Learning How to Swim

I didn’t sit with my sister on the way to school. I told her I was going to sit with Steven, so she made kissing noises at me and sat with one of her friends. Nonetheless, Steven looked more than a little shocked when I sat next to him.

“Well, to what do I owe the pleasure? And that’s not sarcasm. Oh, I’m not saying that I’m turned on either—not that you couldn’t do that to a man.” He paused. “I might need to start thinking before I speak.”

I giggled, setting my back pack on the floor as the bus took off again. “That was really sweet, Steven,” I told him, looking at my thumbs as I fiddled them in my lap. “Last night, I mean.”

He put a finger to my mouth, shaking his head. “Watch what you say around here. These guys are just waiting for an easily manipulated sentence to spread around the school. Next thing you know I’ll have stolen your virginity, and then when we’re gone from school for a day it will be said that we eloped in Vegas.” I pushed his hand away.

“Don’t be so ridiculous,” I teased, rolling my eyes. He smiled softly.

“I just wanted you to know that I’m always here for you, alright?” he asked me quietly, resting his hand on mine. “Nothing would make me leave for a second... I’m really glad we started talking.”

“Are you blushing?” I asked him, looking closer. He turned his head.

“Maybe,” he mumbled. “I don’t know. When you're embarrassed, your body releases adrenaline, and you’re embarrassing me.” He turned back to me. “Do you know why people blush? The adrenaline caused blood vessels to dilate and the veins in your face respond to a signal from the chemical transmitter adenylyl cyclase. So that makes your face red. It’s strictly involuntary.”

I stared at him, shaking my head. “Where do you get this useless information?”

He smirked. “My mother likes to study the human brain... So have I ever made you blush?”

“Nope.” I grinned. “I don’t get embarrassed easily.”

“Just like you don’t cry?” I nodded. “So you’ve never once cried?”

“Well, I probably did when I was a baby.” He just stared at me. “What? I just don’t like how it feels.”

“Crying is healthy for you.”

“As you said last night—”

He covered my mouth again. “That phrase! Don’t use that phrase, or I swear it’ll get around that we made fervent love in the moonlight!”

I shoved his hand away, sighing. “Fine. Someone is paranoid.”

“There are pills for that.”

We got off the bus and walked to history class together. I missed talking to him, I really did. He was the only friend I had that I didn’t share with my sister—since she thought he was a freak of nature.

We were talking about something when someone came running into the classroom.

“Alyssa-Valentine Roe, you’re needed in the office.”

I glanced over to Steven. He was staring right at me, watching as I gathered my things. People made the usual remarks about how I’d been caught selling drugs to little kids claiming they would make the world all happy, but I ignored it. I shifted my back pack on my shoulder and started for the door.

Steven got up out of his seat suddenly, reaching out and touching my arm. He looked like he was going to cry.

“What?” I asked him, but he sat back down as the office’s runner told me to hurry up.

I left him behind me, a sinking feeling in my stomach as I walked down the empty hall.

I could almost hear the screaming of Ronald as he was dragged down the halls of Beckham...