The Gifted (Sorry no cover yet)

2-Alex

 The next morning in biology, Ms. Goodes gave us our quizzes back.

"Aww man, a 78?" I complained. Ryan started laughing and handed me his paper. He got a 37. Man, that kid was dumb. "It's all good, you just gotta get every single question the rest of the semester right," I laughed. "I knew I should have taken Net Games instead of this."

At lunch, Ryan was being so annoying that I finally agreed to talk to Lily if he would shut up. "Good luck man," he said as I was getting up. She was sitting by herself at the edge of the cafeteria today which I thought was weird.

"Hi," I said. "What's up?". "I uh-" I stammered, scratching the back of my neck. "I was wondering if you wanted to do something this weekend." She looked at me. "It's totally fine if you don't want to," I added. She smiled. "No, I would love to, what did you have in mind?". "Bowling Friday night?" I asked, suddenly aware of how lame bowling was. She shrugged. "Sure I'm Down". She added her number to my phone and I was about to walk away when I stopped.

"Hey, why are you sitting by yourself?" I asked. She sighed. "The other girls are kinda mean you know? They kept making fun of that Maya girl, and I couldn't stand it, so I told them to shut up. They didn't like me very much after that." I nodded. "Cool, well, see you in APUSH," She smiled "Bye."

I couldn't believe it. Apparently, Ryan couldn't either. "She actually said yes?" He asked in disbelief. "Yeah. You were lying when you said you thought she would?" I asked, kinda angry at Ryan for trying to embarrass me. He shrugged. "Well, it was either gonna be funny, or you would get a date. Win-Win, right?" "For you." I grumbled. "Hey, she said yes, so it was a win for you too."

The rest of the day went by quickly. I talked to Lily again in guitar, and we agreed at 7:30 on Friday night to go to the bowling alley. I did better at practice, and my parents took me out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings after. I ate my plain, boneless wings, while telling my mom about Lily.

"She has dark hair, she's pretty, and she's really nice." I told my mom about how she stuck up for Maya. "Good," my mom said. "Cause you better not date a bully. You know how much me and your dad value kindness," she said as she leaned into my dad, who put an arm around her. My dad was huge, 6'4'' and 250 lbs, while my mom was probably 5'7'' and barely pushing 130 lbs. Somehow, they were still perfect together.

When Friday finally came, I realized just how nervous I really was. I didn't want to mess up and ruin my chances with Lily, but with my luck it was bound to happen. I said hi to her in the hallway, and then we sat together in History.

"Just so you know" she started, "I've never gone bowling before." "Never?" She nodded. "How?" I asked. "Well, I didn't have many friends at my old school, and I didnt have a need to go by myself." "How did you not have any friends? Your, like, amazing and stuff" Real smooth, idiot. She smiled. "Why do you think I don't have many friends here?" "True, but just because you stand up to bullies you have to be lonely? That doesn't seem fair!" I exclaimed. "Who said I was lonely?" she asked, suddenly stiffer. "I've got Maya, that music girl, Jordan, and now you." My face turned red. "I didn't mean it like that, I meant-" She stopped me. "Its okay, I get it." The bell rang just then "See you at guitar!" She called as she was leaving. I breathed hard. WOW, I almost messed that up.

I wasn't able to talk to Lily in Guitar, as our instructor, Mr. Bryant, was gone and we had a really cranky sub. "No talking!" she screeched from behind her desk. She was reading some really cheesy romance book called The Accidental Wedding. The cover was, you guessed it, pink, with two people kissing, and flowers everywhere. I almost pointed out how lame it looked, but decided that getting detention and having to miss my date with Lily would not be worth it. Finally, the bell rang, and I went to practice.

After practice, I quickly showered and put on jeans and a Black Bemidji State hoodie that matched the color of my long, curly hair. I put on a bit of cologne, then grabbed my phone, wallet, and keys, and got into my car. I had gotten my license that summer, so I was still a bit shaky driving, but at least my mom didn't have to drop us off.

Her house was only five minutes away, but I made sure to leave the house at 7:20 to show her parents I was a good kid. I walked up the driveway and to the front step. I knocked on the door, and was surprised to see an old man open it.

"You must be Alex," the man said. "Yep" he reached for the man's hand and shook it, while maintaining eye contact, as his mother taught him. "And you are...?" "Oh my, excuse my lack of manners," said the old man. "I'm Lily's grandfather. Me and her grandmother take care of her after..." His face looked solemn. "Well, I suppose it's up to her to decide if she wants to tell you or not"

Finally, Lily came down the stairs. "Hi!" she said. "You look great," I told her. "You ready?" She nodded, and I took her hand and guided her towards the shotgun of my car. I opened her door for her (another of my moms teachings) and then got in the driver's seat. I put on some Katy Perry and turned the volume down so it was just background music. She grinned. "What?" I asked her. "There's no way you actually listen to Katy Perry,". She laughed as she said it. She had a great laugh. "I love Katy Perry. It's great to get hype on gameday." I said defensively. "It's cute," she said quietly, and I wondered if she meant to say it outloud.

"So, you play hockey right? How's that going?" She asked as if she actually cared, as if it wasn't just small talk. It made my heart flutter. I shrugged. "It's going fine right now I guess, I don't know if I'll make JV or Varsity though." "Possibly making varsity as a 10th grader?" she asked. "Are you that good?" I shrugged again. "Ryan's definitely going to, and it's not that uncommon. There are usually 1-2 Sophomores that make it". We were pulling into the bowling alley right then.

Bowling almost went perfectly. Almost. For her first time ever bowling, she was actually pretty good. Now, I wasn't the most skilled bowler ever, but I was only up 3 in the final frame, 104-101. We had finished off a pizza and some fries, and were laughing about something I don't even remember, when I had the idea to ask her on another. I was on my way back from the bar with two chocolate milkshakes, about to ask if she wanted to go out to eat on Sunday, when suddenly I tripped, and fell spilling the milkshakes all over us. I was already mortified, but I noticed that when I put up my hand to stop myself from falling, it had landed on a certain part of her chest. My hand was still there, and I just couldn't do it. I ran out of the bowling alley and home so fast, that when I checked the time on my phone, it had only been a minute. Wait, that's not even possible. I started to write an apology text to her, but I just couldn't. I lay in bed wanting to crawl in a hole and die.