Love On The Beach

Chapter 6

Aria

Me and Aaron walk out of Algebra 2 laughing and talking to each other.
“Well, I gotta head to my next class,” Aaron says. “See you on the way to band!” With that, he runs off.
I head to my locker again to grab my History book. I place my math book inside the locker and close the locker shut.
The first bell already rings.
I’m gonna be late again.
I barely make it 2 steps from the locker before I run into a guy. I fall back and drop my history book and my ‘Let the Wind Rise.’
I put my hand on my head. “Ow, sorry, sir. I didn’t see you there.”
“Oh, it’s fine,” the guy says.
He sounds familiar…
As I reach my hand to pick up my books, the person reaches his hand to help me grab my book. I touch his hand. I perk my head up to look at his face, and he looks at mine.
Oh, gosh…
It’s him.
“Wait… Aria?” Zayn says, surprised to see me. He smiles wide. I hold my stare with him and say nothing.
No way…
Aaron was right.
“Um… Aria?” he says.
Oh gosh… he’s so handsome…
“EARTH TO ARIA!” he yells at me.
I come back into the now. I ask,”Wha-What?! What are you doing here?!
He laughs. “I go to school here, obviously. I’m a junior,” he says. He grabs my ‘Let the Wind Rise’ book and hands it to me. “The book you got the day I first met you.” He smiles.
I smile too. I  don’t want to be awkward in front of him. “Thank  you,” I say, grabbing the book from him.
“Of course, beautiful,” he says, then turns red. “Oh my gosh… sorry… I did it again…”
“It’s okay,” I say. “I don’t mind.”
I really don’t mind at all.
I then turn a little red as well.
He’s so handsome…
I just wanna…
NOPE!
DO NOT LET THAT GET INTO YOUR HEAD!
“Well… I gotta get to my history class,” I say.
His face lights up. “Mr. Caddel’s history class?”
“Um…”  I pull out my schedule. “As a matter of fact, yea.”
“Really?” he says. “Now I have a class with the amazing Aria.”
I smile again.
He’s so amazing…
“We can walk there together,” he says. “Wanna do that?”
“Uh…” I say.
Pull it together, Aria.
“Yea! Let’s do it,” I say.
“Awesome!” He holds out his arm for me to link mine around. I hesitate, but decide to.
“You’re a unique one, Aria,” he says, as we walk to our class.
“Uh, how so?”
“Most people wouldn’t do something like this to a stranger they met at a library.”
“Well, like I said earlier, I don’t mind.”
He looks at me and smiles. “Okay then.”
We arrive at classroom 301, and he lets go of me. We walk into the classroom, and Mr. Caddel shows us two empty desks where we can sit. I follow Zayn towards the desks, and we take our seats.
Mr. Caddel starts introducing himself. He says we can talk for the class period, so Zayn starts talking to me.
“So, Aria, right?”
“Yes, and your name is Zayn.”
“Yea. Wanna get to know each other?” We will be stuck together for the rest of the year.”
“True. Wanna do 20 questions?”
“What?” he asks.
“20 questions. You’ve never played that before? Well, the thing is, we never actually do 20 questions. We just do as much as we want.”
“I’m down. What do we do?”
“Well, it’s really simple. We just ask each other questions so we can know more about each other. And you have to answer.”
“Alright. Want me to go first?”
“Sure.”
“Okay…” he starts to think about what to ask. “Well, what’s your full name? Middle name included.”
“Aria Elizabeth Chase,”I told him. “What about you?”
“Zayn Alexander Ethan.”
“I like that. Cool name.”
“Thanks!” he smiles. “Favorite color?”
“I have a top 5. Pink, black, purple, red, and blue.”
“I love blue and red too. They are my favorite colors.”
“Nice! Um… what hobbies do you like to do?” I ask.
“Well, I love playing the violin, I do basketball and track, I love to draw, surf, read, write, play video games, and I work at Walmart,” he says.
“Interesting.”
“Ha… I have a good one…” he says with a mischievous smile.
I arch my eyebrow. “What would that be?”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
I frown. “No.”
“Really? What about crush?”
I look away. I decide not to answer.
“Ex?”
“Okay, no more,” I say.
“Oh come on. You have to answer. You said so.”
I sigh and look at him. “Fine. Yes… I have a crush, and yes, I have one ex. I don’t really like to talk about it.”
“Alright. I’ll respect that,” he says. “But who’s the crush?”
“Um… someone. I don’t wanna say.”
“Alright, fine. Your turn.”
“What about you?”
His face turns pale. He frowns and his eyes look more shiny.
Is he… tearing up?
“I… um…” he says, but doesn’t finish.
“Hey, you don’t have to tell me. I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to make you upset…”
He looks at me, and gives a sad smile. “Well, I’m gonna have to tell you eventually, if I want to be friends with you.”
“You? You wanna be friends with me?”
“Sure. You’re a cool girl. Besides, you’ll have to deal with me either way. Let's be friends.” He puts a hand on my shoulder.
I smile. “Sounds good.”
His smile turns back into a frown. “Well, I did have a girlfriend. She would still be here today if something didn’t happen.”
“What happened?” I had to ask.
He wipes his eyes. “Once, I took her surfing, and she fell off her board. I… um, tried to save her as she was trying to swim up, but she drowned. I could’ve saved her, but I didn’t. They took her to the hospital and confirmed she was dead.”
I gasp.
“That’s… that’s awful… I am so sorry that I asked. I am so sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s fine.” He’s crying now.
I don’t know what to do…
I decided to hug him. I just felt like it would help. Sure, I only just met him, but he needs someone to comfort him. It seems like he rarely shares this with anybody, so it's nice to know he decides to share it with me.
After a few seconds, he hugs me back and stops crying. “You really are something special, huh?”
“I guess I am.”
“Well, thanks. It’s nice to talk about this kind of stuff to people like you.”
I smile at him. “You’re welcome.”
We let go, and decide to keep playing.
“Well,” he says. “What’s your favorite childhood memory?”
I have to think about that. I loved my childhood. But… I gotta say…
“When I was younger, I loved stargazing. I still do. But my dad used to always take me out on the weekends when he didn’t work at the mine. Where we lived, we lived out in the desert. So we could see the stars very well. But I just loved all the times he took me stargazing. If it ever happens, I’ve always dreamed of it being my first date with a new guy.”
“First date huh?”
I laugh. “Yes.”
“Wow. Great idea. It also sounds like your dad loves you.”
“Yea. He did.”
“Did?” he asks.
“Well,” I get quiet. “He died last year.” I try my best not to tear up.
“Oh… I’m so sorry. How?”
“Well, he worked at the mine. One day there was this huge explosion, and he got killed in it. If you ever see my house, you’ll see the plague someone made for us about him.”
“I see. I’m so sorry. Neither of my parents have died, but my mom left.”
“Did your parents get in a…”
“Divorce? Yes. And, to be honest, I’m glad she’s gone. She didn’t like any of us.”
I nod. I can kinda understand that.
“What’s your favorite book series?” I ask.
“Hmm… that’s a hard one. But it's gotta be Percy Jackson. It’s one of the best,” he says.
“I love Percy Jackson too. I have a lot of favorites.”
“Like what?”
“Well, I love Keeper of the Lost Cities, Percy Jackson, The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Harry Potter.”
“Keeper of the Lost Cities is a great one.”
“Yep! Are you a christian?”
“As a matter of fact, I am.”
“Me too!”
He smiles. Just then, the bell goes off.
“It’s already been an hour?” I ask Zayn.
“I guess so. Time goes fast, it seems,” he replies.
We grab our bags and leave the classroom. We both head for our lockers and put stuff away. Next class is Orchestra, but I don’t have my instrument. It is being fixed somewhere in town.
As we leave, I hear 2 familiar voices say behind us, “Well, it seems you 2 have met!”
Me and Zayn spin around to see who it is. Cassandra and Aaron smile at us.
“Wassup, bro!” Zayn says to Aaron, doing a handshake with him.
“Hello Cassandra,” I say, giving her a high five.
“Hola, Aria! On your way to Orchestra?” she asks.
“Yes ma’am.”
“Let’s all walk together then!” she says to us. “I’m in orchestra as well!”
“Really? What do you play?” I ask.
“Violin!”
“Me too! Aaron, are you in orchestra?”
“No, I’m in band, remember?” he says.
“Oh yea.”
With that, we walk down the halls, talking and laughing to each other.
“Wanna sit with us at lunch?” Zayn asks me.
“I would love to!” I exclaim.
“Perfect!” He smiles at me again.
Wow, his smile is legendary…
“I’m glad you guys wanted to be friends with me. I thought I wasn’t gonna meet anyone to be friends with. Now I have you guys” I say.
They all look at me and smile big. “Of course, Aria,” Zayn says. “I think you are going to be an amazing friend to all of us. Right guys?”
Cassandra and Aaron nod.
I smile. “Thank you guys.”
“You’re welcome, Aria,” Cassandra says, giving me a hug. “Zayn is right. You’ll be an awesome friend.”
I hug her back.
Friend. Friends. That’s what I have now. To stay.