Missing Connections

Lunch

"You weren't on Skype yesterday"

"Your mum wasn't on Skype"

Everyone kind of went like "OHHH!" so I joined in.

"Dude, that was aimed at you" Jack said to me.

"Oh." I replied. Other people laughed.

"Oi who's got a ball" someone shouted above the scattered conversations. Someone pegged one at him, and it bounced off his head. He ran off to try to catch it. Some people started to form a line against the worn chalk edges of our handball court.

"I bags kings!" a guy called Ryan shouted, strolling into the kings square. Ryan is fairly large. No one challenged him. Three more from the line moved up. I was fifth after they moved up. Ryan served the ball to dunce, who immediately missed the ball entirely.

"Hey, fault one" he pleaded.

"This isn't tennis!" someone called back. He was promptly moved to the back of the line. I was now fourth. Ryan served again, once more to dunce. This time he actually managed to hit it back. The rally continued for three shots until my friend Jeremy tried to use his foot and kicked it entirely out. Of the entire area. It took him three minutes to retrieve the ball. I was then third.

Ryan served to dunce again. He's not known for his originality. This rally went for slightly longer, about 5 hits. Then I was second. 4 hits. Of course, just as I was first reserve, they got Ryan out.

"Oi. Kings to dunce." No one contested him. He was a bit pissed off though anyway, hitting the ball served to him way too hard. A dozen eyes watched it sail into the distance. He was out.

My turn. I readied myself, put myself into an appropriate stance, and raised my hand in anticipation. My eyes were glued to the ball, as some people would say. They weren't actually glued to the ball. I was just watching it carefully. He served, and I hit it with the might of a thousand gods, directly into his square before he could even comprehend what had happened.

At least, I thought I did. In reality I swung my hand somewhere kind of near to the ball and it landed behind me. Head hung, I walked away from the court. I looked around. In the distance, I could see a neat ponytail, coloured blonde, swaying slightly in the wind. I adjusted my stride towards her to make my sudden departure seem less embarrassing. People assume I don't understand embarrassment. They're kind of correct, but also so very, very wrong.

"Hello Angela!" I said as I approached

"Oh hi Alex, how are you?" she replied. I looked around at her friends she was talking to. They were all looking at me for some reason.

"Um," I started, trying to think whether it was appropriate to truthfully answer her question or just reply to it. "Good."

"Cool." she said, turning back to her friends. I slotted myself into the circle. Some of them were looking at me I think weirdly, but the rest were listening to Angela complete her story. I was mainly looking at her which was why I was caught off guard when they suddenly started laughing. I joined in, not entirely remembering what it was that she said.

"...so yeah he's an asshole now, glad I broke up with him." she concluded.

She broke up with her boyfriend.

She broke up with her boyfriend.

"Do you feel sad about that?" I tried asking. She looked slightly confused, I think, but then replied.

"Hell no! I was the one who did the breaking. Glad he's gone."

"He was pretty hot though" one of her friends interjected.

"I guess," Angela replied. "Not worth though."

I looked around again, realising everyone in the circle was a girl except for me. It was a slightly startling realisation, as girls are even harder for me to relate to than boys, for obvious reasons. I decided to stay though. Apparently I wasn't the only one to notice.

"So what brings you out all the way over here, Alex? Work? Holiday?" a girl named June said. I didn't really understand her question, so I remained silent. One of my friends, Adelaide, answered for me, probably noticing my distress.

"I don't think he understands your sarcasm, June." she said.

"Nah, really? I didn't notice." June answered. I was beginning to think that may have been sarcasm as well. Adelaide rolling her eyes confirmed my suspicion.

"I think he just wanted to talk with us and that's ok." said Adelaide. I nodded. She was probably correct. I looked at Angela again. She really was quite pretty. I might not understand some social situations but I do understand a nice looking face. There are particular features that make a person a desirable mate, in an evolutionary sense. I was relatively certain Angela possessed most of them.

"Why?" someone asked. I decided to answer.

"Mainly Adelaide and Angela." I answered. Angela looked at me, I think in a slightly surprised way.

"Wait, why me?" she asked.

"You seem... like a nice person?" I answered, choosing my words carefully. Expressing your interest in a person can occasionally scare people. That was not what I wanted.

"Oh, ok." she replied, pulling a smile and turning away. Adelaide looked at me again. I'm not sure why. Angela smiled, so it should be ok, right? The lunch bell then chose a perfect time to ring. Well, not the lunch bell but whoever was ringing it. Our lunch bell doesn't ring on its own accord. That'd be odd. A few people checked their watches, others breaking into a sprint to get the books they should have gotten five minutes ago. I put my books outside the classroom at the beginning of lunch, so I didn't have to worry. I walked next to Adelaide.

"If I were to get a girlfriend," I said as we walked. "It would probably be Angela."

"I figured." Adelaide replied. We kept walking, right up to the door of our maths classroom, mostly silent.