The bright sun cascaded into my bedroom window. The sun burned into my naked backside and I turned over for it to fry another part of me. Only I had forgot that I had Saturday detention. All because I was late for the 5th time. The whole school tardy system even pissed me off even more. But I'm not going to extend the subject of my thoughts. I threw my pillow over my head and screamed as loud as I could into it before I got up to take a shower. Every part of me was raging over the fact of the situation. I scrubbed myself quickly and walked to my room in my towel and wrapped hair. I looked for the laziest clothes a girl could wear and came up with a pair of joggers and Plain White T's shirt. I tried my best to blow dry my hair but it came out frizzy anyway.
The brush toned it down a little, but not too much. I left the house before anyone could know I had left. I opened my phone to see a text from Lee.
Good luck at detention, don't worry I'll have fun at the fall fest without you ;P. I laughed to myself and turned the keys in the ignition, ready to take Cleo out for a spin. Leave it to Lee to say something funny apart from an angering situation. "Thanks, you're making me feel a lot better already." I text back, hoping he could see the sarcasm dripping from the comment. I was heading up to my assigned room when he texted again.
No problem. I closed my phone just as I was walking into my classroom. The room was my old biology room. Ms. Briarson. I had always hated this room because it was always cold and reeks of something dead. Not even the smell of her vanilla wall scenters could over power that scent. There was a decorated desk full of different types of enzymes and cells in the corner opposite of the entrance. On the opposite wall to the door, stood stacks of biology equipment like microscopes and magnifiers. The back wall opposite of the board was plastered with her "Students Wall of Work.", but it wasn't just paperwork, her famous wall also held the signature of every student that took her class. Science lab partners desk stood in the center of the classroom. I sat as far to the back as I could. I passed a few wondering eyes on my path to the back. I even heard a few whispers.
That's Flynn's girlfriend. I heard a girl whisper to her brunette friend. As if I couldn't hear.
Was. I heard it was over.
I roll my eyes and take a seat to the back. Did people have anything better to do? The classroom wasn't full, there were only about 10 students, each of their eyes trained on me in the back. I sat my bag down and trained my eyes to my phone. I had told myself that when this does happen, I would choose to ignore it and NEVER make any eye contact with anyone. That would let them know that I wasn't giving in. After a while everyone turned back to the front. That gave me enough time to look around the class at the students, but the only person who stood out to me was the sleeping guy from my art and chemistry class. I waited to see if he would acknowledge my presence, to see if he remembered me, but he didn't. I looked back forward just as the teacher made an appearance. The door slammed behind him with a clink, and the blinds shook. He was a husky man that I had not recognized before.
"Good morning. I'm Mr. Edwards, all I ask is that you sit here in silence for 5 hours and we'll be okay." He didn't say much after that. He just walked over to the desk and sat there with his feet up on the desk. He pulled out a book and he never looked back up from it. Well at least I didn't get a strict teacher. Another pro, is that I didn't bring any work but the spiral that I use to doodle. Okay and don't come at me with the, "She's such an indecisive character, because she once said she hated art and now she's drawing." No. It's called doodling and it's what I call a non commitment to art, at least in my perspective. It gives me something to do when I am bored. So no, as I said before, I don't like art. I pulled out my bag as a one of them fell out of it. Shit. I think to myself and I reached for it. However, it were so far away, that if I tried to reach it, I would make a scene by falling out of my chair. As I was getting out of my seat to get them, the calm blue color appeared in front of me. I started at his black boots for a while before I looked at him. "Thanks." I utter quietly. He didn't say anything. He just nodded. I watched him from behind as he took his seat on the right diagonal to mine. I turned back to my pens and started on drawing whatever came to my mind. I wasn't good at it, but I liked the feeling of my mind connecting on paper. I look up to him, a question popping into my head.
"So what'd you do to get in here?" I ask. "Rile up the cheer quad a bit?" I joke. He sighs exasperated.
"No." He says toneless. "Skipping." I gasp, my face full of a front.
"Wow, what a surprise." I say sarcastically.
"What about you miss goody goody." I squinch my eyes.
"What qualifies me to be a goody goody?" He looked at me like I was clueless.
"Come on, do I really need to explain myself?" I scoff and look down at my papers. What a dick.
"You know? Sherlock is such a bad nickname." I switch the subject. "I mean if you're going to mock me...at least do it right." He looks back at me a smirks.
"Well then smarty, what can you make up that's "right" for me?" He does air quotes. I gaze down at his pants and then back up at him.
"Skinny jeans." I gloat. "Or tight ass, or even guyliner would work on you." I joke pointing my pen at him. "I can see it all on you, and it's a good look." I poke out my bottom lip. He looks down and nods his head, taking the shots given.
"Okay, I'll give you that blue." I look down at the blue pen in my hand. The one that fell and he happened to pick up for me. Okay, not bad skinny jeans. I think and smile to myself.
I start back on my fragmented flower. My phone buzzed and I decided to ignore it. It was most likely Lee bragging over his amazing time with Rachel without my presence involved. God, I'm gonna kill that kid the minute I get home. The blond boy shifted to my right and my eyes looked up as a reflex. He slipped his grey jacket over his light blue t-shirt and put his feet on the desk. I wondered how many times any of these kids had been in detention. There were giggles to my left and I watched as a couple sat off by the wall together, entranced in some rom-com.
"I've been here about 7 times." Skinny jeans said next to me and I shot my head up. I lean back in my chair.
"Okay how did you know that I was thinking that?" He shrugged.
"Believe it or not, I'm really good at reading people." he confessed.
"Yeah, good at reading people to find a way out of trouble." I mutter, but he hears me.
"That." He starts, running a hand threw his hair "But it becomes sort of a hobby after a while." He turns his body to me. "People are easy to read, you just have to put yourself in their shoes." I open my mouth to talk about how it was creepy that he was to be staring at me while I was unbeknown to it happening, but I was interrupted. My phone buzzed again and exhaled and answered it. Okay, Lee must really want to make me feel bad today. I couldn't stop myself from sucking in a breath. Not because of what Lee texted. It was actually quite funny, just a few pics of him and Rach out at the park with some fall leaves behind them. I sucked in a breath the minute I saw his name. It wasn't a text, but some email that I got from Harvard about him. He was joining the honors program and there was an assembly for it in 2 weeks. My hands felt frozen. My heart pounded and my lips went numb. He must had put me on the notification list when we were actually still talking.
"Well at least you're doing good for yourself." I mumbled.
"What?" A voice asked. I shook back to reality to meet the blond boy's blue eyes.
"Oh...I didn't say anything." I explain. My hands still wouldn't release my phone. They were clamped on there.
"Uh, yeah weirdo...you did." He insisted. I give a flabbergasted look, eager for him to get off my case.
"I did not." I justified. The boy just laughed to himself. It was a airy and nasally one.
"Okay. And you wonder why I'm creepy?" he mumbles to himself. A small part of my brain once again wants to question how he knows that I thought he was creepy, but I had other matters to worry about. I focus on my phone. I closed my eyes and gained the support to put my phone down. I wondered just how Lee's family thought about it, they were most likely excited that he was moving his way up in the school. Anyone that cared for him should be excited for him. And I was, but yet, it was just another reminder that he was 2,979 miles away from me. It had been so long since I had seen that name pop up on my phone, it almost felt foreign. I was as if the roles had shifted and he was no longer my complicated "boyfriend" but Lee's older brother. "Okay, I'm sorry to but in or anything in your little episode, but you look like you've seen a ghost." The boy said to me. I hadn't even realized that I looked this pale. I gazed down at a mirror in my bag and I put it away.
"I-I-I feel like I just heard from one." I confessed and swallowed. "Well not actually heard from them." I stop short and shake my head, my frizzy hair, falling in my face. The guy looked at me the same way he had been before and he frowned. I look up to him. "What?" I ask. "I know I'm not looking my best right now but-"
"No. I just can't read you, right now." he admitted. I frowned back at him.
"Why are you trying to read me?" I cross my hands on the table. "Not everyone likes that sort of thing you know."
"Because that's what I do." I roll my eyes.
"So your talking, vampire Edward type?" I urge him on, trying to pull away from the topic on my conscious. He did that nasally laugh again.
"No, I don't read minds." he said. "As much as I would love to." He intertwined his fingers. "No, I mean it as through body language. It's kind of like a guessing game." He met my eyes. I made an upside down "u" and nodded, as a way to say "okay I guess that's not, that creepy" I mean I've seen worse.
"So then, Mr. Fortune Teller, how much can you read off me?" I test him. He does a small grin, and I notice his smile lines.
"Well, I'm thinking...you just received a text from someone you least expected, and it's bothering you." I pull back and look down at my phone, as if that could give any explanation. "Am I right?"
'It wasn't a text, but an email from an outer source...but yes, you were." I confess. "And you're really starting to creep me out now." I say, but I don't go back to my drawing, instead I look back up at him. "How did you know it?" He made a studious expression, as if he was a professor and he had a lesson to teach. "Oh you know…" His next words came out in a fast ramble. "You just look like you're confused in how much you love someone." I slowly lean in, eager to grasp his words. "Since, I know that you are dating Flynn, I can only guess the emotions surround him." I gasped.
"You can actually sound smart!" I joke.
"When have I never?" I look up to the ceiling in thought.
"I don't know, how about the fact that every interaction I have with you, you are either skipping, or sleeping."
"Or in detention." He says, pointing his finger to the teacher, whose nose was still crammed in a book. I smile and start back up on my drawing. My fingers traced along the flower as I added another layer to it, it blossoming in front of my eyes. "Long-distance, huh?" he said in a way of starting another conversation. I looked up to see this expression in his eyes. I wondered why he made that sort of face, why he looked so troubled all of a sudden. He answered for me, doing the weird reading people thing. "My girlfriend and I have the same problem." He looked up and smiled. "She goes to MIT though, Not Harvard." he joked with air quotes. I nod.
"MIT is a really good school though too." he nodded and turned to pick up his pencil.
"Yeah, she's too smart for me." he said. I looked in his eyes as he spinned his pencil on his thumb. It was the glisten in his eyes that reminded me of Noah. The way he talked about anything he loved. The way he looked at me. It was the look of love. I wondered how long it had been since my eyes blazed like that. I smiled at the blond boy.
"Tell me about it." I confessed and lost myself in my thoughts centering around Lee's older brother, I wondered what was in store for us. I also wondered what he was doing at this exact moment. I closed my eyes and smiled. Whatever his reasons were, I was so happy to see his message pop up. At least he still wanted to that. And at this point, I didn't even care about what was to come after.