The Last Good Thing About This Part of Town

I had already woke up late for my second day at a new school. Great

"Crap" I said when I checked my clock, 7:15. I jumped out of bed and pulled on some black skinny jeans, a black cross fit tee shirt and black vans. I grabbed my back pack and keys and ran to my car.

'I am way too tired today' I thought. I got very little sleep the night before thinking about that girl in 1st, and the audition I had coming up on Friday. I desperately needed something to get through the day. 'I wonder if I should stop at that place that girl told me about?' I thought. I pulled out my phone and looked it up on Google maps.

It was just down the street from the school and so I decided to try it. I mean, I was already running late. There was no harm in being 5 more minutes late.

I pulled up to the box and asked the women working the box "Yeah can I just have black organic coffee"

"What size?" She asked

I usually gets a medium cup on any regular day, but I thought about how tired I actually was and instead told her "Better make it a large"

I pulled up to the window for the lady to give me my coffee. As I paid and she handed me a large cup, I noticed a familiar face inside the coffee house standing at the counter. It was her, the girl from 1st period. I tried to get her attention but the lady at the window looked at me weird and warned “Hey man I gotta line keep moving”

“Oh sorry” I said as I put my car in drive and left the drive thru lane and just as I was about to pull out onto the street towards school, I got lucky and saw her leave the shop and noticed her start walking to school.

It was a perfect opportunity. I pulled up next to her, rolled down the window real slick and asked “need a ride?” and she stopped, looked in the window and smiled.

“Decided to try it without me huh?” She said

“Well I was already late and you said it was pretty bad ass. I thought I would be the judge of that. Hop in” I unlocked the door and she got in.

Once she was in, I had to ask. “I didn't really catch your name yesterday. Since you know mine, I’m kind of obligated to know yours” I said, trying not to sound too confident.

“Well Mr. Martins did say it in front of everybody, maybe your listening skills just aren't up to par.”

“Ah hah I caught your last name Ms. Porter. With a combination of my music and laughing at your comeback I didn't catch your first name” I said.

“Oh well its Nicolette, and yes everyone calls me Nicolette” She replied. “So whats your deal? I asked you yesterday before you had to run off to some other class.” She asked

“Well, what do you want to know? I asked.

“Well where did you move from?”

“Wisconsin”

“Favorite sport?”

“Football, I’m a huge Packers fan” I said proudly.

“Oh well, Broncos fan here” she said just as proudly

“Wait what? You're from Chicago. Shouldn't you be a Bears fan?” I asked, surprised.

“Ahhh you jumped to conclusions my friend. I’m actually from Denver. I moved when I was in about 5th grade”

“Well I'm glad you didn't just jump on the bandwagon when you moved here like most girls probably would. Shows that you actually like and even know about football” I complimented, genuinely impressed with the fact that she even had a favorite football team.

Once we finally pulled up to the school and walked into class, we were already 10 minutes late.

“Ahh I see that you have already corrupted our new student Nicolette. Andy, don't let her ruin that bright future of yours.” Mr Martins exclaimed as we walked into class together.

“Actually me being late was my doing Mr. Martins. I woke up late for lack of sleep and decided to get some liquid fuel” I said. “It won't happen again”

“Ahh, well I’m glad you're taking responsibility. And as for you Nicolette, why are you late?”

“I’m always late. Nothing has changed” she said and Mr. Martins rolled his eyes.

“Well don't make it a habit this year Ms. Porter”

“No promises” She said laughing

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We took our seats next to each other and listened to the lesson Mr. Martins was teaching on trigonometric review. Once the bell rang, they walked out of class together and she hoped that Aaron would see them walking together.

Once we got to his locker I stopped to look at him and said worriedly “So I kind of have a confession”

“It’s like the second day what could you have possibly done?” he said laughing.

“Nothing! Well, nothing bad” I said with a light laugh.

“Shoot” he said.

So I just blurted it out “Okay so after practice yesterday my ex came up to me trying to get back together with me and when I told him no he kinda flipped out and said some things to make me mad and I told him that I had a date with you on Friday to get him off my back” without taking a breath. Smiling up at him innocently.

He looked confused and I was just worried that he would think I was crazy and never wanted to talk to me again.

“Well I guess we should make it seem believable then” He finally said a few seconds later.

His reaction surprised me. “Wait. What really?”

“Yeah why not? You're cute and I think you're interesting” He said with a shy smile.

“You think I’m cute?” I blushed and hoped to god he didn't notice.

“Uh I didn't say that. You didn't hear that.” He said, smiled slightly and walked off towards his next class. I was left there standing at his locker smiling stupidly to myself.

I realized that I never got his number so I ran up to him to get it. We exchanged them really quick and he set back out to his next class like he was doing before.

Just as I started walking the opposite way towards my next class, Aaron walked up to me with a fit of rage and jealousy in his eyes.

“Was that him?” he asked furiously.

“Why? You're not gonna do anything, did you see him. He would lay you out in one punch.” I said, defending Andy.

“Yeah well we’ll see about that” he said, racing towards Andy.

“Aaron if you really loved me, you won’t do this” making him stop in his tracks.

He took a deep breath, turned around “Fine, but if he hurts you, I will lay him out in one swing” He said then walked off towards his class.

I made a sigh of relief just before the bell rang and I was, as usual, already late. I hadn't even had time to get stuff from my locker for my next class.

When I walked into AP Chemistry and took my seat, my phone vibrated and I pulled it out and smiled at the name.

I HAVE AN AUDITION 4 A BAND FRIDAY AFTER SCHOOL AND I KNOW YOU HAVE PRACTICE. WHATS UR ADDRESS? ILL PICK U UP AT 7

I sent him my address and he responded almost 5 seconds later

SWEET. CANT WAIT :)

ME 2! :)

I stared down at his last message for a little while and tried to keep a calm face but I was really a giddy little giggling girl on the inside. I couldn't even remember the last time I felt like this for a guy. But Something about Andy was different. And I couldn't wait to tell Erika about this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“ERIKA WHERE ARE YOU I NEED TO TALK TO YOU NOW” I screamed when I walked into the locker room.

She peeked around her locker towards me eating a peanut butter sandwich and I ran up to her and hugged her with the biggest smile on my face.

“Someones happy!” she said as I sat down on the bench in front of my locker.

“Guess who has a REAL date on Friday?” I exclaimed with a giddy little girl smile on my face.

“No way! How did you get that to happen?” She sounded surprised

“Well I kinda just told him what happened with Aaron yesterday and told him that I lied to him about our date. I thought for sure he was never gonna talk to me but, instead, he played along and decided to go on a real date with me.” I bit my lip and looked down and smiled. “He maybe even said I was cute”

“AHHHHHH” She screamed. “I have never seen you so excited over a guy since freshman year!” Referring to my sophomore year with Damien.

“I know, I don't know what expect really” I haven’t been on a date that I was excited about since, well, Damien. I was really nervous.
“Okay so I get to come over after practice on Friday right? Get to help you pick out what to wear and get ready? I will make you look HOT” Erika asked

“Uh of course! Who else better for the job than my best friend in the entire world?” I said, giving her a smile.

“I can’t wait!” She said “but for right now you need to focus on getting changed for practice”

“Yeah yeah” i said as I started changing

And at that moment, I realized I couldn't wait either. Friday couldn't come fast enough.