Underneath The Same Moon by Courtney Volk

Chapter 4: 2012

"Brent?" Rob asked Daye.

"Mhm, Brent." Daye assured Rob.

"Why Brent, you do know he dates a lot of girls, right?" Rob said, as he bobbed his head continuously in a circular motion.

"Well, yeah I know. But I mean he asked me out once before and I said no. I don't know I feel like giving him a chance I mean who knows? He seems really sweet, plus with any other guy if I said no they most likely wouldn't talk to me again." Daye was really sure that they would last.

I just stood there, quietly. Listening to all of this "No don't date him he's bad news" and "I don't know, let me give him a chance" talk got me thinking about Aubrey.

"And this coward won't even talk to his crush." Rob turned his head fast and looked at me. Daye looked over.

"Oh! You like someone? Let me guess! Can I guess?" Daye said while squealing. Her hands were under her chin and her eyes were big.

"Um sure."

"No first we need to talk." Rob was talking to Daye he seemed to be taking this seriously.

"Okay first off I'm not dumb when it comes to guys, okay? I know his little stories and how he has a short attention span it comes to girls, but I got this." Daye boobed her head and was pointing at Rob with her index fingr. She started to laugh.

I looked over at the clock, about 10 minutes left of class.

"Well I'm going to the vending machine, want anything?" Rob asked Daye.

"Gold fishes." She said while handing him a quarter. Rob got up and left.

I reached for a piece of gum. I saw Daye looking at me from the corner of my eye. I slowly dropped my bag, and looked at her.

"Want some?" I asked.

"Don't have to ask me twice." She took the pack, grabbed a couple pieces."Minty. Really minty." her eyes got big once more.

"Yeah it's my favorite."

"Yeah, very mainstream." She laughed, her mouth was full of gum. "Sorry I took so many, you know got to take care of that bad breathe."

I looked at her.

"No, oh my God no. I had a garlic bagel, and the smell is kind of horrible." she continued. I kept continued to give her a weird look.

She took a deep breathe in, and turned around. Her face got really serious. Did I embarrass her? Maybe I did.

"So umm you like it here?" I asked her. I didn't want her to feel embarrassed.

"Yeah, I mean I still have a lot to get use to, this school is a lot bigger than my old school."

"Cool." Ring, Ring the bell rang, off to lunch. Mr. Malogens was pretty chill about us leaving earlier than we should. So by the time the bell rang, everybody was already gone.

"But yeah, I think I'm fitting in." She said while picking up her shoulder bag.

We walked out together.

"Yeah, how are things with you and Brent?" I asked.

"I mean we've only beentogether for what and hour?" she giggles. She made me smile, due to her funny face expression. We were waiting in line together.

"Can you take a punch?" she asked.

"What?"

"Can you take a punch?" she asked again.

"Well, yeah. I mean your not really a guy, unless you can take a punch."

"Oh please." she said while rolling her eyes.

"That was random.Your a random person you know?" I told her. I was resting my hand at the bottom of my backpack loops.

"Yeah, I'm a bit of a weirdo." She flipped her hair. and started to crack up."Hey," she punched my arm."so what about that girl? Aubrey?"

"Wait, what how'd you know?" I asked.

"Rob." We said at the same time.

"I think you should just go for it. I mean what's the worst thing she's going to say?"

"No?" we said at the same time.

We laughed.

"Oh, I get it. You're one of those people, who are afraid of rejection." she seems so confident."Sometimes you just need 10 seconds of an insane courage and I promise something will come out of it. Can't promise it'll be good, but it's a gamble."

"Well, aren't a lot of people afraid of that though?"

"Maybe. But that's not the point, I say you just text her." the lunch line moved forward a couple of steps.

"Okay, but what so I say? I don't want to sound like a complete idiot."

"Too late." She started to laugh again.

"Ha-ha. Very funny." I squinted my eyes and made a fake smile.

"Okay when you text her be like "Hey, it's Toni." Don't and I mean don't be like "What's up princess" winky face. That'll just show that you've done this lots of times before, and you'll give off that "I'm a player" vibe. You catch my drift?" She said as the line moved forward a tad bit more. About 3 more people until we were in the cafeteria

"Yeah I know what you're talking about."

"Daye!" someone called.

"Looks like I should go, see you tomorrow. Good luck with texting her." she waved and left the line.

School had ended and I was home.

"What are you doing?" my sister asked.

"What do you mean? I'm doing the same thing your doing. Nothing." I snapped back.

"No, actually I'm eating food, and you're starring at your phone."

"Yeah." I put my phone in my pocket.

"What is it? Need help texting a girl?" she had a smirk on her face.

"No." I lied. I knew my sister wasn't stupid but I had to give it a shot.

"Toni, who is it? I can help you."

"Aubrey. I can do it, I just don't know what to say. Well I kinda do but how do I word it?" my mind was going everywhere at that moment.

"Little brother, little brother. You don't have to be fancy just a simple "hey" will be fine. Trust me.'" she smiled and ate some more.

"But what if she doesn't text back?" I asked.

"Then, she's just as nervous as you, most likely or she doesn't like you." she grabbed her books and headed to the living room.

I clicked on the screen button, went to the messaging icon, and clicked on her contact name. my fingers slowly moved across the digital keyboard.Those three letters will determine if I'm really a loser or not.

I was hesitant to click on send or not. 10 seconds of insane courage.

By the time I clicked send my palms were sweaty. I was debating if I was just being dramatic or not.

Not even 2 minutes later my phone buzzed, I quickly grabbed it and looked at the contact name. Aubrey.

My eyes widened she text back "hi :)" . I guess sometimes you just gotta take risks in life to get where you wanna be. Obviously.