Fly Me Away

I didn’t get much sleep that night.
My mind was still buzzing around my phone call from Jackson. I went over it several times in my head and thought of clever things that I could have said but didn’t. In the end, I was happy with it, sure I didn’t say anything much, but at least I didn’t make a fool of myself, and it definitely ended with the best possible outcome.

But of course, I accidentally slept in the next morning.

“Oh what—why the hell didn’t Mom wake me?!”

I stumbled out of bed after catching a glimpse at the time. I only had 60 minutes to get ready and get to school, 40 of which were needed for travel time.

I pulled some clothes out of my closet and threw them on before galloping down the stairs in a mad rush. Luckily, I had thought everything through and I was obsessed enough to assemble a nice outfit for Jacksons painting the night before. I had a nice white top, tan cardi combo and some navy blue shorts—very suitable for the stunning hot day the weatherman said we would be having. I dressed it down a bit with a pair of plain black Keds because I didn’t wanna look like a try hard.

Minotaur yapped manically and bounced around the living room, playing off my urgency. Mom was sitting quietly in the on a sofa reading a paper and sipping tea. I stood in the doorway and stared at her in disbelief. She raised an eyebrow.

“Why didn’t you wake me?!” I stressed, pretending to pull my hair out.

“I thought you weren’t going to school today honey?”

Oh no. I forgot to tell her.

OH NO! I hadn’t even thought of my excuse for not being home this afternoon – that little detail had slipped through the cracks. Well, there was no time now; I would have to settle for something simple.

“I’m feeling a lot better today actually... and me and Kelly are going back into town after school so I won’t be back for a bit. Is that okay?”

“Alright. Is something happening in town?” She questioned.

“Kelly put a jacket on hold until after pay day. We’re going to pick it up.”

“So you won’t be long?”

“Don’t no. I’m gunna be late, gotta go, bye.” My words came out rushed and in a big clump as I picked up my car keys and school bag, before headed for the door.

“Just be back in time for dinner!”

The moment I sat in the driver’s seat of my boring corolla, I realized something was wrong. I had obviously been so pre-occupied with thinking about that blasted phone call that I had forgotten all the important things.

I leapt back out of the car and threw the front door back open. Mom jumped out of her seat when I stumbled back into the living room.

“What on earth’s wrong—?”

“Mom I need you to drop me off at school. Now, please, if you could.”

She pushed her reading glasses back up on her face and put the newspaper on her chair, “why can’t you just drive Maggie?”

“Kelly’s driving me into town and I don’t wanna leave my car at school.”

Sure, I felt guilty about lying to my Mother, using her even, but I’d tell her the truth when the time was right. She wouldn’t understand me getting in a car with a handsome art student I just met.

“Alright alright, let me just find my keys.”

-----

Even after the rushing, I still arrived at school unfashionably late; after a few years of driving myself (and driving with Pip), I’d forgotten how horribly slow Mom drove.

I took a deep breath and tried to enter Chemistry class respectably. When I took my first step in the door, the entire class went out of their way to lift their heads and look at me. Mr Steed, who was standing at the front of the class, abruptly stopped talking and raised his eyebrows at me.

“Ah Miss McQueen, how kind of you to join us today,” he teased. A few students snickered.

My face went beetroot red and I muttered a quiet “sorry,” before pushing my way to the back to take my seat. I heaved some text books out of my bag and spread them out across my desk, pretending to be immersed in Acid’s and Bases. I could feel several pairs of eyes watching me at first, but as people lost interest, this quickly withered down to just one. I glanced up to see Pip looking at me strangely.

What was wrong with every one today...

I looked away from her. If she had anything to say to me, I didn’t want her to have to use sign language. I was in enough trouble as it was.

I decided to sit by myself in the cafeteria and actually eat lunch. The floors were particularly messy that day, as if a pre-lunchtime food fight had just commenced. I felt weird in the lunch line; people were still looking at me strangely. I tried my best to shrug it off and ignore them.

My last class for the day was English. Recently, this had been the class that I wanted to attend the least, simply because it was the only class Pip, Kelly and I all had together.

I took a seat in the middle of the room. Kelly and Pip were at opposite ends to each other, but I wasn’t going to let it ruin my day.

Mid-way through the class, someone beside me placed a folded up piece of yellow paper on my desk. I looked up to see who it was, but the guy next to me just shrugged and continued working. When I opened it, it read:


Why are you all dressed up?
Kelly.

I glanced over at her. She had a pencil in her mouth and she looked confused. I wrote down on the piece of paper.


I’m not.
Then handed it back to the boy next to me. I went back to my English writing and pretended nothing had ever happened. The piece of paper appeared on my desk again.


Yes you are.
You’re wearing the gold
bangle I gave you.

Of course this was about her. I scribbled on the note again.


What’s it to you?

I made sure to thank the delivery boy as I handed it to him. He nodded and wiggled his eyebrows a bit. Weird. I smiled politely, and went back to writing.

I didn’t get a note back.

As the Lesson was about to finish and half the students had handed in their essays, another note landed on my desk. This time, the white piece of paper read:


You look awesome today.
Love Pip

This made me smile.

-----

The final bell rang and everyone scurried out of the room before I could even pack my stuff away. When the crowd cleared, Pip and Kelly were gone too. I was hoping that at least one of them might stay and actually say something to me. But that’s all it was – hope.

When I finally left the class, I could feel the excitement bubbling in my stomach. I made a quick stop in the girl’s restroom to check my appearance and was a little bit surprised when I did.

My hair was perfect. I could never have asked for a better hair day. It was behaving and spiraling down my back in loose curls instead of fluffy waves. I tried to remember what I did to it last night, but couldn’t recall doing anything different. It was a hot day and, to add to the good luck, my outfit looked a lot better on in the sun. My gaze lingered for a moment on the chunky gold bangle Kelly had given me which I picked out especially. I had to admit—that girl really did have taste. After a few poses in the mirror, I bounced out the door and headed to the car park.

I sat on the curb and plopped my black school bag beside me. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but I imagined it wouldn’t be anything too spectacular. He was just an art student who painted portraits in the square on the weekend. Maybe we were just walking to wherever it was we were going? I had kind of just assumed we were driving...

I lost the feeling in my hands when I saw the slickest black Bentley on the planet roll out of place and into the car park. When it glided into a space, I could hear whistles and gasps from all the car fanatics as they moved in and surrounded it. I knew it was him; no student from East Ridge would have a car like that in their wildest dreams. I stood up and wondered a bit closer. A small crowd had formed around the car, all of them stunned by its greatness. Practically everyone in the car park was staring now, even though some were pretended not to. I held my breath as the car door opened and Jackson stepped out.

He. Looked. Incredible.

His perfect golden hair blew gently across his god-like face as he search the lot for me. He was wearing a black dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves with the top few buttons un-done and some dark perfect fitting jeans. His eyes were the brightest green I had ever seen them, now that he wasn’t in the shade of a tree.

Every girl within a mile radius of him had their tongues out their mouths and their eyes bulging out, except for me. I seemed to be the only one who knew what to expect.

Still.

I couldn’t believe I was thinking that I looked good today. And what’s more, I couldn’t believe that I was leaving with him!

“Maggie,” he called, walking briskly over to me, “you ready to go?”

Every single person in the area’s head whipped around to face me, disbelief clear on their faces. Heck, even I didn’t believe this was happening. It was as if time had stopped and they were all waiting for an answer.

I nodded, grinning like a Cheshire cat, “Let’s go.”