Chapter 8 – You're Beautiful. It's True

Seth fiddled with the strap on his bag as he walked down a school corridor lined with lockers. It uncomfortably dug into his right shoulder but he couldn't be bothered to lift the bag off and put it on properly. The result of this activity made Seth look like a rather uncoordinated humpback with a lame arm and a terrible itch on his shoulder. It was at this point that Summer came walking down the same corridor. That was until he saw Seth coming towards her from the opposite direction. She panicked, turned, and walked quickly away, and prayed that he had not seen her. Unfortunately for her he had and his loud shouts of her name made sure that everyone else in the corridor knew he had saw her too. She reluctantly stopped and waited for him to catch up. As he rushed to do so he unluckily stood on a stray shoelace from his leg shoe causing him to collapse in an ungodly heap at her feet. Summer stood there with her hands crossed and eyes looking upwards in contempt as he helped himself up and brushed himself off.

"Hey, Summer." He said when satisfied he was no longer dusty.

She gave him an acidic smile. "Cohen."

A goofy smile crossed his face. She knew his name. "So, do you enjoy the pizza last night?"

Summer desperately tried to prevent a smile from parading itself across her features. She succeeded. "Look, Cohen. Last night was a one-off. I was hungry. And I hate anchovies."

A pained look materialized in Seth's eyes but in a flash it was gone. "Oh. Yeah. I understand. No, yeah. One-off. Got ya."

Summer suddenly felt tremendously bad. A pit of ill-feeling opened itself within her stomach. Her features softened. Her mouth broke into a friendly smile of pity. "Look, I didn't mean to…" Summer trailed off. "You know, it's just…"

Before she could finish Seth interrupted her. "No. I get it. I do. You're little Miss popular with a reputation to maintain and I'm…" He looked down at his feet. "I'm not. Well, I'm not a Miss, but I'm also not the others things. You can't hang out and have fun with me. I understand that. I'll leave you alone. I'll pretend that you don't know me. Before I do though can I just say, thank you. Yesterday was the greatest day of my life."

Before Summer could say anything Seth was down the corridor and gone. He did not turn around. He did not see the tiny drop of water that fell down Summer's face before being quickly swept away.

The wind drifted lazily through Ryan's hair. He brushed it away from his eyes. The sun hovered overhead casting no shadow. The throng of students hustled their way to and fro with great endeavor but little purpose. Ryan stood still surveying their activity with a tiny subtle grin barely noticeable on his face. His life had definitely taken a turn for the better.

Marissa walked out into the intense sunshine and shielded her eyes from the sudden exposure. She examined the crowd of bustling bodies before her. In the distance on the steps leading up to the library standing markedly still was Ryan. A small faintly visible smile occupied his expression. Marissa smiled to herself. She slowly made her way over to the library steps. Ryan did not see her approach. He was engrossed in watching the crowd. As she got nearer she pretended she was heading in to the library and hadn't seen him then just as she was upon him she flicked her head round and acted as if she had just noticed him.

"Oh, Ryan. Hey."

Ryan pulled his eyes of the crowd and smiled at Marissa. "Hey."

"What ya doing?"

Ryan thought for a moment before realizing he hadn't actually being doing anything. "Nothing."

Marissa nodded. "So…" She dragged out the 'o' as she thought of something to say. "Last night was fun."

"Yeah. It was." Ryan said truthfully.

Again Marissa nodded. Neither said anything and both stared at their feet occasionally looking up and catching the gaze of the other. "Look." Marissa said breaking the silence. "I just wanted to say that I've had a really good time these past few days and…"

Something stopped her, or rather someone. A shadow fall of her face. The shadow was cast by a tall young man standing behind Ryan.

"Hi, Luke." Marissa said.

"Hey, honey." Came the reply.