My first class was Spanish 3 and I found it just as the bell rang.
I sighed and slumped into a chair at the back of the class close to the door. Just as I sat down the speakers came on, saying we should stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and national anthem. That caused me to groan lowly, but I got up anyway.
They don't normally do the national anthem on Mondays, but I think it's because it's the first day of school. The Pledge of Allegiance is on every morning though, and after that there were announcements. Fridays, were usually when they played the national anthem.
After the anthem finished we were told to sit and the announcements started with welcoming us back to school and welcoming the freshmen into the school and other irrelevant stuff.
My mind strayed back to moments ago and what happened that I never thought would happen to me in my life and a smile split across my face again. I looked down, trying to hide it in case someone saw me and thought I was mental or something.
The more I thought about it, the wider my smile stretched. I thought about every single thing, down to the acne that was on both his cheeks. Even with the endless amount of pimples on his cheeks, causing a permanent pink, he was still so attractive. I always wondered why he never tried to get rid of them, or maybe he does and whatever it is he uses doesn't work. Either way, he's still smoking hot.
I couldn't help the grin on my face when I saw his smile in my head and I dropped my head on my arms on top of the table, the stupid grin still on my face.
He touched me. And he smiled. And he didn't look repulse by me.
Ummm... First of all, he only touched you because if he didn't, your midget ass would've made us both fall. And I mean, you probably looked stupid-
Stop thinking, you're ruining this.
But it's true though. If he didn't, we probably would've fell and he was just being nice. I should stop overthinking.
Just as the speakers cut off, the teacher started talking, "This is a small set," She said while looking over the class that has probably only fifteen kids in it.
Our teacher was a dirty blonde, middle aged woman. She had on a pair of dark rimmed glasses on her face as she looked us all over.
"They probably can't find the class," A girl in the front said.
She nods, "Right. It's like this every year," She looks at the clock above the door, "We'll give them ten more minutes, then we'll start," Then nods when there were sounds of agreement, "Okay, you can all do your snapchats or instagram or whatever," She told usânot that she even had toâand laughs along with us as she makes her way out of the room.
I took advantage of that and took my phone out to go on Instagram after connecting to the school's Wi-Fi. Five minutes into watching videos and snickering at memes, more kids started coming into the room. I ignored them and was still scrolling.
"Can I sit here?"
"Yeah, sure," I replied without looking at the person. I had my earbuds in and was watching a comedy skit and was trying really hard not to laugh.
"This looks more like a class," The teacher said after a moment. She was standing in front of the classroom again. My eyes absentmindedly trailed around the classroom which had much more students in it now, "I'm going to ask you to put away all your electronics, so say goodbye to your friends and loved ones."
I smiled a little at that and took out my earbuds after locking my phone, then set it down on the table. I never put my phone in my book bag. It's just a big no-no for me.
"So my name is Mrs. Martinez and I'm going to be your Spanish teacher for the semester," She starts. I leaned forward even more to prop my elbows up on the table and hold my face up with my hands on my cheeks.
Mrs. Martinez went on and on, talking about her classroom behavior requirements and what we need for class which isn't much. She talked about herself and what she expects form us, along with what she hates and appreciates. Then she sent around a stack of papers, known as syllabus's, that we have to take home and get signed.
I took the papers from the girl that's sitting in front of me and took one before passing it to the person sitting beside me.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." I stared down at the paper with a bored and tired look. Why do they give us this every year?
I sighed and reached into the small part of my bag that was on my lap for a pen to write my name at the top, while the teacher told us that if we get it signed we'll get five bonus points. Like always.
"You have really nice handwriting," The guy sitting next to me says.
I smiled, "Thanks." I've always been told I do. I used to write in cursive. My second grade teacher taught me and I wrote in cursive for years and forgot how to write normally and when I tried to, this is how it turned out. It's all swirly and 'flowery', like my teacher last year said. Most people ask if it's cursive but it's not entirely. The words are really close together and twirly and some of my letters are in cursive so that's why people mistake it for it. People say I can make my own font and I'm seriously thinking about doing that.
"No, really. That's really pretty. How do you write like that?" He asks again.
I held back a laugh and shrugged, "I don't know- just do."
"I think you all notice by now that the desks are all grouped in twos right?" Mrs. Martinez says, and the students all answer positively, "Well I found over the years that kids worked better this way than individually or in large groups. Because individually, you're all usually going, 'what the heck is she talking about' right?" She asks and some of the kids laughed, even though it's not that funny, "Then in larger groups you seem to not focus at all and end up doing nothing. So this way it's easier in groups of twos. So if you don't understand something you can always turn to the person next to you and ask them if you don't feel comfortable asking me," She elaborates, "And we're going to start communicating with each other. So turn to the person next to you and start talking," Some kids groaned, like me, and reluctantly turned to their partners, "Come on! It's better you get to knowing each other because there's gonna be times when you absolutely have to talk to each other." She clapped in finality and I glared at her.
I leaned back and turned slowly toward the guy sitting next to me and I swear to you my heart stopped, "Hi," It came out steady, wavy even, as if I wasn't having a mini heart attack.
He smiled, "Hi."
I looked away, my eyes going around the room, watching the other pairs communicate, some of them as awkward as I was.
"What's your name?"
My attention snapped back to him and my eyes connected with his dark brown ones. I adverted my gaze to stare at his forehead instead. It'd always been weird for me when I stared directly into someone's eyes. I prefer to have a conversation while not looking directly into someone's face, it's better for me that way.
"Ariana." I tell him.
"I'm Chris." He says with a smile.
I forced a smile onto my lips and nodded, looking away from him again. His name is Chris. I was not expecting that.
I just can't seem to act normal around him. Or anybody for that matter. I'm like this with anyone who's new to me or I don't talk to often. Or I don't consider them friends. I can't help it. I'm naturally shy and awkward.
I sighed and looked back at him. He wasn't looking at me and I guess it was just as much awkward for him as it was for me.
"I'm sorry, I'm making this awkward. I'm sorry." I covered my face with my hands, feeling myself heat, embarassed, then dropped my hands and looked back at him.
He chuckled a little, "It's fine. You're shy. Are you freshman?" He smiled.
I relaxed and smiled back at him, "Junior."
His face fell for a second, "Oh. Are you serious?" My smile widened and I nodded. He smiled, but I can tell he was racking his brain for something, "I've never seen you before," He said.
I laughed, "Yeah, I know. Most people don't, since I keep to myself most of the time and I'm so small," I shrugged.
He leans back slightly and looks me over briefly with his lips pouted slightly, "You're not that small," He looks back up at my face. Darn those cherry lips. I just wanna-
I scoffed, "Yeah, right."
He grinned and I internally swooned, "I've seen girls and guys shorter than you in this school."
"Yeah, but I'm still small." I raise my eyebrows at him, "I'm 4'10 point something. I don't wanna be point something," I complain, pouting. He had a large smile on his face as he stared at me, "It's true. I just wanna be five feet already," I whine.
"Okay. I'm going to ask everyone to turn their desk so they're facing each other," Chris and I look away from each other and up to the front of the class where Mrs. Martinez was, "Go ahead, turn them."
"So much work." I mutter under my breath, getting up from my seat and putting my bag on top of the desk. The classroom erupted in screeching noises as everyone turned their tables to face each other.
After that, she said, "Now I want everyone to switch partners. Everyone on the right row will stay in there seats and the ones on the left will move," That erupted in questions and looks of confusion.
She proceeded to elaborate again. So in the end, the people who were sitting in the row where I was is going to stay in our seats and then Chris and everyone in his row is going to navigate. So he's going to go to the front of the class where the first pair of tables are and the person who sits up there is going to move down one and so on.
So in the end another guy was sitting across from me. He was probably my height and had brown hair, brown eyes and as he spoke you could hear his Spanish accent in his words.
"I'm Darwin." He said, getting comfortable on the chair.
I smiled, "Ariana."
"This is bullshit."
I laughed loudly, and used a hand to cover my mouth. Some kids turned to look at me and my eyes caught Chris's at the front of the class.
I dropped my hand, snickering, "I agree."
"I'm bored, entertain me," He said, holding his hands across the table. One palm open and his other, a fist, above it.
I stared at him, "Rock, paper, scissors?"
He shrugged, "Why the hell not."
"Okay."
So we played rock, paper, scissors while asking each other questions. And he kept me smiling which isn't hard. You could just be staring at me and I'd laugh in your face.
Eventually he had to leave and we made a big deal out of it. We even started sniffling, causing some people to laugh at us. It was a heartbreaking farewell. Everyone that followed after him was dull and boring and we didn't talk about anything and I was dying for Chris to come back and not long after he did.
"Had fun?" He asked with a smile as he sat back down across from me.
I shook my head, "Nope. Except for the first oneâDarwinâhe was funny," I laughed lowly, remembering how we were both so dramatic.
He leaned forward, crossing his arms and bringing them down on the desk. My eyes betrayed me and stared down at his bulging biceps and the veins running along his arms. He wasn't buff, but you could tell he worked out. He was tall and lean and sometimes on a good day I'd see an outline of his abdomen muscles through his shirt when the wind would make his T-shirt cling to his torso. A very good day indeed.
"So..." He looks down at the table for a moment, "Tell me about yourself," He smiles.
"Really?" I smile back at him and he grins, nodding. I look away, biting my lip to stop smiling, "I don't know. I'm short," I strugged.
He laughs and I fight myself not to join him, "Yeah, I gathered that."
"Okay, fine." I look away, chewing on my lower lip, thinking, "Alright," I lean forward, crossing my arms and lowering them onto the desk, mimicing him, "I'm socially awkward. I don't talk to you if you don't talk to me. If I don't say hi when I see you it's because I'm gonna feel like I'm bothering you and I hate that. I read a lot. I don't do anything if it stresses me out," I look up at him and he was staring at me, his lips pulled up at the sides. I held up a finger, "And I have no friends," I finished.
"I can be your friend," He offers.
I grin down at the table. I just cannot stop smiling, "Maybe one won't be so bad." I shrug and he chuckles, dropping his gaze to the desk.