summer boy ~ tal fishman ✓

~8~

'So this is Julia. Be a bit nice to her, ok guys?' the teacher introduces me. He is trying to sound like one of the kids. And failing terribly. He could better stop before he completely embarrasses himself. I think he already did, though.

I sort of smile awkwardly and hope my head isn't completely red. It is probably false hope, since I can feel my cheeks burning. 'You can go sit next to Laura.' I head to the empty space next to the girl named Laura. She smiles, but I can tell it isn't genuine. I smile back. She starts a small talk: 'Soo... you just moved here right?' 'Yeah' 'Where are you from?' 'Girls, quiet!' the teacher interrupts us. So much for letting someone be nice. Great, what a wonderful first impression.

I start thinking about a lot of stuff while the teacher is explaining things I already know about the history of the Romans. I don't really pay attention and Laura turned around to talk to a friend of hers who is sitting behind us. They are probably talking about me, but I pretend I don't care. 

I keep thinking about why my parents wanted to move so badly. They told me that my dad could get a promotion here and that would be amazing because he was hoping for that promotion since he started working at his company and blah blah blah. 

I still didn't understand why we should move and my parents thought that I was just thinking about myself and I got into an argument with them. Which still isn't completely over, I'm still mad that they couldn't think about me. I didn't want to leave my friends. Well, I didn't have good friends, just half-friends that only used me when they needed me, but still. I got ripped away from my safe hometown to move here, to LA. 

Thankfully I still have Mouse. He doesn't do much but it's relieving to talk to him. It's like he understands. Which is ridiculous, since he is a cat, but still. And yes, I know a mouse is an animal, but the name really suits him; he is sweet and cute and grey and fluffy. I just love him. I start drawing him in my notebook from memory. It's better than paying attention.

I feel like I'm saved from the bell. The hour history seemed to last forever. It was all about subjects I was interested in, but I already learned on my old school. It's lunch now and I have no idea what to do. I look around helplessly until I hear someone calling my name. 

I don't pay attention to it; there are probably a lot of people with my name, I tell myself. Don't get excited. But then I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look around and see Tal. 'What are you doing here?' I ask with widened eyes, before realizing how stupid it sounds. I'm probably bright red. 

'Going to school', he says, with his cute smile. I nearly forgot how it feels to melt inside. And I realize how much I missed him. 'You want to sit with us?' he asks. 'Won't it look weird?' is my reaction, although I want to so badly. 'Nah, there are more girls, come on', he says.

'Guys, this is Julia.' Tal introduces me to his friend group. I smile shyly. I get a hi back. 'Hey, I'm Meredith', a really cute girl says. I smile at her. She has nice brown eyes. Her blue dress looks good with her blond hair. 'I like your outfit', I tell her. She smiles and says thanks. 

We keep talking a bit and I am so thankful Tal introduced me to her, because she is so nice. I think we really could become good friends. Meredith tells me she is happy that there is a girl back in their friend group because the last girl she was friends with suddenly wanted to be popular. 

I tell her about my 'friend' that had exactly the same; she suddenly wanted to become popular. I don't get into the details, though. The story has a slightly tragic ending. 

Meredith and I seem to have a lot in common, like music taste and love of drawing and cats. Halfway in the conversation, I see Tal staring at me and I smile at him before I realize I actually never have been this happy to see someone again. Especially because that someone is Tal.