Confusion

Lyndsey

We walked into the math room finding utter chaos.

“What the f-”

“Look out,” Scarlett said, pushing me out of the way of a miscalculated throw of a Gatorade bottle.

“The trash can is over there,” Scarlett said pointing to a small wastebasket. “Try working on your aim some, dumb fuck.”

“Stop flirting, Scar, get over here!” said a girl who was waving her hands at us.

When we had walked over to where she was sitting, Lynn kindly introduced me.

“Sammy, this is Lyndsey. Lyndsey, this is Sammy. Now you two have met and I’m sure you’re going to be great friends,” she said sitting in the desk behind Sammy.

“Hey, it’s nice to meet you,” I said.

“And it’s absolutely wonderful to meet you,” she said to me before turning to the others. “I can’t believe what he said on Friday!”

“Oh, no,” Korey said. “What happened?”

“I don’t even know what!” she exclaimed, putting her face in her hands. “So you know how the two of us went out on Friday?”

All the girls nodded. I felt kind of awkward sitting here listening to their conversation since I didn’t really know any of them or even who ‘he’ was. I sat listening for an actual name.

“Well, he picked me up and we walked down to the pier and hung out for a bit. You know, just talking and shit. It was going kinda slow so I decided that I would try something again. It wasn’t as big as all the other times but it was something,” Sammy said.

“Well, at least you didn’t try to feel him up again,” Korey smirked.

“Hey, that was one time and I was totally drunk so fuck off. Meh,” Sammy said, sticking her tongue out at Korey.

“Anyway, we walked down to the theater and I started brushing my hand against his and before I know it, we’re holding hands. He didn’t cringe away from me like he did all the other times, which I took as a good sign. And then, in the movie he put his arm around me,” she said smiling.

“Well, then, what was it that went so wrong?” Lynn asked.

“Yeah, this sounds like what you’ve been hoping for since forever,” Scarlett said.

“I know right! The entire time my heart was beating so hard that I thought it was going to fly right through my chest! Then, once the movie was over Jimbo asked if I wanted to go for a walk on the beach. He said he wanted to talk to me about something and I said okay.”

Jimbo? Maybe she meant a Jim? Did he have a cute pet name like Zacky?

“Well, what did Jimmy say?” Lynn asked.

That answered that question.

“We started walking and I tried to take his hand again but he pulled away from me. He said that the reason he had asked me out was so that he could get a feel of what going out with me would feel like. I had a really bad feeling about all of this but I asked him if he had liked it. He said it wasn’t awful but he thought that was only because he liked me as a friend. Just a friend. You can imagine my disappointment. He said that he still really wanted to be friends and all that bullshit but I don’t know after this one. I mean, all the other times we were just flirting but this was an actual rejection, you know? Do you guys think I should still hang out with him or just avoid him all together?” Sammy asked them.

“I don’t know, Sammy. You really like him, don’t you?” Korey asked.

“Obviously,” Sammy said, rolling her eyes.

“Well then, keep with him! He may still change his mind.”

“Yeah, but if she leaves him alone and starts hanging out with other guys it might just be the push that he needs to get him to make up his mind or help you get over him,” Scarlett said.

“What? Are you kidding me? Don’t mean to make you upset or anything like that, Sammy, but he’s already made up his mind that he isn’t going out with her. Plus, you can’t get over someone by going out with someone else; it doesn’t work! I would know!” Lynn said, throwing in her thoughts on the matter.

“What about you, Lynds?” Sammy asked me.

Surprised at her asking for my opinion about this I just looked at her like a freaking idiot for I don’t know how long.

“Come on! I need advice, here!” she said, pleading.

“Umm… I don’t know whom it is you’re talking about, but I guess I agree with Korey. If you like him and being around him makes you happy then don’t just ditch him. He just might not be ready for a relationship or anything yet,” I said shyly.

Sammy simply looked at me for the longest time before she smiled and said, “I think that the two of us are goint to get along just fine, Lynds. Do you mind if I call you that?” she asked.

“Sure, I don’t see why not,” I said nodding like a mad man.

“Cool,” Sammy said.

“Hey! I want to know how you and Zacky got to talking today. He never talks to anyone,” Lynn said.

“Uh, oh. You were talking to Zacky?” Sammy asked me.

“Umm… Yeah?” I said/asked, unsure.

“Better not let that whore MaKayla know,” she said to me.

“Why? Is that his girlfriend?” I asked suddenly feeling my good mood deflate like a Macy’s balloon killing everyone it lands on.

…Scratch that entire thought. This morbid longish story made short: good mood gone.

“She wishes but that doesn’t mean she won’t be a bitch to you if she sees you talking to him,” Sammy answered me.

“Don’t worry about her right now! Tell us what happened!” Lynn demanded.

“Well, after everything that happened in the cafeteria I went walking down the hall. I wasn’t really paying much attention to where I was going and I ended up bumping into him. One thing lead to another and before I know it, we’re both on the floor in agonizing amounts of pain mumbling apologies at each other,” I told them.

“So, you’re telling me that he didn’t try anything on you? Anything at all?” Scarlett asked me.

“No,” I answered her, confused by her question. “He was really nice. He even helped me up from the floor and introduced himself to me.”

Lynn snorted. “Zacky? Nice? Yeah fucking right.”

“Hey! Don’t be mean, Lynn. She doesn’t know,” Scarlett said, flicking Lynn’s ear. Both Lynn and Sammy, however continued to snicker.

“I’m sorry but there really must be something wrong with you if you think that Zacky is a nice person,” Lynn said, breaking out into a full on cackle.

They were beginning to really piss me off. I opened my mouth to give them a piece of my mind when the teacher interrupted me.

“I need someone to deliver this note to the office. Saunders? You mind?” Mr. Bell asked.

“Not at all,” I said rising to my feet.

I took the note from him and walked out of the room and closed the door behind me. Sigh. Could I not meet one person who didn’t want to laugh in my face today?

“That was a pretty intense sigh. What’s eatin’ ya?” asked a familiar voice.

I looked to my right and saw my brother, Matt, sitting in the hall.

“Matt, it’s only our first day. You couldn’t at least wait until next weak to get kicked out of your class?” I asked him.

“Hey, I’m only using a bathroom pass while my teachers are still stupid enough to trust me.”

“Well, I’d love to stay and chat but I’ve got to get this note to the office before Mr. Bell comes looking for me, so I’ll see you later.”

“Ta ta,” he said giving a slight wave.

Before I could even make it halfway to the stairs another distraction caught my eye.

“Hey, you just came out of Mr. Bell’s class, right?” asked a very tall boy.

“Yeah,” I answered him.

“Okay, so this is a long shot considering that I’m talking to the biggest square I’ve ever seen but do you know a Samantha McKennis?” the boy asked me.

“A Samantha?” Did he mean Sammy? Perhaps he was Jimmy? He sure dressed like a… What were they called? A grunge? “Do you mean Sammy?”

“Yeah!” he said nodding frantically.

“Umm… Why?”

“I was just wondering if she had maybe said anything about me?” he asked awkwardly.

“How am I supposed to know? What’s your name? That bit of information might help,” I said, letting my irritation color my voice.

“Oh, yeah! Sorry! My name’s Jimmy. Uh, they call me Rev a lot and Sammy sometimes calls me-”

“Jimbo,” I said, cutting him off.

“Yeah! So she has been talking about me?” he asked.

“A bit.” A whole fucking lot.

“About what?” he asked, sounding desperate.

“About how you apparently took her out on Friday then rejected her on that same day. Which is pretty uncool, if you ask me,” I said to him.

“Did she say that she was gonna start avoiding me or anything? I haven’t talked to her all day and every time I see her in the halls, she takes off in the opposite direction. I mean, she wouldn’t even talk to me in detention today!” he said throwing his hands in the air.

“Well,” I said as I started walking again. “She asked all of us-me, Korey, Lynn, and Scarlett-if she should still hang around you or if she should just leave you alone,” I said as I began my decent on the stairs.

“What?!” he exclaimed before he tripped over his humungous feet and began to fall down the stairs.

Feeling the adrenaline take over, I grabbed his arm and pulled him back while I grabbed onto the railing to keep me from falling myself.

“Ouch!” he exclaimed when his face collided with the floor.

“Sorry!” I said helping him up. “Jesus Christ! I’m, like, seriously klutzy today.”

“No, it’s all good. Better to fall flat on my face than break an arm or something falling down the stairs,” he said throwing me a small smile. “Um, thanks for not letting me kill myself and everything else,” he said walking off.

Poor guy.