Pita, continued

Chap.8, The first of many firsts.

The day after Haris made me blush, he sat by me during circle reading again. Only this time it was obviously on purpose. Haris pulled a chair into the circle so that we were only a few feet apart. Allie sat in between us though. He stared at me. The. Whole. Time. It was not at all discrete. He could have at least pretended to hide it, but he didn't. He never did anymore. The next day, Thursday, was our school winter mixer. I asked everyone if they knew if he was going. One of my friends said he was, but then I found out he wasn't. I was so sad I almost didn't want to go anymore. But I still did of course. It was fun, chaotic, and crowded. Not to mention loud. Almost the whole school was crammed into the gym with blasting music. I've never really been to a party, but I imagine that's what it'd be like. I clung on to my friends for dear life to not get lost in the crowd.

Still, after the dancing, screaming, and running around, Haris was the only thing on my mind. My friend Naida, (the one who lied and told me Haris was going), told me something that stuck with me.

"Hey, don't worry! It's obvious he has feelings for you. I mean, do you see the way he looks at you?"

Damn. That actually gave me hope for once. It was the first time someone besides Allie ever noticed Haris staring at me. The week before Christmas break, Naida went over to Haris and talked to him. He then looked at me and smiled. I really wanted to say goodbye to him before Christmas break. I decided I would say goodbye on Wednesday when we were leaving. I tried not to think about it too much, or else I might psych myself out. 

Wednesday finally came, I couldn't believe I was actually going to go through with it. I was terrified though. Excited, but terrified. Allie agreed to help me come up with an excuse to say goodbye to him. The whole thing was helping me forget how much I'd miss him though. I wouldn't see him for two whole weeks! My conscious would never be clear if I didn't at least say goodbye first. "You have to do this" I kept reminding myself. I somehow convinced Allie to help me. The plan was: She would walk up to him, say goodbye, then I would say goodbye quickly and we would both leave. But it could never be that easy, could it? Naida was also very invested in the situation. Too invested. She was a bit clingy, and I don't want to say she got in the way, but...she kind of got in the way. Class ended and Allie and I went up to everyone to say goodbye so we wouldn't seem suspicious. Allie walked over to the door where Haris was standing. I prepared to put my plan into action, but it was too late when I realized Allie had already said goodbye. Naida had been talking to me, and I didn't want to seem rude by ignoring her. I missed my opportunity. It looked like I was really going to have to do this by myself. Again, I almost stopped myself, but I wasn't about to back down. I walked up behind Haris. I tried to get his attention by saying his name, but he didn't hear me because I was so nervous I was practically whispering.

Naida overheard me. I forgot she was standing right next to me. 

"Haris, Avery is calling you!" She said loud enough for the entire class to hear. 

I froze.

I was so embarrassed I burst out laughing and buried my face in my hands. I have no idea how, but I managed to pull myself back together and look back at him. I'll never forget in my life the way he looked at me. He was smiling (which almost made me freeze again, his smile is adorable) and waiting patiently for me to say something.

I managed to say clearly, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to say goodbye."

Even though Naida embarrassed me, I was grateful she said something. That was the first real conversation I had with Haris. I grabbed onto Allie and we both left the class crying laughing when the bell rang. I couldn't contain my laughter. I was giggling all the way to the bus. I immediately texted Alexa to tell her what happened. 

When I came back on Wednesday from winter break, I wasn't really sure what I was expecting. The break was chaotic, and I hadn't really been thinking about Haris. Instead, I was thinking about this other boy. Sebastian. And I was kind of getting bored with Haris. He hadn't so much as looked at me since that Wednesday.