Yes & No

Nice Meeting "You"

"Hey." Becca greeted me as I walked down the hallway, towards the girls' bathroom.

"Oh, hey. What's up?"

"Nothing, just wondering how my best friend is feeling a day after confronting Blake." She said as she walked to my side. When I looked to see her expression, I could tell that she was curious about something but I had little to no idea about what. This only meant one thing: she was going to question me until I told her everything she wants to know.

"Blake ticks me off." I said, avoiding eye contact with her.

"He's one of the many guys that tick you off, Emma. But how come what's-his-name... Derek strikes you as 'an exception'?"

"Darrel. His name's Darrel." I corrected her as I turned and headed into the ladies room.

"Whatever. Why is it that after years of being surrounded by decent looking guys, any of who could have potentially been your first boyfriend, you like the brand name obsessed, clumsy, new guy?"

"I just do." I said as I quickly rushed into the closest bathroom stall, locking the door behind me.

"That's not an answer."  Becca loudly said from outside my stall. By the way, whenever Becca raises her voice, it's because she's irritated.

"Do I really have to say?"

"Well, I'd like to know..."

"Know what? What is there to know?" I asked, knowing that this would irritate her even more.

"Give me a few reasons why you like Darrel." She flat out asked, startling me a bit.

Fazed by this request, I sat down on the toilet, and while I did my business, I thought about a few reasons why I like Darrel. He is cute, seems honest, has manners (May I remind you that he is the first guy to say sorry to me in years.), and he has a different side to him that, with time, I will discover. Not to mention, he was outgoing and it was sort of refreshing having a conversation (An argument, really.) with him.

"He's cute, seems honest... trustworthy, has manners, an ... I liked talking to him."

Becca didn't say anything until I exited the stall and walked to the nearest sink to wash my hands.

"Wow..." Becca said, staring at me in disbelief. Even though she seemed shocked, I knew that she knew this moment would happen: the moment when I'd finally admit to liking someone.

"Shocked much?" I asked, grinning slightly.

"Not really. I'm just psyched for you." Hearing Becca admit this made me smile. I'd never realized how important it was to her (And myself.) to admit I like someone. It was never something I really expected for Becca to think about, but, now that I know she finds my interest with Darrel important, I somewhat expected her to care.

Without wasting any time, Becca scuff-walked to my side and pushed out of the bathroom while saying, "Emma, now I'm going to make sure you and the new guy hook up. Even if I think he's weird."

I couldn't help but smile at how happy Becca was for me. I am really lucky to have a friend like her.

When we reached our lockers, Becca unlocked hers and pulled out a loose leaf pad. "I want you to write down everything that has to do with Darrel. If you talk to him, write down what you two talk about. If you see him doing something, observe him and write down your observations-"

"So you want me to stalk him?" I asked, taking the loose leaf pad from her.

"No, of course not. That would seem desperate. And you, Emma, are not desperate." Becca explained as she grabbed her books from her locker. Leaning up against my locker, I glanced down the hallway to see a un-familiar handsome face in the distance. It belonged to a man about six feet high. He had dark brown eyes, a strong jaw line, and thin lips. With tousled brown hair, he looked like he could be a teen idol. But, he wasn't dressed in casual clothing. He was dressed like... a... teacher. (?)

"Why'd it get so quiet?" Becca asked as she turned to look at what had caught everyone's attention. When she saw who everyone was looking at, her jaw dropped along with the books she held in her hands.

When I didn't expect things to get anymore unrealistic, they did.

He, as in the dreamy-looking teacher-guy-person stopped, picked up Becca's books and handed them to her. "I must draw a lot of attention." He said, smiling at Becca. Becca immediately raised her jaw and smiled. "Sure do." She responded, turning around to shut her locker. Trying to divert everyone's attention, I stepped out into the middle of the hallway and whistled. This made everyone look at me, either annoyed or curious. Even Becca and teacher-guy-person turned around to look at me. "Get to homeroom people!" I screamed.

Noise resumed and then everyone except Becca, the gorgeous stranger, and I waited for the conversation between the two to continue. Seeing that there was some difficulty as to how Becca could continue the conversation, I walked to her side and asked him," Name?"

"You can call me Mr. Hutch."

"I'm Emma and this," I said, turning to Becca." Is Becca."

"So you're a teacher?" Becca asked, looking a bit disappointed.

"Yes, I'm the new English teacher for juniors and seniors." Mr. Hutch said, looking at me, then Becca. When I realized how they were looking at each other, I felt like it was the start of something interesting. And illegal.

"We should really get going. It was very nice meeting you, Mr. Hutch." I said, elbowing Becca in the side. Without looking at me, she elbowed me back. I groaned under my breath.

"Pleasure's all mine," He said, looking at me and then Becca for a bit. I noticed he was looking at Becca's blushing cheeks. "I really should get to my class, as well. See you two later." And then he was gone and Becca and I were staring at each other, emotionless.

"Becca?" I asked, grabbing her shoulder and shaking her a bit, just to snap her out of her emotionless funk.

"Yeah?"

"You're going to need this more than I do." I grabbed her hand, pushed the loose leaf pad into her grasp, and headed to homeroom.