This is not a Romcom

The Vampire to my Twilight... Just kidding

"You're staring again."

The sound of Jackson's deep voice brought me back to reality. I hadn't realized I was staring until now. It happens to be a bad habit of mine. Staring that is. It distracts from the school's disgusting attempt at sandwiches at least.

I gazed across the lunch room at a group of jocks, all on the football team. The cluster of guys seemed so out of reach. I knew I would never get very close to their kind, nor did I really want to, but still, I couldn't help but stare.

    I looked down at my watch and saw that lunch was almost over, meaning I had a few minutes left to inhale my "food". Jackson was sat beside me, rolling his brown eyes as he shoved a spoonful of his lunch into his mouth. Looking down at my tray I decided skipping lunch just this once wouldn't hurt.

"I'd rather call it admiring natural beauty," I said jokingly, "Staring makes me sound creepy." Though I can't pretend that staring at a guy I've never even talked to isn't a bit creepy. I knew who he was, every one did. I just didn't know him personally.

"Do you really believe that what you're doing is anything other than creepy?" he asked jokingly, a boyish grin on his face. I laughed, sticking my tongue out at him.

"Hilarious. I might as well stare, it's not like it's hurting anything," I said. "Besides, looking at guys is a lot easier than speaking to them. And most guys around here are jerks."

"Excuse me?" He said, pointing at himself. I laughed, knowing Jackson was an easy target.

"I said the GUYS," I repeated, trying hard to keep a straight face, "that wouldn't apply to you, Jackson." Oh how I love to mess with his ego. He jutted out his lip and crossed his arms. Feigning offense, he blew a tuft of dark, chestnut hair off of his forehead.

    The rest of lunch went on like this. Jackson and I insulting each other, enjoying our youth. You may be wondering about our unlikely friendship but it's simple really. Jackson was once a social butterfly, floating from one group to another. That is until he met me.

   I don't mean that in a bad way, of course. I only mean that he settled down. He still has friends other than me, but also prioritizes our time together in the long run. I don't really know what my life would be like now if we hadn't had met. Probably pretty boring.

How we became friends is kind of an odd story. We were in sixth grade. We had home room together. I was even more socially awkward then than I am now. One morning our teacher pulled us out into the hallway to have a chat.

I remember looking at Jackson and him looking at me. He was at an awkward stage of puberty and I had just had my growth spurt, putting me a few inches taller than him. We gave each other questioning looks, not knowing  each other very well at the time.

    Long story short, Jackson isn't the smartest guy in school and I got stuck tutoring him. We were both totally against it at first, but eventually we became close friends and then best friends. Of course there was a lot that happened in between, but that's a story for another time.

    Now we're in eleventh grade, still best friends, still terribly awkward (mostly me) and hormonal, though puberty had sorted us out by now. We're pretty low on the totem pole at our school, but not at the bottom. Not that it matters. At the very least we can all agree that none of us want to be here.

    When the bell rang Jackson and I threw our trash away and headed down the crowded hallways lined with lockers to chemistry, terribly excited for more monotonous lectures from Mrs.Wagner. Though I'm not really one to complain. I've always gotten an A in her class, which surprises me since all I do is doodle and talk to Jackson, who isn't a very good influence might I add.