Listening to Cynthia talk and gush about Colby Mariano was like music to my ears. Oh yes, it was like bad rap music that almost made my ears bleed, or a cat's nails against a chalkboard. I tried really hard to block her voice and to not listen, but when Cynthia Masters talked, you have no choice but to listen. She would get in your face and annoy the crap out of you. What made the situation worse was that her cheerleader friends all joined in the talk, asking questions like how hot Colby Mariano was, commenting on how sexy his name sounded, why he moved here to Chicago, etcetera. I was surprised they had not yet caught a glimpse of the "hot piece of man meat" (Cynthia's words, not mine). Their hot guy radar must be broken or something. Kyle and the other jocks tried to cut in to get them to stop talking, but it was no use—they were absolutely no match against the cheerleaders. Why they even tried, I had no idea.
So when the bell rang, signaling lunch’s end, I felt sheer happiness flooded my whole being. I stood up, and with Cynthia blurting out “He’s a god!” one more time (she said that about fifty times already), she sprang up her seat and gave me a hug. I rolled my eyes as I hugged her back. Last time I checked Cynthia didn’t even believe in a god. I waved to the other people at the table, and proceeded to walk to my next class.
I barely made it out of the cafeteria when I heard someone called out my name.
“Kayla!”
I turned and saw Kyle jogging towards me. I raised my eyebrows. “Hey, Kyle. This isn’t the way to your class, is it?” I asked while adjusting the strap of my bag on my shoulder. He was a junior too, but I had not once seen him walk this way after lunch time.
He shook his head and fell on a step beside me. “Nope,” he said. His right hand clutched a notebook while his left was inside his jeans pocket. I noticed how his strides were slow and sure, but very confident. It was so manly, I thought.
“You have some business with the principal?” I asked. We were going to pass the office to my next class anyway.
Kyle smiled and shook his head again. “Nope,” was again his reply, popping the "p."
I looked up at him, my eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. “Okay…” my voice trailed off. Now I understood why Tyler sometimes calls me Tiny. My five-foot-three frame was comparatively small to Kyle’s six-foot-two. I felt like a midget walking next to him. See I never really thought I was “tiny.” Yes Tyler was taller than me, but he was just around five-foot-ten or so, so I never really felt that small. Well now… What a revelation.
Kyle let out a chuckle. “Why, can’t I walk you to class?” He asked looking back at me with his pearly whites in view, eyes all sparkly. How his head was nodded down to look at me cemented that fact that yes, I was short. Plus for every stride of his long legs, I'd have to take three steps. Curse them long legs.
I just shrugged, but deep inside I couldn’t help but feel surprised. “You’re going to be late,” I pointed out as I pulled on my ponytail, tightening it. “Plus I am perfectly capable to getting to class by myself, unharmed and in one piece.”
You could just imagine my mortification when I tripped over my untied shoelaces, right after I said those words.
What a perfect moment for my clumsy side to surface.
Luckily Kyle caught my shoulders before my face becomes friendly with the floor. His grip on my shoulders were firm, but it did not hurt that much. I was sure that falling flat on my face on the floor was going to hurt much much more than a firm grip of humongous hands on my shoulders.
“You okay?” He asked, concerned. He was trying to stifle a laugh though, and my face was now burning with embarrassment. He loosened his hold on my shoulders, his palms just resting gently over them.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I answered quickly. I must be as red as the reddest thing in the world right now. I turned away from Kyle, started to walk again and stopped to stoop down and tie my shoelaces, and walked again. I could feel Kyle’s eyes on my back, watching my movements. He probably was shaking with silent laughter as I was wishing for the ground to open up and swallow me whole. Normally I wouldn’t really care about what other people thought, but for cheese’s sake! I almost made out with the floor! And of course I just had to do that when a good looking guy was walking me to class. Sometimes I think I have an alter ego whose sole purpose in life was to embarrass me.
I applauded him (in my head, of course) because he was able to walk me to my class without laughing his butt off. If it was Tyler that was with me, he would also not let me fall flat on my face, but sure as hell he’d be laughing his way to oblivion.
“Thanks,” I muttered, avoiding looking at Kyle as I walked quickly inside my music class. I was already seated when Kyle’s head popped through the door. His eyes scanned the room and when they landed on me, he smiled.
“See you later, Kayla,” Kyle called out as he lifted his hand, giving me a small wave. He then turned to leave. I bet he was going to sprint to his next class now. Being a basketball player that wouldn’t be a problem for him I guess. Slightly lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice some of the girls in class giving me jealous stares.
That was when I turned slightly to my right and saw a girl giving me the evil eye. I snapped out of my thoughts. Really? How many jealous and angry stares would I get today? First with Mr. Creep-o, then now with Kyle. I shook my head and rested my chin on my hands, turning away from evil eye girl. Luckily Mr. Reese, one of my favorite professors, walked in. That broke the spell of the jealous stares as my classmates started ogling the extremely attractive teacher in front of the class.
Thank you, Mr. Reese.
* * * *
Less my meeting with creep-o, my extremely graceful move that involved acrobatics with my shoelaces, and the jealous stares, the rest of the day was quite uneventful. And I only had that creep-o (yes, that was my nickname for Colby Mariano now) as a classmate for first period. I could live with that, I guess. I was leaning against Tyler’s car, waiting for the doofus to arrive. He was my ride for the whole week as my car was at the shop. Engine problems.
I closed my eyes as a breeze flew by, lifting my ponytail slightly and making me shiver. My eyes still closed, I started to hum Fix You by Coldplay quietly, one of my most favorite songs in the whole entirety of the universe.
I opened my eyes a few seconds later, still humming. Suddenly my humming stopped and I let out a small screech. Standing in front of me was Kyle, a soft smile on his face. I felt my cheeks begin to redden as I remembered my incident earlier in the day. Kyle seemed to have forgotten about it though, being all smiles.
I lifted the corner of my mouth slightly in an attempt to smile, my cheeks flaming still. “Hey,” I said. Well, more like squeaked. I winced slightly and cleared my throat. Please, alter ego whose sole purpose in life was to embarass me, don't show your horns now.
“You hum well,” Kyle commented. “And nice song choice.”
I raised my eyebrows and smiled for real, alter ego forgotten. “You like Coldplay?”
He walked and stood beside. He chuckled. “Who doesn't? And Fix You is one of my favorite songs.”
“Mine too!” I chirped, smiling widely. He smiled back and said, “Awesome.” He leaned into Tyler's car as well, and as he did, his arm brushed against mine slightly. The contact made me smile, it was a nice feeling.
"So," Kyle started, breaking the silence, "got any plans for the weekend?" He dragged one sneaker-cladded foot across the pavement, his eyes following the direction of his foot.
I let out a breath. I didn't even realize it was Friday already. "No, none yet. Probably just stay at home and watch movies, pig out with my mom," I replied. "How about you?"
Kyle shrugged and with a grin said, "Basketball."
We shared a comfortable silence after, just standing beside each other, until I noticed Tyler has yet to show up. Where the heck was that idiot? I bent forward to look past Kyle at the school’s front door. No sign of the moron. I wondered what was taking him so long.
Kyle cleared his throat as I leaned back against Ty’s car. He patted the car’s hood, “Isn’t this Simmons’s car? You waiting for him?”
“Yep,” I answered. “He’s my ride for today and next week. My car’s rebelling against me right now.”
He nodded. “I see,” he said. He looked like he was about to say something, but then a loud whistle cut him short. Our heads turned to the direction of the sound, and behold, the world’s biggest mistake was making his way toward us. Okay I should really stop calling Ty names. After all, he was kind enough to drive me around. Of course he complained (and whined) for about ten minutes before finally agreeing. And of course me buying him pizza was part of the deal.
Kyle was the first one to greet Tyler. “Simmons,” he said with a nod. Typical guy greeting.
“Pennington,” Tyler nodded back. As he reached his car, he turned to me and said, “You ready to go Kay?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve been ready forty three years ago,” I muttered sarcastically.
Tyler rolled his eyes back at me. “I didn’t know you were that old. And I’m here now, aren’t I?”
Kyle shifted his feet awkwardly, his hands shoved into his front pockets. “Well, I’ll go ahead then,” he said. “You guys be careful on the way home. Later Simmons.” He nodded again at Tyler and lifted his back from the car before turning to me with a small smile. “I’ll see you next week, Kayla.”
“Yeah, see you. Take care on the way home too,” I replied. With that, Kyle walked away toward his car. Tyler just watched the whole thing with a bored expression, twirling his keys in his right index finger. Once Kyle was out of the earshot, I glared at Tyler.
“Where the heck were you?” I asked irritably while I walked over the passenger’s side of the car. “And what was up with the rude display just now?”
Tyler was already opening the driver’s side door, and upon hearing my question, his eyebrows shot up. He looked at me with narrowed eyes. “What rude display?”
I sighed as I popped the car door open and slipped inside, Tyler following my actions. “You acted as if Kyle was not even here a moment ago.”
“I greeted him,” he mumbled as he started the car and maneuvered his way out of the parking lot. “Why were you hanging out with him anyway?”
“He’s a friend, sort of,” I answered, still irritated. “You don’t have to like him, but you could’ve acted even slightly friendly.” It wasn’t in Tyler’s character to be rude.
Tyler didn’t answer. He just kept quiet and kept driving the whole ten minutes until he pulled to a stop in front of my house. Once he hit the brakes, he let out a breath, which stopped me from opening my door.
“Got something to say now, Ty?” I asked, one eyebrow raised at him.
“He’s bad news, Kay,” he muttered, glaring out the windshield. “He’s not as nice as he seems to be.”
I rolled my eyes. How many times have I heard this speech? I swear to God, Tyler was worse than my dad. Well, when my dad was still alive anyway. And he never got to play that overprotective, scary dad part. Now I'm beginning to think that Tyler was going for some kind of replacement daddy award. And he was barely eighteen years old.
"You do realize that you've said that about all the other guys that you've seen me hang around with, right?" I said. He shot me an annoyed look and I fought the urge to roll my eyes again.
"I'm sure about this one, Kay," he said firmly. "Just be careful around him."
"Fine fine," I muttered, just to get him to shut up. He had never been right, not even once, with all these judgements he put on guys that talk to me. Plus, I just really want to go inside my house and change into comfy sweats and my favorite comfy shirt. He seemed to relax at what I said, so I thanked him for the ride and climbed out of the car. I was already halfway to my front door when Tyler called my name. I turned around, eyebrows raised.
"Tomorrow. I want pepperoni!" Tyler yelled through his car's open window. And with that, he drove off.
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I know this chapter isn't much, and it could be tons better. That's all I can manage now though. Sorry for the mistakes, if there are any. Thank you so much to all the readers, voters, and commentators haha.
Please vote and comment (but only if you want to!)
Much love,
Myca