2. Kyle Won't Shut Up About You
Today was going to be normal. Whatever I did, I was going to keep it normal. Normal is good. People don’t stare when you’re normal. People don’t judge you if you’re normal. Normal people blend in. Sometimes, normal is best. I woke up at quarter to seven in the morning, perfectly on time. I pulled up my phone, checking the weather forecast. Tops of 85 degrees. I dragged myself out of bed and trudged over to my closet. Five minutes later, I was standing in front of the of the bathroom mirror running a brush through my hair, dressed in a blue top tucked into a black skirt. I hopped down the stairs to the kitchen, dropped two pieces of bread in the toaster and checked the clock. Seven o’clock. I walked over to the the base of the stairwell and pulled on my shoes. I pulled the laces of a pair of black converse tight around my feet. I walked back over into the kitchen and grabbed a little tin of tuna from the cupboard. I opened the tin just as the toast bounced out of the little slots in the toaster. Tuna on toast was one of my favourite quick breakfasts. I munched on one of the pieces as I walked back upstairs into my room. I shoved my books into my bag and patted around the room in search of my phone. A small ring sounded from under my pillow and I lifted it up to see a new text from my friend Jake.
‘Kyle won’t shut up about you’
I stared at the phone for a long while. Kyle won’t shut up about me? Kyle? Really? I shook my head, feeling stupid. It was probably something stupid; laughing at me, as per norm. I wound my earphones around my phones and put that in my bag as well. I swung it onto my bag and trotted back downstairs and into the kitchen once again. I grabbed the other piece of toast and glanced at the clock again. Quarter past seven. Leah patted down the stairs just as I was heading to the door. “Oh, good morning Hunter,” She said rubbing her eyes. “Heading out early today, huh?”
“Hey Leah” I said waving to her “Oh yeah, I didn’t really have time to do my homework yesterday, so I was gonna head in early to finish it off and stuff.”
“Oh, good on you, Hunter. Keeping your grades up, eh?” She said smiling
“Haha, yeah…” I said, trailing off “Um, tell Dad and Jayden I said hi, yeah? See you later, Leah!”
“Bye Hunter! Have a great day!” As I turned and shut the door behind me, I couldn’t help but think about what an amazing person Leah was. After she made the huge mistake of marrying my father two years ago, she has stayed with us the whole time since, and I think it’s all for Jayden. Everyday, without fail, she is kind and caring and loving to me, Jayden, and even my father. I couldn’t help but think about her as I walked up to the bus stop. I waited for ten minutes out by the the stop, where my only company was a tall man with dirty blonde hair who looked like he was in his late twenties. He noticed me looking in his direction and shot me a smile. It was a smile that you could tell was genuine. He smirked in a way that showed his front teeth, and his two dimples appeared on his cheeks. He was a rather good looking man. Out of politeness, I smiled softly and waved to him. The rest of the time, I was fighting between saying something or not. Soon the bus came and I left the tall man behind.
A couple stops later, Archer got on the bus. He didn’t seem to notice me and took a seat three rows in front of me. I had a sudden urge to look away and hide my face on the off chance he might turn around and stare, but of course he wouldn’t. I thought to myself that he was the moon, and I was the smallest star. We were part of the same sky, same time, yet he was important, noticed by all and I was simply there, unimportant and insignificant. I pulled out my phone, and stared at it, fearing I might get more poetic. The first thing on my screen was still the text from Jake that said ‘Kyle won’t shut up about you’. In a desperate attempt to distract myself from Archer, I unlocked my phone and went to reply to Jake. ‘Tell Kyle’ I began to type ‘That he is very sweet, and he should keep trying ;)’. I smiled as I hit send and put the phone away, then my eyes drifted towards the tall, dark haired boy three rows in front of me. Archer. God, he was perfect. He was funny, he was smart he was-
