Chapter 2
Josh,woke up the next morning. That was a weird dream, he thought. Shaking his thoughts, he got out of bed rubbing his head. He took a towel from his shelf and went to the bathroom to take a shower. He first knocked on his mother's bedroom door.
"Mom, you up," he called. She opened her door smiling at him.
"I've already started making you some breakfast,"she said sweetly,"Hurry up so it doesn't get cold."
"OK, mom thanks." He smiled and took a quick shower so not to keep his mother waiting. When he hopped down the stairs he sat down at the table looking hungrily at his plate of eggs and bacon. He quickly began shoving it into his face.
"Didn't your mother ever teach any manners?"
He laughed at his mother and said with a mouthful,"Aff-aren-dly nod," spraying food all over his plate.
She just grinned at him. He looked just like his father except he had her green eyes. Josh watched her wash the dishes. He remembered when he used to stand next to her as a kid and was honored to help her dry them. He guessed anyone could call him a momma's boy, but he felt no shame in it. He felt it was his duty to take care of her since his father died. He was on a business trip when the plane got caught in a really bad storm and crashed, killing everyone in it. He remembered the night she found out. He found her crying on her bed. He asked her why she had black tears. She just laughed and hugged him. He found out later, of coarse, that it was just her mascara, but he was only 7 and didn't know.
"So you were home early last night," his mother remarked, "Didn't you go out with your friends?"
Josh was surprised at the question. He often wondered why she allowed him to go out with the boys. She wasn't dumb. She knew what they did. He guessed she trusted his judgement. He was glad for it though. When he thought about it, he really did have a good head on his shoulders and never really allowed himself to get into real trouble. He explained that he didn't feel up to going out with the boys and needed time alone. She looked at him concerned, but he assured her he was fine and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. He handed her his plate and bid her goodbye.
He ran out the door and walked over to his piece of crap car. His mother had a lot of money and she had offered to buy him a nicer car, but he said he wanted to earn one on his own. Now that he knew what car that would give him, he might have gone back in time and accept her offer, but he knew he did the right thing. He'd have to learn to be on his own sometime. He left his house with the terrifying thought, He is gonna die without his mother to cook for him, how is he gonna eat!
Andy smiled as she saw her friends laughing about something obviously funny, in the corner of the courtyard. her school was relatively small and circled around a large courtyard that, during the hotter days, they could eat lunch in. There were a few tables set up in the fall for those who ate breakfast at school. The cafeteria wasn't open in the morning so they were forced to eat outside. Barely anyone ate their breakfast there so the tables were used for chat sessions between friends before classes started.
Andy sat down next to her friends in the corner table and asked what was so funny. Sarah, a tall, gangly, girl anxiously started describing a story about how Julie would react to a boy on her vacation. Sarah was known for her theatrical moments where she acted out different stories and couldnt help but make the funniest expressions. Andy thought her to be hilarious. What was weird though, is that most didn't know that side of Sarah. She was very quiet around others when classes started. She was classified as the smart artistic girl in their school. Andy wondered what she was classified as. What others thought she was like. She didn't really care, but then again she was curious. She looked up as a group of boys passed their table. She looked at Josh right in the eyes and blushed a little as he was looking at her. It was so ironic the fact that when she looks up she sees him. Of course, She was the MEAN smart girl, she thought. Her expression changed and she looked away from him to blindly look at Sarah. She wasn't even listening to the story anymore. She thought of why he would say she was so mean. She just wasn't dumb. It was really bothering her.
The bell rang as Andy told Sarah that she'd see her at lunch. She turned around to head to her math class. She didn't have any friends with her in the class and was dreading it. She turned a corner only to, once again, hit a familiar warm chest. She looked up to see Josh's smiling green eyes looking down at her. A strand of black hair fell over his brow and when Andy looked at him he unmistakebly looked like a character on the cover of a romance novel. She dazed then snapped herself out of it. She stepped back and fiddled with her words in her head. Why did she seem to hate him so, but then be under a trance when she saw him. He broke the silence.
"We've got to stop meeting like this," he joked.
She gave a quiet giggle and was about to pass him when he stopped her by putting his hand on her shoulder. It too was warm and she secretly didn't want him to remove it. He put it down back to his side and into his pocket. Andy lied to herself that she didn't like his hand there and didn't appreciate him acting as if they knew each other. His hand reappeared from his pocket holding something.
"I know how you don't like it when people take your pencils, so I wanted to return it to you." He held it out for her to take. She looked at it confused and he saw that he should explain. "I still had it from when I helped you with your stuff yesterday, and forgot about it when we started talking. Then you sort of...well left in a hurry, so I decided I'd wait until today." She took the pencil then shoved it into her bag and quietly said thanks. She again went to pass him but instead he turned around and walked beside her. She felt under pressure with his stare. Her Math room was on the third, last floor of the school and she was still on the first. She continued up the second floor with him next to her until she couldn't stand the awkwardness anymore. She turned in front of him making him stop.
"What are you doing," she asked with a confused expression.
His face blank, he answered,"I'm walking you to class."
"But how do you know what class I have?"
He smiled and said,''That's for me to know and for you to find out."
She looked at him uncertainly,"But why would you want to walk me to class if you think I'm so mean?''
"Is that bugging you," he asked understanding now,"I'm sorry I said that. I didn't mean it that way I just didn't understand yet. I think I do now. You had all the right to act that way yesterday and I'm sorry, I mistakened it for mean."
He said it as if he truly meant it. She was taken aback. Did she really make him understand or was he just saying that? She stammered but gave up. She turned around and continued the way. Maybe he was just following her and didn't know where she was going.. She decided to let him lead so she slowed down and he looked at her confused. She gestured for him to go ahead. He did so and to her surprise, led her right into the math classroom. How did he know?
They stopped next to the doors and he smiled at her expression. What she obviously didn't realize was that he had math class too. He thought the opportunity to play a little joke on her was perfect so he took advantage of it. It wasn't everyday that he saw one of the smart kids look confused. But that wasn't the only reason he enjoyed teasing her. She looked, dare he admit it, really cute when she didn't know what to say.
She said thank you with one last curious look and she sat in the front corner seat. She set her bag on the floor and looked up to see him still standing there. Why was he still there? He smiled at her and sat in the front seat next to her. He took his math homework out and tapped the bottom of the papers on the desk to align them. Then he layed them gently down on the desk, folded his arms and stared at the chalkboard in front. Feeling her gaze on him he couldn't help the widening grin on his face.
She couldn't believe him. Making her think he knew her schedule like a stalker or something. She didn't know what to think before, but all it was, was that he simply had the class the same time. Jerk. She laughed at herself aloud. She looked at Josh, who was clearly enjoying her astonishment and confusion. She took the liberty and slapped his shoulder. Ow, he said jokingly finally removing his glance at the board. He rubbed his shoulder as he looked at her smile.
"Unbelievable," she said shaking her head.
"What, you never noticed me in this class before?''
"Well, first of all you never sit up front. Second of all, your friends aren't here so there isn't an annoying sound from behind me to take notice to and Third of all why would I take notice to someone who had never spoke to me before."
From the moment she started explaining he had squinted his eyes and nodded his head repeatedly so as to pretend that he was concerned and understanding, but did it in an obvious sarcastic way. She just sat there with a smile in disbelief shaking her head. He chuckled at her and said,"Now be quiet, I'm trying to go over my homework." He looked at his paper pretending to read it. He concentrated on it, trying to ignore her small laughs.
He's not that bad, she thought, actually he's funny, and nice and cute and...she went into a dreamy stare with her head reasting in her palm. Josh quickly glanced at her to see if he still had her attention. He saw that he had and noticed her quickly look down at the paper on her desk with a look of concentration. Was she staring at him?
How stupid was she. This was just routein for him. He flirted with girls all the time. She never saw him, but she was sure he had. She was surprised that he was still single, with his charm and looks, all the girls he flirted with must have died for him. But she wasn't dying. Maybe she was. She had just found herself admiring him. The bell rang, signaling the start of first period. The teacher walked in and stopped to look at Josh.
"Josh? Why are you up front today?"
He looked at Andy and then back at his teacher. He was about to reply when she waved her hand. "Oh nevermind, no need to discourage the students Martha," she said almost to herself. She came to Andy's desk and handed her a pile of papers.
"Can you hand these out, and uh... Josh," she said naturally looking at the desk next to Andy's but found someone she wasn't sure of at the moment,"Um...will you collect the homework?"
Andy got up and started by handing herself a test. Josh went to her desk too and picked up her homework from the other side. He quickly looked at it and shook his head in disapproval. He made sure she saw and she quickly grabbed it from him. She looked at it and then looked at his expression. He had tricked her again. She didn't even know why she thought hecould find something wrong on her paper. She shoved it back to him to him with a grin and continued down the row. He laughed and started quickly down the row collecting papers. Every time he picked up a paper he looked at her and thrust it into a pile to his chest. She looked at him and with every thrust he sent a paper, she slapped the test down on the desk. They hurried down the first isle, each on the opposite side of the desk, starring at each other. They started a sort of race.
Finally halfway through the class. The teacher warned them to take it easy on the papers. They laughed to themselves and quickly finished passing them out. When they were done Josh handed the teacher the homeworks and took his abnormal seat. Andy also handed in the remaining tests. She sat in her seat and met Josh's glare. He quickly adverted his eyes and started his test with a smile. She too was smiling as she had a realization. It's fun to flirt!
When class ended, Josh asked where she was going next. She told him gym and his smile subsided. He had hoped that he could walk her to class again.
"Oh...well I have science up here. Um... so I'll see you in History class?"
"Sure, see you then." She smiled as he left. Had she made a new friend. Wait, that's crazy, someone of his popularity would never like some one like her. He was only nice when he wasn't in front of his frends. He's not going to talk to her in History class. Probably never again.