It had been a couple of days since he had last seen her. Back then she was in a hurry too. So she didn't notice him leaning against one of the many walls in one the halls.
There was something about her, he had to admit. He felt the need to see her.
English had become one of his favorite lessons out of the sudden. He actually made an effort to try to understand what the teacher was saying. But every so often his eyes fell a few rows down and his eyes stopped searching when he spotted her among the others. She was always paying full attention and never missed a single thing that came out of teacher's mouth. He wondered how she did it. Once she turned her torso around to find some more books in her bag and then she noticed him. Finally! First her face showed a bit of surprise and then a warming recognition. He carefully waved at her, but she wasn't willing to take the risk of getting caught not paying attention, so she just smiled girlish at him and turned around. He could have sworn his heart skipped a beat.

She began to turn more often. She made it look like she was looking for something useful in her bag, but she always looked up and saw how he always had his gaze on her. And the two would exchange several looks throughout a class.

"Geez, Sam! Just ask the geek out, will ya? You're drool is ruining my papers!" Jenson said and pulled his papers away from Sam's reach.

They were sitting in the cafeteria. Just Jenson and him. She was sitting at her usual table surrounded by her books.

"I'm not hung up on her, Jenson," Sam mumbled.

"Oh, really? What do you call what you're doing now? Staring at her like Amor has hit you with one of his arrows?"

"I just- I don't know. There's just something about her, you know, that fascinates me," Sam said and saw how she turned page for the 24th time in this break.

"And what's that?"

"I don't know. It's not easy to explain."

"The fact of the matter is that you haven't been scoring any chicks since the day you noticed skinny over there. Admit it. You're having a thing for her."

"I'm not! I'd just like to get to know her better, that's all. She seems like the girl I could actually get along with without having some kind of fling with her."

"Whatever you say, Sam. I don't wanna come between you and the bookworm. But just listen. People are starting to notice your absence from the babes. And soon, people like Rick Lesley will rub it in your face."

"I don't care what Rick does. He gotta mind his own business or I'm gonna throw one of my fast balls right at his fat, ugly face the next time I see him at practice."

"Yeah, sure," Jenson said.
"Well, I gotta leave. I promised to return Orson's notes. But I'll see you later."

"Yeah," Sam said and turned his look to bro-fist his buddy. Then he turned yet again to study her.

Just as Jenson had left, she looked up from her book and sent him that girlish smile. If that wasn't an invitation to come over, he didn't know what was.

So he rose from his chair and strolled over to her table, with his hands in his pockets, playing it cool.

"What' ya reading," he asked calmly as he reached her table.

She had returned to reading but after turning page she looked up again.

"Book of Dreams by Jack Kerouac."

"Sounds interesting," he said and sat down.

For a moment she glared at him but then returned to the book just as he noticed her glare.

"It is."

She tried to stay focused on the book but failed. His stare upon her was too strong to ignore.
She closed the book and laid it on the table.

"It's nice to see you again, Sam," she smiled.

"How have you been doing? With your baseball and all that?"

"Great, just great. I'm starter next weekend."

"Congratulation. How lovely for you."

"Yeah, I finally knocked that Rick off the mound."

"Who's Rick?"

"The guy I'm competing against. Well, we're team mates but share the same position on the field. Both pitchers."

"Oh, I see. Well, then it must be a thrill to see that you've overtaken his place."

"Yeah, it's pretty great. So...what have you been up to? Besides reading?"

"Uhm…Nothing much, really," she answered a bit unsecure.

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing you have to worry about."

"Sure?"

"I'm positive."

"Well, if you ever wanna talk, you can always-"

"Yes, thank you."

"You're welcome, I guess," he mumbled.

"Well, I got to get going if I don't want to be in a hurry to reach the upcoming class."

"Yeah, same here."

"It was nice talking to you, Sam."

"You too."

She rose from her chair, gathered her books and left.

Sam was left with the feeling of rejection.