"Angelina Leos?" A senior called my name, butchering the pronunciation. He had his pen poised at the clipboard, reading off from the list of people who signed up for the picnic.
It was actually arranged by a group of seniors, but apparently, they've been doing this for three years so this picnic was very well organized. It was a strictly UoM student only picnic and they took our safety seriously, therefore the list.
I nodded my head and headed into the bus, Jenny following behind me after getting her name checked too. The duffel bags had already been loaded into the cargo section and that only left us with our purses. The huge bus had two columns of attached seats, one side had three seats attached, and the other had two.
I roamed my eyes around the bus, searching for a familiar face that I had been obsessing over ever since I stepped foot inside the University and slammed into him. I found him sitting on the side with the two seats, on the window seat.
Grey eyes the colour of liquid silver, so clear that they sometimes seemed colourless, a perfect aristocratic nose, high cheekbones and a defined clean jaw, with hair the colour of spun gold, Christian Malcolm looked as edible as the first time I met him. From where I was standing, I could only see his broad shoulders covered in a snug white tee, the rest of the view obscured by the seats.
I was going to make him mine today.
That was if I successfully carried out Plan Get Him, without somehow blotching it like I always did my chances when it came to him. And that was a big if.
Beside Chris, his best friend Matthew Dawson sat, busy in his phone. He probably must've been texting his girlfriend. Rumour was, Chris and Matt were best friends since high school, and while Chris was the popular manslut, Matt was a one woman guy. Their reputation remained intact from high school to the university. Matt and his girlfriend Felicia White had been together since high school and now both studied at UoM. It was rare to see one without the other. It was like they both were joined at the hip.
Well, everyone said that about Jenny and me too.
Thinking of the devil, Jenny came behind me and shoved me forward. I shook my head realising I was just standing in the middle of the seats and blocking the way. I quickly stumbled forward and took the seat on the opposite side of where Chris sat.
Jenny took the seat in the middle, the last window seat taken by Anna Marie, a cool chick with bright blue hair who liked to be left alone most of the time but was super sweet once you got past the 'I'm so tough I'll eat you for breakfast if you cross even a toe outta line' demeanour. We had hit it off after I helped her in an exam when she was stuck on the last question. She had been this close to having a mental breakdown, with tears and all, but I had been sitting on her right so I took pity on her and showed her the formula. She took it to heart and acted like I owed her a life debt or something.
Needless to say, the whole tough chick attire and the poker face were just a show, she was a softie from the inside. She was also quite smart and maintained a really great GPA. Probably why I had helped her out. She would've nailed the rest of the paper easily but I knew one wrong question would've made her really sad. I was the same so I understood.
I hated the kind of students who didn't study a word before the exam, partying and sleeping instead of revising, and then had the audacity to pester other students during the exam so that they could cheat their way out of the exam.
Anna Marie twisted her head around to see who had sit beside her. Her eyes lit up and held out a fist for me to bump. I grin at her and bump my fist on hers, remembering not to explode the fist after. Anna Marie hated people who did that.
She nodded and bumped fists with Jenny too, then resumed her brooding with her handsfree plugged in her ears, the sound of Metallic music screeching clearly enough for us to be able to hear it too.
The first part of the plan was this: get Chris to sit next to me during the bus ride.
Easier said than done.
The plan was that as soon as we'd be on the road, Jenny would act like she couldn't breathe and I was to ask Chris, who was conveniently sitting in the window seat, to switch places with her. Anna Marie would act like she's sleeping with her handsfree plugged on and deaf to the world. Then, I'll get the chance to charm my way into Chris's heart with intellectual conversations and scintillating communication skills.
Yeah, right.
I had agreed to the plan till the switching places part, but I was sceptical about the "wooing him with my words" part. Still, I braced myself and gave myself a pep talk in my head.
You can do it, Angelina Leos. You are not a coward. You will make your crush notice you and fall in love with you. You've been pining after him from the sidelines for a year. It's about time you took action. You are an asskicker. Don't be a wuss. You will rock this.
I let out a deep breath. Jenny noticed my discomfort and flight response and gave me a nudge and a reassuring smile as if saying Relax, you've got this.
The last of the students climbed aboard and the senior with the list closed the sliding door, gave the driver a nod and sat in the front. There were about sixty students on the bus, the rest of the people were coming in their own cars and would join us at the beach. The bus started and the students hooted as it took on the road. I joined them and soon my hesitance vanished.
Ten minutes in and Jenny started wheezing like a donkey on crack. If I didn't know better, I would've thought she's going to choke to death.
"Overacting much?" I inconspicuously mumble from the side of my mouth.
She just glared at me and elbowed me in the side then continued with her dramatic display of choking.
I rolled my eyes, rubbing my side and swung my head towards Matt. He and Chris were looking at Jenny with concern.
"Is she alright?" Matt asked, the concern in his voice clear.
"Can't... breathe..." Jenny gasped. Man, she deserved an oscar for her acting. A lanky guy sitting in the front twisted around, about to say something but quickly turned back around after being subjected to Jenny's murderous facial expressions.
That was my cue. "Hey, Chris? Can you switch seats with her? She is a little claustrophobic and our window seat is occupied." I point at a conveniently sleeping Anna Marie. I had practiced this line in front of my mirror so many times that it came out so naturally, Chris was already nodding and getting up from his seat even before I finished.
Jenny got up, me guiding her by gripping her elbow, continuing the act and Matt took over once she crossed to the other side. Chris let her settle in first, then squeezed himself in the seat next to me. He was huge, a whole six feet, and it took some time for him to get comfortable.
"You good?" I asked, watching him squirm.
He noticed me watching him and stopped fidgeting, smiling and nodding politely.
I could count the times I've had a conversation with him on one hand. Or one finger.
That first time wasn't even a conversation. It had involved me slamming into him on my way out of the dorm, muttering apologies and blushing like mad, and then once I saw who I bumped into, gawking at him and opening and closing my mouth like a fish trying to breathe out of water. He had smiled, dimples popping out and asked me if I was alright. Obviously, I had conveniently (not) lost my voice and just stared at him in awe, taking in his beautiful face, till his smile faltered. He had looked at me in confusion and shuffled awkwardly off towards the stairway.
That had been my first day setting foot in university. I had been unpacking with Jenny when I realized I'd forgotten a box in the front of the dorm building and had gone to pick it up when the door opened before I could push it and due to my sucky klutziness, I had slammed into him.
I later got to know from Jenny that the Apollo lookalike was Chris Malcolm, a popular senior, co-captain of the UoM football team. She had given one look at my starstruck face and known that I was already crushing on him. Ever since then, she had pushed me to talk to him and approach him, but my shyness had always kept me back from taking a step.
But now, after a year of pining after him and stealing furtive glances of him during class like a lovesick puppy, Jenny had put her proverbial and literal foot down. The talk of the picnic had circulated and Jenny came up with a brilliant plan which would end with me and Chris "riding off into the sunset".
I had only agreed to go with the plan to appease her but secretly I was glad because I knew I wouldn't have even been here sitting next to him for an hour long bus ride without the push.
Not that it was helping. Chris had take out his phone and was now playing Candy Crush, affectively thwarting any chances of me holding a conversation with him.
Did I say how much I hated Candy Crush's music? Puke inducing.
I glanced at Chris once more, then at Jenny who had noticed Chris and looked annoyed and disgruntled. Shrugging, disappointed, I took out my tablet from my purse and opened the novel I had started recently.
It was going to be a long ride.