A High School Story

“It’s Wednesday!” Keyla yelled happily as we walked down the school hallway and I let out a loud laugh that caused everyone to stare at us, “We’re officially half way done with the week!”
“You’re a little freak, did you know that?” I teased her and she stuck her tongue out at me before walking into a door.
“Holy crap! How long as that been there?!” she screamed while rubbing her forehead.
I heard a laugh from behind us and I turned to see Mike and his cronies standing nearby. Nick had started laughing at Keyla’s mental health glitch but turned it abruptly into a deep cough when he saw that Mike found nothing to be amusing. I rolled my eyes before turning back to my best friend and trying not to laugh as she scrunched up her nose in protest to the ice the nurse had just handed her.
“Of all the doors you could have walked into in the school, you walk into the Nurse Johnson’s,” I laughed and she scoffed lightly before stalking off.
I jogged after her carefully, there’s always a need for caution when in high heels, and let my straightened hair fly out behind me. She walked into homeroom without giving me a second glance and I followed suit behind Nick. I pushed lightly passed him once in the door and took my usual seat off to the side with Keyla.
“I’m sorry, that seat is reserved for my best friend. You know the best friend that doesn’t laugh when I hurt myself!”
“Babe, you were in hysterics for twenty minutes when I fell off your bed and nearly broke my arm last year,” I stared at her blankly and she blinked before bowing her head over her notebook and starting on the last problem of her math homework.
“That is completely different,” she protested quietly and I scoffed before bending down to reach into my bag.
“She’s really testing me now isn’t she,” I heard Mike snicker from out in the hallway.
I stopped breathing for half a second before I sat up again and made a mental note that I should never plan on bending over in this shirt unless I’m trying to get paid for the service.
“Ignore him,” Keyla whispered out of the corner of her mouth, “He doesn’t have the nuts to do anything in front of the entire homeroom.”
“I wouldn’t put anything past that boy,” I sighed and she nodded absentmindedly while rubbing her eraser around on the piece of paper she was writing on, “Do you want help?”
“Nah, I can get it if I try,” she assured me as the bell that signaled the start of homeroom rang throughout the halls, “Oh crap, I only have ten minutes!”
“Keyla I can-“
“No no no! I can do it!”
She frantically erased whatever mistake she had made on her math homework before staring at it for a few seconds and then smiling as she started scribbling away on the paper.
“And done!” she announced proudly as she set her pencil down and smiled at me.
“And with seven minutes to spare, that must be a new record,” I teased her and we chuckled lightly as she started putting her math notebook back away and put her pencil behind her ear.
“You’re so mean to me. Do you know that?” she looked up at me and I nodded proudly, “First the door and then my procrastination.”
“I wouldn’t have anything to make fun of if you didn’t keep giving me reasons,” I reminded her in my favorite smart ass tone of voice.
“Jerk,” she mumbled and I rolled my eyes before sitting back in my seat and crossing my arms across my chest, “What’s got you acting so weird?”
“What do you mean?”
I could hear the small sense of panic in my voice and I knew that there was no chance Keyla would miss it.
“Ever since we went over to the Jonas’ to swim last night you’ve been acting all weird and awkward. Don’t get me wrong, you act that way all the time, it’s just more there now,” she lowered her voice to a whisper and leaned closer to me so no one would overhear, “Did something happen with Nick after Joe and I ran off?”
“I believe that I should be the one asking, did anything happen with Joe after you and Joe ran off?” I joked and she looked at me sternly, “Answer my question and I’ll answer yours.”
“Nothing happened,” she promised, “We just ran around the front yard like the crazed people we are.”
“I find that easy to believe,” I nudged her playfully while hoping to get her off topic.
“Answer my question,” she said and eyed me carefully and harshly.
“Nothing happened,” I half lied, “Well…technically anyway.”
“Technically?” she probed and looked at me more intently.
“I think I might have almost kissed him,” I explained barely above a whispered and glanced quickly over to Nick to see him surrounded by a group a girls.
“What do you mean you think you almost kissed him? How do you only think you did?”
“I didn’t even know that I was doing it! I looked and my hands were on his neck instead of his shoulders like I had left them and his lips were like right there!”
“So you didn’t actually kiss hi-“
“No!” I whispered harshly, “Of course not!”
“Well why not?” she whined.
“Because…well…because,” I stated lamely and nodded over to the corner he was sitting in with his little posse.
“So they like him…” she knew she was about to lose the argument but was too high strong to admit it.
“Keyla, they’re all over him! I would never be able to trust him if anything did happen between us!” I made sure to emphasis the if in the sentence.
“Honestly, I doubt that he’s that bad,” she protested, “Joe and he are brothers and Joe is practically harmless!”
“I know Joe is harmless babe,” I smiled goofily at her and she rolled her eyes, “That’s why I’m so keen on getting him to ask you out!”
“And then I’ll have undercover details that we can use,” she replied and this time, I rolled my eyes.
“I don’t want Nick,” I lied and the bell saved me from having to argue with Keyla about it.

I held my breath awkwardly while trying to avoid the pair of eyes I could feel glancing at me every half a minute or so. Nick had somehow managed to get himself transferred into Keyla and mine Honors English class. And of course there was the small minor detail that the only unassigned seat was next to me in the back of the room. The whole class I had been trying to pay attention to whatever Mrs. Franklin was saying but I had multiple things on my mind.
The dismissal bell rang loudly above our heads and I stood immediately with the others. Maybe if I escaped to my car soon enough, Nick wouldn’t ask me what happened between us last night. Even after my talk with Keyla this morning, I was still sure that I wanted the boy as much as I wanted a lifetime supply of Skittles. Okay, maybe not that much but you get the general idea. I wanted him, even though I didn’t want to want him.
“No homework this time but prepared to start reading Romeo and Juliet next week!” Mrs. Franklin announced as everyone scurried out the door, “Mollie can you come here a minute?”
I looked up at her as I finished packing my bag and she smiled attentively.
“Alone,” she added and I saw Keyla heave a sigh before starting out the door, “Please do hurry up Mr. Jonas.”
I looked over my shoulder as I stopped in front of Mrs. Franklin’s desk and saw that Nick’s book bag had spilled all of its contents out onto the floor.
“I heard it through the grape vine that you’re filling up all of your electives with college credit classes next year, is that true Ms. Mansfield?” Mrs. Franklin’s voice brought me back to reality and I looked back at her.
“Yes mam,” I sighed and she pursed her lips for a few seconds.
“Do you remember when I assigned the class a creative writing assignment last week?” she questioned and sat down in her spinny chair.
“We had to write a Romantic Comedy,” I answered and she smiled at me again.
“That’s right. Well, last night I finally got through all of them and I noticed something.”
“What?” I asked as I started to feel the familiar sensation of confusion wash over me.
“Your story was the only one that received top marks. Ms. Reed was a very close second of close, missing a tie with you by half a percentage.”
“What does this have to do with-“
“I think you should enroll yourself in a Creative Writing class Ms. Mansfield,” she interrupted me and I fell silent, “Whether here or at the community I do not care. The point is that you have a lot of talent and a lot of passion. It would be a shame if all of that went to a waste.”
I stared at her blankly and eventually she smiled.
“I’m not the first person to tell you this?” she guessed.
“Well…no but I know what my future holds and it has nothing to do with Creative Writing,” I answered and shuffled my feet awkwardly; I had never lied to a teacher up until this point.
“Very well then,” she sighed, “I just thought that I would suggest it.”
“Thank you,” I replied quietly before shuffling out the door.
“Are you sure that bag of yours doesn’t have a hole in it Mr. Jonas?” Mrs. Franklin’s booming voice traveled with me down the hallway and I picked up my pace once I remember that Nick had just overheard that whole conversation.
“Sorry mam won’t happen again,” he promised and I could hear his footsteps getting closer, oh fudge, “Are you insane?”
“Depends on how you look at it,” I joked but I knew he hadn’t found it funny.
“One of the hardest English teachers in the whole school basically just told you that you had the chance to become a New York Times Bestselling author and you just walk away without even considering it?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” I mumbled while walking out of the school building with Nick trailing right behind me.
“What’s there to understand?” he questioned and I glared at the sidewalk while trying to keep myself calm, “Right, I forget. You’re rich. You can walk away from whatever you want.”
“Don’t you dare!” I screamed and turned on him sharply, “You don’t know my life so don’t even try to make me out as some spoiled little brat!”
“Then stop acting like one! Try being nice for once!” he screamed back.
“I have tried being nice to you okay,” I said through my teeth, “I thought you could be friends when you moved here-“
“So what changed?” he demanded.
“You’re friends with the guy that tried to-“ I cut off abruptly as I bit down my lip and closed my eyes while hoping that he would let this go.
“Tried to what?” he probed angrily.
“Forget it,” I whispered and turned to leave.
“No, you’re not going anywhere,” he said and stepped in front of me and grabbed my shoulders.
“Let go of me!” I yelled but that only caused him to tighten his grip.
“Look at me,” he said and grabbed my cheeks to force me to stare at him, “Now what were you saying?”
“Nothing,” I hissed while sending him a glare that should have killed him, “Now let me go.”
“Not until you tell me what you were going to say,” he returned the glare full force.
“Three days, that must be a record,” I scoffed while wiggling my way out of his grip, “I’ve never seen a nice guy turn into Mike so fast.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he demanded.
“It means exactly what it sounds like Nick,” I whispered harshly and hoped that Keyla hadn’t noticed anything yet, if that girl involved there was going to be trouble, “Haven’t you seen the way he looks at me? Haven’t you heard the disgusting, perverted, and sexist comments me makes whenever he sees me? Haven’t you noticed how he thinks he has the right to back me into a locker and touch me whenever he wants?”
“Not everything is about you Mollie,” Nick replied quietly and I could feel tears starting to collect in my eyes.
Hell no, not in front of him.
“You know what; if you want to run around with that sick bastard then you go ahead. Just don’t come to me when he tells you the full story when he gets wasted,” I walked around him and towards the place where I had parked my car that morning.
“You need to drive,” I said to Keyla through the passengers’ window and she stared at me blankly, “Unless you want someone who can barely see at the moment driving then I suggest you suck up the fact that this car costs more than you and drive it.”
“Are you okay?” she demanded as she got out and left the door open for me.
“Far from it,” I answered and handed her the keys before she jogged around the car and I scrambled into the unfamiliar passenger seat.
“What did Mrs. Franklin say?” she started the car reluctantly and I talked her through how to drive it before deciding on my answer.
“She thinks I should go into Creative Writing,” I whispered.
“And this upsets you why?”
“She didn’t upset me. Nick did.”
“What did Nick do?”
“He’s turned into Mike’s clone, I swear to God that he has,” I nearly choked at the end of sentence while remembering the way he had looked at me and the way he had grabbed me.