The Monday after the dance was stressful. All of her friends, she had a lot, kept bugging me asking me why Grace and I broke up, and since I didn’t answer them, they kept bothering me. I felt like a total asshole. They kept guilt-tripping me. I guess I deserved it. Grace wouldn’t even look at me in English, and Finley seemed happier than when Grace and I were together, which lead me to believe even more that he liked me. I figured I’d work on building a relationship with him because there wasn’t anyone else I was interested in.
“Hi Finley,” I called out to him.
“Hi Charlie,” he replied, smiling back.
“Were you at the dance?” I asked him.
“Yeah. I saw you and Grace break up. I’m not mad at you like everyone else is, though. I shouldn’t have a reason to be since I only know her side of the story,” he explained.
“Thanks,” I replied.
I didn’t know what else to say after that, so I started reading. You see, we just started reading The Great Gatsby. I’ve seen the movie and it made me want to read the books. I felt I could relate to Gatsby. If you really love someone, you’ll wait for them for an eternity. That’s what he did.
The bell rang, and I packed up my things and walked outside of the classroom. I waited outside the classroom for him to come out. Eventually, he did.
“Hi again, Finley,” I said when he came out into the hallway.
“Hello,” he chimed back.
“I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime. Maybe today?” I asked, mumbling nervously.
“What? I didn’t hear you,” he said, leaning in closer.
“Do you maybe want to hang out sometime?” I asked louder.
“Oh, sure! I can’t today, though. Tomorrow?”
“Sure. I’ll meet you by your locker after class tomorrow!” I smiled.
“Okay,” he replied, closing his locker and walking away.
I felt a sigh of relief. I wouldn’t have to worry as much. I mean, maybe I had a chance with him. I was willing to try it. You can never be sure until you try something. It made me happy, though, knowing he was willing to get to know me. I spent most of the time fantasizing how the day would go on my way home from school, and I found myself looking more and more forward to the event. Time seemed to drag on by, though. It always does when you’re looking forward to something; then it goes really fast when you’re enjoying time with someone. Funny how that works.
