It was the next day. Lucy was travelling the hallway in between third and fourth period with her two dearest friends, Benji and Claire.
"Yeah, so, what'd you do yesterday after school, Lucy? I was gonna call you an' Claire, but the phone lines were out 'cause of the rain," said Benji, looking at her.
"Oh, nothing. I actually walked home and then fell asleep on my floor," replied Lucy, glancing back at Benji. He had been her friend since the sixth grade, five years now, ever since a horrible local summer camp they had survived together. He was not much taller than Lucy, had black shaggy hair and kind of a baby face. He was very pale with watery blue eyes and, as Claire and Lucy often pointed out, kind of a wimp. But he was cute, no doubt. Lucy had begun to wonder if he liked her as more than a friend, but didn't want to jeopardize their friendship. She hoped he would keep it that way.
"Why didn't you ask me what I was doing yesterday?" inquired Claire, with mock annoyance.
"I don't have to ask to know what you were doing," he said, eyeing her hair, which was dyed bright highlighter green. "You look like dirt and some grass." He chuckled affectionately, to show he meant no harm. It was somewhat true, though; her short, choppy hair did look like grass next to her russet face. She was very lovely nonetheless, much prettier than I, Lucy thought, time and again, enviously.
"Oh, no, I really like your hair," Lucy reassured. They continued to discuss Claire's color choice, turned a corner, walked down a staircase, and passed by Neil, who looked up and leered pointedly at Lucy. She paled, ill at ease.
"Isn't that the kid whose always looking at you like you just personally offended him?" Claire asked, but not without snorting at her choice of words. Lucy nodded, her forehead crinkled in slight disgust.
"What's his deal anyway?" asked Benji, turning to look at Neil's retreating back.
"Not a clue," Lucy said quietly. "Well, actually he smiled at me yesterday. And I know it was me, there was no one else around."
"What? When," exclaimed Benji.
"Well, yesterday after fourth period, I didn't try to find you guys, and I went outside and it was raining and I didn't see anyone else around and you know how I g-,"
"Oh, yes, we know how you get when it's raining," chirped Claire, smirking.
"Well, yeah, Neil saw me. But he smiled. And it's like he wasn't laughing at me, but with me. So I have no idea what his fix with me is. …Oh! I'd actually better go back that way. I'm gonna be late for Algebra II."
Benji said, "Bleh, Algebra Dos," and Claire called out, "Bye!" as Lucy hurried off to the third-floor classroom. She shuffled into class, eyes down, the last one to arrive, and took her usual seat by the window.
"Today it's going to be like yesterday, and the day before and before, boring boring boring…" she thought, drearily. She focused on her notebook, and not the math work, where she had been drawing a duck and then a gingerbread man. The heavy, balding male teacher reprimanded the students for being inattentive and then started to drone on about multiplying and dividing mixed numbers, and doing it without a calculator (Oh no!). Blah blah blahdy blah. Lucy could feel herself dozing off, which was okay, because she was sitting behind a really huge kid and the teacher would never catch her. She slumped on the desk with her arms around her face and gradually forfeited consciousness. For awhile Lucy dreamt fleeting dreams of running through the friendly part of downtown, towards the warm red and yellow lights, out of the grey and the rain, and past the sweet smell coming from the Asian bakery, where they knew her by name. And then, in her dream, there was Neil. He was looking at her like he had to say something, but couldn't. And he was holding a folded piece of paper, which he then threw to her.
That was when Lucy awoke. She looked up and squinted at the clock; she'd been asleep for about an hour and class was nearly over. She stretched her shoulders a little, and turned her attention once more to her notebook. On top of the duck was a folded piece of paper, like in her dream.
"Ooh, déjà vu," she thought, while speculating the origins of the paper on her desk. She peered around her for any hint; the girl next to her, Heidi, was trying to get her attention.
"It's from Neil. He had me pass it over, but you were, um, kind of out," she said, self- importantly. Heidi was a disreputable gossip and seemed curious as to what the note said. Lucy stared at her bleary-eyed, disbelieving.
"It's from Neil? You're sure?" Lucy said skeptically. It's not like there was no chance this was trick.
"Mmm hmm," Heidi murmured. Lucy glanced at Neil, who turned to look at her face and then at the note her hands. His expression was appraising; he seemed to say go ahead, read it, I wanna see your reaction. She twisted her head back to the note and brashly pulled it open. Written in a long, thoughtful, scrawl was-
Lucy, would you please meet me in front of the school after this class is over?
That was it, simply. She was puzzled.
"Well, this is kind of good actually. Not that it's ever mattered much, but maybe now he can finally tell me why he frowns at me all the time. It'll make Benji feel better. He's so defensive…Wait, maybe Neil wants to beat me up or something," she thought, while laughing a little on the inside.
The time until the end-of-the-day bell rang couldn't come soon enough. It was like there was invisible electricity running between her and Neil. She was very aware of his presence only a few seats away and did not risk looking at him. When the bell actually rang, Lucy was startled. She quickly got her things together, bolted towards the door, and was one of the first to leave. The mobs in the hallway prevented her from sprinting outside, which is what she would've liked to do. Neil was going to have to find her; she wasn't about to search for him. She clambered to the bench outside where she'd sat yesterday, realizing bitterly, how appropriate. It was raining again, but Lucy didn't really mind that she was getting more drenched by the minute.
Lucy had her back to him and her eyes on the water collecting in the cracks of the pavement when Neil dropped himself next to her on the bench. She could hear that there were still a lot of people around, but they were behind them. Quickly and with what she hoped was relative nonchalance, she observed his appearance without looking him in the face. His sweater was soaked through and his coppery hair hung wet and limp in his eyes. When she finally summoned the nerve to look him in the eyes, those eyes, he was…smiling, again. Or something close to it. The corners of his mouth were turned up and he looked amused, like he was laughing internally at his own joke. Lucy was taken aback and fully neglected her intentions to demand his purpose.
"Oh, what now? He's smiling, a little, again, at me? So he's not about to tell me off…"
"Hello," he said, entirely pleasant. Triggered by his unexpected greeting and nearly cutting him off, she blurted,
"I'm sorry for running into you the other day!" He looked at her questioningly, but then the small smile was replaced and he said,
"Ah, that. Think not of it." She waited for him to say something more or even explain why he asked her to be here, but he continued to sit, grinning, and seeming satisfied with the silence. Lucy squirmed uncomfortably, now very aware of the weight of her sopping dress and of the water in her shoes.
"I'll just go ahead and ask him if he wholly abhors me for some reason," she thought, rather dramatically. "Or maybe it's just been nothing all along. Maybe, I'm imagining these things… because…uh…" Then, tentatively, flatly,
"Um, Neil, what do want? Do you, err, just dislike me or something 'cause…" But the end of her inquiry was cut off as he had suddenly placed his slender fingers on her mouth, still parted in mid-speech.
"Wha…touching my face. Ohmigod. This is ridiculous. What's he want?… And he's still touching the face…"
Softly brushing his fingertips over her markedly full lips he said, simply (A/N: man, I hate using the word 'lips'. I hate that word…),
"I crave it, to know you. Yeah…I want very much to know who you are." That was creepy. But oddly flattering. And utterly implausible. She paused for a moment before shrugging his fingers from her face and insisting, eyes wide,
"Me? Who I am…? But, but, I've always gotten this impression that you, well, hated me. And I'll be frank, I have no inkling as to why… I've never done anything." Neil was no longer smiling, but looked instead looked very serious.
"Well, I don't hate you. No, not in the slightest." She stared at him, a little astonished at his… affirmation This response certainly didn't make clear what exactly he wanted from or thought of her, and Neil's expression gave nothing away, though creases had formed on his forehead, like he was concentrating. It seemed as though he was trying very hard to discern what she was thinking.
After a moment of this, he stood up, gazed at Lucy an instant longer, and turned away to leave. He then sloshed off, without so much as a glance back at her.
"Goodbye. I need to think; before I say something I'll regret." he called, dismissively. Lucy sat watching him walk away, too puzzled to try and stop him. She was frustrated, confused, relieved, and very curious all at the same time. She slouched on the bench for only an instant longer and, without bothering to take out her music, began to run interminably to her house. In her mind she was shrieking,
"Oh, so you don't hate me? Well, okay, then why do you always look at me like I'm disgusting or crazy or I've done something to you?" She slapped her feet irritably against the sopping pavement as she ran, kept on running, and didn't stop until she reached the darkened little apartment a few blocks away.
