Alex
"Hey, where were you? I've been looking for you since lunch" Karly said walking up to me in class. I was not thrilled about having her even in one of my classes. But unfortunately, like every other misfortune, her schedule was literally an error copy of mine.
Bonus to her mere annoying existence was her clingy attitude she won't give heed to my signs of requirement towards personal space.
"Oh," my dry reply only caused her to plop down on an empty seat beside me. Her smoothly waxed and sparsely covered legs hovered closely over mine, she smiled at me twirling a strand of her hair between her fingers.
"Is everything alright?"
No, nothing will be till she'd stop trying to scratch my jeans with her heels. I moved my legs over right.
"Yeah, nothing problematic" except you, I wanted to add.
She sat there with her notes now scattered, thinking something deeply over it. One thing that I admire about Karly is for she was the first girl who broke the stereotype linked over the fact for the cheerleaders. According to that, she was bound to be dumb. Karly was anything but that.
The funny thing was she also reminded me of some certain blonde girl I knew. But compared to her ruthless and platonic nature, Karly was an angel.
She shared advanced English classes with me, as I share this further with Elaine. But I also noticed on the side, not that I stalked her but Elaine did take AP math as well and does grab extra credits through many, many ways. And she balances it effortlessly.
Like it was not a chore to her.
After lunch I was looking forward to seeing her in this class, the way she made an effort to let her guard down even a little did help me see her in a better light.
She is the kind of girl who cared for someone but is scared to show her feelings, she is just not okay with the idea of being open. It may make her feel vulnerable or she has trust issues, I don't want to think about it. But It could be a reason that she was badly hurt in past. Either way, the only method to read her was by taking baby steps and being patient.
And I have a lot of time on my hands.
I realized that a haste step towards her will send her running away, but to let her truly walk towards you With a little faith is the way to win her trust.
"Loser graces us with her disappointing presence," a guy says as some crack up. I see Elaine standing by the door, her hood up and face stern with frozen emotions. She puts her head down and walks inside, but stumbled as some girl brought her legs out on her way.
But before she falls, I move from my seat and stretched my hand, successfully steadying her by grasping her arm I icily stared at the culprit. Uneasy and quite intimidated by the naked threat hidden beneath my blank silence she gulps and looks away. Scared.
Good.
This act does get unnoticed by Elaine she brushes my hand away as if it burned her. Shocked, those grey eyes look at me and a warm redness covers her cheeks.
Was she embarrassed?
Her eyes then meet Karly's. A look of hurt passes in a jiffy.
Then she walks away. I close my eyes frustrated, calming myself by taking deep breaths as I will myself not to punch some useless faces here. Might be me who would top the list.
"How could she even live with a life like that? So pathetic, you should be glad I saved you" Karly says as she takes her attention away from the notes for the first time and looks at Elaine with venom.
"What do you mean by saved me?" I ask her my voice cold, I think now I know why Elaine acted so difficult before. I should have known.
"You know, she was trying to get those dirty hands of hers on you, I made sure she understood where you belong and where her position was" she smirked.
The last thing I want to do now was sit beside her, this was not a fun act of superiority. This ruins the life of the victim in so many ways. No matter how strong they are, humans feel, she feels.
The class began as I kept stealing peeks at her, she at present had her hood removed and listened deep into the class. I saw how she tapped her pencil before she saw a point fit to be noted or how her hair was repeatedly tucked behind her ears, but kept falling anyways.
"As you all know this class and exam have to do with critical analysis, literary structure, themes as well as imagery, you'll have your first assignment on these aspects which should be submitted in two weeks. The topics will be in chits, the one you take will be the topic you work on" Mrs. Martinez's revelation was met with 'oh's' and no's.
"You're all in the advanced class, remember that it's going to be this way. If not, this is not the place for you" she told sternly, paused to scan any objection around. When none erupted she continued.
"And yeah, since this will be your first project. It'll be done in pairs. We won't do it the hard way, the person next to you on the attendance list is your partner"
Andrea, the girl who always would answer for me when I would doze out during the calls. I remember her from her help. A short blonde-haired girl with sunkissed skin turns at me and smiles "I think we're partners?" she asks shyly.
I nod, forcing a smile. But my attention to her was short-lived when a boy from somewhere behind me hollered. The voice was of someone I had hung out with. He was from Tyler's package
"I don't want Elaine as partner, even the Aiden boy with lice will be fine with me but not her"
Mrs. Martinez frowned, "You are not allowed to use such language in my class Mr. Jace Martinez and you'll not have anyone else as you-"
The rest of the words was blurred as I stood up. My fist shut, nails digging inside as I had enough of drama today,
"I'll be her partner, you can pair your son with Andrea" I spit my word as I look at Elaine who had her head hung low all this time look at me with surprise, disbelief, and curiosity.
It was something that I kept seeing in her. Curiosity. So raw and frenzied. Like she was desperate to learn and know everything and anything.
Mrs. Martinez pondered over and seem to have decided to agree with me as there was no way she could have his good-for-nothing son accept her choice.
The class ended and many glares were ported in the direction of Elaine and the eighty percent were from Karly.
"You chose her over me huh?" she glared at me as the room was almost empty except for her, me, and Elaine.
"I chose brain over Barbie" I smirk. Easing my shoulder.
"Barbie? You think barbies are pretty?" she asks, the bitchy tone back at the insult. Maybe it was just too soon to have labeled her as clever. A composed person can never be insecure.
"That's for you to decide, but for your satisfaction, my sister's Barbie collection still creeps me out. That eliminates the fact that I think of you as someone pretty, fake?- acceptable. But not soothing to eyes" her grimace dropped like a stone into the water as she scurried away. Not before a final bird flip to Elaine.
"She's such a child" Elaine's voice from behind brought a smile back to my face as I turned to see her still on her seat. So she did stay to talk with me.
Seconds passed as we stared at each other in comfortable silence.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because I want to"
"Out of pity?"
"No, out of selfishness. You seem like the only person who is sane in this school and I want that person to be my friend" I say as she rolls her eyes but I don't miss that barely-there smile that crawled over her lips.
"Can I ask you a question?" she asks as she puts on her hoodie.
"Yes, only if you will answer one of mine later" I offer a deal to which she nods.
"A few days back you had bruises, and you were distant. If I am not prying, I was wondering if you were caught up in fight or something" she asks biting her lips.
I scratch behind my neck recalling the memory, not the welcoming one.
"I was trying to safeguard my belongings from some thieves that surrounded me on my way back home at night, I tried fighting them off but then realized I cannot. But it was a little too late" I smiled as her eyes stared at me wide with surprise.
"And what were these belongings exactly?" she dragged slowly as if I'd deny answering it. It could have been weed, drugs, or even money, but unfortunately, it was something equally embarrassing as my fighting skill.
"Groceries from wal mart" scratching the back of my neck I saw her bite her lower lip. She did that a lot when she was thinking deep about something.
"Oh" but after that oh she had a tough time controlling her grin. She smiled, a real one. It felt good being the reason behind that, no matter how weird it was.
"Girls in the school thought you looked really hot with those bruises" she added.
"And you?" I asked her in between my own smile.
She thought for a while as I tilted my head to the side, analysing her relaxed features.
"Terrible, you looked terrible. It took me a while to recognize it was you" she said, pretending to shudder she wrinkled her small nose.
I chuckled, peace surging through me to know that things were going the dimension I had wanted it to.
There was that Elaine, the one which I was looking for. But now with a pinch more of life and hope.
And contagious to our nature. I was feeling it too. A pinch bit more of all. More of hope.
***