All That Glitters

Braylen sighed loudly as the bell rang after her last class of the day, which just happened to be a class where the teacher turned off all the lights and read off a powerpoint for the whole class, safe to say she was completely exhausted. It took a mass amount of will power to keep her eyes open for a 50-slide-long lecture on how cells developed from bacteria, and the fact she hadn't eaten today didn't help. Her back was sore and she just wanted to get the hell out of the cement block, they called a high school and catch a second wave of energy.

She started walking towards the double doors at the end of the hallway with a crowd of students pushing her along, until she remembered that she had a detention today, an undeserved detention, but detention none the less and she sighed loudly before turning her around and forcing herself through against the flow of students. She felt her phone vibrating like crazy and checked it to see Caitlin's face on the screen.

"Hello?" She sighed, so tired that she couldn't even fake enthusiasm.

"Why are you walking away from the parking lot! I don't want to get caught in traffic to get out of here!" Caitlin yelled over the bustle and commotion of the hallways. Braylen looked around searching for a blonde head that had to be creeping on her, but all she saw were the backs of heads of people she didn't know.

"Rat bastard gave me a detention," she sighed loudly, another pang of anger hit her as she thought about the smug look on Mr. Burns' face as he passed her the pink slip.

"That sucks dude! Why does Mr. Burns hate you so much? Also how are you getting home if we carpooled, do you want me to wait for you?" Caitlin asked a million words per second. Braylen let out a laugh as she dug out the pink slip and unfolded to see the words constant tardiness & attitude problem scribbled next to the word reason.

"I have no fucking clue, but I'm getting sick of this. Last time he gave me detention I had to sit next to Matty Speller and all he did was stare at me and offered me any drug I wanted the whole time," She scrunched her nose in disgust remembering the smell emitting from the boy too close for comfort. "But anyways, I'll get a ride from Sterling, he lives like two seconds away anyways," Braylen shrugged before reaching the lecture hall with a piece of notebook paper stuck to the wall that read: SENIOR CLASS DETENTION.

"Ha-ha! Well I do not envy you at all, have fun you little hoodlum, you! Oh and just call me if Sterling can't come get you," Caitlin laughed at Braylen's expense. "Hey baby!" She called out and Braylen assumed Jared was there now, once Caitlin and Jared starting going at it Caitlin would forget all about her little phone call, so Braylen simply hung up.

Braylen sighed loudly looking at the door and took a deep breath before walking into the lecture hall, she stared at the three kids who were there already and checked in with the teacher in charge, who looked more upset to have to be there than Braylen did. She studied the seats and chose one towards the back away from everyone else and took out her phone texting Caitlin a whiny text message.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here," Braylen looked up to see a cocky boy smiling at her before looking at the chair next to her despite the fact there were numerous open seats scattered across the room. "If this seat isn't taken I'll keep you company," He grinned with his green eyes full of trouble and she raised her eyebrows to give him the typical unimpressed girl look.

"Aw, that's cute, you actually think I care where you sit," She sneered before returning to her text message now to complain about John O'Callaghan bothering her. Not that she was a big complainer, she just like whining to Caitlin because Caitlin simply knew she was trying to get it out of her system.

"So does this frigid bitch act ever stop?" John surprised her with shooting some of her own venom right back into her face. She looked up to see his face filled with an unidentifiable emotion, she studied his face and tried to figure it out, but she was left baffled.

"Depends on whether or not you give me a reason to stop," She laughed, not sarcastically or rudely, for some reason she found it charming in some odd effect. Just in the fact that he wasn't afraid of her, like so many guys were.

"That's fair, I guess," John smiled, realizing that she had in her answer gotten slightly nicer. It was odd, the fact that she had even resented him without him giving her a reason. He tried to figure out the brunette sitting next to him with perfect posture and her legs crossed classily. She surely wasn't like any other girl he had met in the hallways.

"I thought so," She smiled before turning back to her phone just to keep herself busy. Then she remembered she had math homework that she had to do eventually. She tried to get herself to concentrate before she noticed John's green eyes staring at her, not lecherously, but curiously. "Can I help you?" She asked.

"You two in the back, no talking!" the teacher in the front of the room scolded, looking especially grouchy in an old wooden desk before his attention was grabbed by a kid in the front with gum. Braylen looked down at her homework again and zoned out realizing she had been staring at the same problem for a while until she heard a psst over her left shoulder. She looked over at the boy, who nodded towards her feet and when she looked down she saw a folded up piece of paper.

Braylen hesitanty picked it up, wondering what else they really had to talk about. She leaned forward subtly and picked it up, gracefully unfolding it as if it were about to break and read in scrabbly, boy handwriting:

So what are you doing this weekend?

She scoffed under her breath before wondering why he was asking her what her plans were. She pulled out a pen from her purse and put the mechanical pencil back in before answering in her perfect handwriting.

Working

She delicately re-folded it and passed it back to John, who's arm was already extended. She rested her chin on her fist and watched his reaction as he read her note and looked rather pensive writing back. She held her arm out as he refolded it, checking to make sure the troll of a teacher wasn't watching.

Oh, where do you work? Are you working on Saturday night?

Rimaldi's on Ray, and yes until 10

Well that's when the party starts at my house! And pretty girls are always invited Braylen couldn't help but smile when she read that, as if she didn't know his reputation and she couldn't figure out that was a pickup line. He probably expected her to blush, but frankly it wasn't even that good of a line.

Do you actually think your grade-c pickup lines work on girls? And maybe, I don't like big parties, something either breaks, gets lost or severely damaged. She answered honestly. She was open to the idea of hanging out with him before she forever shunned him from her life and he had proved himself to be interesting thus far.

I know they do, I'm living proof ;). But why wouldn't you want to go, I'll be there! He wrote back, Braylen had to hold in a laugh as she finally made out his chicken-scratch handwriting. She cupped her hand over her mouth and wrote,

Oh my goodness! I'm so excited to go now!!! She watched his face as she passed the now crumpled paper back to him. She let out a soft giggle as his eyes expanded and a smiled grew on his thin pink lips. He quickly scribbled back and passed it to her with a perverse smile all over his face.

Oh really? ;)

Sarcasm, my friend

Not cool, bro. Maybe you'd wanna hang out this Friday? Just a couple of friends are coming over, keeping it chill. Jared and Caitlin are coming Braylen did a double take when she read that. Caitlin had never even mentioned being friends with John O'Callaghan, let alone being on a hangout basis with him.

Are you friends with them?

Hell yeah! Jared's my boy!

Haha maybe, if you can give me three good reasons. Braylen wrote out biting her lip, wondering why he was trying so hard to make it easy for them to hang out. She wasn't sure if she was flirting with him or what exactly what was going on, but she couldn't scratch out what she'd written now.

1. You're funny and despite the undeserved hatred you have for me, I actually like you.
2.You're pretty, so I can stare at you all night.
3. I'm pretty, so you can stare at me all night. This time Braylen couldn't contain the laughter that erupted from her lips. She clasped onto her mouth after her melodic laugh echoed in the silent room and the teacher gave her a warning look. John was cracking up silently from her outburst and her cheeks instantly lit up into a light pink.

"You two passing notes, stop or I'm gonna confiscate it and read it to the whole room," The teacher snapped at them, Braylen quickly folded up the piece of paper and placed it in her purse and gave a curt smile. She stole a look at John, who seemed equally amused at the whole situation. "Fucking kids," the teacher muttered under her breath, it could only be heard due to the dead silence in the room. John and Braylen lost it at the same time, a fit of giggles coming from both of them until they were split across the room.

Braylen stole one more look at the skinny boy making his way to the opposite side of the classroom and felt her stomach tighten. John O'Callghan had managed to redeem himself in her eyes.