Behind The Screens

22 | Mistakes Pt.2

Alex

Just as the bell rang, a boy shot into the classroom and into his desk as fast as possible. "Sweetie, you really don't have to run." Ms.Morgan told him. "I know," he replied. "But I could've walked and been later." She shook her head.

"Okay, good afternoon class!" Ms.Morgan exclaimed. "I spotted a new student today, and I wanted her to introduce herself." Britten's head quickly turned to my direction, her eyes wide. I tried not to laugh.

"So go ahead and stand up, honey." Ms.Morgan suggested. Britten turned her head back toward the teacher and said, "Alright."
"Tell us your name, we're interested." Ms.Morgan said. "Britten." She responded. Ms.Morgan looked at her for a second, then said, "you're not a shy girl, I can't tell. So why are you being shy?" Britten let out a small, nervous laugh and shrugged, then looked at me. I smiled at her.
"Do you two know each other or something?" Ms.Morgan asked. That was what got the class's attention. The whole class knew me and if I knew the "new girl", everyone would want to know her too.

"I swear, man, if you do, hook me up." A kid on the other side of the classroom said. "No, me. He's a douche. You don't want him, baby." Another guy, Daniel, said. I shook my head. "She's my girlfriend, idiots." I looked at Britten again and she was smiling at me.

"Oh, really, Al?" Ms.Morgan asked. I nodded. "Five months." I said, just then realizing how long it's been. I didn't know if our two month break counted or not, but it had still been a while. "Wow," she said. "I never knew." And then a whole discussion about our relationship started.
"How did you guys meet?" A girl, Sarah, asked.
"Over our blogs."
"Are they popular?" Another girl I didn't know asked. "Hers is." I responded, pointing at Britten. "Well so is his." She insisted, sitting back down. She was starting to get comfortable with the class.

We talked until Ms.Morgan finally came to her senses and said, "We have three minutes until class is over!" There wasn't really anything for the class to pack up so we sat and watched our teacher dig through her file drawer.

"Okay," She said. "I had test reviews for you today, but I didn't have time to go over them. So, I'm moving your test to Thursday." I let out a breath of relief. "I'm sure you'll pick up on this fast, Britten." Ms.Morgan said. Britten nodded.
"Okay, I'm sure you all are hungry so um..." She looked at the time. "You can get out of my classroom in a minute." The class started making small talk with each other. Britten came and sat on my desk.

"See? Not so bad, right?" I said to Britten. She shrugged. "I wish you were here for my first four classes." She said. "Isn't Mira in your second and third?" I asked. "And last." She added. I nodded. "Are you guys getting comfortable?" I asked. She nodded at the same time that the bell rang. Everyone ran out of the class in a hurry to get to lunch.

"Aren't you gonna come?" I said to Britten, standing in front of her. "Could you guys hurry up and get out of my class?" Ms.Morgan demanded. I rolled my eyes. "Hold ooooon." I said. "Well lock the door when you get out of here." She said and walked out.

"You know that girl sent me another note?" Britten said when the door closed. She hopped of the desk and walked to the front of the classroom. "What girl? What note?" I asked, starting to walk up there too. She placed a piece of paper in my hand and I opened it to read it.

What a cute little relationship you've stolen! Be ashamed if someone... idk... took it back.
XXX Anonymous.

"Maybe it's someone else." I assured Britten. She scoffed. "What?" I said. "Why do you keep defending her?" She questioned.
"She's a nice girl, I know her and she wouldn't do anything like that."
But Britten just rolled her eyes.
"You don't have to make assumptions about someone you've never met. I know her." I told Britten.
"People can surprise you, Alex." She retaliated. And without thinking I said, "just like you did, right?"

She stood silently, staring at me with rage and disappointment in her eyes. "You didn't have to bring that up." Britten said. "It's not that big of a deal, you-"
"Britten, I'm sorry, it just slipped-"
"Honestly, you wouldn't have said it if it wasn't on your mind."
"Well can you blame me? It's not that easy to forget."
"You know what, whatever." Britten said. She pushed past me to get her backpack. "Britten, seriously, let's just forget about it, I'm sure whoever it is sending you these notes will leave you alone." I insisted.

"Okay, and right now, you can leave me alone." She said, then she walked out of the classroom.

After a minute of feeling like an idiot,  I walked into the lunch room and caught sight of Tyler, Mira, Britten, and Ben sitting at a table on the other side of the cafeteria. I got in line to get my lunch first, then went to sit with them.

"Hey guys," I said when I sat down. Everyone said hi back except for Britten who just picked at her food. "Where's Andrew?" I asked Ben. "Sick," he replied. "But I see we have a new girl sitting with us today. Tyler says she's your girlfriend but I don't believe him." I laughed. "You didn't tell them?" I asked Britten, trying to shake off what happened earlier. She didn't respond. I waited a second, then said, "Are you still mad at me?" And regretted it. "For what just happened like eight minutes ago? Yes." She snapped, then stood up and walked away.

"What did you do?" Mira asked while standing up. I sighed. "I um... I just wasn't thinking." I said. "I don't think any guy is very good at that." Mira said. "I'm going after her."

---------------------------------

Tyler and I waited outside of my car for Britten and Mira to come out of the school. We were supposed to be going to see a movie after school today, but Britten hadn't talked to me since she stormed out of the lunch room, so I didn't know what to expect.

I finally saw Britten and Mira walking out of the school hand in hand, giggling over whatever girls giggle over. As soon as they got to the curb, I made eye contact with Britten. Her smile disappeared and she walked around the other side of the car, clearly avoiding me. I walked over to her side and she looked away.

"Britten, I'm honestly sorry." I said in sincere tone. She opened the car and got in without a word, slamming the door behind her. I opened the door back up.
"Why can't you just leave me alone!" She demanded, folding her arms and looking ahead. I didn't know what to say that I hadn't already said.

"Britten look at me, please." I begged. "I miss seeing your eyes." She slightly tilted her head and looked at me. I smiled and she looked away again. I don't know what it was, but her being mad was only more attractive to me. I tried to grab her hand, but she snatched it away. I decided to just stick with talking.

"Britten, I'm sorry. I was just trying to convince you that the notes are nothing but meaningless threats." I explained.
"By bringing up something we promised to let go?" Britten shook her head. "Makes sense."

"Okay, it wasn't right for me to do that." I admitted, squatting so we could be eye level. "I'm ashamed of it, and it's been bothering me all day. My last period teacher asked me if I was okay, and I said 12.3 miles because I wasn't paying attention."
I got a laugh out of Britten and couldn't help but to smile. "I missed you today." I said. She finally turned her head.

"You know I make a lot of mistakes, and I'm only going to make a bunch more." I told her. This time, she took my hand and said, "I know and I forgive you." She kissed my cheek and I stood up to close her door. I walked over to the driver's side, told Tyler and Mira to get in and we left for the movies.