At the end of my freshman year I realized that I was overreacting the whole time. High school wasn't that bad when you had real friends and hung out with the right people. I was lucky enough to meet Gabby and a group of other people with whom I shared a lot of interests. My predictions were wrong; I did not end up all by myself.
In high school my approach to education changed a little. Knowledge always was and always will be one of my top priorities, however in high school I rarely had time for myself. By that I mean that I loved staying in and reading a book or watching some sitcoms on television when no one was at home. Don't get me wrong, I loved spending time with my friends and going out with them, however not a while before I met them, I was rather socially awkward. Even though I finally had a group of friends, I still enjoyed only my own company sometimes. When I went to high school, my alone time and time spent with other people was at 1:7 ratio. My friends usually forced me to get out of the house on the weekends and in the end I never regretted it. There were also weekends when we had loads of work to do and none of us had time for nonsense such as going to the movies. Finally, there were the weekends when the weather was terrible and there was nothing to do for school for the next week, but whenever I picked up a book or even reached for it, something or someone interrupted me. It was either my mother asking what I wanted for dinner, my father asking if I have seen the TV remote, my brother asking if I had seen my sister or my grandma calling and talking to me for half an hour on the phone. My house was a true mess when everyone was home, so I usually put on my rain coat and migrated to Gabby's house, just to simply hang out. I'd spend a few hours there and we'd talk about everything and nothing just to stay entertained. We both loved school, but we could not wait for the school year to finally be over.
The day finally came. The last day of school. The official first day of summer and freedom. Everyone understood 'freedom' in their own, personal way, but we all agreed that the last day was special to everyone equally. To me the last day of school meant that I would have more time for myself, but also spend it with my friends. I couldn't complain, I had a lot of time to relax.
By the end of the year something started to develop between Gabby and Troy. In 5 weeks time they went out a few times, 6 at least. Only as friends though, he said, not as a couple. Both, him and Gabby knew that wasn't true. They really liked each other and everyone, including them, knew that. Troy was a shy person, and even though all the girls at school… or at least most of them had a crush on him, he was really down to Earth. I'd often talk to him on the breaks, but he'd never look into my eyes, always at the floor. Same thing happened when there was more than 1 person talking to him. Only when Gabby showed up, his face would light up and he was acting more confident then. Chad told him many times to never let that girl (Gabby) go, but he'd just blush.
At the end of The Last Day I was at my locker picking up the rest of my things when Gabby ran up to me. She was really excited.
'Oh my God, guess what!' she squealed.
'Ummm… Any hints?' I asked. I really had no idea what caused her to act like that.
'It involves me, Troy and movies after his training!'
'Wow, another date, huh?' I smiled while I was trying to find some space for my Biology book in my backpack.
'Yeah. I'm so excited. I hope he's going to ask me the question.' she smiled dreamily. I gave her a confused slash terrified look.
'Oh come on, I don't want him to propose to me. I meant that I hope he finally asks me to be his girlfriend.'
'Oh.' I relaxed. 'Well, you two are basically a couple. You spend a lot of time together, go to the movies… Him asking you to officially be his girlfriend is just a formality.'
'I know… But it would mean so much!' she smiled while staring dreamily somewhere behind me.
'I bet it would.' I said and I realized she was in her "happy" place. I waved my hand in front of her face. 'Hello, are you still here?'
She snapped out of it and laughed. I finished emptying my locker and we slowly walked towards the exit. We remembered our first day and all the awkwardness that came with it. We laughed at how stressed we both were at the beginning and how we thought we were not going to survive a week in that building. While we were passing by the girls' bathroom, Gabby remembered how she was hiding there and waiting for Troy to pass by so she could sneak up behind him and see where his locker was. I wasn't there then, but I burst out laughing just at the thought of it.
The classes had just ended, the school was practically empty and the school yard was full. Everyone was sitting outside talking, playing some sports or simply they were there because there didn't want to leave school for 2 months… yet. We were on our way to the parking lot, because I had to leave my heavy schoolbag in my father's car. However, we were stopped by Chad and Troy who were sitting at one of the tables with the rest of the team.
'Hey, girls! Wait!' Troy called us from the crowd. We both instantly turned around, knowing someone was calling us, not anyone else. When Gabby realized it was Troy, she smiled so big that looking at her pearl white teeth made my eyes hurt, especially when it was really sunny outside. He walked up to us, followed by Chad.
'Hey, what's up?' I asked him, because Gabby was too busy hyperventilating. Troy looked at her a bit scared, but he smiled and blushed when he realized he was the cause for that.
'Are you guys staying for the practice?' Chad asked. He looked over at the love couple in some sort of disgust. Then he looked at me. It was clear that out of four of us, only me and Chad were engaged in this conversation.
'I have to stay, because my father said he'd drive me home. I don't know about Gabby though.' I answered and looked at Gabby. If she could only hear me…
'Hey dude!' Chad cleared his throat and nudged Troy. He snapped out of it.
'Are you guys staying for the practice?' he asked while looking at the ground. Chad rolled his eyes.
'Sure, I am. What about you Tay?' Gabby asked. Chad rolled his eyes again. I giggled.
'Yes, I'm staying. You know, because of my dad.' I answered calmly. Those two seemed not to notice the world around them.
'Let's go then, shall we?' Troy smiled and he and Gabby started walking towards the entrance. Chad looked at me.
'You comin'? he asked.
'Yeah, I just need to carry my bag to my dad's car and I'll be there as soon as I'm done.'
'I'll come with you. I really don't wanna be alone with those fools right now.' he said and we started walking towards the parking lot. I laughed at what he said.
'Fools? They are cute…' I said and looked at him. He had a confused look on his face.
'Cute? You okay?' he asked as he put his hand to my forehead. 'Did you, Taylor McKessie, just call a couple "cute"?'
I laughed again. 'You're right' I admitted. 'Who am I kidding, they are really annoying.'
He smiled and he took his hand away. 'See, now you are acting like yourself. For a second I thought you were abducted by aliens or somethin'.'
'Shut up.' I smiled. 'However, they are our friends and they are happy together. We need to support them no matter how irritating they are to us.'
'Yeah, okay, they're our friends. But what the hell, how long will they be acting so… weird? They be starin' at each other and stuff all day. Can't they just knock it off already? You don't see me and Maya doing all that cute-stuff-bullcrap.'
Okay, so last time I wrote about Paige, she was Chad's girlfriend. Well she was his girlfriend for so long, until he actually got so sick of her and broke up with her. Of course she went around the school acting like she was the victim, but it wasn't true. At least the people who really knew her, were on Chad's side. The whole school was gossiping about the causes for their breakup, but Chad couldn't care less. Since he didn't like Paige anyway, he didn't have any problems finding another girlfriend quite fast. That wasn't Maya though, not yet. For some time he was going out with one of the head cheerleaders, Megan. It was widely known that she had her eye on him and she wasn't hiding it. They got together over night it seemed. One day they would be indifferently passing each other in the hallway and the next day you'd see them making out by her locker every single break. It was quite a puzzle for those who wasted their time to actually figure out how that happened. Their relationship lasted for a month or so and ended as suddenly as it started. The lovely couple would be constantly avoiding each other unless it was necessary for them to be in the same room. Chad seemed a bit down about it, but he got over it the very next week. He got engaged in another relationship, this time it was with Allison, Megan's best friend. They got together over the weekend, so they had some time for each other until the drama started. The whole school was shocked to see Chad and Allison walking into the school on Monday morning, holding hands. I don't know if there is a word to describe Megan's facial expression when she saw them. She was mad and devastated and happy (because she didn't have to stand Chad anymore) and depressed all at the same time. Again, Megan acted as is she never knew Allison and Chad before, but she lost it three days later. There was a major cheerleader's rehearsal before the game. I think Allison stepped on Megan's toe and that's how it started. They started off with good old name calling, later some nudging and pushing and finally fisticuffs. The older guys from the team ended up pulling them away from each other just to cut if off. I was there and I cannot say I didn't enjoy it. The whole team had a good laugh, except for Chad who was really embarrassed. He broke up with Allison shortly after that. Maya came along three weeks before the end of the school year. What made her really special was that… she was a nice girl. She wasn't quite popular in the school, even though she was a member of the drama group. She was a really good person; I got to know her when we worked at the library together a few times. I had no idea why a girl like her would ever look at Chad, but that remained an unsolved mystery. All I know is that they had some mutual friends and that's how they officially met. She revealed that she usually didn't fall for guys like Chad, but he was really charming and she agreed to go out with him. Chad charming? I needed a moment to process that.
'Well, I guess you and Maya just aren't that type of couple.' I answered. I really didn't know what to tell him and I didn't want to discuss relationships with him. In that field he had way more experience than I did and that usually made me feel unsafe.
'Yeah, probably… Hey, why don't you just go home instead of waiting for your dad?' he asked when we stopped at my father's car.
'Oh, if I could do that I would have gone home long time ago.' I said and I put my bag on the ground. 'However, this thing is too heavy and I really don't feel like carrying it all the way home.' I found the car keys in my pocket and I unlocked the car.
'You should get your brother to carry your stuff.' he suggested. I opened the trunk.
'Tony? If I asked him for help, we would get into that stupid, pointless and confusing conversation and I would end up carrying my stuff AND his stuff also.'
'Then get a boyfriend. I carry my girlfriend's stuff… Wait, let it go. I'll help you.' he offered when he saw me struggling with that crazy schoolbag. He picked it up and he put it in the trunk.
'What are you, some kind of gentleman now?' I asked jokingly and closed the trunk.
'Nah, I'm just being my usual self. You know, the helpful, handsome, funny Chad?' he smiled.
'Chad who? Not Danforth, that's for sure.' I smiled back. I locked the car and we started walking towards the school.
'Oh come on, you know I'm joking.' he chuckled. 'Anyways, as I was saying: Get a boyfriend.'
'As I was going to say: get real.'
'Why?' he asked. 'It can't be hard for you.'
'Okay, I know you like joking, but this is getting really mean.' I snapped at him.
'Joking? I'm serious. Think about it. Your brother is the most popular guy at school right now and all the girls are in love with him. Your sister was the biggest legend ever; people still talk about her pranks and stuff. And she was and still is hot.'
'What's your point?' I asked him when we stopped in front of the entrance.
'Don't you get it? Everyone knows that you come from the awesome McKessie family. And since you are all related, you're also…'
'What, Chad? What are you talking about?' I asked. He was slowly getting me annoyed.
'Ohhh come on! Don't make this harder than it already is!' he begged me. 'I just know a guy that is… interested in you.'
'Interested in ME?' I asked. I was both mad and happy at once. 'Who is it?'
'Well, it's actually a few guys…' he looked down.
'WHAT? Who?' I was shocked to hear all that. I couldn't believe it.
'Look, I can't tell. I already said too much…' he looked at me.
'Oh, you're gonna tell me. You're gonna tell me RIGHT NOW. Who?' I demanded to know. Chad seemed a bit scared.
'Look, I really can't tell… Just one thing. Be a bit more open to people next year and you'll see…' he smiled.
'W-w-what?' I still couldn't understand what he was talking about.
'You'll see.' he chuckled. 'I gotta a practice to be on, see ya!' he winked at me, he ran into the building and he continued running down the corridor. I stood in front of the entrance for a moment before I realized what just happened. I still needed to know who he was talking about.
'Chad Bryan Danforth, come back and answer my question!' I yelled, but he already ran into the gym. I was standing there in front of the entrance and realized everyone was looking at me, because I yelled Chad's full name like a crazy person. I took a deep breath and went inside the building. Great, now that one probable guy that possibly liked me most likely thought I was a complete dork.
Taylor M.
