Allison Braidford
Monday, November 16th
I pushed the rock-hard chicken nuggets back and forth on the black styrofoam tray. The stench from the overflowing garbage can that stood less than two yards away from me up my nose, forcing out what little hunger I still had. People stared at me left and right, probably murmuring about how much of a loser I was for sitting alone or how much of a loser I was for trusting a boy who ended up cheating in me with my best friend.
I wanted to cry, I really did. It seemed as though my world was collapsing onto me. Andrea and Dylan sat with the popular cheerleaders and football players. Dylan's arm was draped lazily over Andrea's shoulders, while still making flirty eyes at Chelsea who sat across from him. All of my other friends were the friends of Amber and Andrea. I didn't have to worry about making new friends because I always had Amber and Andrea. So with the two of them basically out of my life, I was a loser.
Andrea occasionally shot me apologetic glances, but now that I think of it, they are really just masked empty stares that are made to seem thoughtful. She is dead to me.
My mom always told me that even in the worst situations, you can always make it worse by not being confident. But as hard as I tried, I couldn't bring myself to hold my head up or even make eye contact with anyone. It was me against the world and the world was winning.
"Hey, mind if we sit with you?" I look up to see a friendly-looking brunette and and a less-friendly looking redhead.
"Sure, I'm not expecting anyone," I drop my backpack on the ground to make room for them to sit.
They slide into the seats and study me intensely. "You're the girl who just got cheated on by the quarterback, right?" The redhead asks, bluntly.
The brunette roughly elbows her, "You can't just ask that, Aspyn, it's really rude." She turns to me, "I'm sorry about that. I'm Aubrey and this is Aspyn."
I can never escape the A's, can I?...
"I'm Ally. And yeah, I broke up with Dylan. But don't feel obligated to feel bad for me, he was an ass." That managed to make both of them laugh a little bit.
"Well, we just thought you looked really sad, sitting here alone. So we thought we should keep you company and maybe get to know you." Aubrey says.
"She wanted to come over here, not me. But Aubrey is the only one who can put up with me, so I had to come," Aspyn clarifies. I don't know why, but I like her style.
"Thank you, I appreciate it. It really sucks being looked down upon by the rest of the school because of something that wasn't even your fault," I confess.
"We know the feeling. Most people consider us unapproachable nerds and stereotype us to be snooty and bland, like a bran muffin," Aspyn saltily says.
"But we're used to it, so it doesn't bother us anymore. Anyway, enough about us, what sports do you play?" Aubrey changes the dreary subject to something a bit more happy.
"Well, I play volleyball but I sometimes play tennis with my parents. I'm on the school volleyball team," I explain.
"That's cool. I've always wanted to play volleyball, but I suck at it. Aspyn once sprained her wrist from hitting the ball at a weird angle. Never again," Aubrey and I laugh at Aspyn's embarrassed expression.
"Hey, can I have your number? Maybe we can hang out sometime," Aubrey asks.
"Sure," she hands me her phone and I type in my number while she does he same on my phone.
"I'll just text Aspyn your number so we can talk. The bells about to ring, I think," Aubrey gets up and puts on her floral blue backpack and so does Aspyn.
On cue, the bells rings and students flood out of the cafeteria. I can't suppress the smile on my face from stopping my loner streak and making friends.
The rest of the day continues on as drearily as possible. But I keep my head up and try to keep positive. Despite my greatest efforts, I still anticipate going home and getting out of this hèll-hole.
The time finally comes when I get off of the bus in the neighborhood. I say thanks to the bus driver and put on my headphone. I log onto Spotify and play the 'Pop Hits' playlist. I gently bob my head to Perfect by One Direction. It may be basic, but it's a good song.
I know the route home by heart and the sidewalk is as straight as an arrow, so I just close my eyes and enjoy the music.
I am just about seven houses from home when a force knocks me to the ground. I brace myself for the fall, but it never come. Instead, I land on a hard warm surface.
"What the fûck just happened?" I said breathlessly as I stared down at the abnormally handsome boy underneath me. Before I knew it, I was on top of an attractive stranger. Judging from his surprised sky-blue eyes, he was just as startled.
"You...you...you fell on me?" The mysterious boy answered. Though, it came out as more of a question than an answer. I immediately felt bad for crushing this perfect specimen.
"Oh, I'm really sorry. Are you hurt?" I scramble off of him, in an attempt to save some of what little pride I still harvested. As he stood up, I could feel his eyes on me. I looked up and studied him for injuries.
His perfectly tanned skin was uncut, unbruised and unscratched, thankfully. My wandering eyes couldn't help but take in his breathtaking appearance. His dark brown hair contrasted his light eyes. Contacts maybe? I was so deep in thought that I was startled when he cleared his throat.
He reached out a hand and flashed a friendly grin, "I'm Alexander, but most people call me Xander. Or X-Man, well, thats just what my best friend calls me. If anyone else called me that, I would probably punch them, so no one else calls me that. But you could call me that, if you want to. I swear, I wouldn't punch you. I would probably punch someone if they punched you, but I would punch you because you're face is too pretty. Wait, I mean wouldn't. I wouldn't punch you. My mom taught me to never lay a hand on a female. Obviously. But just don't be alarmed if I punch someone in the face for calling me X-Man....I'm sorry, am I rambling?" He laughed awkwardly at my amused expression. I took his hand and shook it awkwardly.
"Kind of, but it's fine. That's what I always do when I'm nervous. Well, I'm not implying that you're nervous right now, but that's just when I ramble a lot. I mean, you might be nervous but it would be totally fine...see? I ramble a lot," I was flustered and I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks as we both laughed at our awkwardness.
"I'm Allison, but you can call me Ally. I don't have any cool nicknames that my friends call me, so Ally is all there is," I introduce myself.
I hear him whisper my name under his breath, making my heart flutter for some reason. When he looks back up at me, the ghost of a smile is lingering on his lips.
"I am really sorry for...falling on top of you," I pull out a notecard and pen from my backpack and write down my number, "if you have any serious injuries that need medical attention, just call me and I'll cover the cost." I hand him the notecard and pick up my phone and headphones that fell when I did. Throughout our whole encounter, I didn't even notice that they had fallen. That's how nervous and concentrated I was.
"Well, Ally, it was very nice falling for you. I hope we can do it again sometime. Maybe I'll see you around sometime." His eyes full of hope.
"Yeah, have a great rest of your day, Xander," I wave as I start walking toward my house. I walk a few yards before I hear him reply.
"You too, Ally."
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