Lessons Learned I

I sighed as I walked down the hallway of the campus. I had just gotten done with my English class, which was the last class of the day.

As I walked down the hall, another class was in progress letting out. I saw Alex walk out from the room.

By that time, I had finally warmed up to him. Well, a little, anyway.

"Hey!" I said, catching up to him.

He turned around and looked at me with a huge smile on his face. "Hey, Rachel! What's up?"

"Nothing much. Just got out of my English class. I'm free for the rest of the day."

"Me, too."

I smiled a little at him. He blushed a little, then returned my smile.

"So, do you like Vertical Horizon?" he asked.

"I absolutely love them. How'd you know?" I asked while smiling.

"Well...they're coming to Tacoma next month and I got two tickets...do you wanna go?"

My eyes widened. A lot.

"You got Vertical Horizon tickets?!" I exclaimed a lot louder than I should have.

"Yup. Do you wanna go?"

"That sounds awesome, but..." I sighed. "...are you sure you don't wanna take someone else? If you do, I totally understand."

"No, I'd rather have you go. Truth be told you're about the only person I feel comfortable with around this joint..."

I laughed. "What about Lee?"

"Didn't think she liked VH."

"She does. Kind of."

"Oh... Well, I'd rather take you..." he mumbled. He turned a little red.

Aw, he's shy.

I smiled really big at him. "Thank you. When's the concert?"

"Halloween."

"Jeez, that's not too far from now."

"Odd how fast the month has gone by."

I sighed. "I know...this whole year has gone by fast."

"I know what you mean...seems just like yesterday it was New Years."

We began to walk down the hallway. "I know! Time flies by anymore. It sucks. There's never any time."

"I know. It's like we turn eighteen so we get all this freedom, then we can't use any of it because we're shoved off to college so we can't use any of that freedom."

"I know!" I exclaimed as I gathered my hair with my hands. "Freedom is worth absolutely nothing unless we can put it to good use. There's never any time in college!" I let go of my hair, causing it to swing back down over my shoulders. I shook my head to get it to settle.

I glanced over at Alex, who was watching my hair fall past my shoulders. I figured he had been watching the entire time.

The poor guy ran smack into the door, falling flat on his back. I came to a sudden halt, then my eyes widened as I stared down at him.

A few random people in the hallway looked at him, then began laughing really hard. Alex slowly sat up and rubbed the back of his head. His face was a deep crimson color.

"...oh, crap," I said, kneeling down. "You okay?"

A random girl walking by exclaimed, "What a loser!"

Everyone's laughter became louder and louder. Poor Alex looked beyond humiliated.

"Um, I gotta go," he said quickly. He quickly picked himself up, then grabbed his stuff and ran off.

I watched him run down the hallway, wondering why he ran into the door in the first place.