Olive

Friday, May 23rd,
Word: Ostentatious
Definition: describing a showy or pretentious display

I'm late to my last my English class. This is the last journal I'll ever have to write before, I assume, this book will be thrown in the trash. Today is my last day, technically, of real school. I have to come back two more days to take three finals, and then I'm done. That's not what's exciting me right now, though.

"Olive, stop!" I called out down the hallway. This time, she didn't ignore what I said. The bell had just sounded and the last of the crowd had just filed into their classes.

"What?" She asked, harshly, spinning on her heal.

Taken aback, I paused a second before saying, "I'm sorry."

She glared at me. "What, now I'm supposed to say that I forgive you, and then we'll hold hands and skip down the hallway and be best friends forever?"

I breathed out, deeply. "No," I spoke quietly.

"Then what? What, Charlie? Way to break the fucking mold. What the fuck do you want from me Charlie?"

"No," I said, more forcefully. "I don't want to be friends." I guess she didn't know how to react. I guess she didn't get what I was saying, at that point. I started towards her and continued speaking. "I don't want to be friends. I'm sorry for acting like a jerk. I'm sorry for being jealous. I'm sorry for being passive. And I don't want to be friends."

Her voice was quiet when she spoke. It had been a while since the bell, now. "Well... fine." She turned to leave.

I laughed. "You don't get it, do you?"

She turned back around to me. Her face was contorted as she tried to grip the situation.

"I don't want to be friends with you, because... because friends don't get jealous when they smile at someone else. I got jealous when you smiled MY shy smile at Luke. Friends don't notice stuff like I do. Like how right now, I haven't even looked, but I know that your rubbing the tip of your left thumb nail, because you don't know what you're going to say, or how this situation's going to turn out. I don't want to be friends. I want to be," well, then I told her what I wanted to be. And then she gave me her answer.

That's why I'm excited.