I ducked out of the door and into the hallway with my books wrapped to my chest and my purse clunking against the back of my leg. My hair fell out from behind my ear as I walked but I walked straight to my locker, only looking up in order to avoid collisions.
Lunch had been new and different but weird. Once I reached my locker, I spun the dial quickly- hoping to get home fast enough so I could finish my homework early and then do something fun.
24-36-24. Crap, I never got the combination right on the first time. 24-36-20. Click, and I was in. Holding the lock in the same hand as my books, I quickly grabbed my lunchbox and slid the lock back in place.
I turned around straight into somebody.
"I'm so sorry." I said apologetic, blushing furiously as I stared at the floor- silently praying that it would open up and swallow me whole.
"It's my fault." Jared said softly, softly grabbing my elbow. Slowly my eyes worked their way up to his.
"Hi." I said softly.
"Hi." Jared replied, his face breaking out into the biggest grin I'd seen on his face in a while.
"Can I walk you to the bus or your car?" Jared asked, motioning towards the front of school.
"No thanks. I'm good." I replied softly, clenching the stuff in my hands a little tighter.
"Oh. Okay…" Jared said, shoving his hands into his jean pockets awkwardly.
"So…" I said, only increasing the awkwardness. I hated this, I wasn't normally a shy person but Jared was just so freaking intimidating. "It was nice talking to you."
"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow." Jared said, waving as I started to walk off.
"See you." I mumbled, pushing out the front doors. Everyone else had already cleared out relatively quickly, only a few stragglers were left.
I pulled on the strap that had been precariously close to falling off my shoulder before taking off towards home and plugging in my iPod, knowing that Jonathan was no hope for a ride. And of course my car had decided to die this morning.
As I took off down the road, I glanced warily at the sky- unsure as to whether it was going to rain or not. The sky appeared to be darkening so I picked up speed and was at the end of my road when a large grey pick-up truck pulled up beside me.
"I would have been willing to give you a ride." Jared offered, scaring the crap out of me.
"Holy SHIT!" I screamed, thoroughly startled.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Jared said as I unplugged my iPod.
"It's okay." I said, still clutching the things in my hands.
"I would have given you a ride had I known you needed one." Jared repeated.
"I wanted to walk." I shrugged.
"Oh, really?" Jared asked suspiciously.
"Yup." I said quickly, walking as Jared rolled along next to me in his truck barely going a couple miles per hour.
"Do you want a ride?" Jared asked.
"I'm just at the end of the street." I said, pointing in the general direction of my house.
"Kim. Get in the truck." Jared said, stopping the truck and then opening the door.
Cautiously, I walked towards the truck and then jumped in and set my things down on my lap.
"Thank you." I said softly.
He drove slowly down the street for some unknown reason.
"Kim?" Jared asked as he pulled into my driveway after I pointed it out to him.
"Yes?" I asked with my hand on the doorknob.
"How come you are so timid around me? I know enough about you to know that you aren't normally this quiet." Jared asked.
"You're intimidating." I whispered truthfully before opening the door and jumping out. "Thanks for the ride."
I walked swiftly up the pathway to the front door and was inside, dropping my lunchbox off in the kitchen before Jared's truck pulled out of the driveway. It was strange. I felt like I couldn't breathe without him near but then when he was near, I was too startled to breathe.