No One Knows You Like I Do

Two long months. School was starting and Nick’s tour was over. To say that Madison didn’t think about him every single day of those two months would be a total lie. She moped around all summer and barely went out or did anything.
Madison made her way out of bed slowly and forced herself into the shower. She finished, dressed, and did her hair. She grabbed her keys and her bag and headed downstairs. She went to her car and started for Mackenzie’s house. She picked Mackenzie up everyday, ever since she got her car. Yeah, MC could drive, but liked when Madison drove more, especially because her parents still paid for gas, as well as her car bills, while MC’s parents forced her to pay for her own.
She pulled up in front of Mackenzie’s house and she was already waiting outside. She hopped into the passenger seat and closed the door behind her.
“Are you still moping about Nick?”
“No, of course not! I just got over the whole thing, magically, in a day!” She put on the fakest of fake smiles.
“Okay, I get it. It hurt and he was a dick, but you really need to get over it now. It’s been two months. You live in the same city for Christ sake! If he wanted to find you, he would’ve.
“He’s been gone, MC.”
“But once he got back, he would’ve tried to look you up.”
“It’s not exactly like he knows my last name. How do you suppose he would have found me?”
“He would have put in some effort, okay?”
“How do you know he didn’t?”
“Get real.”
“You make me feel so great about myself.”
“I’m done sympathizing. You’ve been whining for two months. And here we are, our senior year, and you’re starting off in a terrible mood, because you can’t get your mind off of some guy you made out with one night that didn’t call like he promised. Thank God you didn’t fuck him. I could only imagine how you’d be acting right now.”
Madison was quiet. For once, Mackenzie was right. It was time to forget about Nick and start her last year of high school off right. There were tons of cute guys at her school, and it wasn’t like there weren’t more all over town. She could find a nice guy to take her mind of Nick.
“I’m sorry. I really am. I ruined your summer, too.”
“No, you didn’t. You’re my best friend. I didn’t mind sitting in your den watching movies all summer, comforting you. I just wished that asshole hadn’t fucked with your head. You could have had a nice summer fling.”
They pulled up to the school and parked in the parking lot just as the bell for first period rang.

Madison and Mackenzie were on their way to their third periods. They didn’t have the same class, but they were near each other, so they decided to walk together.
“Here’s my class.” Madison half-smiled. She was bummed they didn’t have the class together, it was their only class that wasn’t the same, but at the same time, she was kind of happy. It was her favorite subject, English. She loved to write and read. She turned to go inside and stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around quickly and ran up to Mackenzie. “MC, wait!”
Mackenzie turned around. “What? We’re gonna be late.”
“He’s there, Mackenzie. Nick. He’s in my classroom.”
“What the fuck is he doing in there?! Or here at all?! Holy shit.”
“I don’t know, but I’m freaking out.” Mackenzie creeped a peak inside the room. She was hoping that Madison was just imagining things and that there was just someone that looked similar, but when she looked inside, sure enough, there was Nick Santino. Standing by the board, writing things on it as if he was the teacher.
“What the fuck.” The bell rang. “Shit. I have to go, Madison. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, go.” Mackenzie ran off to her class. Madison took a deep breath, then another, then another. She was about to ditch. She’d rather fail the class or have to change her schedule and not have any classes with Mackenzie if it meant not having to find out what Nick was doing in the classroom. For some reason, instead of turning in the opposite direction of the classroom, her feet brought her inside. The class was oddly quiet as she stepped inside. Nick was still facing the board as she walked to the back of the room to find an empty seat. With her luck, however, someone dropped a book on the floor loudly, causing Nick to turn around before Madison could get to a seat safely. His eyes locked with her immediately. He took a deep breath. She sat down in an empty seat at the back and Nick’s eyes stayed on her.
“Uhm….Hi.” He cleared his throat. “I’m, uh, Nick Santino. I’m gonna tell you all a little about myself. I’m not really a full time teacher, so you guys can call me Nick or Santino or whatever. I, uh, majored in English in college, but after I graduated, I realized I’d rather party and continue with my band. I’m sure you guys haven’t heard of it, so it doesn’t really matter. But I started back in 2006 as this experimental thing, and it’s become a whole lot more to me now. Anyways, I hadn’t planned on revisiting my teaching skills, but I got a call that there was an opening here, just for the time being, and I could use the extra cash.” He chuckled. “So, I agreed. And here I am.” He did his best not to stare at Madison the whole time, but there was so much going through his mind at the moment that he didn’t know what to do.
The class period seemed to draw on and on, but when the bell finally rang, Madison was the first one out of her seat. She was almost out the door when Nick called her name.
“Madison.” She turned around and walked over to him. He waited until the room was empty except for them, before he went over to the door and shut it.
“Why didn’t you call me, Nick?” She didn’t look at him.
“Halvo broke my phone. I lost your number. I wanted to call. I really did.” He walked over to her and was only a few inches from her.
“I sat here all summer moping around, being depressed that you didn’t call. And just as I’m over it, you show up at my school. As a teacher.”
“Hey, in my defense, I didn’t know you went here, let alone thought you were still in high school, okay?” Madison kept her eyes on the floor. “I’m sorry Madison. I really am.”
“I don’t care. Like I said, I’m over it.”
“Do you really mean that? Because…I still really want to take you out, I meant that. I meant everything I said.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Madison so badly wanted to keep the kiss going. He put his hand on her cheek and she felt herself moving toward him. She started wrapping her arms around his neck, then quickly pulled away.
“Stop. I can’t do it, Nick.” Nick stepped back and shoved his hands into his pockets.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
“Yeah, you shouldn’t have.”
“But it’s been two months and I want you to know I thought about you every single day.” The bell rang.
“Now, I’m late to class. Thanks a heap, Nick.” She picked her bag off the floor.
“Wait, I can write you pass. I am a teacher here.” He smirked.
“Yeah, even more of a reason why you shouldn’t be kissing me.” Nick handed her the late pass.
“I said I was sorry.”
“Whatever.” She made her way to the door and started turning the knob.
“Please, meet me after school. So we can talk. Just talk, I promise I won’t kiss you.”
Madison looked up and met his eyes for the first time. She hesitated before sighing and saying, “Meet me by my car, okay? It’s in the student parking lot. You can’t miss it, because it’s the only car like mine.”
“Okay.” Nick smiled.
“You remember what it looks like, right?”
“Of course.”
Madison opened the door and headed off to her next class.