and quickly chucked it into my backpack. At the same time, I reached into the bag and found my timetable. Study. Nice. I swung my bag onto my back and stood up, walking out the door. It didn't take long to see Guy, as he was seemingly heading the same direction as me. "Hey, shortie!" I called out, taking two steps and catching up to him with ease. He looked startled, but he laughed it off. "You know how much I hate that, jeez." His hand came into contact with my shoulder and I winced. "Fuck man- calm down with your punches!" I chuckled. "You okay?" We turned around the corner. "Yeah- I'm fine. Just like..school." Guy replied, laughing awkwardly. I agreed and continued walking. My pace was slower than normal so that Guy wouldn't have to run just to keep up with me. Hah, shortass. "So..who was the girl you were with? Jack thought she was cute as hell." He cocked his head to the side and slowed down a little. Meaning I needed to slow down even more. "Oh! Kylie. She's a new student from Britain and I was told to take her on a tiki-tour of the school. Since I'm just that fantastic." I added some fake jazz hands to the end, making Guy snort. "Nice. She gonna be with our group for morning tea?" He asked, scratching his ear. "Yeah, should do. I've just gotta wait for a text from her since she has my number..but I don't have h- fuck!" I was cut off by a door hitting me square in the face. Guy erupted with laughter while I fell back and held my nose. "Shit- fuck up!" I hit him with my shoulder and angrily walked through the door, speeding up slightly. He'd have to jog now.
"Wait for me! You know I'm shorter now!" I laughed between tears as he struggled to keep up with me. Bloody hell..that hurt. That hurt so much.
I eventually slowed down enough for Guy to walk casually. He was out of breath already. "Hey, my stop is here. I've got study." I said, still holding my nose. "Wait really? So do I." One of his genuine smiles spread across his face. "Oh right, we're in the same class." I rolled my eyes, pulling a 'duh' face. After a short pause we fist bumped and walked into the class. The bell rang almost a second after we both sat down. As I grabbed my laptop and sketch book from my bag, the door opened again. It closed lightly and, passing it off as the teacher or another random student, I continued grabbing my things. "Tui." Guy whispered in my ear, nudging my shoulder. I looked over at him, confused . He pointed to the door and I followed his finger.
"Is this..uh, year 13 study?" Kylie asked someone sitting down near the door. In her hand was a piece of paper that looked like a timetable. Wait, Kylie? She- there was no way.. I mean- I hope. Was this real?
"Yeah, it is. Who's your teacher meant to be?" they asked, standing up and looking at the timetable. "Ms. Stevie?" Kylie said, in an uncertain tone. "Yeah, you've got the right class." They sat back down in their seat after pointing Kylie to an empty desk. Guy and I exchanged a look before I whispered loudly. "Kylie..Kylie!" She looked towards us and we made eye contact. A small smile appeared on her face and she quickly walked over to where we sat. Guy and I had been sitting on the class' couch. It had been the only place I sat in English last year, and the year before. As well as where we'd sat in study for the past two terms now. So, obviously we'd claimed it. And now, Kylie was able to claim it with us. Scooting over, Kylie had enough room to sit down. Right next to me.
Fuck, okay then.
"Hi there, stranger." Kylie whispered, smiling at me. Her cheeks had gone a rosy pink colour. "And hey to you- we haven't met." Her hand reached over to Guy, gesturing to him to shake it. Guy took the offer and shook her hand firmly, nodding in reply. I felt my brow furrow at the sight of her shaking someone else's hand. Why was I like this? Was I just jealous? But over what..?
"So what do we uh- do in study..?" Kylie asked after a couple minutes passed. "Well..since it's only the first day, and you're also a new student..just do whatever. Draw, text people, watch YouTube, text me-" I realised what I said and laughed quietly. "Literally anything." Guy added, looking up from a book he already had his nose in. "Oh- okay. Cool." Kylie nodded and folded her legs, reaching into her bag and grabbing out a book. It had a leather- or maybe mole-skin- cover. I couldn't exactly tell. I was no 'expert' on book cover materials so..yeah. Her delicate fingers pulled out a brown ribbon that was being used as a bookmark and opened the book up to a page not very far in. The page was decorated with so many intricate drawings- characters with bouncy and beautiful features, a few cute, stylised animals, eye doodles, a flowery dress design..they all looked so good. "Woah.." My jaw was wide open without me even knowing. "Those are- those are..wow." I looked up at her in awe. She looked away shyly, her cheeks going an even brighter pink. "You're an amazing artist!" I whispered to her. Guy heard the commotion and leant over my shoulder, looking at the page. "Woah!" He exclaimed. "Dude! Those are so good!" A grin spread across his face and his eyes sparkled. "Th-thanks. They're just..some sketches I did last night- hah." She seemed to be unable to stop smiling. "They're perfection!" I grinned at Kylie, still in awe over her drawings. "Thank you.." She said, grabbing a pencil-case from her bag.
The three of us then went back to doing our own, separate things. Guy continued being intrigued by his book, Kylie put her pencil to the paper and sketched some more gorgeous designs and I..well. I didn't really have anything to do. I had my sketchbook, but I didn't wanna copy Kylie. Plus..I didn't want her to see my drawings. Not since she was such an amazing artist herself. I felt like she'd..judge me. I don't know. So, I ended up scrolling through articles on my laptop and overthinking basically everything. Jeez..the fact that her shoulder was only centimetres from mine didn't settle well with my stomach for some reason. It made me feel- like..weird. There's no way to really explain it other than butterflies. But I had no idea why..god, what was she doing to me? It hadn't even been a day yet and I was already thinking all these things about her..not kinky things. Fuck no. That'd be weird. But I wanted to kiss her and..hold her hand. But I wasn't gay- I swear. I liked guys. I swear. It's just that she was different..but I- I don't know. I didn't think I liked her. There was no way. Right? Right!?