Your Line of Sight

Chapter 2

"Thank God," I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard the bell signaling lunchtime. Parker and Vanessa nodded from beside me telling me they shared my sentiments exactly.

We were in our English Literature class and about to pass out from hunger and boredom. When we heard the ring signalling our freedom we quickly walked to the south side of the campus which held the cafeteria. Call me a pig, but I was already mentally ordering what food to stuff my mouth with today. The smell of pepperoni pizza hit my nose the second I pushed through the big metal doors and I finally knew what I was having.

"I'll just go say 'hi' to a friend, meet you guys at the table," Parker, ever the player, sauntered over to where a group of girls were sitting and giggling when he approached.

Vanessa quirked an eyebrow, "I just pray that he doesn't get STDs one of these days."

"Nah," I stood at the end of the lunchline. "Even Parker wouldn't be so careless."

Vanessa scoffed, "You underestimate how stupid that monkey can be."

I barely heard her response as I ordered two slices of pizza, a coke and a chocolate chip cookie. Not even my bestfriend could come between me and my passionate love affair with food.

As I turned and started to head towards our usual table my eyes automatically darted towards the people in the middle of the room. It was where the 'it crowd' usually sat during lunchtime and where I knew I'd find Dominic Riley. Even after my earlier embarrassment I just couldn't help but look.

Pathetic as it may be that I've had an unrequited and almost impossible love for the past three years, the boy still had my heart in the palm of his hands.

He was listening to something Trent was saying while Monica Kepling was leaning forward with her chest pressed against him like she was offering it as a lifevest.

Monica was the captain of the cheerleading team and was said to be popular due to her looks, which I totally believed because there was no way it was because of her personality. She would greet us in the halls, but it was as fake as her false eyelashes. We all knew it was because we were Parker's friends, but Parker made it clear to her that he wasn't interested. He said that she was too bitchy and way too easy.

"Why are you glaring?" Seth asked when we approached them.

"I wasn't," I quickly denied. Sure my friends all knew about my obsession with Dominic, but I didn't want them teasing me about my unreasonable jealousy.

Max laughed, "She was totally glaring at Monica, I mean check out how close she is to her loverboy."

Dammit Max, you dick.

"Ahhh, meoowww," Seth said dragging it out. "I smell a catfight. Twenty bucks on Bailey."

"Twenty bucks on Bailey for what?" asked Roman from behind me. He

had just come from his class which was way at the other side of the building.

"Twenty bucks says that she can claw Monica's eyes out for trying to make a move on her boy," Maria joined in on the teasing.

Seriously, one day I would disown them.

All throughout lunch the teasing continued and I even found myself laughing too even though the jokes were at my expense. During all this though, I couldn't shake the thought from my head that maybe there was something going on between the two, and I couldn't help myself from thinking, why wasn't he shaking her off?

~~~~~

As soon as lunch was over, Vanessa and I walked to chemistry. It was the only class I had with Dominic so it also became the only class I wouldn't skip since the start of senior year.

We entered the class and sat down at our regular seats. Dominic wasn't there yet, but I figured that good things are always worth waiting for. Vanessa was talking about the party on Friday, but I couldn't focus on what she was saying and my mind started to wander. I thought about how close we were to graduating. The group hadn't talked about separating after high school just yet, though I wondered how we would cope when it did happen. We had been strong together for the past five years, who knew how we'd manage being apart. It brought tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

"Hey," Nessa nudged me on the arm, "Are you crying? what's wrong? what happened?."

I laughed at how worried she looked.

"I was just thinking..." I started, "...that I totally don't have anything to wear to Keegan's party."

Silence.

"You were really crying because of that?" she asked with a serious look after about a minute.

"Yep." I grinned.

Another pause while she just stared at me.

"Piece of shit."

I started laughing at her response and hugged my best girl friend. I would really miss Vanessa a lot after our senior year.

I was thinking way too much about all of this, I mean, I hadn't even noticed that Dominic was already in the room (which was a first). He had already sat down with his buddies, but what surprised me was that when turned my head to look at him I found our eyes locked together in a meaningful gaze. What the meaning was exactly I didn't know, but what mattered was that in that small period of time of 2.5 seconds with my eyes on him and his on mine, we had our own little world and this thought just sent me on an ultimate high.

I loved him. I'd loved him for years. I wanted that boy with every fiber of my being, and I knew that no one in the world would appreciate and love him like I could... if only he would just let me.