Love Me Patiently, Love Me Honestly

I only had to drive myself to school this morning. I pulled into the parking lot and parked next to Garrett. He and Pat were both waiting for me. First period was full of half asleep kids. Governemnet had always interested me, but not at seven in the morning.

2nd period was Theatre. Neither Pat, nor I were much of an actor but we’d heard it was an easy class, and we needed elective credit. The teacher told us we were reading a short play, and needed to partner up. Pat ditched me for Lacy, and I was alone. I looked around for someone I knew, but found no one. Then, a boy walked up to me.

“Hi,” he said hesitantly. “Do you have a partner?”

“Nope.” I replied. “I’m Maddie.”

“Matt.” He smiled. He had a nice smile. He was cute, too. He had dirty blond hair that stood up in different directions, and pretty blue eyes. We ended up reading some play that neither of us could understand, being written in old Elizabethan terminology. Obviously, he had heard this would be an easy class too.

When we went on stage we tried to read the play but just ended up laughing the whole time. The whole class laughed with us, and the teacher said we had gotten the toughest one, and didn’t expect us to learn it. When the bell rang we said goodbye and we went separate directions.

“Wait! Maddie!” he called and walked back over to me. “Can you tell me where room 314 is? I wasn’t here yesterday and I’m new to the school.”

"You weren’t here on the first day of school?” I asked.

“I was in Hawaii.” He smiled.

“Lucky! Anyways, I have 314 next!” I smiled.

“Awesome, shall we go?” he said and we walked off. On the walk to class, I learned that he was from New Mexico, and moved here this summer when his dad got a job offer. We got to class and I went to my seat as he went and checked in with the teacher. Kennedy was at his usual place.

“Hello Kenny.” I smiled and sat down.

“Hey Madds, how’s it goin?”

“Pretty good, you?”

“The same.” He said. “This job sucks. It’s so boring. I finish all the work I’m supposed to do by the middle of 1st period. So in 2nd period I messed up the papers I had stacked and restacked them.”

“Well, I’m sure it’ll be more exciting once you have stuff to grade and whatever. Stop complaining!” I joked.

He rolled his eyes, "Shut up."

“But, you have me here! And I’m the life of the party, so you’re lucky.” I said matter-of factly.

“Oh, I know you are.” He smiled and I laughed. The bell rang and Mr. Watts walked to the front of the room.

"Hello, students. Today we begin the learning. Oh, I don’t think I introduced you to my student aide. Kids, this is Mr. Brock.” He said, pointing to the back of the room. “He’ll be in here every day doing random stuff for me, making my job a lot easier.” Kennedy smiled and waved. 2 of the girls in front of me began giggling.

Mr. Watts began talking and told us to open our books to page 2 and began reading the introduction.

“Mr. Brock.” I whispered to Kennedy through my laughs.

“Shut up.” He said, and I smiled. I looked around the class and saw Matt at the complete other side of the room. He was looking at me too. I waved and he waved back. Then looked at Kennedy before turning back to his book. I turned back to Kennedy who was now reading a novel. He looked very concentrated. It was cute.

I turned back to the teacher, as he began asking people questions from a review of Pre-calculus. I looked at he questions on the page and didn’t know the answer to any. The curriculum in England must be a bit different form here.

“Hmmm,” Mr. Watts started, looking down at his class list. searching for someone. I prayed it wasn’t me. “Ms. Madeline Riggs.” He said, looking around. Kennedy snorted a laugh. “Mr. Brock? Something wrong?”

“Oh, no, Mr. Watts. Sorry, I just...read something funny. Sorry.” He apologized and continued reading.

“It’s Maddie, Mr. Watts.”

"Ah, yes. Okay, Maddie. Question 5?” he asked me. I looked down at the question and had no idea. My words tumbled over each other as I tried to think of at least something to say.

“There is no answer. It’s a trick question.” Kennedy whispered so no one but me could here.

“Uh, uh…it’s a trick question. There is no correct or incorrect answer.” I blurted out, hoping Kennedy hadn’t just tricked me.

“Very good.” Mr. Watts said, and moved onto someone else. I looked back at Kennedy and whispered a thank you.

“You’re welcome, Madeline.” He whispered back and smiled. The bell rang shortly after and the teacher assigned a page of homework. Before I walked out I turned to Kennedy.

“Um, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna need your help with this homework.” I told him.

“Well, how about I come over after school and help you?” he suggested.

“Sounds good. See you later.” I smiled and walked out. I got to 4th period and sat next to Garrett.

“So, Kennedy’s coming over to my house today.” I told him.

“That’s…kinda weird Maddie, not gonna lie. We all kinda figured that friendship was over.” Garrett said.

“I did too. But, we’ve been talking lately, and...it’s nice. Plus, he’s only helping me with my homework.”

“Well, okay, but be careful.” Garrett said and I rolled my eyes.

The rest of the day was uneventful. I got home and changed into more comfortable clothes. I made a plate of cheese and crackers and ate it while I watched some TV. I still had 2 and a half hours before Kennedy got here. He still had to work until the end of the day. I ended up falling asleep in front of the TV and was awoken by the doorbell. I looked at the clock and it was 1:47. Kennedy. I looked at myself in the mirror on the mantle and combed through my hair with my fingers. The doorbell rang again. I ran to the door and opened it.

“Hey!” I greeted.

“Just wake up?” he asked as he walked in.

“How’d you know?” I asked.

“Whenever you wake up, you always scratch your forearm like crazy.” He said. I stopped scratching my arm and flushed.

“I always do that? Really?”

“Every time. It’s something I’ve picked up on over the past few years.”

“Hm, I never noticed. Well, shall we get to work?” I asked as I grabbed my backpack and carried it to the kitchen table.

John

Getting a ping-pong table was seriously the best investment I ever made. It sits in the middle of my living room in my apartment. A few times every week the guys would come over and we just play and play. Right now I was playing Jared and I was beating him by a good 7 points.

“Oh, so John, did you hear Maddie and Kennedy are hanging out now?” I stopped and looked at Garrett. The ball hit me in the head. They all laughed.

“Explain.” I said with my hands on my hips.

“I guess he’s helping her with Calculus. He’s at her house right now. They’ve been becoming friends, apparently.”

“Wow, that’s...so weird.” I replied, completely confused.

“Yeah, John, Why didn’t she just ask you? Didn’t you take Calculus last year?” Jared asked.

“Yeah, I did. I finished with the highest grade, too.” I told him. “Here Pat, take over for me.” As I sat and watched pat completely ruin my game, I thought about Maddie and Kennedy together. I hope she isn’t falling for him again. Not with everything he told her a year ago, and especially not with everything he needs to tell her. Oh god.

Maddie

“Kennedy! This is useless! I’m not learning anything!” I said as I buried my face in my hands.

“Listen, I know you’re frustrated, but you have to try!” he encouraged.

“I’ve been trying! But it’s been 2 hours and we’re only on question 4! And you’ve done the past 3 for me! This is hopeless.”

“All right, maybe you just need a break.”

“I just took a break 5 minutes ago.” I informed him.

“I mean a real break. Let’s go get some food. I’m starving.” He said.

“Okay.” I told him. “Let me go put on some jeans.” I walked upstairs, changed, and quickly redid my makeup, then walked back down.

“So, can we make this kind of a long break? Because Olive Garden sounds really good.” Kennedy said and flashed me a hopeful smile.

“You read my mind.” I smiled. “You drive.” I told him as we walked out.

We got to Olive Garden and sat down. Our waiter got our drink orders and we were both silent reading our menus. I decided what I wanted before he did. I put my menu down and folded my hands. I stared at Kennedy. He was so cute. But of course, I’d always thought so. I thought of the weirdness of the situation we were in. but didn’t wish it to change. I liked this. Maybe I could finally have a chance with him.

“You’re staring.” Kennedy, said, still looking at his menu.

I looked away quickly. “Am not.”

He laughed. “You know Maddie-” he began, but the waiter cut him off and asked for our orders.

“Um, I’ll have the chicken fingers with fries, off the kids menu.”

“You have to be 12 years old or under to order off that menu.” The waiter said.

“Can you make an exception? Pleaseee?” I batted my eyelashes.

“Fine,” he said.

“Would it be pushing it to ask if I still get a free dessert if I finish my meal?"

“Maybe a little.” The waiter said. “For you sir?”

“I’ll have the chicken alfredo, please.” Kennedy said and handed the man our menus.

“So what were you saying?” I asked.

He laughed. “I was about to tell you how much you’ve grown up.”

“Well don’t speak so soon Mr. Brock.”

“Ha, Ha. Please don’t call me that. It makes me feel creepy.”

“Fine.” I said.

“But for real, you’ve grown up so much. You’re, a woman now, you know? A beautiful woman.” He told me sincerely.

I could feel my cheeks heat up, “Thanks.”

“I missed your blush.”

“Shut up!” I laughed, how embarrassing.

“It’s cute.” He said. “And so are you.”

“Well, someone sure is flirty tonight, aren’t they?

He laughed softly. “I just want you to know that I’m sorry, for what happened before you left. Any boy would be lucky to have you, and I’m sorry I didn’t see that then…forgive me?” he asked with a smile.

His smile made my mind jello and I spoke before I even thought, “Already done.”