Dainty and Dauntless

My thoughts:

I paused at that instant. I was in shock, disbelief and filled with un-fathomable embarrassment. I couldn't help but cover my lips to withhold a giggle. "No, you did not brain." I said in between the giggles I terribly failed to restrain.

🤡🤡🤡

So much can go around in a teenager's little big mind. From the anxiety of speaking in public, the judgmental stares one will receive from walking about, the day's menu, how big one's pimple is, the lingering gaze from passer's by, the next class, why every other person is more attractive than oneself. The list can go further on and on to the hate for everything and love for the little things. That had summarized Natalie's mind... then. And back then, she had everything almost in control. Nowadays, something, or someone had made an entry into her void of endless thoughts. It was her first time seeing someone not so ordinary, she couldn't help it. It excited her every time that she thought back at his presence. Even better, Ethan Valer was her classmate, maybe they could be friends. Oh how she envied the company he kept, something she very much loved to be a part of. But she wasn't good at making friends, and neither was she cool nor very welcoming of people. She had accidentally bumped into Garf and he had liked a drawing that had dropped out of her book, just like that. She prayed for the same luck that led her to unexpected friendship to help her with gaining Ethan Valer's attention.

"Alright, catch you later." Garf said as he stood up to leave. He had been telling Natalie about the new action movie he had found epic.

"Ok, but the shooter was definitely reckless," added Natalie.

"Right?" Garf swiftly turned and threw his arms in the air, bewildered. They both burst into laughter. She loved time with Garfield. He matched her humor and interests. He was the coolest boy in the world.
It was lunch period now and it meant that it was time to go out of the classroom, to go outside. In public, she always wore a stern face. That could have been the reason why she was never approached whilst on her way.  Taking a look outside, most of the students had dispersed off.

Good, very good.

She was invincible now. She took a deep breath and stepped out. The only things that could almost give her anxiety away were the fast paces she took at a time and her hands balled into fists.
Behind that intimidating look were eyes that aimed to look anywhere else but not at a human face. She bit her jaw repeatedly just as fast as her feet could carry her. More anxiety would come with dealing with heading back to the classroom and it wasn't long till time for more classes closed in. The babble inside the classroom as she approached always got to her. She took steady breaths.
One, two, three... and Natalie gave out a nervous excretion, smelly but helpful. No one was ever in sight, she made sure. Her smelly fart would drift off with the wind and with a sigh, she would walk back to the huge mass of eyes.

Classes, assignments and tests were all plots to slow down her life just a bit. Classes did the most and time was a slug, the laziest of all. It felt like the clock's hands had frozen, never to tick again. Gravity tugged at her eyelids, and her head followed. The only weapon forged against this sorcery was the thought of everyone's eyeballs on her pathetic face, but today it was failing.

"Ethan is probably watching, girl!" Her brain seemed to whisper. Her spine erected and face hardened, dreading the thought. She prayed her pose was convincing enough. Natalie couldn't deny she thought about many things but, Ethan Valer was the "many things" recently.
Garf had caught up on it.

"Are you staring at him?" He had asked, his eyes wide with amusement.

"Him who?" Natalie cleared her throat. She felt so embarrassed and gave in. "Why, Garf? Don't be peeping at me like that." She covered her face.