Junia Baker's Journal

Chapter Eight

I finish class and head to the bench near my next one - which is my poetry class. I slide onto the bench and pull out my notes and start reading them - as I have a quiz and I want to do well. I've been trying to distract myself and focus on school to avoid thinking about Benji, as it's unhealthy and I need to get over it.

"Junia?" I hear someone call my name. It's a boy's voice. I quickly look up, seeing someone familiar walking towards me. He sits beside me. It's Justin, from Bhodi's party.

"You go to school here?" I ask with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, I do. I didn't know you went here." He replies.

"I could say the same." I slip my notes away and close my binder.

It's awkwardly silent between us for longer than I liked, before I decided to maybe get up and walk away. As I stand on my feet, I see him gulp. "Um, sorry." He stops me. "I just wanted to say it sucked that you had to leave in such a rush that night... I wouldn't mind finishing off what we started, if you know what I mean." He explains shyly, his cheeks turning red. Mine do as well.

"I have to get to class. But here," I say. I find a pen in my pencil case and I grab his arm. He willingly gives it, and I scribble down the house phone number onto his forearm in blue ink. "Call me sometime."

"O-okay." He stutters. "I will." He says more confidently. I flash him a tiny smile before heading to my next class, wishing I had studied longer but happy that I ran into Justin. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy our kiss we shared at Bhodi's.

Getting to speak to him while not drunk was nice - I got to see the way his green eyes twinkle and the way his words roll off his tongue perfectly. He's even cuter that I'm sober, which is something that doesn't happen often.

After my quiz, I decide to skip my last class and I walk home. No ride from Benji, and no Benji at home once I got there, either. The apartment feels a little empty without him here all of a sudden, but I know it's just because of our conversation we had that's making me feel this way. It sucks but I'll get over it. I've been trying to trick my brain into thinking it was all a really weird, awkward dream.

I drop my bag to the floor in my bedroom and I sit down, falling back onto my bed, my body bouncing a little from the impact, the springs doing their job.

Suddenly, I hear the door open. I sit up, listening in closely. I hear heavy footsteps, those of which wouldn't belong to my mother. It has to be Benji. Instead of doing what I would have done even just a couple days ago, I stay seated. I don't have anything to say and quite frankly, I don't want to make anything more uncomfortable than it needs to be between us.

"Anyone home?" I hear him call out.

I let out a frustrated sigh. "Yep!" I shout loud enough for him to hear.

I half expected him to come to my room but then I'm reminded that he's the one that brought up that we were being weird with each other, so I'm not shocked when he doesn't come greet me in here. Besides, last time he came to my bedroom, he accidentally saw my half naked body and he's probably trying to avoid that again.

I grab my school bag and take out my binder, starting to do homework, but I'm finding it hard to concentrate. Benji, now Justin, Benji, now Justin. The two of them were battling for dominance in my brain and driving me insane. For some reason, I almost want to cry, but the sound of the phone ringing from the kitchen makes me stop.

As I get up, the ringing comes to an end. I creep towards the door, opening it more and walking into the hallway.

"Junia?" Benji calls out. "Phone's for you!"