And I Know I'm Not a Memory Yet

“Hey Aria, we got a new member of Drama club today.” My best friend and vice president of the Drama Club, Mike Ferri informed me as I entered the club classroom.

“If it's another freshman, tell him or her that this is a serious club. So if they plan on dropping out in the middle of the semester, then they shouldn't join in the first place.”

“No, he's a senior just like us.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Who?” I just about knew every senior at our school and those who loved to act were already in the drama club.

“He's a new student,” Mike gave me a sly smile. “Maybe you'll like him. He's handsome.”

“Why don't you tell him that yourself?” I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

“C'mon Aria,” Mike nudged my side. “You need a man in your life. You're just too tense all the time and you need someone to help you chill.”

“I don't need a man in my life!” I snapped. “All they do is screw you over!”

“Aria...”

“We're only good enough to show off to friends,” I said quietly. “Then they start to lose interest and move on to find another girl who's prettier and way more fun than you.”

Mike opened up his mouth to say something, but closed it again. “Sorry. I forgot that...”

“Yeah. It's fine. Whatever.” I grabbed a clipboard with the list of club members and walked out of the classroom, flipping through pages. “Okay, so new kid, let's get a few things straight. First of all, this is a serious club. If you end up wanting to drop out in the middle of the semester and not decide to come every meeting, then don't bother joining.”

I looked up from my clipboard and suddenly a wave of revolting nostalgia washed over me.

“What are you doing here?” I managed to choke out, losing feeling in my hands to hold the clipboard.

“I never thought I would see you again, Aria Stevens.” He mused, giving me the smirk. While all the girls swooned over it, I knew that it was nothing but trouble. I should know. I fell for that smirk too at one point.

“What are you doing here?” I repeated, this time in a low tone.

Mike darted his eyes between us and took a step back. “Um....I'll be over here.” He turned around and tip toed away.

Then I was alone with the boy, that I still grit my teeth to at the sound of his name. The one I once stayed up all night for, just thinking about him. Cameron Hurley, the very one I beat in a Soccer game back in 6th grade. The one who pushed Jillian down and earned a shove back from me.

Cameron's eyes looked down at my exposed legs, up to my frilly tank top and finally staring at my dismayed face. Did he really just check me out? A slight laugh escaped his lips and he approached me. Cameron was about six feet and I was impressed that I had grew taller, being at 5'8. He leaned towards me and I leaned back, disgusted that he was getting close enough to where I could smell a whiff of axe emitting from him.

“Get away from me.” I growled.

“I don't get a hug or anything?”

“Seriously, get back. You know I can kick your ass,” I smirked too. “Like back in elementary.”

This earned me a frown from Cameron, but he backed up anyway, holding his arms up in surrender. “You're still mad at me?”

“Any respectable person would still be mad at you.”

“You're being ridiculous. That was five years ago!”

“Those were five long years to me. You had no idea how much I wanted to break your skull open.” Cameron started to speak, but I interrupted him. “So, why are you back here in Poughkeepsie? I thought you moved to California.”

“Dad got a job here.” He shrugged. “So, you were still thinking about me for the past five years?”

“I prefer if we don't talk about the past anymore.”

“You're the one who brought it up.”

“And that was my mistake. You know what else was a mistake? You.”

“You haven't changed one bit,” He jeered. “You're still as angry as ever.”

“Look who's talking. You're just as stupid as ever.”

“No offense taken.” He raised his eyebrows and looked over at me again. “But I gotta say, you changed a lot looks wise.”

“Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, back then you refused to put any makeup on. Now you got eyeliner and lip gloss on. You dyed your hair brown.” He gave a whistle. “You look so...”

“Beautiful? Is that what you were gonna say?”

“Well yeah,” He grinned. “It's a compliment, if you didn't know.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better? I recall that one of the reasons you broke up with me was because I was ugly!”

“I never said that!”

“Not to my face, but I heard you telling it to your little stupid friends!” I was nearly shouting, causing a few students walking past us to look in our direction. “Those kinds of things hurt a girl! Especially it's from someone they cared about back then!”

“That was in the past! This is the present! Things that happened back then doesn't matter anymore now! I was a stupid kid! Forget it!”

“Well people don't forget the past as easily as you do.” I replied coldly, pushing the clipboard hard onto his chest, as I headed back into the classroom.