Not Worth It

Three

Her eyes are wide, urging me to explain what happened.

"Nothing happened," I say quickly. "But we do have first peroid together and I introduced myself. Then of course I had to go and make a complete fool out of myself." I feel my blush begin to return as I look up and meet her eyes that are continuing to widen.

"You already talked to him today?" She questions me and I respond with a little nod. "Wow." She mouths.

"What's the matter? Did I do something wrong?" I ask quickly feeling my blush deepen. She quickly shakes her head before she replies.

"No, its just, he kind of keeps to himself, ya know. Apparently he doesn't think anyone here is good enough for him to associate with. Honestly, this is the first time I have seen him step foot in the cafeteria since freshman year." I think back to our encounter at the beginning of the day and link it with the one from ten minutes ago.

"He seemed really nice, he talked to me before I even said a word to him." She gives me a quick once over and suddenly I feel very uncomfortable in my purple sweater and black skinny jeans.

"Well, you must be special." Was all she had to say before she turned back to her lunch and then whispered something into Jules's ear. My anxiety began to flare. What was I even doing here at this table, with all these pretty girls. These are the types of girls that have boyfriends and I just wasn't like them no matter how much I wanted to be. I quietly pulled out my lunch from my back pack and listened to the chatter between the three girls. I tried to make myself as invisible as I could and it seemed like it was working until Nick asked me a question. It took me a moment to realize that he was actually talking to me.

"Where did you transfer from?" he asked, "It must be hard to switch school for your senior year."

"My dad got transferred here from Arizona, but I don't mind it. My old school wasn't all that great, so a change is nice." I thought about lying, but decided that if I wanted to actually make friends then it would be best to tell the truth.

"Wow, welcome to Pennsylvania. That is a big change, how long have you guys had to adjust to the new city?"

"We have been here since mid August. The transiton was surprisingly not too bad. It feels good to get my pale skin out of the Arizona sun." I say with a slight laugh, hoping that the conversation would shift away from me. Instead the opposite happens, Charlie turns away from Jules and they both decide to join in our conversation.

"What class do you have next?" Charlie asks. I pull out my crinkled schedule to take a look, I feel a wave a relief when I see that I have AP Psychology next. I tell her my class and she claps her hands together, "Perfect, so does Nick. He would love to show you the way." She turns from me and gives Nick a hard stare, "Wouldn't you, Nick." He shoots me a quick wink and quickly sends a retort to Charlie.

"Oh I would be delighted to. Whatever you say Master Charlie." By the time lunch finishes we are laughing, except Charlie, who kicks Nick under the table. Before he has time to respond the bell rings. He simply sighs, stands up and walks over to me, "Ready to go buddy?" He asks as I stand up as well. I nod and he slings his arm over my should and practically skips, dragging me along, out of the lunch room.

It takes less than a minute before we are standing in front of a classroom with a sign hanging on the door that reads Mr. Bellfort. Nick leans in to whisper in my ear, "Welcome to a world of your imagination" and with that, he removes his arm from my shoulders, saunters into the classroom, and slides into a seat in the back row. I take a deep breath before I enter the classroom to calm my nerves. I slowly inch my way into the classroom and look around slowly for a place to sit. All the seats surrounding Nick are filled so I choose a seat right next to the window. I watch patiently as the rest of the class slowly filters in, hoping that maybe James will also be in this class.

The bell rings and with a sigh of defeat I pull out my brand new notebook labeled Psych in black sharpie and flip it open to the first page. I suddenly feel a presence near me and I whip my head around to find myself face to face with James. We are so close our noses are practically touching. I inhale sharply, and for the first time I notice how good he smells. It is a musky scent with an underlying hint of vanilla. He silently slides my phone onto the desk, then he turns and walks away. My heart is pounding so loud I am scared the people around me will notice. I sneak a glance around me, but no one is paying attention, they are all too busy chatting with each other to notice me.

I make direct eye contact with James and a slight smirk is playing on his lips. I am the one to break our connection, and I glue my eyes to my desk, studying it intently. I slide my hands under the desk, and press two fingers under my sleeve. The sharp pain helps me clear me head. I reach for my phone and check to see if I missed anything. Nope nothing new, like always, but then I saw it. I had a message from James. He, somehow, got into my phone, added himself as a contact, and sent me a message. All it said was,

Art room, 2:30