New Boy

I sat down at the lunch table. My best friend, Lisa, sat next to me. She was carrying a tray loaded with macaroni, hot dogs, and candy. Lisa somehow stayed skinny even though she ate like this every day. If I had any candy, I started looking like a balloon.

"You're so lucky that you can eat like that," I said as I moved my tray over to give her more room. I stabbed my salad with my fork.

Lisa shrugged. "It gets boring after a while. And I totally need this stuff, for gym, you know? Energy is what I need, right?"

Lisa was full to the brim with energy. I was more of the dull one. "Do you eat like this at home?"

Lisa laughed and took some one of my tomatoes. "You've been to my house! You know my parents don't care."

I shrugged. "Probably because your parents are cool." I brushed my bright red hair out of my face. It was my trademark.

Lisa looked at me. "Shasha! Your parents are cool!"

I returned her look. "If you think two book obsessives are cool."

"Maybe I do!"

"Do you?"

Lisa played with her brown curls. "Um, not really."

"Hey, who's he?"

I had turned my attention to a new boy who was eating alone in the corner. He had shaggy brown hair and was wearing a leather jacket. The boy looked like he did not want to be bothered. He was casually sitting on the floor, back against the wall.

"Let's go sit with him," I said. I was standing up and walking towards him before Lisa could stop me.

"Sasha," I heard her call from behind me. But I was already only a few feet from him.

"Hi," I said. He glanced up at me and looked back at his food.

"What do you want?"

I sat down next to him so that I wasn't too close, but wasn't too far. "You looked lonely."

"Maybe I want to be alone."

I was shocked by his reply, but I shook it off. "I'm Shasha. What's your name?"

The boy seemed to be warming up. He looked at me, not looking me in the eyes, but not ignoring me either. "Why do you care?"

"You seem interesting. Fun."

He snorted. "Right. That's me. I'm Jesse."

I smiled, proud that I had managed to make conversation. It was then that the bell rang. It was time to go back to class. "I'll see you later, Jesse."

"Yeah, you might."

After school, I ran into Jesse outside. "Hey," I said.

He looked almost happy to see me. "Hey! Shasha, right?"

"Yeah, Shasha."

He smiled at me. "Cool. See you later, Shasha."

"Bye Jesse."

We rode the same bus, but we didn't acknowledge each other for the rest of the day, even though he was sitting across the aisle.

As the bus rolled away, he stared at the bus, like something he really wanted was inside.