It was late evening by the time Abby got home, she found her mother washing dishes by the sink, and immediately she realized that her mother had been crying.
"Is something wrong mom?" She asked, and dropped her backpack on the floor to walked over to the sink.
"No." Her mother said, in a broken voice.
Wrapping her arms around her mother, she kissed her cheeks and said, "I love you mom."
"I know, I love you too." Her mother responded, "you missed dinner, where where you?"
"Sorry mom, I was at the cafe with Clary and forgot about the time." Abby responded apologetically.
"Are you hungry?" Her mother said, "there plenty of left overs, I can fix you a plate."
"Thank you, but I'm not hungry," Abby told her, then she grabbed her backpack and walked away, "don't worry about me, I'm going upstairs to study, if I get hungry I know where to look for food!" She threw over her shoulders, as she climbed the stairs two at a time.
*************
It was a beautiful sun shining day, with a promise of spring in the air. The night before Steven tried but could not sleep, because thoughts of her haunted him. Grabbing his year book from under his bed, he searched the many pages for her picture.
When he found her, he swore under his breath, the girl was a huge mess, he thought, big thick, red rimmed glasses, braided hair and she was wearing a polka dotted pink and yellow dress. She was hideous looking and he wondered why he had wasted his precious time looking for her picture. When he had finally fallen asleep at four in the morning, he dreamt about her.
The next day his iPhone that was laying on top of his nightstand was ringing loudly, "Damn!" Steven cursed, and grabbed it, "What!"
"Why are you yelling?" Christina asked, in a soft tone of voice, "don't tell me you're still sleeping Steven, we are suppose to meet Jack and Laura at the burger joint for lunch!"
"Go without me!" Steven said, annoyed that his sleep was interrupted. Turning the ringer off his iPhone, he then threw it on the floor and closed his eyes.
It was well after three o clock when he next awoke, and had jumped out of bed to head straight for the shower. He barely slept all night because images of her haunted him in his sleep. Who is that girl, he thought, that had this much power over him.
He dressed, grabbed his keys and left his room, his mother looked at him suspiciously, as he entered the kitchen.
"Steven do you have a hangover again?" There was a trace of concern in his mother's voice. Steven ignored her question, opened the refrigerator, and grabbed the bottle of orange juice. "I asked you a question!"
Bringing the bottle to his lips, Steven drank a good amount of orange juice before placing it back inside the refrigerator. "Stop asking me dumb questions!"
His mother watched him put his shoes on and exit the house, she let out a long, harsh breath and walked over to the kitchen window to peer outside. She witnessed with great interest as his current girlfriend pulled up to the curb, and jump out of her car. She looked very upset.
"Why are you ignoring me!" She yelled, as she walked around her car and stood in front of Steven, "I've been calling you all day!"
"Yeah well stop calling me!" Steven yelled back at her, "you are annoying!"
Christina's eyes filled with tears, "Why are you being so mean to me, I don't deserve this kind of treatment from you!"
"Look," Steven's voice softened, "I need to be somewhere and I'm already late, please go home!"
"You ditched me at lunchtime and now you want to ditch me again?" She asked, in a broken voice, "have you forgotten that today is the day we have planned a double date with Dereck and Suzan?"
"Sorry but I must cancel for tonight," he told her, "some other times perhaps we can go, now please step aside and let me pass, I have pressing matters to take care of."
Christina was stunned that he dismissed her as if she meant nothing to him, "Tell me the truth Steven, are you seeing someone else?"
Rolling his eyes, Steven stepped around her and walked away. He was getting sick and tired of her and wanted her to leave him alone. Getting in his car, he stepped on the accelerator and drove away.
"Damn you!" Christina cried out after him.
Stevens mother watched as Christina got back in her car and took off. Steven is heading down the wrong path, she thought, I will have a word with his father as soon as he returns from his business trip.
*************
Parking his car outside of Cafe Premier, Steven walked to the glass doors and pulled them open. As always, the cafe was packed with young adults waiting in line for their coffee, while others were sitting in groups studying together.
Steven scanned the room for his friends and found one of his buddies seated at a nearby booth. "Who else is coming?" Steven asked, when he walked up to the table and sat himself opposite his friend.
Anthony looked up from his books, "No one as far as I know, how did your lunch date go, did you break up with her?"
"Not yet," Steven replied, "but she will get hers and very soon!"
Placing his science book down, Anthony asked curiously, "Are you sure you want to break up with her, I mean, she is the most beautiful girl in the school, and you know all the boys want to date her and are waiting like vultures for you two to break up!"
Leaning in closer to his friend, Steven said in a low tone of voice, "She might be the prettiest girl in the entire school, but she has slept with the entire football team!"
"How do you know for sure," Anthony asked, "it could be just rumors, don't jump to conclusions without proof!"
"I walked into the locker room last week, I had forgotten my iPhone on the bench and I found her on her knees giving Andrew a blow job!" Steven admitted, "I grabbed my phone and quietly left."
"What!" Anthony said, not believing his ears, "why didn't you smash Andrews face in?"
"Because I don't give a fuck who she blows," Steven told him, "I don't love her, never had and never will!"
Leaning back in his chair, Anthony looked at Steven with wide eyes, "but she's so beautiful...."
"She's a whore," Steven said evenly, "I can't respect her."
"To be honest, you cheated on her many times." Anthony pointed out, "you are a man-whore yourself."
"I'm a man and can do as I please," Steven replied, "she is a woman and should not be sleeping around like that."
Anthony could not help but laugh at his friend, "You sound like a male chauvinist pig, it's men like you that give us all a bad name. So who you gonna go after now?"
"Well there's Lisa and Carol, Betty and Katherine, and that blonde chick Miranda, I wouldn't mind getting in her pants, and I wouldn't even have to bother going after them, because they are all after me!"
Anthony rolled his eyes, his friend was conceited, he thought, but he did have good reason to be so, he was a great catch. "You will have to break up with her first before any one of those girls would date you, everyone knows you two are an item." Anthony explained, "but you may want to rethink your decision, Christina is by far the most popular and beautiful girl in the school, and to top that off, she's crazy in love with you!"
"I'm done with her, I will tell her Monday that I don't want her anymore."
"Aren't you supposed to go to the spring dance with her?" Anthony asked, "shouldn't you at least wait until after the dance to break up with her, it's only a two weeks away?"
Steven considered his friends words for a moment, "Maybe I might do just that, it would save me the hassle of choosing another girl to go the dance at such short notice."
"But first and foremost, you need to put thoughts of all women aside and find someone to help you study for your math test, you might be an honor student Steven, but you suck at calculus and if you don't get a good grade on your test, your perfect gpa score will ruin your chance of getting into Princeton next fall!"
***************
Abby spent her Saturday at Clair's house studying, it was a long day, but it was well worth it. "We better get an A on this test!" Clair said, "I'm so sick and tired of studying, I can't wait for this school year to end!"
Putting her book down, Abby studied Clair for a moment before she spoke, "Have you asked Jeff to the dance yet?"
Clair shook her head in answer, "I'm scared."
"You have no reason to be scared Claire," Abby told her, "I'm sure he will say yes."
"How can you be so sure Abby," Claire asked, he has never mentioned the dance and it's only two weeks away!"
"Then take control of the situation and ask him to the dance!" Abby lifted herself off her chair and grabbed her backpack from the floor, "I bet he would love to go with you to the dance but is afraid to tell you!"
Turning her head away so her friend would not notice the uncertainty in her eyes, she placed all her books inside her bag and then threw it over her shoulders, "It's getting late, I have to head on home now."
"Should I ask my mother to drive you home?" Claire asked.
Abby shook her head and walked away, "It's a short walk home and I need the fresh air."
Walking down Oleander street, Abby's appreciating gaze took in all the flowering cherry trees that had bloomed. She stopped for a second and closed her eyes inhaling the spring scent in the air when she heard someone honking their car.
Opening her eyes, she turned her head sideways only to find Steven in his red convertible smiling at her. Ignoring him, she walked away at a fast pace, but Steven followed her and honked his car many times.
"Stop that!" She yelled at him, "it will annoy the neighborhood!"
Steven pulled up to the curb and got out of his car, "I need a word with you." He said lazily, he had decided to ask the clown girl to help him study for his math test. He knew that she was one of the smartest girl in school, and although he knew his math very well, he decided to use that as an excuse to get it know her, she intrigued him for some reason.
"Well I don't want to talk to you so go away!" She told him, and walked away.
Stunned that she had the audacity to walk away from him, something that never happened to him before, he grabbed her by the arm and whirled her around, "Wait, I just want to ..."
"What part of my words did you not understand," she sneered, "I said go away!"
"Are you serious?" He asked, not believing his ears, no girl had ever denied him anything before now.
"Yes!" She called out over her shoulders, as she walked away eager to be rid of him.
It took a moment for Steven to collect his scattering thoughts, before he climbed back into his convertible and followed her. "You might want to rethink your decision, you will never get this opportunity in your life ever again, talk to me!"
Anger gripped Abby, who did this boy think he was! She stopped and whirled around, "I don't talk to strangers!"
"I'm not a stranger!"
"Then what is my name?" She asked, as she waited for a response, secretly hoping that he knew her name, but he only stared at her speechless.
She wondered, as she walked away why she was disappointed that he didn't know her name, she was a nobody and he was gorgeous, why would he know her name and why was he taking time out of his life to talk with her, she wondered.
**************