Feelings

2: Questions

The presentation starts after a few minutes of me feeling really weird after that accident. A student, probably Grade 11 or 12, walks up the podium. "Welcome to Southview..."

He drones on and a PowerPoint slide show gets projected onto a screen. None of us pay attention because we've already seen it twice. Most kids use their phone and it's too dark for any teachers to catch them. Hmm, too dark...

A thought crosses my mind. If Zoe did like holding hands, does she want to do it again here? No one would see. Does she think of me as more than a friend? I glance at Zoe and catch her looking at me too. She smiles before looking away. I don't want to mess up our friendship, so I come close to asking, but I never do. Eventually the presentation ends and we all go back to class.

"Well, since that took up most of our class time, we'll do introductions tomorrow. For now, just relax until ten." The bell rings and I say bye to Zoe. My next class is Geometry with Alex. It goes by fast since all we do are icebreaker games. At least there aren't any cool kids in this class so Alex sticks with me.

When it's 11:30 I grab my lunch bag before heading outside with Alex to our old lunch spot. Cafeterias are too loud and cramped for me so I found a spot outside where we essentially sit on the ground, against the wall. Depressing, but it works. Zoe's already there eating some kind of wrap.

We all sit down. "How was Biology class?" asks Alex.

"Fine." Zoe says. She's obsessed with becoming a doctor like her dad so she takes every course she can that'll get her a job as one. She already took a ton of medical summer camp things and has a Red Cross certificate. Something's off about her now. Instead of motor mouthing about it she's just looking down at the wrap with a strange smile on her face. Oh no. Is it about the holding hands thing?

"At least yours was fine," continues Alex, "All we did was do trash icebreaker games. Right?"

I pull out my bag. "Yeah, sure. Oh crap, my dad forgot to pack me a lunch.

"I'll go with you, Jae!" Zoe blurts out.

"Ooh look at that, Jae, she's asking you out," teases Alex as he nudges me.

Zoe playfully shoves Alex. "Stop. I just wanna help him."

"Sure. Jae, tell her the thing your dad said," shouts Alex as we walk inside.

"What did he say?"

I scan the halls as I prepare to tell her. It's mostly empty save for a few loners having lunch on the ground.

We take a left and I sigh. "This morning before school, Dad said we should become more than friends." The halls seem to stretch infinitely. "Like boyfriend and girlfriend. It's a totally crazy-"

When I look at her as we go left again, she's looking at the ground and smiling. There's something else too. Zoe's blushing. Hard. She looks so cute for a moment that I get embarrassed for even thinking that. Can't think she can be more than a friend.

"Did he really mean that?" Zoe asks softly after a minute of no one speaking.

She's considering it? "I-I don't know."

"We could be if you want," she says quietly.

Wow. Do I actually have this opportunity, right now? Wait, I can't do that. This is only the first day!

I gotta get out of this situation. Why is it taking so long to get to the cafeteria? We stop and where we are looks familiar. Hold on, this is the entrance. We went in a circle! "Zoe, we've been going in a circle. Let's talk about this later 'cause I still don't have a lunch."