All I Want is You

Trying to Figure It Out

“Shoot, I’m going to be late!” I shouted, jumping out of my bed. My alarm had gone off ages ago, and I had turned it off when I was still half asleep – and obviously I had fallen back to a deep sleep. If I did not hurry, I would not be able to make it before the bell rang, and being late would just give another excuse for the bullies to pick at me! I could imagine them making a joke out of it already, even though it was not like I was the only one who had ever been late.
And why had my mum not woken me up? I rushed through my routines and jumped around struggling to pull up my tight-fitting jeans while looking for my shoes.
I rushed down the flight of staircase, and shouted, “Mum! Why didn’t you wake me up? Dad?”
No response. I ran past the dining table, and saw a note on it next to a sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap.
“We’ve already gone out for the meeting. There’s food in the fridge, and this sandwich is for you. Love, Mum xoxo”
Oh, silly me! I had forgotten that today my Dad had a meet up with people from work for this function and he had to bring Mum along. They would not be back till very late tonight. That was why Mum could not wake me up when I fell back asleep after the alarm went off!
I grabbed the sandwich and stuffed it into my bag – I could eat it during breaks – and flung the bag onto my shoulders. I dashed out of the house and down the street after locking it.
Glancing down at my watch, I realized I only had two minutes left before the bell would go off. I ran towards the school at full speed.
My classroom was situated right around the corner, so I could just throw myself in after turning this corner. The bell was heard a minute ago, and I prayed that the teacher had not arrived yet. I ran down the deserted hallway and turned the corner – and almost bumped into someone. Luckily I had halted my run in time.
I looked up, and to my horror, it was John Grimes. He seemed surprised to see me, and he looked like he was late too. The difference between us was just that he was not panting while I was trying desperately to suck in more air. I was definitely not good at exercising.
And what even frightened me more was that John took a step back after digesting the situation and gestured for me to go in first. I was shocked, and I just stood there, staring at him like he was some sort of alien.
He raised an eyebrow when he saw that I was not moving. Oh God, I had to admit that it was sexy.
I gulped and walked into the classroom – fortunately the teacher had not arrived yet – cautiously just in case he was trying to pull a prank on me. But I reached my seat in the corner safely and I could see everyone was well shocked to see John being so polite and gentleman-ish with me, just like me.
I sat down and put my bag down, and looked up. Someone was pulling out the chair beside me.
I was startled again as I saw John letting himself fall into the seat next to me. By now everyone had their eyes on us.
“Why are you sitting here?” I snapped. It was not going to be a good start for today when I had to put up with John in the very beginning. Even though he seemed to be a bit nicer to me than usual.
“No empty seats left,” he said a-matter-of-factly. Well, we were both too late to be given the chance to select our own seats – that figured. At least one pair of corner seats would be reserved for me though, because that was where everyone wanted me to sit in. And they always avoided being the last one to choose a seat because they would end up sitting with me – just like what John was put into now.
We held each other’s gaze, and I was scowling at him. I was not happy. I did not want to sit with him. But I had to put up with it.
John seemed to be amused though. He was so not like his usual self around me. He was not trying to tease me right away or say mean things in my face. He was actually amused by my attitude.
I looked away grumpily, and that was when the teacher came in.
The lesson went by slowly – I had never wanted a lesson to end this badly, I simply did not want to spend one more second sitting next to the person I hated.
But to my surprise – or should it be expected, seen as he had been weird around me recently – John did not try to be rude at me throughout the lesson. He simply ignored me. And that was the best treatment I had ever received from John. Ever.
The day passed by, and John was still quiet around me and did not bug me like he used to every time he saw me. And it seemed like everyone noticed it; they were all staring and murmuring about me.
I was walking down the hallway as I had just finished my lunch – once again, John stopped jumping queue right behind me in the cafeteria – and I needed the toilet so bad. I got into the toilet and that was when I heard a couple of the so-call popular girls came in, talking.
“Did you notice how John is treating that spaghetti head differently?” one of them said – I reckoned it was Jennifer.
“Of course! And I hate that,” another one huffed, “He isn’t paying much attention to her, but he’s definitely treating her better than everyone else… Like he doesn’t even push pass her while lining up in the cafeteria.”
“I wonder what causes that. Has she done something like makes him change his mind about her or what? Because he was treating her much worse than anyone before that, and now it’s the complete opposite!” another girl said.
“Hopefully he won’t keep improving his attitude towards her or else…” Jennifer trailed off. I shivered against the cubical door, as I dared not to come out. Her words sounded threatening.
The other girls giggled, and walked out of the toilet. I guessed they had finished fixing up their makeup now.
I exited the toilet and my mind was occupied by the previous encounter in the toilet. I was turning a corner when I bumped into someone – and this reminded me of what happened between John and I this morning.
This time I bumped so hard into that person that I fell back onto the floor, landing on my bum.
I looked up, hoping it was not some bullies or even worse, Jo—
Yes. It was unfortunately and coincidentally, John.
“Are you okay?” John blurted out and crouched down to help me up. I was stunned by his attitude, so I let him help me without knowing what exactly was going on.
Once I was back on my feet, I blinked a few times, trying to digest the situation. Some people around were staring again.
“Have you hurt yourself?” John asked me quietly, giving me a scan.
I opened my mouth but could not speak. I was not used to talking to John instead of arguing with him, so I simply shook my head.
“Good,” John said, a hint of relief lingering in his voice, “I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s – it’s okay,” I whispered, not sure if this was really happening. I had never seen John being this nice to someone, let alone to me – I was so shocked that it felt like I had just got slap across my face. It was just that it did not help to make my head clear – I was still wrapped in a cloud of confusion and disbelief.
John then walked away, with everyone staring after him. I quickly left the scene to avoid troubles.
But it almost gave me a heart attack when I had just spun my heels around. Like I was destined to be a person with bad luck, I bumped into Jennifer.
“Oops – sorry!” Jennifer gasped like she really meant it, “I didn’t expect you to turn around!”
I steadied myself, and saw her and her usual group of girls standing before me. Did she just seriously apologize to me?
And I could not take this anymore. John was doing my head in – he made me feel like I had been transported to another planet. Why was everyone apologizing to me when in the past they would just step on me further in a situation like this?
“Why are you apologizing to me? I mean, why are you suddenly so polite to me?” the words were out of my mouth before logic could sink in. I really wanted to know.
“Well…” Jennifer said with a sincere expression, “John’s been treating you nice lately, and it’s got me thinking if I should stop judging you. We used to be mean to you just because everyone was. Maybe we should give you a chance.”
Okay. This was completely different from what she had just said in the toilet. I was super confused now.