Unexpected love

What part of breaking out of my shell is biting my fingernails nervously waiting for Lynn in the bio lab to listen to what she has to say about Will? Not to mention the fact that the anatomy skeleton is starting to creep me out. To take my mind off things, I closed my eyes and started softly singing a song my grandmamma used to sing when I was a child to keep me from crying.

‘Lay down your head and I’ll sing you a lullaby…
Back to the years of loo-li-lai-lay….
And I’ll sing you to sleep and I’ll sing you tomorrow….
Bless you with love…
For the road that you go…’

I let out a big sigh and smiled to myself, feeling calm, my eyes still closed. When I opened them, a startled gasp came out of my mouth. There, leaning against the door frame, was Will, with his arms crossed and staring intently at me. His bag was lightly slung on his shoulder, making him look calm and collected as he usually does. Except his eyes were displaying a different emotion, an emotion that I haven’t seen so far. Not that I’ve been keeping an eye on him or anything….it… just you know…curiosity and his eyes now show something unreadable.

Suddenly he unfolded his crossed arms and walked steadily towards me. I, being the bumbling idiot I have always been, took an involuntary step back and slipped on something slippery. Just as I was about to brace for impact, I felt a strong pair of arms grabbing me from the waist. By the time I looked up, I wished I hadn’t.

I was looking directly into his eyes totally aware that we were in a position too close for comfort. He was taller than I am and I was only up to his shoulder so he had to look down to see me.

Say something! My inner voice screamed.

What do you want me to say exactly?

I don’t know! Anything!

And to my great pleasure, I blurted, “So, today’s weather’s great isn’t it?” I mentally slapped myself for asking such a stupid question. Outside was a storm that couldn’t have been tamed even by the God of Storms and here I was asking him if it was a nice weather. Of course it wasn’t!

Good going goofball!

I panicked, okay! If you hadn’t said anything I would’ve come up with something a little less obvious.

Oh yeah? I bet you wouldn’t even say anything!

You bet I wouldn’t but it was better than looking like a complete idiot in front of him!

Will broke my arguments between my inner self and me by letting out a deep chuckle. He looked outside the window and back to me again. “I guess you could say that,” he said casually with a smirk, his eyes piercing into mine. I tried to keep composed and not blush as I looked down at the distance between us. To tell you the truth, I don’t think there even is a distance. We were standing so close I could smell the soap he used this morning mixed with the strong smell of earthy spices.

“Uh…you can let go now,” I said, clearing my throat.

“Why?” his question surprised me and I looked down. Why did I want him to let me go? I hate to admit it but it felt nice.

What…the hell…am I saying?!

You’re saying it feels nice. ;)

I remained silent before stuttering, “W-why?” Gah! Just kill me would you! I looked up at him again and he inched closer, whispering softly, “Yeah…why?” His eyes still stayed glued to mine.

Oh my god, I feel like hyperventilating! I shook my head, snapped out of it, took a deep breath and put my hands on his chest, pushing him away gently but firmly.
“Do I have to give you a reason to say that I don’t want to stand too close to a guy?”

“You do if you want me to let you go,” he said and I froze as I flashed back to when ‘his’ friend said to me before the party, ‘You do if you want me to let you go.’ I remembered that ‘his’ friend said that if I wanted to go to their party, I had to do his math homework for a week and I had said, ‘Do I really have to do it to go to ‘his’ party?’ He answered the same thing Will did and added, ‘Parties come with a price.’ Only I realized that the math homework I did just to get in that stupid party, was just me being taken as an advantage and entertainment. I guess it must have hit a nerve because I didn’t realize that a single tear slid down my cheeks. It was a small jog of a memory but bullying could leave an everlasting scar on someone…especially for someone like me.

“Ashley?” Will’s voice brought me back to reality. It was filled with concern. I looked at him and another tear dropped. I wiped my tears away furiously, grabbed my bag and brushed past him.

Before I could leave, he held on to my wrist. “Hey, Ashley, what’s wrong? I was joking, you know. I didn’t mean it.” I nodded silently.

“I know. It wasn’t your fault.” He let go off my wrist and I went straight to the bathroom.

***
After a while of crying and sobbing at that incident, it was finally time for the next class, Math. Ha-ha, I laughed bitterly to myself. How ironic. I took a seat next to Lynn and when the teacher was explaining something about how basic algebra is being used in this new chapter or whatever crap, Lynn wrote a note.

Where were you just now?

Sorry, I had an emergency and couldn’t make it.

Ok. Anyway, about the Will thing…

My heart hammered in my chest as I scribbled, So, did you find anything?

Sorry Ash, I can’t find anything! Even his friend, Alex said that he doesn’t know what his last name is. I suspected that he’s lying but Alex said that Will was their friend since about a year and a half ago.

Did you try asking the school receptionist? Or teachers?

Duh! And get this, they said it was classified. Since when was a student’s last name ever considered as classified?

I sighed heavily, disappointed. Why is he covering his last name? Is he the son of a rich family? A prince? A secret celebrity? I tried to hide my disappointment and wrote, It’s no big deal. Maybe we shouldn’t. It’s probably best if I didn’t.

You’re right although, it was a lot of fun being spy for a day. =) Just tell me if you need any more snooping ;)

Ha-ha. Will do =D

This is too frustrating!