Samson

Five

On Wednesday I'm about to shut my locker and leave when I notice out of the corner of my eye that Sam is only just opening his. I really want him to talk to me again so I put my bag back down and pretend to search through it like I've lost something, keeping one eye on him the whole time. When I see him pull his jacket out of his locker, I pull whatever my hand was touching at the time out of my bag – an old tin of mints (empty) – and nod, to really sell it, just in case anyone is watching me. We shut our lockers at the same time. 

I can't stop my smile when he falls into step next to me, holding the door to the staff room open for me. "Ladies first," I step through and Shane charges out after me, cutting in front of me and making a beeline for the main exit. "And, of course, Shane, a close second," Sam says loudly and Shane grunts and throws up a hand in a wave, without turning around to face us again.

"I'm kinda scared of him," I whisper to Sam. "He never says anything to me."

"That's Shane," Sam shrugs. "He's okay once he gets to know you, really. He hardly ever spoke to me at first and then one time I let my mum cut my hair for me and he called me 'Mr. Haircut' for about six months." 

"So you're saying I should get a bad haircut and maybe he'll warm up to me?" I ask.

"Hey!" Sam laughs. "I never said it was a bad haircut!" We've reached the main doors now. "I'm saying you have to wear him down. Doing something weird with your hair might not be such a bad idea actually.... One time my mum accidentally got me the Electric Blue hair gel instead of the X-treme Hold that I usually use and it tinted my hair blue, which he seemed to get a real kick out of. I think it's his favourite colour." 

"Your mum buys your hair gel?" I tease him a little. "Does she still do your hair every morning?" 

Sam blushes, his cheeks flooding with pink, and he reaches a hand up the scratch the back of his neck. "She does a lot for me, I'll admit," he says. "Maybe too much. But I can do my own hair. I'm a big boy now. Doesn't your mum do stuff for you?" 

"Um, not anymore," I bite my lip a little, awkward suddenly. "She's not here anymore." 

"Oh," Sam nods. "Sorry. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really." 

"Thank god. I really didn't want to stop talking about my hair." 

I laugh and realise we're standing outside JojaMart now, time to split off. I check the time, I don't really have time to dilly dally or I'll miss my bus but I want to stay and keep talking to him so badly. He notices me checking my watch and says, "Do you catch the bus home?" 

"Yeah, I better start walking now or I'll miss it." 

"Sure," Sam says, and my heart skips a beat because he falls in step next to me, like it's the most natural thing, like we do it every day. "What's your favourite song?"

"Like my favourite song in the whole wide world?" 

"Yeah." 

"Ummmmm...." My mind is completely blank. It's like it can barely even comprehend what a song is, let alone remember one. I grab at whatever my brain can come up with. "MmmBop," I blurt out. 

"MmmBop?" he turns his head to me. "The one that's like... Mmm bop..." he hums a few lines. "That Mmmbop?" 

"That's the one," I decide to lean into it, I think he finds it amusing and I really like that feeling, that he's finding it fun to talk to me. "By Hanson. It's really good." 

"I'll have to give it a listen later. What are you listening to on repeat right now?"

"What, are you interviewing me?" I raise my eyebrows at him. 

"I just find it interesting, what kind of music people like. I think it's a good way to get to know someone." He puts his hand on his chest dramatically and says solemnly, "Music is so important to me. It's my life." 

We both laugh. I don't think I've laughed this much in a long time, maybe ever. We've just been walking comfortably next to each other, stealing little glances at each other. At least, I assume he's doing that because when I look up at him, he's looking down at me. And when our eyes meet, his crinkle a little at the sides and I have to look away because it's doing things to my insides I've never felt before. 

"Seriously though," he flashes a little pin on his jacket. "I'm in a band and everything." 

"Wow, a real music guy. I'm gonna have to call you Mr. Music." 

Sam laughs. "Shane's gonna feel so foolish he didn't think of it first." 

We grin at each other and walk in silence for a little bit. I can see the sign for the bus stop in the distance and my stomach sinks. Times almost up.

"I have a question for you now," I say.

He puts both hands up in finger guns. "Shoot." 

"That day you were dancing with the mop... How did you know the cameras don't work? How did you know Morris wouldn't see you and you wouldn't get in trouble?" 

Sam stops in his tracks, his shoes crunching in the dirt. "Those cameras don't work????" He looks at me in amazement. 

"You didn't know??" 

"No, I had no idea!" a slow smile spreads across his face. "The cameras don't work... Cool." 

"I'd be too embarrassed," I kick a rock in front of me along the path. "If I thought Morris was watching me do stuff." 

"Didn't even cross my mind," Sam kicks the same rock and we watch it hop, trip, and jump over the other rocks and sticks and patches of grass. "Anyway, I don't mind embarrassing myself if it makes someone smile."

"Someone?" 

"A friend," he says.

"A friend!" I repeat. We're friends?? He thinks we're friends? This is the best news I've ever received. 

"Yeah," he's blushing again and his weird tone of voice makes me turn to look up at him. "We-"
"Oh no!" I cry, pointing towards the road. "My bus is coming!" 

We both start running towards the road, Sam sprinting ahead waving his arms in the air, trying to flag the bus down. It stops, past the actual bus stop, and the driver opens the door and looks pointedly from the sign to me. 

I jump onto the first step, breathless, and turn around. Sam's doubled over a little, panting hard, but he's still grinning at me. 

"To answer your question," I say as the bus driver clears his throat impatiently, "I've been listening to Nobody, by Mitski." 

"I'll listen to it later," Sam yells as the bus doors close and it starts to pull away.