Oh, Calamity

When I entered the doors to my high school, Dulaney High, I was met with some stares. Okay, a lot of stares, actually. You're probably wondering why; so I'll tell you. I have a black eye, and it is pretty damn nasty. Shades of purple, black, green, blue; the colors for bruises will never stop to amaze me. I had gotten into a fight last night, with my asshole of a father. It had been the first time he's come around in years. He left my mother and I when I was ten and after he left, we moved to Maryland. We live in a suburb outside Baltimore and it goes by the name of Towson. I don't have many friends, or really, any at all. I'm basically the loner in the school that's pouring out groups upon groups of friends.

Keeping my head high, in a failing attempt of trying to be tough, I walked right through the crowds and waves of stares to my first period class. Having gym first thing in the morning was brutal, and having it for three years as first period was beyond cruel. Stepping into the girls locker room, I was met with, you guessed it, more stares. I ignored them the best that I could as I walked to my locker and changed into some shorts and a Blink-182 tee. I heard our coach blow his whistle and all the girls, including myself, ran out into the gym. Since the guys in this class were already in the gym, the coach started talking immediately.

"We'll be out on the field today, running laps around the track. Get moving!" he yelled. We ran out of the gym and onto the field, and when we got there our coach decided to pair us up with another person. I wasn't really paying attention when my named was called so my head shot up when I did hear it.

"Katherine Evans, you're with Alex Gaskarth." Alex? Who was he? I looked around and I saw some tall dude with brown hair walking towards me.

"Hi, Katherine. I'm Alex," he smiled and held out his hand. I shook it and pulled away quickly.
"Dude, what happened to your eye?" He asked, seeming concerned. Concerned? About me? Since when did someone actually care besides my mom?

"A fight with some jerks, no big deal." I lied and shrugged. Alex frowned and gave me a puzzling look but didn't ask anymore questions. We started to run, and he was a lot faster than me; probably because of those long ass legs. We finished five laps before taking a break for some water.

"That was so not fair, you have these long legs and I'm a whopping five foot four." I said, after taking a big drink of water from my bottle. Alex laughed as he drank some of his water.

"You kept up pretty well though, I give you that." Alex smiled and laid down in the grass. I looked around, watching other students still running and eventually I saw some girls looking at Alex and I, whispering to each other. That's weird, why would they be whispering about us? We're just partners for running today, it's not like we were a couple or anything. After a few more minutes, coach yelled at us to move our butts back to the locker rooms to freshen up and change before the bell.
When I got into the locker room and to my locker, the two girls from earlier came up to me.

"I hope you don't think you have a chance with Alex, because please. He can do so much better." The girl who spoke first had brown hair, and too much make up for my liking. I gave them a confused look.

"What are you talking about? I didn't even know who he was until today." Annoyed, I tuned back to my locker and took off my shirt so I could change back into todays outfit. Pulling my shirt over my head, the other girl started to speak.

"How could you not know who he is? He is Alex Gaskarth, one of the hottest guys at this school and one of the most popular. You were only paired with him because of Coach Ryder; not because it was luck, or destiny, or whatever you want to call it." Ah, so that's why they were so interested in Alex and I. He was the popular kid, partnered and talking with the outcast with a black eye. Being really annoyed now, I turned to face them.

"Look, I don't care if he's hot or popular. One, you can't control me, or him. So if I want to talk to him or if he wants to talk to me, that is none of your god damn business and you can't do shit about it. Two, you guys are wearing way too much make up and look like clowns. And lastly, fuck off." I finished putting my things away and slammed my locker shut and shoved those girls while walking past them. I could hear them saying how I'm such a bitch when walking away. I exited the locker room and headed towards the English hall for my second period. Creative Writing was a class I've always liked so I decided to take it again. It was a way for me to write out my feelings or to write a story about whatever weird fantasy that was in my head.

I took my normal seat in the classroom and waited until the bell rang. When class started, we were told that today we were going to have partners and it was going to be a long term assignment. What is with partners today?

"Katherine Evans, you are paired with Alex Gaskarth." What? He was in this class too? I saw Alex in the front of the classroom, looking back at me. He got up and walked over to the desk next to me.

"Hey again," he smiled. I smiled back and actually looked at him this time. His sandy brown hair fell to the side and he had light brown eyes that were actually pretty gorgeous. I had to admit, he was cute.

"Hi," I replied before turning around to look back at the teacher.

"Alright, so this assignment is going to last one month. Every day, from now on until the deadline, you will sit with your assigned partner. Every day will have a new assignment, but for the most part, you and your partner are going to learn about each other. You may be asked to write short stories featuring your partner, or you may be asked to describe your partner in great detail. Today's assignment is called 'The Basics'. Get to know the basic details of each other; like favorite foods and colors. Let me remind you that this assignment can be taken outside of the classroom. Okay, get to work." She finished talking and sat back down in her chair. I turned back to Alex and gave a half smile.

"Um, well I guess I'll start. I'm Katherine Evans; I'm sixteen and I love puppies." Alex smiled and laughed.

"I'm Alex Gaskarth; I'm also sixteen and I also love puppies." he winked, which made me laugh.

"So, before we get any deeper into this thing, I need to say something." I said and Alex nodded for me to go on. "Well, these girls came up to me after gym and basically told me to stay away from you. They told me that I shouldn't think I have a chance with you because you can do better or something like that. It's weird though because honestly, I didn't have a clue who you were until today."

"Don't listen to those girls, they're probably just jealous they didn't get paired up with me. I'm not going to deny I think I'm good looking and that a lot of girls are all over me though." He said and I rolled my eyes. "But seriously, it's not like they can control who I talk to. We're partners on this and we can't change that." Wow, Alex seemed pretty cool to be honest. Sure he may be full of himself but he's being nice to me at least. But, will a month be enough time for us to actually become friends? Wait, did I just ask that? I don't need friends, but strange enough, he makes me want to have him as a friend.

-Alex's POV-

Katherine Evans wasn't a girl I knew until today, and honestly, I think she's beautiful. Her black eye story didn't quite make me believe though. From the way her body stiffened when I asked made me think that it wasn't just a group of jerks. I decided to keep quiet though, because I didn't want her to think I was rude. By some miracle, we had gotten partnered in Creative Writing and I was so joyed over it. She didn't seem like she had any friends, but I decided I was going to change that. She had this strange power over me; she makes me want to get to know her better.

"Okay, so what's your favorite color and things like that?" She asked me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"My favorite color is blue, my favorite bands are Blink-182 and Green Day," I saw her smile when I mentioned those two bands which made me smile. "My favorite holidays are Christmas and Halloween, and my favorite thing to do is write music for my band." I saw her eyes go wide with surprise.

"You're in a band? That's so cool." She smiled. "I love Blink and Green Day and Halloween is definitely my favorite. Though, I don't really have a favorite thing to do; I don't really do much other than go to school and stay home. Though, I guess I could say I love to write. Songs, stories, anything really." I looked at her, kind of taken back by her sudden animation. She seems so quiet and shy at first, but I guess when you find common interests or actually talk to her she's really cool. And really cute.

"Maybe we can write a song for my band together," I joked, and her face turned pink.
"I'm not that good, but honestly that would be fun." she smiled softly and I realized I actually wanted to do that with her. It would help if she met Jack and Rian though. Suddenly, an idea came to my head.

"Why don't you sit with me at lunch? We can continue getting to know each other, and you can meet two of the other members of my band." I smiled.

"Really?" I nodded. "I'd love to, thank you." she smiled. "Really, though, thank you. Even though you're kind of being forced to talk to me for an assignment, its nice to actually talk to someone."

"I like you, I think you're cool. No one is forcing me to talk to you either. I want to talk to you." her cheeks turned a brighter shade of pink.

"S-so, are we like, friends now?" She asked shyly. I nodded.

"Yeah, we are."