Pita, continued

Chap.1, Why!?!

He stared at me from across the room. Again. Wasn't he done with this? I thought we had both moved on! Apparently, he hadn't. He was still on his same old shenanigans. Seriously, what part about, "I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Didn't he understand? From an outside perspective, nobody would understand what I was going through. That was the most difficult part. So I'm going to walk you through it. 

I'd always told everyone the whole thing started back in 2nd semester of 7th grade, but the truth is it goes back even further than that. 1st semester PE class. 

"So, do you like anyone in our PE class?" My friend Aroura asked nosily. 

I looked around for a second. Yes, yes I did. But she already knew who it was.

"I mean do you like any BOYS in our PE class?" 

I thought for a while, it didn't take long for someone to catch my eye. He was tall, (like, really tall) with long dark brown hair that was long enough that he wore a headband to keep it out of his face. 

"Haris" I said.

"Ohmygosh yeah! He's so cute when he does the thing where he flips his hair out of his face."

"Mhm." I wasn't really listening to her. I was just watching him run around and play whatever sport we were playing that day. I kind of forgot about him after that. I liked someone better anyways. That someone was also in our PE class, so I rarely acknowledged his presence. Until one fateful day. 

We were playing kickball; my friends and I were sitting towards the end of the bleachers waiting for our turn to kick. I leaned back so that I was behind everyone. He did the same thing, and we looked at each other for a good 10 seconds before we both sat up again. I'm not sure if that's what made me fall for him, or the fact that he clapped for me every time I scored in volleyball, but I digress. As I said, I liked someone better, so he was never on my mind much then. The person, (well, girl), and I actually ended up dating that December. So, I pretty much forgot about Haris. My best friend Alexa would get fed up with me gushing about my girlfriend at lunch, even though she did the same with her many crushes. About a few weeks into dating this girl, she broke up with me. At the time it was one of the worst breakups I'd had. I was sad for weeks. It was right before Valentine's Day too! I knew I needed to get over her, I just wasn't sure how. I guess I subconsciously realized that I needed to move on to someone else in order to move on from her. Although I don't know what possessed me to choose to boy I did. It might not've been the healthiest way to deal with things, but hey, it worked!

It began at the hair salon, as it often does. Being in the manic post-breakup state I was in; I decided to bleach my box-dyed blue hair. (Bad idea). As my stylist was washing my hair, a country love song was playing. It sounds corny, but I couldn't help feeling sad as I listened to the words. I still wanted to be in a relationship. I couldn't help myself. 

When the next semester started, I wasn't thinking about anyone besides my ex yet. Until I sat down in my 7th hour class. I had no friends in 7th hour, he was really the only person I "knew". Eventually I made friends in that class, with a bunch of 6th graders. Wafaa, Hunter, Ben, and Josh. Before I talked to anyone though, I spent most of my time looking at Haris. 

"Avery, are you paying attention?" the teacher asked one time.

I was, most of the time. It's not like I stared at him, well...he stared at me too! We'd glance at each other every 2 seconds. You know that thing when you look at someone, and they're already looking at you? And then they look away? He did that all the time. I'd catch him looking out of the corner of my eye. It was honestly intimidating sometimes. Did he have nothing better to do or something? Anyways, I guess at first, I kind of used my crush on him as a coping mechanism. But as I continued liking him further into February, my feelings grew beyond that. I wanted to something, or at least let him know how I felt. But I couldn't. You see, I had still never spoken to him at this point. And I mean NEVER. I didn't have the guts, and I still didn't in February. So made probably the worst decision I could make. I asked my friend to do it for me... I know! That's the worst thing you can do when you really like someone. But I didn't really have a choice. I asked my friend Karlie, and before I could change my mind she agreed. Every day at lunch I would ask her, 

"Did you tell him yet??" The answer was always no.

In the meantime, I was getting advised severely against liking him. 

"Girl, no! He looks like lord Farquaad! said my friend Shay once. That was partially true, but I was...determined. 

March came, and no developments had been made. I was so on the edge of my seat that it was all I could think about. Me and Alexa called every night. She would blab about her crushes; I would blab about mine. It was a mutual exchange. Apparently, she got sick of me talking about Haris because she came up with some rather creative insults for him. But it never deterred me. I wanted him to talk to me or interact with me in any way. He was quiet in general; I barely ever heard him speak to his friends. So, I didn't take anything too personally, but oh how I did. When Alexa sent me his 6th grade yearbook picture it became my prized possession. When I went to Arizona over that spring break I missed him. I fell asleep looking at his picture on the car ride to the airport.