Chapter Two
"Yea, time for Astronomy," Angela said as she hummed the Batman theme, walking along with Neesha on her way to Mrs. Pierce's Astronomy class the next day.
"Just what I need. More work," Neesha said miserably as they walked along, climbing up the min staircase on their way to the C Hallway.
"Oh baby girl, it'll be okay. It's just one bad day, and tonight I get to join you at practice," Angela said comfortingly as she put an arm around Neesha. Neesha smiled at her.
"Thanks girl," Neesha said, a grateful smile on her face. Angela smiled back and was going to reply before she felt an arm wrap itself around her waist from the left, and she turned to settle her gaze on Elijah. She smiled wide.
"You are so lucky you weren't someone else or I would have beat you," she said playfully. Neesha laughed beside her.
"See girl, you make my day brighter. That's why I love being around you," Neesha said with a small giggle. Elijah smiled too.
"Hey to you too," he said jokingly. She laughed, feeling the muscular weight of his arm resting on her jean clad hips as he gripped her comfortably. She suddenly realized what Neesha had meant when she said "big sparks."
"Hey, nice outfit. I like it," Elijah said as he looked her over. Angela smiled. Today she was dressed in her favorite pair of big jeans, their bells at the bottoms more than thirty-six inches around, and her favorite T- shirt that said "angel" in crimson with a matching colored broken halo over it. He glanced at her red and black sneakers, smiled, then looked at her wallet chain dangling at her side, and then finally came to rest on the numerous colored rubber bracelets and the two black spiked cuffs that adorned her wrists. He looked up at her and smiled.
"I think it's really hot," Elijah said with an enigmatic smile, and the three hit the top landing of the stairs, and kept walking on to the second hallway on the landing.
"Thanks a bunch hon. It didn't take s long to put on as it did to do my hair," she replied and brought a hand up to touch her hair, making sure it was still in place. Elijah looked up, and gazed at her blue hair, tied up in two half buns on either side of her head, and the rest of hair was hanging down, framing her face softly. He then realized that her hair, in the buns and the strands that were hanging down, were streaked with a fiery red. He whistled.
"Wow. I like. I never got how girls got their hair to do weird things," he said in awe, his arm still around her waist as they turned into the second hallway.
"Elijah baby, you ain' seen nothin' yet. Ya wait 'til I do all my crazy black woman hair do's!" Neesha said with a laugh, Elijah and Angela both joining in.
"Elijah, where you headin'?" Neesha asked as they began to walk down the science part of the hallway. He looked up at the ceiling as he walked.
"Ah, biology 2. Right in the hallway parallel to this one," he answered. Neesha nodded as they came to an intersection where another small hallway connected the two main hallways in C.
"All right, well I better be going ladies. Bio 2 calls," Elijah said as he gave Angela a squeeze and then removed his arm.
"See you in calc Elijah," Angela said, and he looked at her and smiled.
"Will do, babe. Later guys," he said and turned to leave, and winked at Angela as he did.
"Later Elijah," Neesha and Angela chorused together, Angela in a complete daze, and the two then continued on.
"Dang baby girl! Look at you!" Neesha exclaimed as she pulled Angela aside by the arm as they walked, causing her to narrowly miss running into a garbage can.
"What?" Angela asked, completely oblivious to the fact that she almost ran into a garbage can as she regained her train of thought. Neesha smiled at Angela's clueless blue eyes.
"You two got it real bad for each other. And ya almost gotcha' self intimately acquainted wit' a garbage can," Neesha said with a laugh. Angela's mouth opened.
"I so didn't run into a garbage can," she said. Neesha laughed.
"I know, but 'cha almost did!" she replied as she laughed some more. Angel smiled at her friend and gave her playful smack on the head.
"Shut up," she laughed. Neesha shook her head, her grin still on her face. But the grin vanished when she turned her head back to center as she walked. Angela turned her head too, only to have Cal Sutherlind's green eyes lock onto hers. A shiver ran down her spine as she saw him. He was immaculately dressed in plain big jeans with pair of drumsticks sticking out of his back pocket, a wallet chain, and a tight black T-shirt, his muscles rippling under the fabric. His hair rippled as he walked too, like the wind was blowing it gently. Aiden Orpheus, a fellow senior in her astronomy class, was walking with him, apparently taking the long way to astronomy, since they were going the opposite direction than Neesha and Angela. Cal's attractiveness was rivaled only by Aiden's, with his tousled chin-length layered blond hair and his light ice blue eyes. Aiden was only a couple inches shorter than Cal, and Cal's height was around six-foot. The two walking together was almost like seeing two Greek gods stroll in the gardens of Olympus. Cal's eyes bored into Angela's, but she looked away, at Aiden, to see him smiling at her. Aiden winked, and then mouthed," Talk to you in astronomy."
Angela nodded, and the two pairs of friends passed each other. Angela turned around to see Cal look back at her, his green eyes once more locking into her mind. She smiled, then turned back around to see Neesha staring at her.
"What?" she asked when she saw the perturbed look in Neesha's eyes. Neesha shook her head and sighed.
"Just be careful baby. You already got Elijah practically eating out of the palm of your hand. He really likes you. Don't mess wit him like this," Neesha replied. Angela shook her head.
"I know Neesha! This is what I hate. All of a sudden this guy shows up and I like him too. Oh my God, how stupid is this," Angela said, making a gesture of frustration with her hands. Neesha smiled.
"I know it sucks girl. But I think ya will be fine in da end," Neesha said as they reached their astronomy classroom.
"I sure hope so, 'cause I don't really know about this right now," she answered as they both walked into the classroom, the bell ringing right as they entered the room.
**********
"Hey Angela. Can I sit with ya?" Aiden asked, a half-hour later, holding his Bingo card in one hand and handful of M&M's in the other. He plopped them down on the empty desk beside Angela, along with his Bingo card. She nodded as she looked up at him and smiled.
"Be my guest, actually. Neesha over here is about to drive me crazy with all her talk on men," Angela said jokingly, and Neesha, who was sitting on Angela's other side, slapped her playfully on the arm. Aiden grinned and pulled the chair out, sitting down as he did so. Mrs. Pierce had gone down to an emergency meeting and had told the teacher in the next room to check in on them if they got too loud, and it was for a part of the period. Everyone really didn't care about the bingo match anymore, Angela realized as she looked around.
"Hey Neesha, what's up?" Aiden asked as he sat down, bringing Angela's attention back to him. Neesha leaned over Angela's desk so she could see him and grinned.
"Nothin' much brotha. But dere is one thang. how's Cal doin'?" she asked with a wide smile. Aiden grinned back, turning his gaze on Angela, his head still turned toward Neesha.
"Actually, that's what I came to talk to Angela about," he replied with a grin at Neesha. She smiled back.
"Well, dat's my cue to ex-it," Neesha said in a singsong voice, took her M&M's, and got up and left. She went and sat next to Terry Carnes, yet another senior and friend of Angela's, and said something to him as she sat down. Terry then looked over at Angela, a smile curving the corners of his lips. Angela returned the smile, then turned back to face Aiden.
"So Aiden, what's up?" she asked him as she popped an M&M into her mouth, tossing it up expertly into the air, around a foot up above her, and enough it fell right into her gaping ruby-red lips. Aiden popped one into his mouth before he answered, shaking his head slightly as he turned to her to get the hair out of his blue eyes.
"Well, last night around 11:30 Cal calls me on my cell phone, and I fell off the bed trying to reach my damn phone," he said as he put his feet up on the desk, his big jeans falling past his ankles, revealing new black Vans sneakers on his feet.
"And?" she asked, following suit by putting her feet up on her desk, her pants falling to reveal tan and smooth legs, her red and black sneakers squeaking on the flat surface of the desk. Aiden smiled.
"God, you have a lot of audacity for being new. Anyway. The first thing her says to me is, 'Who is the new girl with the blue hair?'" he said. Angela snorted.
"Come on. He's in drumline. They introduced me before I tried out," she said rolling her eyes.
"No babe, you don't get it. Cal wasn't there when they said your name. He was late because he just got off work. He works every day after school at Pac Sun in the mall and he only saw you perform," Aiden said as he popped a few more M&M's into his mouth. Angela nodded.
"Alright, I'll buy that. Continue on," she said and finished off the last of her remaining red M&M's, her favorite color. Aiden coughed, then continued.
"And so I go, 'Ah, the one with the matching beautiful eyes and the angel wing tattoos?' And he goes, 'Yes, that's the one. You know her?'" Aiden said with a laugh. "So I continued and went,' Yes, I know her. She's in my astronomy class.' He then went on to tell me he hadn't been there because of work and blah blah blah, and he eventually squeezed your name out of me after a while."
Angel interrupted him with a question. "So why does he want to know who I am so much?"
Aiden smiled at her as he answered. "Well, ever since he saw you try out and to that moment that you shook your hot little hips at him he's been totally down on you. All of a sudden he's blinded, and he's never been like that before," he finished, and Angela's eyebrows went up.
"Ah, so I thought," Angela said. He nodded, and Angela sighed in misery. She leaned her head on Aiden's shoulder as she did.
"Why me?" she asked him as she popped some more M&M's into her mouth, Aiden watching her.
"What's wrong? Why do you say that?" he asked as he grabbed a handful of candies and dumped them into his mouth. She laughed.
"Let's just say that I'm having a little problem with two certain men right now," she answered and grinned as a smile broke out on his face.
"Ah, the two-people-are-after-you-at-once thing, huh?" he asked as he swatted Angela's hand away from his M&M's. Angela smiled as he did.
"Well, here. Take this," Aiden said, reaching a hand into his back pocket and shifted as he rummaged around. Angela sat up as he did, and watched as he produced two neon orange cards and handed them to her. Angela took them, and looked at them closely. Upon closer inspection she realized that they were tickets, with her name on one and Neesha's on the other.
"What're these?" Angela asked Aiden, her blue eyes glittering, and he sat back into his seat as he answered.
"Well, I'm throwing this huge party, seniors only, and it's for a very select few. The only way to get in is with that ticket, and if someone decides to fake me out, I know exactly who I invited, and who was giving out the tickets. Each guest is handpicked by me and my band," he said as he ran a hand through his long blond hair.
"Your band?" Angela asked as she raised an eyebrow with a huge question mark written in her eyes. Aiden nodded at her as he smiled.
"Yeah. I have my own band, and, not to your surprise, Cal is in it. But we have two other guys, two other seniors, Tyler Graves and Wes Hilton. We're called Down Frequency," he said.
"That's cool. Do I even need to take a guess at who wanted me to come?" Angela said with a laugh as she tucked both of the tickets into one of the four pockets on her pants. Aiden shrugged.
"Well, to tell you the truth, I wanted you to come and I was the one who suggested you. But immediately Cal jumped in and agreed, so I was guessing that he wanted you to come too, but was too uneasy to say anything. You'd be surprised at what Tyler and Wes had to say, because they agreed right after too. But not without their special little comments," he said with a shady smile.
"I'm not even going to ask, Aiden, what they said, but I'll come," she said with a laugh. The grin disappeared as Aiden wagged a finger back and forth at her as if saying "no-no" to a child.
"That's not all I'm asking, Angela," he said quietly, now staring at her intently. Angela sighed.
"Crap," she said as she looked back at him. He nodded with a wink.
"Oh, it won't be that bad. I'll let you come and leave you on the list under one condition," he said with a sly smile. Angela looked at his eyes, which were staring right back at her.
"And what condition would that be?" she asked, and Aiden leaned over to bring his face close to hers, and looked her right in the eyes.
"You can come if you give Cal a chance that night, just to charm you, nothing more. He won't touch you, I promise. Just get to know him. That's all I ask," Aiden said quietly, and glanced around the room to see that people were staring. He didn't care. He looked back at Angela as she smiled idiotically.
"Is that you talking or is that Cal?" she asked. Aiden smiled.
"Smart girl. But that was me talking, and Cal didn't ask me to do it. I just wanted to give him a chance with you, because I knew what a great girl you were, and he wants to have you so bad. Please just give him a chance, and you might like him. For me?" Aiden asked and pouted and gave her the puppy dog eyes, his blue eyes looking huge. Angela laughed, and they sat back up.
"Aiden, you can be such a loser. But if it's for you, I guess I can," she said and hugged him tightly around the neck, and she grinned as he hugged her back, his hands resting on the small of her back.
"Thanks babe. And I hope you know you're turning out to be my best friend besides Cal," he whispered in her ear as he put his chin on her shoulder, resting his head against hers. Angela giggled into his hair as he spoke.
"You know, I was thinking that too, besides Neesha," she replied, and they both looked up as Neesha approached them.
"Okay y'all, best be getting untangled dere, 'cuz Pierce is comin'!" she said with a grin, sitting down on Angela's other side. Aiden let his arms slip away from Angela, as did she. They took their feet down from the desks just as Terry dove over the desk beside them, and the three smiled. He did a somersault in the air when he could tell he wasn't going to land on his feet, and ended up on one foot with just enough time to crawl under his desk and into his seat as Mrs. Pierce opened the door and walked in. Everyone was in their seats, grinning sheepishly at her, Bingo cards and M&M's in front of them, and there was no way that Mrs. Pierce could tell of the events and general chaos that had ensued after she had left. She smiled at her students, and began the usual spiel about how good they were when she left.
Angela, Neesha, Aiden, and Terry both snickered as she talked, each for their own reasons. Some for Terry's stunt, and Terry for the teacher's obvious stupidity, because as they all knew, students just don't behave. Mrs. Pierce stopped talking to look at them, giving them the Evil Eye.
"Okay, Batman, what now?" she asked as she focused on Terry, who was the last to stop laughing when she looked at the group. She had come to call him Batman for the reason that he pulled incredible stunts, both physical and just plain bullshitting her, in her class. He didn't stop smirking.
"Well, I was smirking at the fact that I alone am the only superhero in this school, you know? It's just like come on!" he answered in the most smart-ass tone Angela had heard, and she coughed to cover up the laughter that had risen in her throat. Mrs. Pierce actually smiled, and began her spiel again. Neesha, Aiden, and Angela were shaking with laughter as they tried to quell it, as was about half the class. Angela took the diversion to pull out a piece of paper to scribble a note to Neesha. She wrote:
Hey girl! Guess what! I got both of us tickets to Aiden's big
senior exclusive on Friday. Talk to you about it at lunch!
~Angela~
Angela batted Aiden's hand away as he tried to take it, and he smiled at her with a wink. She returned the smile and passed the note to Neesha. She opened it and read it quickly, she looked up at Angela and nodded with a huge smile on her face. Then they both turned around in time to see Terry standing on his seat, in a classical Batman pose, and burst out laughing with the rest of the class. He sat down quickly as Mrs. Pierce turned around to stare at him. All she saw was Terry sitting straight up in his seat, the most cheesy smile ever directed at her, and the rest of her students around him laughing. She sighed, but with a smile.
"I'm not even going to ask this time, Batman," she said.
And with that astronomy resumed.
**********
"Oh my God girl, you got us tickets?" Neesha whooped as they walked down the hall together, heading towards the cafeteria. Angela nodded as she pulled on her wallet chain, and her wallet obediently flew to her waiting hand. As she held her wallet she pulled their two tickets out of her other pocket. She looked at them and found Neesha's. She handed it to her as she returned hers to the safety of her own pocket.
"Sure did hon. Obviously they knew we would except them though, considering they have our names on them," she replied as she opened her wallet and took out a five dollar bill. Neesha looked at her as they walked, tucking the ticket into her purse.
"But didn' dey hand pick dah guests? They would have all of our names on it so if they check ID then they'll know. Plus they obviously know everyone too," Neesha said as they reached the cafeteria.
"Yeah, I guess so," Angela said as they headed towards the salad line, money in hand. Neesha looked at her with a sly smile as they walked along, past people who had already gotten their lunches.
"Ya know what would really be great?" Neesha said as they entered the line, going in past the glass door and getting a tray.
"What?" Angela asked as she went over to the drink refrigerator and slid open the door, grabbing two bottles of water. She got in the line across from Neesha, and threw her the other bottle.
"Thanks girl. I think I'd really be great if ya would take ya bass over an' totally crash dah band. Like, play wit' 'em," Neesha said with a laugh. Angela actually thought about it for a second, them looked up at Neesha as she grabbed a chicken salad.
"You know, that actually would be pretty cool," she said with a laugh. Neesha looked at her as if she was crazy as she picked up a salad box.
"Are ya seriously thinkin' 'bout it?" she asked Angela as she moved along.
"Maybe," Angela said with a sly grin as she moved along to the cashier and punched her student ID number in on the keypad. Neesha sighed.
"Well, that's my girl," Neesha said and she laughed. Angela shot her dirty look as she paid the woman for her lunch, thanked her, and went around to Neesha's side to wait for her. Balancing her tray on her one hip, Angela scratched her other, and Neesha looked over at her.
"What are ya scratchin' ya hip fo'?" she asked. Angela looked at her.
"Quints bruises," Angela replied, and Neesha gave her an apologetic look.
"Ah," she replied as she punched in her number and paid, then walked out with Angela.
"So anyway," Angela began, but was stopped when someone wrapped an arm around her waist and before she could turn around the person slapped a hand over her eyes. Angela balanced her tray perfectly, not letting her awareness get away from her. She tilted her fingers up as her tray began to tip off of her hand. At the same time she felt how the person held her, the heaviness of their arm, and how closely they held her to them. They didn't even her time to say "guess who" before Angela went, "How original Elijah."
"Dammit," Elijah said with a laugh as he let her go and uncovered her eyes. She smiled at him as she asked,
"So where are we sitting?"
"Terry went to save us a booth, since he gets in here first. So look for him," Elijah replied. So they continued to walk through the lunchroom and they passed a table of popular people. Meg Garret and Lauren Kris- two seniors- waved at her with huge smiles, and Angela waved back, a grin on her face as she saw everyone turn around and wave with them. Angela cast a glance at Meg just in time to see her mouth, 'Talk to you in Band about. him,' and saw her shoot a glance at Elijah.
Angela laughed and nodded back, and kept walking. Elijah shot a curious glance at her.
"What the hell was that about?" he asked, and Angela turned to him and smiled.
"Nothin'," she answered, and Neesha tapped both of their shoulders, pointing to a booth by the window. Terry sat grinning at them with a huge smile on his face, his leg draped over the seat, arm over the back of the booth. Angela thought to herself for a moment, thinking he looked pretty good, with his shaggy brown hair, ice blue eyes, jeans, a black tank and a leather jacket. She laughed at the thought as the three reached the booth, and Neesha slid in next to Terry, forcing Angela and Elijah to sit next to each other.
"Not that that's a bad thing," Angela said to herself as she slid into the booth, Elijah next to her.
"Was' up Elijah?" Terry said and smiled, and Elijah reached over and the two did their secret handshake, one of the kinds of handshakes that best friends only know and made up during childhood. Angela and Neesha smiled at each other. Terry sat back as he took a swig of the water sitting in from of him, looking at his friends in the booth across from him.
"So did all of ya get one of these?" he asked and pulled out a neon orange ticket from the pocket of his leather jacket.
"We did," Neesha said as she and Angela both pulled out their tickets, holding them up. All three of them turned to Elijah, seeing him hang his head. He looked at them with a smile and held up his ticket.
"Just kidding!" he laughed as Angela and Neesha threw pieces of their salad at him.
"Jesus Elijah!" Angela and Neesha shrieked as the two guys burst out laughing, but soon joined in. Angela looked at Elijah as their legs touched, only to see him look back at her with a smile, which she returned. Terry interrupted the moment with a small smile.
"So how are you getting there?" he asked. The three shrugged, and he smiled. "Well, if anyone wants a ride, I'm free for it." Neesha looked at him with a wink
"I'll take you up on that. It's always better to go to a party with a guy," she said, and Terry nodded.
"That's cool. What about you two?" he asked turning to Angela and Elijah. They both shrugged.
"I'll have to put that offer on hold, Terry. But I'll let ya know," she said with a smile as she stuffed some salad into her mouth. Elijah nodded.
"Yea, I think I'll have to hold it too," he said, and Terry nodded, smiling a secret smile at Neesha. She winked back. Just then all of them noticed that Sora Domingo, Angela's cousin- who surprisingly moved to Fishers just a year before Angela, but from Los Angeles- walking towards them. She reached the table and gave everyone a big smile.
"Hey y'all. Was' up Angela?" she asked as she and Angela shook hands in their own handshake.
"Nothing much hon. So what's on the brain cuz?" Angela replied as she took another bite of salad. Sora shrugged.
"Nothin' much. I was just wondering if y'all got one of these," Sora said as she held up one of Aiden's orange tickets. The group responded by holding up theirs with a smile on their faces. Sora laughed.
"'Aight. Well I'll be talking to y'all later then. Angela, call you tonight after school," Sora said, but raised an eyebrow as Angela shook her head.
"Sorry girl. I gotta learn the choreography with Elijah after school, then I got drumline til 9. Call me on my cell around 9:15," Angela relied, and Sora nodded.
"Who's the lucky guy you're learning choreography with?" Sora asked, and she smiled as Elijah raised his hand. "Ooh, baby you got yourself a good girl. Keep up with her though, and watch out!"
Elijah smiled at the comment with a secret smile that everyone at the table saw. But he thought no one did.
"Oh don't' worry; I'll keep up just fine." he said and then left the sentence hanging as he cast a glance at Angela. Sora smiled and winked at Angela when Elijah wasn't looking.
"Okay y'all well I better be going. See y'all later. Angela, 9:15 sharp! Later," Sora said, waved, and then turned and left, carrying her tray to her seat across the cafeteria. The booth turned back to each other, and with the secret looks passing between the group, their lunch went on. On several occasions, almost half of the senior class, including Meg, Lauren, Becky DeMoffit, Leah Thorne- one of Angela's new best friends and a member of the winter color guard, stopped by the table to see if they had gotten tickets. All of the senior drumline members also stopped by, and about a half of the drumline were seniors. It was pretty much a nonstop hello and goodbye routine. Aiden's party was an obvious all senior thing, because all of the seniors were excited and more chatter than usual filled the cafeteria, and Angela looked around and laughed when she saw all of the jealous looks on the underclassmen's faces. Angela said her thought out loud and the whole booth looked around and sure enough, there were the underclassmen staring back with a death look painted on their faces. The junior girls at the table next to them stared back and one of then turned and called the group "bitches" and Terry called, "Hey girls, you got an eye problem?"
The girls stared at him in utter shock, and one of them responded.
"No, why do you care?"
Terry smiled in silence. "Well sweetheart, I'm a damn senior and if you have a staring problem or an issue with me or my friends here you better get your underclassmen punk ass up here and talk with me. You ladies dig?"
The girls just stared back and flipped him off.
"Sorry baby, this boy is mine!" Neesha said as wrapped an arm around Terry as the girls gave them death glares and turned around. Terry and Neesha looked back at Elijah and Angela with shock.
"Jeez folks, I'd say we have a little pest problem here. I think me and Neesha are going to go because we have our little things to talk about alone, a'ight?" Terry asked and shoved the last bit of sandwich into his mouth. He took a swig of water as Angela and Elijah shrugged.
"It's fine with me," Elijah replied, and Angela nodded. Terry smiled.
"Well then kids, later," he said and him and Neesha got up and walked to the trash bins, dumping their trash in as they walked out. As two passes the windows near Elijah and Angela, they both made a weird face and waved, but Neesha cast Angela a little smile and a wink. Elijah looked at Angela then, and when Angela turned around she was started to see him staring back.
"Wow baby, don't scare me like that. What's up?" she asked when she saw the look in his eyes. He glanced at the clock.
"Let's take a walk. I need to ask you something," he said to her, and question marks popped up into her brain.
"Sure," she said anyway. So he grinned at her and they both got up and left, walking towards the trash bins. Angela heard one of the juniors say something about Elijah as they walked by. Angela turned around and whispered, "Sorry ladies, he's mine. Lay off." The girls gave her a funny look as Elijah turned around and gazed ate Angela. She smiled at him widely.
"What was that?" he asked as her smile grew even wider.
"Nothing," she said and winked. He smiled in response.
"Thought so," he replied as he took her tray and dumped it in the bin for her and the two continued out into the hallway, walking side by side.
"So, what is it that you needed to talk to me about?" Angela asked as they walked along, and as she asked Elijah stopped and leaned against the wall, and Angela noticed that they were away from anyone's eyesight in the cafeteria. Perfect, in Angela's opinion.
"Well, I was going to ask you if you would let me drive you to Aiden's on Friday," he asked and looked at her eyes, and when she met his gaze her looked at the ground, shifting is weight in an embarrassed manner. Angela smiled and tilted his head up to look at her with her right hand.
"Of course I want to ride with you, why wouldn't I?" she asked. He smiled at her.
"Well, can I TAKE you there then, like be your date?" he asked, and Angela laughed.
"Hell yes, Elijah. That's all I wanted," she said with a smile. He grinned ecstatically back at her, a boyish look on his face.
"Okay, so how does eight sound Angela? So we can cruise and chill for about an hour before?" he asked and looked at Angela in the eyes, and she moved closer to him, putting her arms around his neck as she looked up at the ceiling and thought. As she hugged him closer he put his arms around her too, resting his hands in the small of her back, his thumbs hooked in her belt loops. She savored the feeling of him against her, the way his hips pushed into hers, and the way he held her. Little did she know that Elijah, at that moment, was also enjoying the same feeling.
"Well I wasn't going to go until 8:30." and Elijah got a hurt look on his face before she could finish, "but if it was anyone other than you asking I'd say hell no. But I do want to go at eight with you."
He smiled at her, and looked right into her eyes. She looked back, and they both leaned forward at the same time, their lips touching gently as their eyes closed. Angela kissed him a little harder, and he responded, but remained gentle. Neither of them deepened the kiss and after a moment they both pulled away, resting in each other's arms for a second before they began down the hall once more, Angela's arm in Elijah's. Angela looked at him with a secretive smile as they walked, and Elijah caught it.
"What?" he asked, the same smile hiding on his face, barely touching the corners of his blue eyes, which where now glimmering with happiness.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about the spontaneity of that situation," she said as her smile turned into a grin. He laughed.
"What, was that bad or something?" he asked as they both turned down into the B hallway to go back up to Mrs. Pierce's class to get their things to head to sixth period. She looked at him with a wink.
"No. Not at all. I was jut pondering what a good kisser you are, that's all," she said and smiled as he laughed.
"Well I wish I could say the same about you," he said with a joking grin, and Angela shrieked.
"You little asshole!" she said as he began to run down the hallway and up the stairs, and she followed, her blue and red buns bouncing on her head as she ran, her wallet chain smacking her hip.
"Elijah!" she shrieked as she jumped up the stairs, taking then three at a time, and she saw him right in front of her, running faster as he saw her close behind. She caught up with him right before they turned to go into the science hallway, and tackled him to the ground, pinning him down with her knees and elbows.
"God you suck!" Elijah said as he looked up at her and laughed, and she smiled back.
"I know," she said as she leaned down and kissed him again, and he pulled her down as she did. Angela ended up straddled his hips and she looked up only to see Neesha and Terry in Mrs. Pierce's doorway grinning at them. She laughed in the middle of the kiss and Elijah looked up and saw them too. Angela put her head on Elijah's chest and buried her face in his shirt to try and stop from laughing. Elijah started laughing too, and looked up from the floor at Neesha and Terry.
"Man, you guys sucks so bad," he said in between laughs.
Neesha and Terry only looked at each other and smiled.
"Yea, time for Astronomy," Angela said as she hummed the Batman theme, walking along with Neesha on her way to Mrs. Pierce's Astronomy class the next day.
"Just what I need. More work," Neesha said miserably as they walked along, climbing up the min staircase on their way to the C Hallway.
"Oh baby girl, it'll be okay. It's just one bad day, and tonight I get to join you at practice," Angela said comfortingly as she put an arm around Neesha. Neesha smiled at her.
"Thanks girl," Neesha said, a grateful smile on her face. Angela smiled back and was going to reply before she felt an arm wrap itself around her waist from the left, and she turned to settle her gaze on Elijah. She smiled wide.
"You are so lucky you weren't someone else or I would have beat you," she said playfully. Neesha laughed beside her.
"See girl, you make my day brighter. That's why I love being around you," Neesha said with a small giggle. Elijah smiled too.
"Hey to you too," he said jokingly. She laughed, feeling the muscular weight of his arm resting on her jean clad hips as he gripped her comfortably. She suddenly realized what Neesha had meant when she said "big sparks."
"Hey, nice outfit. I like it," Elijah said as he looked her over. Angela smiled. Today she was dressed in her favorite pair of big jeans, their bells at the bottoms more than thirty-six inches around, and her favorite T- shirt that said "angel" in crimson with a matching colored broken halo over it. He glanced at her red and black sneakers, smiled, then looked at her wallet chain dangling at her side, and then finally came to rest on the numerous colored rubber bracelets and the two black spiked cuffs that adorned her wrists. He looked up at her and smiled.
"I think it's really hot," Elijah said with an enigmatic smile, and the three hit the top landing of the stairs, and kept walking on to the second hallway on the landing.
"Thanks a bunch hon. It didn't take s long to put on as it did to do my hair," she replied and brought a hand up to touch her hair, making sure it was still in place. Elijah looked up, and gazed at her blue hair, tied up in two half buns on either side of her head, and the rest of hair was hanging down, framing her face softly. He then realized that her hair, in the buns and the strands that were hanging down, were streaked with a fiery red. He whistled.
"Wow. I like. I never got how girls got their hair to do weird things," he said in awe, his arm still around her waist as they turned into the second hallway.
"Elijah baby, you ain' seen nothin' yet. Ya wait 'til I do all my crazy black woman hair do's!" Neesha said with a laugh, Elijah and Angela both joining in.
"Elijah, where you headin'?" Neesha asked as they began to walk down the science part of the hallway. He looked up at the ceiling as he walked.
"Ah, biology 2. Right in the hallway parallel to this one," he answered. Neesha nodded as they came to an intersection where another small hallway connected the two main hallways in C.
"All right, well I better be going ladies. Bio 2 calls," Elijah said as he gave Angela a squeeze and then removed his arm.
"See you in calc Elijah," Angela said, and he looked at her and smiled.
"Will do, babe. Later guys," he said and turned to leave, and winked at Angela as he did.
"Later Elijah," Neesha and Angela chorused together, Angela in a complete daze, and the two then continued on.
"Dang baby girl! Look at you!" Neesha exclaimed as she pulled Angela aside by the arm as they walked, causing her to narrowly miss running into a garbage can.
"What?" Angela asked, completely oblivious to the fact that she almost ran into a garbage can as she regained her train of thought. Neesha smiled at Angela's clueless blue eyes.
"You two got it real bad for each other. And ya almost gotcha' self intimately acquainted wit' a garbage can," Neesha said with a laugh. Angela's mouth opened.
"I so didn't run into a garbage can," she said. Neesha laughed.
"I know, but 'cha almost did!" she replied as she laughed some more. Angel smiled at her friend and gave her playful smack on the head.
"Shut up," she laughed. Neesha shook her head, her grin still on her face. But the grin vanished when she turned her head back to center as she walked. Angela turned her head too, only to have Cal Sutherlind's green eyes lock onto hers. A shiver ran down her spine as she saw him. He was immaculately dressed in plain big jeans with pair of drumsticks sticking out of his back pocket, a wallet chain, and a tight black T-shirt, his muscles rippling under the fabric. His hair rippled as he walked too, like the wind was blowing it gently. Aiden Orpheus, a fellow senior in her astronomy class, was walking with him, apparently taking the long way to astronomy, since they were going the opposite direction than Neesha and Angela. Cal's attractiveness was rivaled only by Aiden's, with his tousled chin-length layered blond hair and his light ice blue eyes. Aiden was only a couple inches shorter than Cal, and Cal's height was around six-foot. The two walking together was almost like seeing two Greek gods stroll in the gardens of Olympus. Cal's eyes bored into Angela's, but she looked away, at Aiden, to see him smiling at her. Aiden winked, and then mouthed," Talk to you in astronomy."
Angela nodded, and the two pairs of friends passed each other. Angela turned around to see Cal look back at her, his green eyes once more locking into her mind. She smiled, then turned back around to see Neesha staring at her.
"What?" she asked when she saw the perturbed look in Neesha's eyes. Neesha shook her head and sighed.
"Just be careful baby. You already got Elijah practically eating out of the palm of your hand. He really likes you. Don't mess wit him like this," Neesha replied. Angela shook her head.
"I know Neesha! This is what I hate. All of a sudden this guy shows up and I like him too. Oh my God, how stupid is this," Angela said, making a gesture of frustration with her hands. Neesha smiled.
"I know it sucks girl. But I think ya will be fine in da end," Neesha said as they reached their astronomy classroom.
"I sure hope so, 'cause I don't really know about this right now," she answered as they both walked into the classroom, the bell ringing right as they entered the room.
**********
"Hey Angela. Can I sit with ya?" Aiden asked, a half-hour later, holding his Bingo card in one hand and handful of M&M's in the other. He plopped them down on the empty desk beside Angela, along with his Bingo card. She nodded as she looked up at him and smiled.
"Be my guest, actually. Neesha over here is about to drive me crazy with all her talk on men," Angela said jokingly, and Neesha, who was sitting on Angela's other side, slapped her playfully on the arm. Aiden grinned and pulled the chair out, sitting down as he did so. Mrs. Pierce had gone down to an emergency meeting and had told the teacher in the next room to check in on them if they got too loud, and it was for a part of the period. Everyone really didn't care about the bingo match anymore, Angela realized as she looked around.
"Hey Neesha, what's up?" Aiden asked as he sat down, bringing Angela's attention back to him. Neesha leaned over Angela's desk so she could see him and grinned.
"Nothin' much brotha. But dere is one thang. how's Cal doin'?" she asked with a wide smile. Aiden grinned back, turning his gaze on Angela, his head still turned toward Neesha.
"Actually, that's what I came to talk to Angela about," he replied with a grin at Neesha. She smiled back.
"Well, dat's my cue to ex-it," Neesha said in a singsong voice, took her M&M's, and got up and left. She went and sat next to Terry Carnes, yet another senior and friend of Angela's, and said something to him as she sat down. Terry then looked over at Angela, a smile curving the corners of his lips. Angela returned the smile, then turned back to face Aiden.
"So Aiden, what's up?" she asked him as she popped an M&M into her mouth, tossing it up expertly into the air, around a foot up above her, and enough it fell right into her gaping ruby-red lips. Aiden popped one into his mouth before he answered, shaking his head slightly as he turned to her to get the hair out of his blue eyes.
"Well, last night around 11:30 Cal calls me on my cell phone, and I fell off the bed trying to reach my damn phone," he said as he put his feet up on the desk, his big jeans falling past his ankles, revealing new black Vans sneakers on his feet.
"And?" she asked, following suit by putting her feet up on her desk, her pants falling to reveal tan and smooth legs, her red and black sneakers squeaking on the flat surface of the desk. Aiden smiled.
"God, you have a lot of audacity for being new. Anyway. The first thing her says to me is, 'Who is the new girl with the blue hair?'" he said. Angela snorted.
"Come on. He's in drumline. They introduced me before I tried out," she said rolling her eyes.
"No babe, you don't get it. Cal wasn't there when they said your name. He was late because he just got off work. He works every day after school at Pac Sun in the mall and he only saw you perform," Aiden said as he popped a few more M&M's into his mouth. Angela nodded.
"Alright, I'll buy that. Continue on," she said and finished off the last of her remaining red M&M's, her favorite color. Aiden coughed, then continued.
"And so I go, 'Ah, the one with the matching beautiful eyes and the angel wing tattoos?' And he goes, 'Yes, that's the one. You know her?'" Aiden said with a laugh. "So I continued and went,' Yes, I know her. She's in my astronomy class.' He then went on to tell me he hadn't been there because of work and blah blah blah, and he eventually squeezed your name out of me after a while."
Angel interrupted him with a question. "So why does he want to know who I am so much?"
Aiden smiled at her as he answered. "Well, ever since he saw you try out and to that moment that you shook your hot little hips at him he's been totally down on you. All of a sudden he's blinded, and he's never been like that before," he finished, and Angela's eyebrows went up.
"Ah, so I thought," Angela said. He nodded, and Angela sighed in misery. She leaned her head on Aiden's shoulder as she did.
"Why me?" she asked him as she popped some more M&M's into her mouth, Aiden watching her.
"What's wrong? Why do you say that?" he asked as he grabbed a handful of candies and dumped them into his mouth. She laughed.
"Let's just say that I'm having a little problem with two certain men right now," she answered and grinned as a smile broke out on his face.
"Ah, the two-people-are-after-you-at-once thing, huh?" he asked as he swatted Angela's hand away from his M&M's. Angela smiled as he did.
"Well, here. Take this," Aiden said, reaching a hand into his back pocket and shifted as he rummaged around. Angela sat up as he did, and watched as he produced two neon orange cards and handed them to her. Angela took them, and looked at them closely. Upon closer inspection she realized that they were tickets, with her name on one and Neesha's on the other.
"What're these?" Angela asked Aiden, her blue eyes glittering, and he sat back into his seat as he answered.
"Well, I'm throwing this huge party, seniors only, and it's for a very select few. The only way to get in is with that ticket, and if someone decides to fake me out, I know exactly who I invited, and who was giving out the tickets. Each guest is handpicked by me and my band," he said as he ran a hand through his long blond hair.
"Your band?" Angela asked as she raised an eyebrow with a huge question mark written in her eyes. Aiden nodded at her as he smiled.
"Yeah. I have my own band, and, not to your surprise, Cal is in it. But we have two other guys, two other seniors, Tyler Graves and Wes Hilton. We're called Down Frequency," he said.
"That's cool. Do I even need to take a guess at who wanted me to come?" Angela said with a laugh as she tucked both of the tickets into one of the four pockets on her pants. Aiden shrugged.
"Well, to tell you the truth, I wanted you to come and I was the one who suggested you. But immediately Cal jumped in and agreed, so I was guessing that he wanted you to come too, but was too uneasy to say anything. You'd be surprised at what Tyler and Wes had to say, because they agreed right after too. But not without their special little comments," he said with a shady smile.
"I'm not even going to ask, Aiden, what they said, but I'll come," she said with a laugh. The grin disappeared as Aiden wagged a finger back and forth at her as if saying "no-no" to a child.
"That's not all I'm asking, Angela," he said quietly, now staring at her intently. Angela sighed.
"Crap," she said as she looked back at him. He nodded with a wink.
"Oh, it won't be that bad. I'll let you come and leave you on the list under one condition," he said with a sly smile. Angela looked at his eyes, which were staring right back at her.
"And what condition would that be?" she asked, and Aiden leaned over to bring his face close to hers, and looked her right in the eyes.
"You can come if you give Cal a chance that night, just to charm you, nothing more. He won't touch you, I promise. Just get to know him. That's all I ask," Aiden said quietly, and glanced around the room to see that people were staring. He didn't care. He looked back at Angela as she smiled idiotically.
"Is that you talking or is that Cal?" she asked. Aiden smiled.
"Smart girl. But that was me talking, and Cal didn't ask me to do it. I just wanted to give him a chance with you, because I knew what a great girl you were, and he wants to have you so bad. Please just give him a chance, and you might like him. For me?" Aiden asked and pouted and gave her the puppy dog eyes, his blue eyes looking huge. Angela laughed, and they sat back up.
"Aiden, you can be such a loser. But if it's for you, I guess I can," she said and hugged him tightly around the neck, and she grinned as he hugged her back, his hands resting on the small of her back.
"Thanks babe. And I hope you know you're turning out to be my best friend besides Cal," he whispered in her ear as he put his chin on her shoulder, resting his head against hers. Angela giggled into his hair as he spoke.
"You know, I was thinking that too, besides Neesha," she replied, and they both looked up as Neesha approached them.
"Okay y'all, best be getting untangled dere, 'cuz Pierce is comin'!" she said with a grin, sitting down on Angela's other side. Aiden let his arms slip away from Angela, as did she. They took their feet down from the desks just as Terry dove over the desk beside them, and the three smiled. He did a somersault in the air when he could tell he wasn't going to land on his feet, and ended up on one foot with just enough time to crawl under his desk and into his seat as Mrs. Pierce opened the door and walked in. Everyone was in their seats, grinning sheepishly at her, Bingo cards and M&M's in front of them, and there was no way that Mrs. Pierce could tell of the events and general chaos that had ensued after she had left. She smiled at her students, and began the usual spiel about how good they were when she left.
Angela, Neesha, Aiden, and Terry both snickered as she talked, each for their own reasons. Some for Terry's stunt, and Terry for the teacher's obvious stupidity, because as they all knew, students just don't behave. Mrs. Pierce stopped talking to look at them, giving them the Evil Eye.
"Okay, Batman, what now?" she asked as she focused on Terry, who was the last to stop laughing when she looked at the group. She had come to call him Batman for the reason that he pulled incredible stunts, both physical and just plain bullshitting her, in her class. He didn't stop smirking.
"Well, I was smirking at the fact that I alone am the only superhero in this school, you know? It's just like come on!" he answered in the most smart-ass tone Angela had heard, and she coughed to cover up the laughter that had risen in her throat. Mrs. Pierce actually smiled, and began her spiel again. Neesha, Aiden, and Angela were shaking with laughter as they tried to quell it, as was about half the class. Angela took the diversion to pull out a piece of paper to scribble a note to Neesha. She wrote:
Hey girl! Guess what! I got both of us tickets to Aiden's big
senior exclusive on Friday. Talk to you about it at lunch!
~Angela~
Angela batted Aiden's hand away as he tried to take it, and he smiled at her with a wink. She returned the smile and passed the note to Neesha. She opened it and read it quickly, she looked up at Angela and nodded with a huge smile on her face. Then they both turned around in time to see Terry standing on his seat, in a classical Batman pose, and burst out laughing with the rest of the class. He sat down quickly as Mrs. Pierce turned around to stare at him. All she saw was Terry sitting straight up in his seat, the most cheesy smile ever directed at her, and the rest of her students around him laughing. She sighed, but with a smile.
"I'm not even going to ask this time, Batman," she said.
And with that astronomy resumed.
**********
"Oh my God girl, you got us tickets?" Neesha whooped as they walked down the hall together, heading towards the cafeteria. Angela nodded as she pulled on her wallet chain, and her wallet obediently flew to her waiting hand. As she held her wallet she pulled their two tickets out of her other pocket. She looked at them and found Neesha's. She handed it to her as she returned hers to the safety of her own pocket.
"Sure did hon. Obviously they knew we would except them though, considering they have our names on them," she replied as she opened her wallet and took out a five dollar bill. Neesha looked at her as they walked, tucking the ticket into her purse.
"But didn' dey hand pick dah guests? They would have all of our names on it so if they check ID then they'll know. Plus they obviously know everyone too," Neesha said as they reached the cafeteria.
"Yeah, I guess so," Angela said as they headed towards the salad line, money in hand. Neesha looked at her with a sly smile as they walked along, past people who had already gotten their lunches.
"Ya know what would really be great?" Neesha said as they entered the line, going in past the glass door and getting a tray.
"What?" Angela asked as she went over to the drink refrigerator and slid open the door, grabbing two bottles of water. She got in the line across from Neesha, and threw her the other bottle.
"Thanks girl. I think I'd really be great if ya would take ya bass over an' totally crash dah band. Like, play wit' 'em," Neesha said with a laugh. Angela actually thought about it for a second, them looked up at Neesha as she grabbed a chicken salad.
"You know, that actually would be pretty cool," she said with a laugh. Neesha looked at her as if she was crazy as she picked up a salad box.
"Are ya seriously thinkin' 'bout it?" she asked Angela as she moved along.
"Maybe," Angela said with a sly grin as she moved along to the cashier and punched her student ID number in on the keypad. Neesha sighed.
"Well, that's my girl," Neesha said and she laughed. Angela shot her dirty look as she paid the woman for her lunch, thanked her, and went around to Neesha's side to wait for her. Balancing her tray on her one hip, Angela scratched her other, and Neesha looked over at her.
"What are ya scratchin' ya hip fo'?" she asked. Angela looked at her.
"Quints bruises," Angela replied, and Neesha gave her an apologetic look.
"Ah," she replied as she punched in her number and paid, then walked out with Angela.
"So anyway," Angela began, but was stopped when someone wrapped an arm around her waist and before she could turn around the person slapped a hand over her eyes. Angela balanced her tray perfectly, not letting her awareness get away from her. She tilted her fingers up as her tray began to tip off of her hand. At the same time she felt how the person held her, the heaviness of their arm, and how closely they held her to them. They didn't even her time to say "guess who" before Angela went, "How original Elijah."
"Dammit," Elijah said with a laugh as he let her go and uncovered her eyes. She smiled at him as she asked,
"So where are we sitting?"
"Terry went to save us a booth, since he gets in here first. So look for him," Elijah replied. So they continued to walk through the lunchroom and they passed a table of popular people. Meg Garret and Lauren Kris- two seniors- waved at her with huge smiles, and Angela waved back, a grin on her face as she saw everyone turn around and wave with them. Angela cast a glance at Meg just in time to see her mouth, 'Talk to you in Band about. him,' and saw her shoot a glance at Elijah.
Angela laughed and nodded back, and kept walking. Elijah shot a curious glance at her.
"What the hell was that about?" he asked, and Angela turned to him and smiled.
"Nothin'," she answered, and Neesha tapped both of their shoulders, pointing to a booth by the window. Terry sat grinning at them with a huge smile on his face, his leg draped over the seat, arm over the back of the booth. Angela thought to herself for a moment, thinking he looked pretty good, with his shaggy brown hair, ice blue eyes, jeans, a black tank and a leather jacket. She laughed at the thought as the three reached the booth, and Neesha slid in next to Terry, forcing Angela and Elijah to sit next to each other.
"Not that that's a bad thing," Angela said to herself as she slid into the booth, Elijah next to her.
"Was' up Elijah?" Terry said and smiled, and Elijah reached over and the two did their secret handshake, one of the kinds of handshakes that best friends only know and made up during childhood. Angela and Neesha smiled at each other. Terry sat back as he took a swig of the water sitting in from of him, looking at his friends in the booth across from him.
"So did all of ya get one of these?" he asked and pulled out a neon orange ticket from the pocket of his leather jacket.
"We did," Neesha said as she and Angela both pulled out their tickets, holding them up. All three of them turned to Elijah, seeing him hang his head. He looked at them with a smile and held up his ticket.
"Just kidding!" he laughed as Angela and Neesha threw pieces of their salad at him.
"Jesus Elijah!" Angela and Neesha shrieked as the two guys burst out laughing, but soon joined in. Angela looked at Elijah as their legs touched, only to see him look back at her with a smile, which she returned. Terry interrupted the moment with a small smile.
"So how are you getting there?" he asked. The three shrugged, and he smiled. "Well, if anyone wants a ride, I'm free for it." Neesha looked at him with a wink
"I'll take you up on that. It's always better to go to a party with a guy," she said, and Terry nodded.
"That's cool. What about you two?" he asked turning to Angela and Elijah. They both shrugged.
"I'll have to put that offer on hold, Terry. But I'll let ya know," she said with a smile as she stuffed some salad into her mouth. Elijah nodded.
"Yea, I think I'll have to hold it too," he said, and Terry nodded, smiling a secret smile at Neesha. She winked back. Just then all of them noticed that Sora Domingo, Angela's cousin- who surprisingly moved to Fishers just a year before Angela, but from Los Angeles- walking towards them. She reached the table and gave everyone a big smile.
"Hey y'all. Was' up Angela?" she asked as she and Angela shook hands in their own handshake.
"Nothing much hon. So what's on the brain cuz?" Angela replied as she took another bite of salad. Sora shrugged.
"Nothin' much. I was just wondering if y'all got one of these," Sora said as she held up one of Aiden's orange tickets. The group responded by holding up theirs with a smile on their faces. Sora laughed.
"'Aight. Well I'll be talking to y'all later then. Angela, call you tonight after school," Sora said, but raised an eyebrow as Angela shook her head.
"Sorry girl. I gotta learn the choreography with Elijah after school, then I got drumline til 9. Call me on my cell around 9:15," Angela relied, and Sora nodded.
"Who's the lucky guy you're learning choreography with?" Sora asked, and she smiled as Elijah raised his hand. "Ooh, baby you got yourself a good girl. Keep up with her though, and watch out!"
Elijah smiled at the comment with a secret smile that everyone at the table saw. But he thought no one did.
"Oh don't' worry; I'll keep up just fine." he said and then left the sentence hanging as he cast a glance at Angela. Sora smiled and winked at Angela when Elijah wasn't looking.
"Okay y'all well I better be going. See y'all later. Angela, 9:15 sharp! Later," Sora said, waved, and then turned and left, carrying her tray to her seat across the cafeteria. The booth turned back to each other, and with the secret looks passing between the group, their lunch went on. On several occasions, almost half of the senior class, including Meg, Lauren, Becky DeMoffit, Leah Thorne- one of Angela's new best friends and a member of the winter color guard, stopped by the table to see if they had gotten tickets. All of the senior drumline members also stopped by, and about a half of the drumline were seniors. It was pretty much a nonstop hello and goodbye routine. Aiden's party was an obvious all senior thing, because all of the seniors were excited and more chatter than usual filled the cafeteria, and Angela looked around and laughed when she saw all of the jealous looks on the underclassmen's faces. Angela said her thought out loud and the whole booth looked around and sure enough, there were the underclassmen staring back with a death look painted on their faces. The junior girls at the table next to them stared back and one of then turned and called the group "bitches" and Terry called, "Hey girls, you got an eye problem?"
The girls stared at him in utter shock, and one of them responded.
"No, why do you care?"
Terry smiled in silence. "Well sweetheart, I'm a damn senior and if you have a staring problem or an issue with me or my friends here you better get your underclassmen punk ass up here and talk with me. You ladies dig?"
The girls just stared back and flipped him off.
"Sorry baby, this boy is mine!" Neesha said as wrapped an arm around Terry as the girls gave them death glares and turned around. Terry and Neesha looked back at Elijah and Angela with shock.
"Jeez folks, I'd say we have a little pest problem here. I think me and Neesha are going to go because we have our little things to talk about alone, a'ight?" Terry asked and shoved the last bit of sandwich into his mouth. He took a swig of water as Angela and Elijah shrugged.
"It's fine with me," Elijah replied, and Angela nodded. Terry smiled.
"Well then kids, later," he said and him and Neesha got up and walked to the trash bins, dumping their trash in as they walked out. As two passes the windows near Elijah and Angela, they both made a weird face and waved, but Neesha cast Angela a little smile and a wink. Elijah looked at Angela then, and when Angela turned around she was started to see him staring back.
"Wow baby, don't scare me like that. What's up?" she asked when she saw the look in his eyes. He glanced at the clock.
"Let's take a walk. I need to ask you something," he said to her, and question marks popped up into her brain.
"Sure," she said anyway. So he grinned at her and they both got up and left, walking towards the trash bins. Angela heard one of the juniors say something about Elijah as they walked by. Angela turned around and whispered, "Sorry ladies, he's mine. Lay off." The girls gave her a funny look as Elijah turned around and gazed ate Angela. She smiled at him widely.
"What was that?" he asked as her smile grew even wider.
"Nothing," she said and winked. He smiled in response.
"Thought so," he replied as he took her tray and dumped it in the bin for her and the two continued out into the hallway, walking side by side.
"So, what is it that you needed to talk to me about?" Angela asked as they walked along, and as she asked Elijah stopped and leaned against the wall, and Angela noticed that they were away from anyone's eyesight in the cafeteria. Perfect, in Angela's opinion.
"Well, I was going to ask you if you would let me drive you to Aiden's on Friday," he asked and looked at her eyes, and when she met his gaze her looked at the ground, shifting is weight in an embarrassed manner. Angela smiled and tilted his head up to look at her with her right hand.
"Of course I want to ride with you, why wouldn't I?" she asked. He smiled at her.
"Well, can I TAKE you there then, like be your date?" he asked, and Angela laughed.
"Hell yes, Elijah. That's all I wanted," she said with a smile. He grinned ecstatically back at her, a boyish look on his face.
"Okay, so how does eight sound Angela? So we can cruise and chill for about an hour before?" he asked and looked at Angela in the eyes, and she moved closer to him, putting her arms around his neck as she looked up at the ceiling and thought. As she hugged him closer he put his arms around her too, resting his hands in the small of her back, his thumbs hooked in her belt loops. She savored the feeling of him against her, the way his hips pushed into hers, and the way he held her. Little did she know that Elijah, at that moment, was also enjoying the same feeling.
"Well I wasn't going to go until 8:30." and Elijah got a hurt look on his face before she could finish, "but if it was anyone other than you asking I'd say hell no. But I do want to go at eight with you."
He smiled at her, and looked right into her eyes. She looked back, and they both leaned forward at the same time, their lips touching gently as their eyes closed. Angela kissed him a little harder, and he responded, but remained gentle. Neither of them deepened the kiss and after a moment they both pulled away, resting in each other's arms for a second before they began down the hall once more, Angela's arm in Elijah's. Angela looked at him with a secretive smile as they walked, and Elijah caught it.
"What?" he asked, the same smile hiding on his face, barely touching the corners of his blue eyes, which where now glimmering with happiness.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about the spontaneity of that situation," she said as her smile turned into a grin. He laughed.
"What, was that bad or something?" he asked as they both turned down into the B hallway to go back up to Mrs. Pierce's class to get their things to head to sixth period. She looked at him with a wink.
"No. Not at all. I was jut pondering what a good kisser you are, that's all," she said and smiled as he laughed.
"Well I wish I could say the same about you," he said with a joking grin, and Angela shrieked.
"You little asshole!" she said as he began to run down the hallway and up the stairs, and she followed, her blue and red buns bouncing on her head as she ran, her wallet chain smacking her hip.
"Elijah!" she shrieked as she jumped up the stairs, taking then three at a time, and she saw him right in front of her, running faster as he saw her close behind. She caught up with him right before they turned to go into the science hallway, and tackled him to the ground, pinning him down with her knees and elbows.
"God you suck!" Elijah said as he looked up at her and laughed, and she smiled back.
"I know," she said as she leaned down and kissed him again, and he pulled her down as she did. Angela ended up straddled his hips and she looked up only to see Neesha and Terry in Mrs. Pierce's doorway grinning at them. She laughed in the middle of the kiss and Elijah looked up and saw them too. Angela put her head on Elijah's chest and buried her face in his shirt to try and stop from laughing. Elijah started laughing too, and looked up from the floor at Neesha and Terry.
"Man, you guys sucks so bad," he said in between laughs.
Neesha and Terry only looked at each other and smiled.