I've always been the kind of person that believed that everything in life should be fair; that everyone should get a turn and all that jazz. Usually parents tell their kids that life isn't fair, and my parents were no different. But I thought differently from other kids; I didn't just listen to my parents and forget about it. I truly believed that life should be fair for everyone.
And that was how my first problem emerged.
I knew life wasn't fair. If it was, things would be a lot different for me. I guess the earth just couldn't turn unless things went wrong. If life was fair, everyone would be happy and no one would have any problems. The world just didn't work that way.
"It isn't fair," my best friend Cassie whined, dragging out the last word. "The hottest guy in the entire school is, like, in love with you and you don't even care. Why are you so weird, Leah?"
"I'm not interested in all that popularity stuff," I shrugged, continuing to go through my locker as she leaned up against the one next to mine. "I mean, popularity isn't going to last forever. I highly doubt any affection Sean has for me will last forever either."
Cassie rolled her eyes. "You're not thinking right, Lee. If you were to date him, we would get so much more popular. I mean, he's a senior and we're juniors. It's like... two completely different worlds that we live in."
I couldn't help but give her a weird look. "Are you high or something right now?"
"No," she excused, waving a hand in front of her face to dismiss it. "I'm just stating the facts, that's all."
"I think we're popular enough."
Cassie looked offended. "There is no such thing!"
"Don't listen to her," a new voice now said, and both Cassie and I turned to see our friend Leslie smirking at us. "You know that all she cares about is being popular."
"Nuh-uh," Cassie denied, but all three of us knew that she didn't even believe that.
"There's not even that big of a difference between juniors and seniors," I tried to explain, but I knew Cassie wasn't about to listen to me. That didn't stop me from continuing on anyway. "I don't like Sean. He really only cares about himself."
"But he likes you," she whispered, as if it was some type of big secret.
I rolled my eyes. "For now."
Before Cassie could say anything else, I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders. I almost dropped my books; not because I was scared, but because I knew who it was without even having to turn toward them.
"Leah, babe, listen," Sean tried to persuade, his grasp on my shoulders tightening. "You and me, all alone at my uncle's cabin by the lake. Doesn't that sound fantastic?"
Quite the opposite.
"Sorry, Sean," I apologized, stepping away from him and letting his arm drop after his hand was traveling lower than it should have been. "I'm deathly afraid of water. I wouldn't be able to have any fun because I'd just be afraid I was going to die."
Leslie snickered to my left, but Sean completely ignored her like he usually did. "I'll protect you," he tried, taking a step closer to me.
The bell rang then, saving me from having to shoot down more of Sean's advances. I still wasn't very happy, though, considering what class I was going to have to go to next.
English was usually my favorite subject, but someone in this particular class with me seemed to love to drive me insane. Leslie was luckily in this class with me, but unfortunately she didn't make it any more enjoyable.
He was already in his seat when Leslie and I entered the room. I stopped right in the doorway, causing Leslie to run into me. She knew of my animosity toward the boy staring out the window, so she only rolled her eyes before she slipped past me and into her seat, which was across the room from mine.
I slowly walked over to the window, where my seat unfortunately was. He didn't even notice as I passed by him. He was just way too preoccupied staring out the window.
I took my seat behind him, glaring holes into the back of his head. Just like always, his big headphones were covering his ears, drowning out all the sound around him. His music was so loud that I could hear the song he was listening to.
One of the big rules at my school was that you couldn't listen to music during class. On the first day of school, I knew for sure that he was going to get in trouble for listening to music, especially when it was this loud, but Mrs. Sparks didn't do a thing about it. She didn't even acknowledge it. I just didn't get it and it wasn't fair.
This was my first problem. We couldn't listen to music during class, but he could.
This guy's name was Blake. Blake Solo. His last name fit him pretty well, since he didn't seem to have any friends at all. I had other classes with him, and I saw him around campus almost all the time. He always had his headphones on and he was always alone.
Whenever it was quiet in class, everyone could hear Blake's music, but no one said a thing about it. If the teacher was talking, not everyone could hear it. But I could. And it was really, really starting to get on my nerves.
I was happy when English class was over every day, even though I knew I was going to have to see Blake later for my last two periods. And I never looked forward to that.
I usually was a kind person. At least, I thought that I was. I hadn't ever hated someone before, or even close to it. But for some reason, I just couldn't stand him. And all because what he was doing wasn't fair.
Three periods later, I was walking into my second to last class of the day. "Are you ready for the test today, Burk?" Mr. Meyers asked me, and I bit the inside of my lip to stop myself from saying what I was really thinking. I didn't like it when he called me Burk. He was the only person that ever did it, but I was too respectful toward my teachers to tell him to stop.
"Yes," I answered, knowing that that was the smartest thing for me to say. I really was ready for the test, but even if I wasn't, I'd just say yes anyway. It would just make things easier for me in the class.
Mr. Meyers nodded. "That's good, Burk."
I nodded, turning away from him and heading toward my seat. My last name was Burkley, and for some reason my history teacher just loved to call me by Burk. I didn't understand what was so cool about that nickname. It sounded weird to me.
My eyebrows furrowed when I saw who was sitting in the desk next to mine. This Blake guy was also in my history class, which annoyed me a little more considering it's usually always silent in history, even when the teacher's talking. All I could focus on is the buzz of his music.
History was already long and aggravating enough; it didn't help that I had heavy metal music buzzing to my right. I couldn't concentrate on tests, or even when the teacher was lecturing. Was this guy even able to hear with his music being so loud? I was barely able to hear and I was listening to the music that was coming out of his headphones.
When the room went silent for the test, all I could focus on was the song playing from Blake's iPod. Heavy metal, as always. Why the heck did his music have to be so loud? I was pretty sure he could have turned it down a lot and still hear it.
This was unfair. This was so unfair and it upset me greatly. If I could listen to my own music, I wouldn't have cared one bit. If I could have listened to my own music, I wouldn't have had to listen to his.
Both Leslie and Cassie were in this class with me, but they were all the way across the room, right next to each other. That wasn't fair either. I was stuck with Blake, and they got to sit next to each other. It was really aggravating.
"Burk," I heard from the front of the room, snapping me out of my thoughts immediately. I blinked, my eyes finally focusing on the teacher a few seconds after he had called on me.
"Um, yes?" I asked, swallowing when I heard my voice crack.
"Your pencil," Mr. Meyers informed me, motioning to the piece of wood in my hand. "It's distracting. Please stop tapping it against your desk."
He went back down to the papers he was grading on his desk, and all I could do was stare at him in shock. Tapping my pencil was annoying? What about the buzzing music that was coming from the right of me? That seemed pretty annoying!
I turned toward Blake and glared, expecting for him to be looking down at his paper and concentrating on his test. What I wasn't expecting was for him to be looking straight at me, which was exactly what he was doing. I bit my tongue to stop myself from letting out a noise and quickly turned back toward my own test.
Now he knew I didn't like him.
If I just focused on my test, it would be like he wasn't even there. If I just ignored him, he'd probably just ignore me right back. We could go through the rest of the year peacefully without even acknowledging each other.
But when I looked back up at him only a minute later, he was still staring at me, his music still blaring in his ears. I cursed mentally, snapping my head back down and not looking back up until I heard the bell ring.
Knowing I failed the test, I turned it in to Mr. Meyers right before slipping out into the hall. Just one more period, and then I was free from school for the day.
"Nice job getting yelled at in the middle of the test," Leslie giggled before walking by me to head toward her last period. "Your pencil tapping was seriously super loud."
"He didn't yell at me," I snapped, even though I knew all she was doing was teasing me. I grabbed onto her arm, stopping her from moving any farther away from me. "And you're kidding me, right? My pencil was super loud? Who do I sit right by in that class?"
Leslie shrugged. "Yeah, his music's loud and annoying, but it's better than a pencil tapping over and over again on a desk. Everyone listens to music, Leah."
I had to mentally snap at myself so I wouldn't grip onto her arm even tighter. "You have got to be kidding."
Leslie winked at me. "Have fun in art," she told me before releasing herself from my grasp and pretty much skipping all the way to her classroom, which wasn't that far from where we had been standing. My classroom, on the other hand, was all the way across campus. And I really couldn't afford to be late.
Spinning on my heel, I bashed right into something before I could even take three steps. Stepping back and rubbing my nose, I glared up at the person I had run into to.
Looking down at me was Blake, which caused me to feel a mixture of emotions. First I felt embarrassed for running into someone, then I just felt angry because of who it was. His headphones had fallen around his neck, but his music was still blaring. He was staring down at me, his eyes wide, and now all I could do was glare at him.
"Will you watch where you're going?" I snapped, not even thinking before doing so. "I really didn't need to run into you of all people."
"S... s..." was all Blake said, confusing me greatly. "S... s..."
I scoffed. "Whatever. Forget it. I'm going to be late for class."
I steered right passed him, even though I knew he was going to have to walk the same way. I nearly jogged all the way to my art class before he had the chance to even catch up to me.
I collapsed into my seat, out of breath. No wonder I was getting a C in gym.
Breathing heavily, I put my head down and didn't look back up until I heard the familiar giggle of Cassie. Why did I have a feeling I didn't want to hear what she was going to say?
"So you got yelled at."
"I didn't get yelled at!"
At the most, I had gotten scolded. Mr. Meyers hadn't raised his voice at me, so I did not get yelled at. I knew Leslie had just been teasing me, but Cassie may have been dumb enough to actually thought Mr. Meyers had yelled at me.
When I saw the familiar black shoes pass by my desk, I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying anything to him. The best thing to do was to just ignore him for the rest of the year. And the rest of my life.
"Hey, babe."
At the sound of this voice, I didn't raise my head to even acknowledge his existence. But when Cassie elbowed me in the ribs, I bit my tongue even harder and lifted my head so I was now face-to-face with Sean.
"Hello," I greeted, and I was hoping he noticed how unamused I sounded. Knowing Sean, that wasn't about to happen.
He grinned, leaning forward on my desk. It took every fiber of my being to stop myself from leaning back in my seat just so I could get away from him. I had already turned him down earlier that morning. Was he seriously going to try again?
"Sean, please go sit down," Ms. Cassidy ordered before Sean could say anything else to me. "I'd like to start class, but I can't do so when you're flirting with Leah."
I mentally thanked Ms. Cassidy, happy that she had saved me from having to reject Sean again. After Sean took his seat, I stole a glance over at Blake, who actually sat across the room from me in this class. Much to my surprise, he was still staring at me. I quickly looked away, now only able to see him out of the corner of my eye.
He was using his hand to hold one of the headphones to his ear, letting the other one rest on his shoulder and letting is other ear free. I didn't know if it was just me, but I could have sworn that I was able to hear his music from where I was sitting.
Just as Ms. Cassidy began to teach, Blake pulled the other headphone over his ear so he was now fully covered. How was he able to concentrate at all during class? He couldn't even hear over his music!
I was dreading the time that Ms. Cassidy was going to send us off to work. It meant that Sean could come over, and I'd have more opportunities to look at Blake. At least from what I could see, he wasn't looking at me anymore. And I was sure thankful for that.
"Okay, kids, you can get to work now," Ms. Cassidy said before leaving the front of the classroom and heading over toward her desk, which was in the back of the room. "Remember, you're all drawing your favorite flower."
I felt my grip on my pencil tighten, and I glanced over at Blake. He wasn't looking at me. That was good. I couldn't help but feel a little freaked out though, because I had been pretty rude when I had run into him. Who knew if he was a crazy psycho or something?
It made me wonder what he did for school before he came to this one. Did he have friends there? I couldn't help but feel curious. It was only the second week of junior year, but I had already met people that were new and they had made friends easily. Maybe it was because Blake always listened to his music... Maybe he didn't want any friends.
I took this time to study him, which I hadn't ever done before. Black pants, black shirt, black jacket... Even black hair. Was that natural? Were his eyes even black? I was too far away to see from where I was sitting.
"Hello! Earth to Leah!" Cassie called, waving a hand in front of my face and finally snapping me back into reality. "Are you even paying attention at all? You're supposed to be drawing a flower, not a mop."
I looked down at my paper, and much to my surprise, a flower wasn't what I was drawing. Cassie didn't notice this, but what I had unconsciously been drawing was Blake's hair. Long, dark hair, but no face to go with it.
Letting out a sigh, I threw the paper into my backpack and took out a new one. All I had to do was draw a flower... That shouldn't have been that hard. It shouldn't be that hard to draw a tulip, right?
I glanced over at Blake again to see that he was looking right at me. I turned my head back toward my paper, pressing down on the lead too hard, causing it to snap and break.
I stared at my pencil for only a moment, contemplating on getting up and sharpening it (which meant passing Blake and possibly having to interact with him), or just failing the assignment and saving myself from having to face him.
I glanced back over to see that he was drawing something now, no longer looking at me.
I wasn't going to go anywhere near him. I'd rather fail.
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If you think you know Blake's secret, comment and tell me what you think it is!
So I know I have like a million stories to write right now, but I just had to start this one. And it's my Watty Awards 2012 entry. This story is going to be on the side until I finish another one of my stories.
This story is going to be different from my other stories. It's probably not going to be as long, and it's just going to be... different. But the difference is not mythical creatures, I promise. xD
I hope no one thinks of Taylor Swift's song because of the title... -_-" The story is really nothing like it.
Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D