"And that's when Shakespeare..." Our boring English teacher, Mr. French-something was in the middle of a boring lesson when the bell for lunch rang. All the kids filed out in an un-orderly fashion to the lunch room, including me.
After I got some pizza, I was looking for a table. I saw Ryan, Patrick and Spencer at a table with an empty seat next to Ryan. I quickly walked over.
"Hey, is this seat taken?" I asked. Ryan looked up at me before looking down at his pizza quickly.
"Yes," he said, blushing. "Yes, it is."
"What are you talking about?" Spencer asked. "Of course it's not taken." He turned to me. "Go ahead."
I sat down triumphantly before I started eating my pizza.
"So is this the Spencer who's eating flowers?" I asked after swallowing.
"Uhm, no," Patrick said. "It's just this crazy animal that lurks around the house. Spencer just named it after himself." As he spoke, he waved his hand nonchalantly. I had a feeling that what he said was a lie, but I decided to let it go because I'm just that nice.
"So why do you guys live in the woods?" I asked, trying to make conversation.
"It's a nice getaway from the city," Ryan said silently, finding something extremely interesting in his pizza.
"We live in the suburbs," I stated, taking another bite of my pizza.
"Exactly," Ryan said, reaching for his drink. I looked out the window that was next to us, making things out of the clouds.
"Look! A rabbit!" I said, pointing out the window at a cloud. I looked over and saw Patrick choke on his drink. I looked at Ryan and noticed that his hair was messed up a bit.
"Hey Ryan. You're hair's a little messed up," I said, gesturing on my own hair where his was messed up.
"Oh, thanks," he said before licking the back of his hand and smoothing down the area that was messed up. "Ow! Who kicked me!"
"Oh, I'm sorry! Was that your leg?" Patrick said.
"Uh, Yeah!" Ryan said, glaring at Patrick.
"I said I was sorry!" Patrick said. It was about to become a full-on argument before Spencer spoke up.
"Would you look at the time! We must be going, right Patrick?" Spencer said, standing up.
"Right, yes. That thing at that place at this time," Patrick said, standing up with him.
"Do I need to come, too?" Ryan asked, preparing to stand up.
Patrick just waved his hand and said, "Nah," before walking out of the lunch room with Spencer.
"So, uhm," I said, reaching for my bottle of lemonade. "Thanks for fixing my tie earlier."
"Uhm, no problem," Ryan said, avoiding eye contact. After a few minutes of silence, Ryan gathered his stuff and left without even a nod goodbye. I watched him run out of the room hurriedly. I wondered why he always ran off whenever I saw him. I shrugged it off and decided to just enjoy the rest of my lunch break.
After I had finished my pizza, I continued to sit at the table alone and found myself thinking of Ryan.
My thoughts were interrupted when the bell rang.
I groaned, standing up and grabbing my things. I threw all of my trash away while walking out of the lunch room and made my way to my locker. I got my biology stuff from my locker and made my way to the classroom. I walked as fast as I could without running to the room. I barely made it before class started and still ended up with an empty seat next to me, as usual. I was the weird kid that no one wanted to sit next to, but I was used to it by now.
When class started, I wasn't even paying attention. I was just thinking and wondering about anything and everything and somehow Ryan popped up and he stuck there. I was knocked out of my thought world when I heard a door open. I looked toward the front of the class and saw Ryan closing the door to the classroom (irony?).
"S-Sorry I'm late, Mr. Winterton," Ryan said, standing awkwardly.
"It's alright; just don't let it happen again," Mr. Winterton said. "You can go ahead and take a seat next to Mr. Urie."
"Uuhm, a-are there any other seats available?" Ryan said, starting to blush. "I-I don't mean to be rude."
"Just take your seat, Mr. Ross," Mr. Winterton said, pointing his pointer stick towards the empty seat next to me. Ryan sighed, walking to the table we were now sharing. He placed his messenger bag next to the stool he sat on.
"Alright. Now if you would all take a look at the microscopes in front of you, you can examine the difference between cell membranes and cell walls," Mr. Winterton said, drawing on the white board. There was only one microscope at our table, so I offered to let Ryan go first.
"Here, you look at it first," I said, pushing the microscope towards him.
"No. You first," he said, still avoiding eye contact.
"You must go first," I said, staring at him.
"No. I insist," he said, looking down at the white table.
"I insist more," I said, pushing the microscope towards him more.
"Brendon, please. You go first," he said, looking at me finally.
"You," I said.
"You."
"You."
"You."
"You."
"You."
"Alright, fine," I took the microscope and started examining the cells.
"M-Mr. Winterton? C-Could I have a hall pass? I need to use the restroom," Ryan said, standing up.
"Yes, of course, Mr. Ross," Mr. Winterton said, handing Ryan a hall pass.
"Thank you," Ryan said before running out of the room.
I wondered why he always left as quickly as possible whenever he was around me. Was there something wrong with me? I told myself a bunch of funny reasons why that wasn't true, but I knew the real reason. I just wasn't likeable.