Fresh Starts

Chapter Two

Right as I hit the ground, I looked up and saw somebody grabbing the pens off-the-shelf right above me. He glanced down and smiled at me. The boy looked about my age with brown hair and hazel colored eyes; he was dressed in a red sweatshirt, Romeo shoes, and boot-cut jeans.

He was still looking down at me. We were studying each other and I did not try to stand up. After a few seconds more, he finally spoke. "reaching for these?"

He spoke in the most sarcastic, yet genuine tone I have ever heard.

"I was," I replied, picking myself up off of the hard concrete floor.

"Me too, I just love these-" he stopped to read the package, "erasable pens?" he said curiously. I know he is just playing, but it pisses me off.

"They are great. Now can you hand them over since you just watched me fall on my ass?"

"I could, but what if I don't want to?" he asked, challenging me, but I refused to give him the satisfaction that he wanted from bothering me.

"Then I will just climb up and grab a pack, or I will go hunt for somebody who is both nicer and taller."

"Fine, you can have these, since I don't want you falling again. I would have offered a lot sooner if you would have asked nicely."

"Romeo, I didn't see you until I was already on the ground and you were already teasing me. I had no time to ask." Romeo was the best name I could come up with, but I needed something.

"Romeo? You don't recognize me?" Something flashed over his facial expression but went away quickly.

"Recognise you, why would I?" I looked over at him again, making sure I was not missing anything. "You're wearing Romeos, that's why I called you that."

"It's nothing for you to worry your tiny self about. I'm just messing around, Blondie." I'm not short. Everything is just built for stupidly tall people like him. I don't have the time to argue about this.

"That's not very creative of you, Romeo." Romeo might be a weird name, but it worked. Blondie is just boring.

"Fine, what if I call you short stack?" Gross.

"That's so much worse. Now I really need to get going, so we have two choices here. You hand over the pens, or I fall on my butt again trying to get them."

"Only if you insist," he reached up towards me but held his arm up over our heads so that the only way I could get them was climbing.

It is like we are in elementary school playing keep away, but I guess that's what we are doing. I stepped up on the bottom shelf once again, making it so I'm at a closer height to either grab them from his hand or off the shelf.

"I hate you. I hope you know that." I was standing on the second shelf.

"Well, I guess that just means that I love you." he shot back half sarcastic and half bored. Which still caught me off guard, making me lose my balance once again.

This time, right before I hit the ground, a pair of hands grabbed my waist, pulling me up towards him, keeping me from falling completely to the ground.

"You've really got to stop falling for me, Blondie. You need to be more careful." He was smiling, probably proud of his own jokes.

"That was not my fault and you know it, I would not give them to me even after I asked," I said, accusing him, ignoring how close together we were.

"Fine, you can have them now because you're right. This time it was a bit my fault you fell." he moved his hands off of my waist, taking a second to make sure that I would not fall over and then he gave me the pens.