Changing Seasons

Eight

Sophomore year is when he'd met Atira. He'd seen her around the school before, but Krist preferred a different type of girl. It hadn't crossed his mind to approach her.

The year had almost been over when he officially noticed her. It was the end of May, a few weeks after his sixteenth birthday. He'd seen her at the house a few times already and loved that he was getting under Brad's skin with the flirting and smiling at her.

His initial intentions with her were not the greatest. He'd honestly wanted to see how far he could get with her to rub it in his brother's face. "I took your girl, bitch."

She had shown up at the house looking for Brad one Wednesday afternoon and said they needed to finish their end-of-semester project. Brad was still at track practice for another hour and a half. Krist let her know he wouldn't be home for a while and was welcome to come in. Atira gave him a shy smile as he let her in. In hindsight, she absolutely knew that he wouldn't be home.

"You thirsty?" He asked nonchalantly.

Her cheeks flushed, "Sure, I'll just take a water."

He'd offered her half of his Subway sandwich. She accepted and sat with him at the table. "I'm Krist, by the way. I don't think my brother ever actually introduced me," he grinned. Atira shook her head. "Rude ass, for real."

She giggled. Man, she was so nervous around him. It was refreshing to see. Krist hadn't been around any girls who were nervous or shy since Middle School. He was into females who had the same attitude he did about sex and relationships. Occasionally, they'd tease and play hard to get, but by the end of the night, it was always the same.

He'd been in the middle of hitting her with some whack-ass line about there being no need to be so shy with him when Brad came home. If looks could have killed, Krist would have been dead about ten times over.

"Sup Brad," he smirked, watching his brother's face flash with rage. Turning to Atira, he said, "Hope to see you around." He was such a douche back then but apparently, Atira had been impressed by it.

After that, Krist made it a point to go to school daily so he could seek her out and make conversation. She was becoming more comfortable around him, and the genuine interest in her was stronger. He no longer wanted to be a douche who was trying to piss his brother off, he found himself actually liking this shy girl who was well out of his league.

Krist really had no concept of how normal people his age actually dated or what they did on said dates. Fortunately for him, there had been an end-of-the-year formal, so Krist invited her. He'd never been to a dance nor wanted to go to one, but it seemed like a good idea.

"Yes!" Atira gushed, clasping her hands in front of her, "I'd love to go with you."

He'd talked his sister into helping him pick out something to wear. The color scheme was purple and silver. Kali had convinced him that he should wear a lavender button-up with black slacks and dress shoes. She had even helped him pick out flowers for Atira and offered to drive them to the dance.

"I seriously never thought you'd be going to a school dance. I thought you were too cool for that," Kali teased her younger brother.

"I thought so, too," he admitted with a laugh, "Dances are for lames."

"Awww, my baby brother is growing up. You must really like her," she told him.

Krist replied with a nonchalant shrug, trying to hide his smile. She was right though, he really did like that girl.

Atira had looked beautiful that night. She had on a long, flowing dress in a similar shade of lavender as his shirt. Her blond hair had been done up in loose ringlets with small silver and purple flowers intertwined. She never wore makeup, but she had a light dusting of purple eyeshadow on her eyelids, mascara, and light pink lipgloss.

"You look so pretty," he breathed out appreciatively.

Atira's cheeks reddened, "You look handsome," she told him as if uncertain how to respond.

It had been a nice evening. They'd spent it chatting most of the time, dancing only for the slow songs. She had insisted on couples portraits. Krist still had his copy. They, fresh-faced in front of a cheesy purple and silver backdrop, awkwardly posed with him holding from behind while trying to keep his boner from her ass. He was a corny ass fool back then.

They spent most Saturdays together, going to movies, the mall, the usual things. There was hand-holding, peck kisses, nothing more, really. When school wrapped up, Krist confessed to her that his grades were bad, and his transcript gave him a graduation date the following year. He should have graduated. He needed more credits to graduate with his class. He wanted to drop out and get a GED. Atira was sympathetic, offering to help him with his classes when school started back up.

Summer came and went with a quickness. Atira officially became his girlfriend the first week of August. They'd gone to the county fair, he asked her on the giant Ferris Wheel. She eagerly accepted they'd had their first real kiss. That same week, she left for Seattle to visit family and wouldn't be back for ten days.

Krist took it upon himself to spend that time at his dad's, making up for lost time with Jeordie. He didn't cheat or even hang out with any of the girls he knew up there, but he did go on a dope bender, staying up for five days straight, against his dad's advice.

He remembered that he felt as weird or paranoid as everyone had claimed it would. He did see figures in the shadows and lost a block of six hours that he'd apparently spent picking dirt out of his pores. His body felt oily and gross. He showered multiple times and doused himself in his dad's cologne. He drank all day long, never getting actually drunk. Jeordie was up only three and was so paranoid that he didn't even want to go near the window. Krist found himself irritated with Jeordie, yelling at him to go the fuck to sleep already. Marcus gave the teen a few Flexeril pills, which made him eat and go to bed.

Krist felt like shit after the bender. His joints were stiff, his jaw ached, and he could feel the dope coming out of his pores. Just a nasty ass feeling. He slept for most of two days at his dad's and then slept another entire day when he went back to his mom's. Being home, in his bed, felt like heaven. When his mom asked why he was in bed all day, he claimed illness. She'd taken his word and let him be. He had messaged Atira through her time away, being cautious never to be online or text at weird hours. There was definitely a lingering feeling that he was a piece of shit for getting tweaked out, but he reasoned that it wasn't like he was offering her dope or getting high around her. No harm, no foul.

School started. Krist had one period of credit recovery daily so he could work at his own pace to make up for the lost credits. Atira, true to her word, spent time with him studying and helping him catch up. Krist wasn't dumb; he didn't need the assistance, but she helped him stay focused on the task at hand. She spent a lot of time at his house after school, teaching him how to make dinner. She helped him organize his room and was friendly with his mom and Kali. He wasn't going to his dad's at all and spending less time with his friends altogether. His mother adored Atira for her kind demeanor and the positive changes she had seen in Krist.

Atira was a "good girl," so Linda hadn't even enforced the "open door" rule when she was in his bedroom. Although there was no sex, there was a lot of making out and heavy (over the clothes) petting.

Three months into the relationship (officially), their physical intimacy moved up a level. One Sunday afternoon, they'd almost gone all the way. Only stopping just as he'd begun to penetrate her.

"I'm not on birth control. Do you have a condom?" She had asked breathlessly.

He pulled back, "No, I don't," laying down next to her. That's when the talk of playing it safe and waiting until they had proper precautions in place. He'd spent a lot of time jacking off, although it didn't kill the desire to fuck her. He wanted it so bad.