Loving After

chapter 1: They meet.

     Sherry sat there at her desk. The clock was taking forever to advance. The other students anxiously packed up their bags. She tapped her pencil against her binder counting seconds until the bell would ring. Finally, everyone ran out the class as she unzipped her bag and tossed in her binder putting her pencil on her ear.

     She never rushed no matter how bad the class was or what the next class was. She took her time to avoid the rush in the hallways. No one seemed to have this sense. She finally got up and shouldered her bag looking around the first time since the bell. That's when she saw him watching her every move.

    Who was he? She couldn't place his name. She had been going to school with everyone for almost all her life. She shrugged as she closed the classroom door and headed to her next class. She was leaving classes later than her normal, but was always first in for the next class.

     She avoided getting supplies out to watch him enter. Would he come talk to her? Who was he? Her mind raced over every name she could remember. Nothing seemed 'right'.
    
     Finally, her patience paid off. He waltzed right in before the bell rang. She sketched out his appearance on the first blank sheet in her binder. He had dark hair like hers. His jaw wasn't too distinguishable like other boys that age.

     His eyes were strange, a color that had her angry she couldn't grab the color pencils in her bag. 'Dark green with brown specs' she scribbled near the portrait as he turned to look at her. She quickly flipped pages to notes and wrote down the board contents as the teacher suddenly eyed her. She tried so hard to pay attention in this class. It was so boring to be placed in such a sub level class.

     The bell rang finally. Almost everyone had left as it was the final class of the day. She flipped to the portrait again to see if she needed to add more notes for later while her memory was fresh. "Um... Is that suppose to be me?" The voice caught her so off guard that the pencil in her hands snapped in two from shock.

     "Wait, what?" Her voice stuttered as she realized she opened her binder before *everyone* left. The guy standing over her had bullied her for years, Adam.

     "I'm sure whatever she drew is not you. Even an artist doesn't want to waste their time with your ugly butt." Another guy said. She couldn't look up from shame as she closed her binder quickly, but not fast enough. Adam had torn out the page.

    Teachers were usually too busy to notice bullying. It was no surprise that their teacher was too busy packing up to even hear the paper being torn or the bully taunting her. Finally she got up and had enough. A hand grabbed her arm and she reacted violently. "Calm down. The name's Sherry, right?" The unknown male voice said.

     Sherry was so busy thinking she had not noticed the boy she had been observing so diligently had come back in the room. Why was he defending her? "Thanks, but who are you?" She turned to face him and froze immediately. Green with brown edges were his eye color, not brown specs.

     "My name is James. I just transferred here. My Dad became the new football coach since Coach Larry had that heart attack." He held out his hand, but shock had her too afraid to grab his hand. "I'm sorry if this guy was bothering you." It was incredible and so sweet. James started shoving Adam out the door. "C'mon man. You keep it up we will both miss the bus!"

     "Please don't look at that!" Sherry pleaded as James took the page from Adam's hands as they all left the classroom.

     "Man, you should know better than to tear a paper out of a girl's binder. If I tell my Dad, you'll be in so much trouble." James held the paper face down. "Adam, you will owe me. Now give her back her paper and apologize." James had managed to turn and wink at Sherry.

     "That-umm-That's not necessary. I-uhh... Adam has been doing this to me for years." Sherry decided now was the time to finally get back at Adam especially now knowing James was a new student.

     "Adam is just sooo upset because I turned him down when he asked to take me to the mixer coming up. He's been such a lost puppy in love with me for years." Sherry didn't even realize her grin was so big from finally getting to humiliate her bully.

     "That explains everything! Adam, my man! Who wouldn't want the chance to date such a beauty?" James elbowed Adam's side. "Would you come with me to the Mixer then?"

     Sherry hadn't expected this. Her goal to humiliate Adam was beautiful. The second she mentioned he was a lost puppy in love with her his face had turned scarlet. It was probably anger, but that made him look so guilty of what she had said.

    The group hadn't even paid attention during this discussion to their walking. Adam and James had turned to the bus exit. Sherry should have gone to the pick up line. Before she could answer James they had to run to catch their bus.