I made my way through the hall, my blond ponytail bopping behind me. A few students smiled at me as I passed them, and I forced back a smile. It took a considerable amount of effort as I was still freaking annoyed by a certain creeper by the name of Colby Mariano.
I finally reached my locker. Spinning my lock combination, I popped it open and shoved my heavy chemistry book inside. I tried to psych myself up as I took out my calculus notebook. I thought I might not have any classes with the creeper anymore. I was not that cruel to have more than one class with him. Or was I? I stopped and thought of every cruel thing I did the past year.
Deep in thought, I stared intently at my open locker. There was the time when I squeezed toothpaste into my older brother Matthew’s boxers. Well he told his best friend Josh that I had a crush on him, so the toothpaste in the boxers was definitely justified. Then there was the time where I cut off a part (okay, a chunk) of Matthew’s hair. It was an accident, really. See I was aiming for a particular part of his eyebrows when he just had to move and I snipped off a piece (chunk) of his precious hair. Come to think of it, Matthew has been a target of my cruelty for the past year. I love my brother really, but sometimes he’s such a pain in the butt. And playing pranks on him was fun. Oh damn I had been cruel!
I was so focused on ticking off my cruel doings I didn’t notice anyone standing near me until there was a sound of someone clearing his throat, right behind me. My heart accelerated at the sound, and I whirled around, in the process making that someone’s face come in contact with my thick ponytail.
“Jeez Kayla, I don’t eat hair you know.”
My eyes narrowed slightly. “It’s not my fault that you’re standing so close behind me. You just can’t stay away, can you Ty?”
Tyler snorted. "Yeah right. As if, Kay." He rolled his eyes before looking at me. "What were you doing anyway? Did you somewhat find your life's purpose inside your locker to be looking at it the way you were looking at it?"
I rolled my eyes in response before turning around, making sure my long ponytail hit Tyler again in the face and closed my locker shut.
"Damnit Kay, you got me in the eye!" Tyler whined. Sure enough, him rubbing one of his baby blues irritably was the sight that greeted me when I turned to face him. Like I could really hit his eye. He was tall enough for my ponytail to only hit him in the nose, at most. I certainly didn't swing my ponytail that high. If I did I'd have a headache right now.
"Oh man up Simmons," I replied, stuffing my calculus notebook in my bag. I looked over at Ty, hands on my hips. Tyler Simmons is one of my closest friends. He's definitely one of the people I feel most comfortable with at school. His floppy blond hair and bright baby blues make him look super cute and adorable. Too bad he acts like a twelve year old sometimes. Okay, most of the time.
"I am a man!" Tyler whined again as he crossed his arms over his chest. See what I mean?
I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and he scoffed. "Fine, fine, I'll stop whining. Let's just get to class."
At least he admitted he was whining. And as much as Tyler acting this way annoyed me, I was grateful for the distraction his childish acts provided.
With that, we walked to our Calculus classroom. Ty hated Calculus, but I loved it. I mean, derivatives and integrals. What was there not to love? And no, I'm not being sarcastic, this is serious.
And seriously, I was hoping to not have another class with Colby Mariano.
Taking my seat beside Tyler, I waited and watched as student after student piled into the classroom. I drummed my fingers against my desk, feeling a bit restless. Finally the bell rung, and Mrs. Pines walked in. No sign of the creeper yet, but it wasn't until we reached about a fourth of the time that I felt really relaxed. No Colby Mariano for second period. There is a God.
* * * *
The day zoomed past and soon it was lunch. I had not had an encounter with creep-o since first period Chemistry, which was a good sign. Now a major concern of mine was to fill my already complaining stomach. Boy was I hungry.
I usually had lunch with Tyler, but he had some essay for English Literature that he had to write. Typical Ty, cramming the last possible minute. Sometimes though he just uses his baby blues to get him out of things. Like last year, when we had art together. We were supposed to carve something out of a bar of soap. Ty forgot to hand in his assignment, and with the teacher being a substitute and a young woman, Ty just opened his baby blues really wide and made up an excuse of his masterpiece being used for his dog's bath by accident. Poor teacher immediately sucked into those blue depths. Ty didn't even own a dog. His literature teacher was a balding old man though, so I was sure the baby blues won't work this time.
I opened the door to the cafeteria and immediately went over to the line. I needed food. Any food. I needed to be fed. You get the point.
Finally I got my turn and loaded my tray with food (well only the edible looking ones). After paying I turned and scanned the area for a free table. Now I don't usually have a problem of finding a table during lunch. Like I've mentioned before, I was treated fairly well by everyone. My eyes fell to the center tables-- the popular tables. All the jocks, cheerleaders, and the cool kids take the tables at the center. I've sit there a few times, having been invited by Cynthia Masters, my cheerleader friend. My eyes dragged themselves to the far right, where the nerds flock. To the left, there were goths, emos and skater punks. I shook my head.
The cafeteria. High school had never been pictured so perfectly.
"Kay! Over here!"
My eyes snapped back to the center tables. Cynthia was smiling and waving like a madwoman, motioning for me to come sit at her table. I smiled in return and made my way toward her. I guess I was eating with the populars today.
I walked over to where Cynthia and a couple of other cheerleaders were seated, clutching the tray in my hand. In their table also sat Kyle Pennington, the school’s star basketball player, along with other jocks on the basketball team. Go figure. Kyle’s a nice guy though, as far as I knew.
I sat down on a chair next to Cynthia. Dropping my tray carefully on the table, I smiled at everyone saying “Hey guys!” The universal greeting. Or so I think.
A chorus of hey’s followed. Cynthia, who was the one who called me over, started to talk to the person next to her (which was obviously not me). Typical Cynthia. I whistled quietly. The jock beside me stood up excusing himself, and when I looked to my right, Kyle was there.
“Hey Kayla,” he said in a friendly tone, flashing his set of pearly whites. To have teeth that white should be a crime in my book. I would've shielded my eyes, but that would be impolite.
“Hey Kyle,” I smiled back. “How’s basketball going?”
He shrugged then placed his hands on the table. “So far, so good,” was all he said. His brown hair was cut short and his chocolate brown eyes held their usual sparkle. That was one of the things I noticed immediately about Kyle. His eyes actually sparkled. My eyes were about as sparkly as gravel. How unfair was that?
His hands began a drumming pattern against the table, slightly rattling my tray of food. I picked up a fry and ate, nodding my head. “That’s good,” I said after I swallowed my fry.
“Yup,” he said. “Practices are getting more brutal every day.” He actually sounded enthusiastic about it. Yeah brutal practices, how delightful. I just smiled and nodded my head some more. I gestured at my food, a silent question for Kyle if he minded if I started to eat. He smiled and shook his head, still drumming his hands against the table. “Go ahead,” he said. “You look like you’re starving.”
“Whatever gave you that idea?” I asked with a laugh. A fork in my hand, I started to attack my spaghetti and meatballs.
Cynthia finally turned to me with a big smile on her face. “Kayla! I just have the most fabulous news!” Her blue-grey eyes were shining.
“You’re getting a new car?” I asked between bites. Kyle was still sitting beside me, and although he was still focused on perfecting the art of table drumming, I could feel his curiosity regarding Cynthia’s fabulous news.
“No silly,” Cynthia said. “That would be awesome though,” she said dreamily, probably thinking about a shiny new pink convertible. Then her face looked focused again. “Anyway, the new guy is in my history class, and he is absolutely gorgeous!” She gushed, flipping her black hair over her shoulder.
I paused in mid bite, feeling an eye roll on the way. See, as much as I was okay with hanging out with the populars, sometimes I couldn’t handle all the gushes and swoons. And heaven forbid the squeals and squeaks. Especially when it was about hot guys. I stole a sideways glance at Kyle and saw him rolling his eyes. I almost giggled. Guess I was not alone in this.
When my mind fully understood what she said, my eyes narrowed. She had said the new guy right? Which meant…
“His name is Colby Mariano,” Cynthia continued. “He is so sexy!”
Oh crap.
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Thank you for reading! :)