Break Me If You Can (Anthony Padilla)

Chapter 2 || Him

Present Day

"Ow ow ow!" I say to myself, trying to pull my hair out of my closed locker.  "Why does this always happen?"

I groan and continue to pull until my hair frees itself from the door of my locker.

I take a quick breath and begin to walk to class, carrying way too many books.

I somehow magane to loose my footing and fall, dropoing a collection of two notebooks, a pencil case, and three textbooks onto the school's marble floor.

"Dammit," I mumble, and bend down to pick up my stuff.  I quickly gather everything and stand back up.

I hope no one saw that.

I walk briskly down the hall, trying to avoid as many people as possible.  I have this feeling that no one in school really likes me.

Too lost in my own thoughts, I clumsily walk into somebody.

Smoooth.

"Oof!" we say in unison.  I turn away, rubbing my forehead then turn back to the person I walked into.

"Oh jeez," I say. "I'm so sorry, here, um, did I hurt you or anything?"

He gives me a small smile, his brown eyes sparkling.

"Oh, no," he says. "It's okay."

I smile back at him, still feeling embarrassed.

"Well," say quietly. "See you around."

"See ya."

He walks in the other direction, leaving me by myself in the hallway.

Who was he?

Do I like him?

"Get yourself together," I mumble to myself. "I can't have a crush on somebody. Not now."

I continue to walk towards the biology lab, my converse sneakers squeaking with every step I take.

-Part 2-

The period seems to drag on for what seems like an eternity.

I can't get the image of that boy out of my head.

His brown eyes, his goofy smile, his cute "emo" hair; His image doesn't leave my mind for the whole hour.

I take a deep breath when the bell for lunch finally rings.

I go to the front enterance of the school and walk outside.  I sit down at one of the lunch tables on the front lawn.

I stare out onto the street, watching all the cars drive past me, wondering if I will ever get to be one of those people.

I feel somebody tap my shoulder and I jump up.

I turn around and see the boy I ran into earlier.

"Hey!" he says, sitting down next to me.

"Er, hi," I say, resisting the urge to laugh. "You nearly gave me a heart attack, uh, what's your name?"

"Anthony," he answers. "Sorry about that."

"Eh," I say. "No big deal. I'm Katia. Again, I'm really sorry about that whole incident in the hallway, I just-"

He flips his wrist as if to say "don't sweat it."

Suddenly, the umbrella shading our table slams shut, and I feel like I have a splitting headache.

"Agh!" I yell, grasping my head. "Help! Please!"

More umbrellas around us begin to open and close.

I hear the confused screams of other students around us, and I collapse on the grass, tears streaming down my cheeks.

I scream as I feel like I am about to explode.

I suddenly feel someone pick me up and sit me back down at the table.

Anthony.

I turn to face him, my headache now gone.

"Are-are you alright?" he asks.  "What just happened."

I wipe a tear from my face.

"I don't know," I say. "I don't know.  I just need to go home, that's all."

He grabs my arm before I can get up.

"Come on, Katia," he says, looking me right in  the eyes. "I'll drive you home. Where do you live?"

"Well," I say. "It's not exactly normal."