Give It Time and It Will Change

Amelisa woke up the next morning feeling rather sad. Maybe she kept jumping to conclusions last night. Maybe she was the one who was starting the fights. Was it her fault at all?

'Maybe I was just being too stubborn...' she thought while brushing her teeth.

"Are you two okay? I heard fighting in the front yard last night." Her dad made her jump, suddenly appearing in her bathroom doorway.
"Uh. No. Yes. I don't even know, dad. I'm still tired." She said drying her face off of excess water. "You don't wanna talk about it?" He asked, letting her walk past him into her room. He was already dressed in his work clothes, ready for the day.

"Talk about it? With you?" Amelisa asked, looking at her dad. He shrugged and nodded. She thought that was sort of odd. She had always spoke to her mom about stuff like this. Not like she ever had any thing to do with guys often, except for the occasional crush.

"Well...I got upset because he rejected the idea of telling people at school we're, in a way, together. I felt like he doesn't want people to know because I'm who I am and because he's who he is." She waited for her dad to say something. A few times he opened his mouth, but then closed it, confused on what to tell his daughter.

"Yeah, talk to your mom about that..." He said chuckling. "You betcha." She said, going to her closet. "I love you, kid." He said, walking to her and kissing her forehead. Amelisa only sighed, looking up at her dad. "I know it doesn't seem like it, with us putting you through this, but I'm sure it'll work out in the end." he said smiling. "Love you too dad." she replied, hugging him.

Getting dressed, she contemplated over if she should be the one to say sorry first. She was never good at that unless she was for sure she was the one who did the bad thing.

On her way to the bus stop, she noticed Shawn's car was already gone. On the way to school, the bus ride was too short and she didn't know if she wanted to face Shawn just yet. She felt like an idiot for getting so worked up. But it was partly his fault also...he's the one who can't watch his mouth...

"You're gonna walk into a tree if you don't watch where you're going." said a deep voice from next to her. She stopped walking and noticed she was indeed right in front of a tree. She looked to her sides and saw the twins. Alexander and Phillip.

Both of them were a good foot shorter than her and were so soft spoken, it took some practice to catch everything they said. It always puzzled her how they could have such deep voices but be so short. They never really spoke to her up until the end of their sophomore year when Alexander randomly started texting Amelisa. She was surprised by the event, but didn't question it. Amelisa remembers when she first started freshman year, she could never distinguish which one was Alexander or Phillip, until Phillip ditched his glasses and got contacts.

"Thanks Alex. Close call." Amelisa said stepping away from the tree. The three of them walked to the wall where their friends waited. Normal conversation carried on like usual. Although Amelisa wasn't listening to people at all. She was too much in a daze. She couldn't tell if it was because she was thinking or because it was the morning.

"You're boyfriend is staring at you." Jane said, breaking her daze.
"Who? Shawn? He's not my boyfriend." Amelisa replied. It felt wrong to say he was nothing to her. But whatever, right?
"I don't care. Go talk to him or something. He's creeping me out."
"No. I don't wanna."
"Bitch, do it. He just keeps staring. He's taking stalking to a whole new level."
"I don't even care. Let him."

Amelisa wasn't trying to be a bitch or anything, she still wasn't ready to say she was sorry. She looked up and Shawn was staring at her. They held each others' gaze. She cursed those blue eyes; they made her forget everything. Even with him on the other side of the concrete, she could see them perfectly.

She broke the gaze and turned her back to him. "I'm going to class early. Gotta finish some homework." That was a lie, but she had to get out of his sight. It made her body feel hot and burn. Like an ant under a magnifying glass.

Throughout the school day, Amelisa was getting yelled at more than usual for not paying attention. Maybe it was just one of those days where she was suffering from lack of good sleep. She had managed to dodge Shawn and any other stray trees that would jump out at her. The plan to say sorry to Shawn seemed pointless by the time the second to last class had begun. She was sure she wouldn't be able to say it that day.

She was nearing the building to her last class when someone jumped right at her, literally. She slammed into the body and almost fell back. She was caught by arms that felt oddly familiar and she saw Shawn above her. He seemed to be afraid of Amelisa hitting him or something for bumping into her.

'Now or never, you idiot. Tell him you're sorry.' she thought to herself.

"Sorry." He said. His eyes were on the ground and he seemed ashamed. When Amelisa didn't respond, he became a little twitchy. "Bumping into you intentionally was the only way I could get you to talk to me. You've been avoiding me."

There was more silence and Amelisa was mentally kicking her own ass for not just saying she was sorry. God damn, she was terrible at this.
"Well...I-i'm sorry. I kept jumping to conclusions last night." Her face was turning red from embarrassment of saying sorry. She looked at everything but Shawn.

He seemed a bit taken aback, but smiled at the sight of seeing her embarrassed. He thought it looked adorable.

"No, I should have watched what I said. And you're right. I need to work on that. So, I'll try to." He said, trying to make her look at him. Their little moment was interrupted by the minute bell. The look of horror crashed on their faces. No one wanted to be late to class. Depending on what teacher you had, you could get sent to Tardy Sweeps: A closed off room where the security guard sits down, watches your every move, while you sit and stare into space. The worst way to spend an hour.

They rushed their separate ways without another word. Screeching to a halt once inside the room, the last bell rang and she was the last one in class. Her teacher was giving her the stink eye, disappointed at not being able to shut the door on her students face. "Sit." was all her teacher said.

As class droned on, Amelisa wondered if Shawn got sent to Tardy Sweeps. She thought about texting him and asking, but realized she didn't have his number. 'There's no way he couldn't of gotten to his class before the bell. He's fast as hell.'

Before she could escape the crowd leaving the building down the stairs, her friend caught up to her.

"Hey, are you gonna go to the soccer game?"
'Shawn plays soccer...Maybe I should.' She thought. "Yeah, maybe."
"You should. After the game, I'm having a party at my house. Everyone's invited, so you should come to that, too." the girl said flashing her smile. Amelisa wondered why this girl still invited her to parties. Ever since they sat together in class, she was always inviting her even though she never went. 'Still a nice thing to do, I guess.' Amelisa thought.

As she finally got on the ground, she pushed and shoved her way to the field, in which she crossed every day to get to the bus. Right before she stepped inside, she heard her name being called. It was Shawn, rushing with his back pack half way hanging off his shoulder. He reached her, and didn't even need to to catch his breath.

"So did you get sent to tardy sweeps?" he asked awkwardly. He did it again, asked something without even thinking. Why was he starting to do that?
"Nope. Did you?"
"Nah, my teacher isn't that much of a dick."

Amelisa noticed kids from her bus give them looks of question as Shawn and her stood outside the bus entrance. There wasn't any conversation and Shawn scratched his head. The once crowded field was now empty and waiting for the first bus to leave.

"So, um...I guess I'll let you get on your bus then. I have soccer practice in an hour."
"Oh. Yeah. Good luck. Practice hard." She said, a slight smile tugging at her lips and turning to her bus and boarding it. Going to the back where Austin and the other kids were, she sat and did her best to ignore the odd stares.

"Hey...um..you know, I know it's weird of me to ask but..why were yo-"
"Don't even ask, Austin." Amelisa said closing her eyes and pretended to be asleep.
"Yes ma'am." he said automatically.

*****

Just as routine, Amelisa got off the morning bus and walked across the field to her group. She was a little more awake today and even feeling excited to come to school. She wanted to talk to Shawn. She wanted to tell him she was going to his soccer game to watch him play. And maybe they could even go to that party later...

"You seem happier today." Amelisa turned to her right and saw it was Alexander.
"Yeah, I guess so! Maybe because I actually ate breakfast." she said with a laugh. Alex eyed her suspiciously but didn't ask anymore questions with a huff of hot air. Amelisa even scanned the crowd of people to see if she could spot Shawn. There was no sight of him the whole morning.

*****

"Noticed you were pretty chipper this morning. Finally get laid?" Jefferey asked as they reached for their lunch treys in the cafeteria. Amelisa snickered at this. "You know me well enough to know I'm too chicken shit to do that sort of thing, dear brother." she replied. "Speaking of getting laid, I noticed your boy toy come to school late. Although, I'm sure you already knew about that." he said as he paid the lunch lady and grabbed packets of mustard. "Actually, that's new news. No wonder I couldn't spot him this morning." she said while following his lead to their lunch table outside. "Funny. Would have thought you had known." "It's not like I keep tabs on him. We're not even dating." Jeffery stopped in the middle of their walk.

"So then what would you call it?"
"Not a relationship."
"Friends with benefits?" Flashbacks of their heated moment in her room ran through her mind.
"No..."
"You paused. You guys have totally fucked." Jefferey chuckled. Amelisa's face flushed.
"No! It's just all so...confusing." they resumed walking in step. "He's all fun and games, talking as though we are together one moment, and then seems hesitant at the idea of going public the next. Quite the confusing situation."
"Amelisa..." Jeffery stopped once again, this time turning to her seriously.
"Jeffery?"
"Don't become his play thing. You're too good for that." And with that comment, he went to their usual seats at their table. Amelisa stood in the same spot for a moment before taking her own spot.

*****

With about ten spare minutes left in her class, Amelisa took note of the dreary scene outside. What was once a light baby blue sky with a few clouds only hours ago was now grey and dismal, covered in spots of dark grey.

She found Jeffery's words repeating themselves in her mind, no matter how determined she was to push them away. Was she being used as Shawn's 'play thing'? It's not like it would really matter, she concluded. He would have to put up with her either way, play thing or not. No matter how hard they both tried to deny, this was, in a sick sort of way, a relationship. 'Doesn't seem as though he's going to acknowledge that genuinely any time soon, though.' she thought to herself. She had made it a goal to try to talk to him before the end of the day. Even if she had to go over to his house after he got home from practice. She felt the need to talk to him about this whole thing.

To her, they could do this one of two ways. Option one would be to bring it in the open and go public about a relationship. However, she didn't want anyone to know about their arranged marriage, if it was the last thing she did. Option two would be to go back to the way things were: they never noticed each other, didn't talk, didn't go to each others houses, just left it all alone until they absolutely needed to bring it up-- behind closed doors, that is. These were the options she would bring to his attention when they talked that day. She knew she'd have to tread carefully when talking about the subject; arguing would get them no where at this point.

The bell rang and she sped walked to her last class, stopping in the spot they talked at yesterday. She spotted him walking, only to see that he wasn't alone. That wasn't an unusual thing, but it was the person he seemed so interested in that was. Amelisa saw a short little red head by his side, laughing at whatever he was saying. Amelisa's eyebrow twitched up when she saw the red-head's hand graze Shawn's arm warmly. The girls' head fell back as she laughed a second time, louder this time. Shawn joined her in laughing as another two of his friends joined in standing with him and the girl. Words were exchanged before the minute bell rang, and the group of four laughed loudly. The two friends left and Shawn bent down to give the red-head a hug. They both seemed to linger in the hug and Amelisa felt some sort of ache, though she wasn't sure from what.

The girl left and Shawn looked up momentarily to let his eyes scan the almost deserted hallway. Before entering the class, he saw Amelisa. She was staring right at him, into his eyes. His breath was caught and he felt some sort of an ache when he saw what looked like a hint of hurt in her eyes. If he wouldn't of known any better, he would have concluded she had the look of indifference on her face, but he would tell her eyes held different feelings. She turned and walked briskly to her class, leaving him feeling baffled at what she was upset about.