Love, Eliot

More Than A Feeling

Sophomore Year In A Highschool Far Far Away.

****

Students pushed their way through the line, gathering their lunch and gossiping in the process.

I smirked.

For once, I didn't mind that I had to wake up at six a.m. and pack the hideous lunch box my mom bequeathed to me.

The floral pattern still moved in nauseating spirals, though. Nothing could fix that.

"Did you see the new Starkid musical?" Emma, my energetic friend, asked. Her long red hair fell over her shoulders, curling all the way down.

I swallowed the bite of peanut butter and banana sandwich in my mouth and shook my head. "Not yet."

"Oh my god," her eyebrows raised to the water-stained ceiling, "You have to. Tonight."

I agreed, mostly to keep her from asking another twenty times before sixth period.

Her voice blurred into white noise as I glanced down at our crowded lunch table.

After two months of school, I established a small group of friends. Erica and Jared sat next to each other, flirting as if neither of them knew they were smitten with each other.

Then there was Carter, another theater kid, hoping to score the lead in the fall musical.

I didn't know why he sat with us. He had nothing positive to say.

Before I could open my mouth and pretend like I was interested in socializing, someone appeared at my side.

I turned to stare at the boy claiming the seat beside me. A red and black checkered flannel hung off his broad shoulders. It was unbuttoned and noticeably wrinkled.

I swallowed the nerves forming in my throat while Emma beamed.

"You made it!" Her voice snapped my attention back to reality. "Cassie, this is my new friend, Drew."

She beamed as if she had single-handedly discovered the cure for cancer.

Drew glanced at me, soaking in a healthy dose of my resting bitch face in the process.

Emma continued even though no one asked her to, "Cassie this is Drew. Drew this is Cassie."

He nodded then smiled. The tension in my shoulders disappeared in an odd moment of weakness.

"Hey," was all he said before turning his attention back to Emma.

Meanwhile, my gaze lingered. His soft brown eyes and easy laugh sent chills up my spine.

But why?

I didn't know him and yet, all at once, I wanted nothing more than to be close to him.

Emma cleared her throat, garnering my attention at last.

I blinked, processing that I missed something important.

She rolled her eyes and attempted, poorly, to hide her annoyance with me. "I asked you who you're going to the dance with, silly."

I blushed, avoiding Drew's stare. "I haven't thought about it."

She stuck her bottom lip out. "Poor thing. But don't worry, there's still plenty of time to ask someone."

To a dance I wasn't even sure I wanted to go to?

Great.

"Do you have any chapstick, unopened?" Emma asked, changing the subject before I had a chance to respond.

"Yeah," I dug in my bag, "Just this one." My favorite, blue raspberry. I handed it over, knowing I had a pile at home anyway.

She took it, satisfied by my sacrifice. My thoughts drifted back to the boy sitting beside me, somehow getting Carter to talk about something he liked for once, and I smiled.