The Way You Make Me Feel

Monday mornings suck. Especially when none of your jeans are clean. I was digging around my duffle, which I still hadn't unpacked, for my cutoff shorts. I finally found them in the side pocket and put them on with my white studded belt. Next was a shirt, Kelsi and I had gone through her closet the first weekend I was there so that she could get rid of the stuff she didn't wear and I would have room for some of my stuff. I found the shirt I wanted easily, a grey zippered v-neck tank.

"Have you seen my denim skirt? I can't find it anywhere." Kelsi said coming into her room.

"I'm pretty sure your mom washed it yesterday, but it's probably still in the washer. Just use mine." I answered tossing her my skirt.

She put it on with her plaid button up and put on an old pair of Converse while I searched for my other gladiator sandal. Once I found it I put it on and went for our shared jewelry box. I grabbed out a few bracelets and a headband and headed to the bathroom to do my hair and makeup. After straightening my hair to perfection and putting the headband on I put on some eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow, and lip gloss and was ready to go. I went back into Kelsi's room to grab my Marc Jacob's bag that my aunt had gotten me for Christmas last year and then went downstairs to the kitchen where Kelsi was already waiting for breakfast. Her mom had made us bagels for breakfast and had our lunches on the counter already made and packed. We ate our bagels, grabbed our lunches, and said goodbye to her mom before walking outside into the Arizona heat. We were taking my car this week so we climbed in and were soon on our way to school, sunglasses on, windows down with Cobra Starship pumping through the speakers. As we pulled into the school parking lot I noticed John leaning against a car talking to 4 other boys. I parked the car and got out. Kelsi was saying something about her art project when she noticed me looking at John.

"Oh! I see why you're not paying attention. Come on you can meet the rest of the band. I swear they're all really nice!" Kelsi said already walking in their direction.

I followed reluctantly, still unsure why John made me so, well, not me. We walked up to the boys just as they were ending a discussion on their show Saturday.

"Hey Kelsi! Who's your friend? She's hot." One of them said.

"Hey Garrett. This is my biffle Stacie. Stacie this is Garrett." Kelsi said starting the introductions.

"So you're the one with the zombie survival guide?" I asked.

"Well, yeah, but how did you know that? Are you stalking me? I'd be perfectly okay with that." Garrett said making me laugh.

"No, I'm not stalking you, John just told me about the book when we hung out Saturday." I answered him.

"Ignore him, he can be freakish sometimes. I'm Kennedy by the way." Another said.

"Pat." Said the yonger looking one with long hair.

"Jared." The last one introduced himself with a wave. "So you're the girl Mr. John Ohh was talking about all day yesterday?"

"Shut up Jared!" John said smacking his friend up side the head before coming and giving me a hug. My heart fluttered.

"Wait, you were talking about me? All day yesterday?" I asked teasingly, but serious enough to wear they knew I actually wanted an answer.

"You know I'm thinking we're going to be late for science, so let's go." John said before anything else could be said, dragging me away from the boys and towards our first class of the day, which we just happened to have together.

We got to class just as the bell rang so we took the remaining seats in the back and got to work. You wouldn't be able to tell by looking at him but John was actually really smart and focused. When the bell for second period rang he gathered his books and then came over to my desk where I was closing up my notebook and picked up my books. I looked at him and saw that he was smiling the lopsided smile again and I just smiled back and stood up, bag in hand and we walked out of class together. He walked me to my History class before going to his Math class, promising to walk me to my 3rd period as well. Kelsi walked in as he was making said promise so of course as soon as I sat down she passed me a note, wanting to know everything that happened since he drug me away from the parking lot that morning. We were both passing that class so well that most of the time when we were done with our work within the first 20 minutes of class, Mr. Hazelback would have us help everyone else, so it didn't matter much that we weren't paying attention. About 10 minutes in class my phone went off in my pocket. I had a new text from my mom, asking about having dinner here in Tempe tonigh. I sent a quick reply suggesting Panera's not asking why she was in Tempe, I already knew the answer. She answered with a time of 7 and "xo". I sent a quick text to Kelsi's mom, Maddie, letting her know I wouldn't be home for dinner and telling her of the plan. I started to get nervous after that but the bell rang before I was able to talk to Kelsi. I was gathering my books when a tall figure picked them up. I looked up to see none other than John with that lopsided smile again. I smiled back and we began the walk to my art class.

"So what are you working on?" He asked as we passed a bunch of freshmen.

"Actually it's an abstract piece. I'm almost done with it too." I answered proudly, rounding the corner to the class room.

"Well, I'd love to see it when it's done." He said. "So your sitting with us at lunch right?"

"Yeah, I think Kelsi said something about that." I answered.

"Okay, we sit in the atrium. We're hard to miss so you should find us easy. I'll see you then?" He asked.

"Okay, I'll see you then." I answered hugging him and he turned around and headed to class.

I worked on my piece all class and was actually able to finish it, which made me super excited and turned me into a ball of energy. When the bell rang for lunch I couldn't wait to get to the atrium to share my good news with Kelsi. I dropped my books off at my locker and grabbed my lunch. I walked into the sun filled atrium and looked around until I spotted Pat talking animatedly. I walked over and John patted the seat next to him. I sat down just as Kelsi walked up lunch and Kennedy in tow.

"Kelsi! Guess what!" I practically shouted.

"What! Wait, did...no? Okay no. Hm. Okay what?" She said clearly disappointed that I gave her the signal she had come up with last period to let her know if anything did or didn't happen with John. She was getting obsessed.

"I finished my abstract piece!" I actually did shout that time.

"That is so awesome! I can't wait to see it next period!" She said now just as excited as I was.

"That's really awesome." John said. "So when do I get to see it?"

"After school? I'm taking it home today, I don't want anything bad to happen to it, so you can come with me when I pick it up." I answered.

"Nice. Okay, sounds good." He said with that crooked grin or his.

Lunch continued with talks of zombies and the show Saturday. Kelsi shared her idea of the guys having a pre-show party at her house and they seemed thrilled at the idea. When the bell rang we went off if our different directions after making plans to hit the mall after school. John walked me to all my classes the rest of the day, which went by super fast. Next thing I knew the final bell had rung and John and I were going to pick up my abstract piece. When he saw it he was amazed though I wasn't really sure why. It was just another abstract piece. The only person it had any meaning to was me, and Kelsi was the only other person at school that knew anything of it. We walked out to the parking lot together meeting up with everyone and heading to the mall. Today had been a really good day, too bad dinner would probably ruin it.