Soul Searching

VI

Listen to: First time He Kissed A Boy by Kadie

Picture: Soul inking

I suck. I know. The truth is, I'm nothing like my soul inking. A puzzle piece. It's apart from the other piece, so it doesn't fit in anywhere, like me. I never meant to be an outcast, I just felt like some space was needed. So I excluded myself from everyone.

Now I'm invisible and I don't want to fit in, like my puzzle piece.

~

"Morris!" the teacher calls again. I jerk awake, "Yeah?" He frowns, "I said recite the paragraph on the page now." I glance down, but the page is blank, " What page?" He crosses over the class and jabs the book next to the paper. Oh. I recite it in embarrassment, snickers erupting in the classroom.

I walk in the hallways quietly, not talking to anyone. There are rumours of a transfer student coming all the way from Italy but last Tuesday I heard the school's most popular girl Andie got another boyfriend and got a internship with Chanel but she's still stuck here like the rest of us so she obviously lied. I readjust my bag straps and follow the crowd to the cafeteria where everyone is clamouring for a chance to see the reclusive new transfer student from Italy. Pasta student, that's what they name the new boy.

My leg itches like a troublesome fly and I brush at it roughly automatically to make it stop, but it still is bothering me, slightly stinging. I collect my dreary lunch while nodding at the lunch lady, looking up when I hear a loud gasp in the canteen. The new boy. Within seconds, Andie Baker and her crew are there, hair extensions, pink cashmere jackets, heel, all in place. The jocks surround him like a wave of red and green, our school's colours. Even the nerds look up from their books. My leg is terribly annoying, making me glance at it. It's glowing. My soul inking is actually glowing. I never believed that this worked.

I blush a bright red and sit down at the nearest empty table, quietly eating my food. The minute I look at it, it stops itching. Well, that's that. I think, twirling the mushy pasta in my plastic fork. The rickety cafeteria table is shaking under the weight of a new person, and the noisy cafeteria grows deadly quiet. I look up, uninterested, to find a boy in front of me. Not just a boy, it's pasta boy. His feet are propped up on the table and he grins at me, puzzle piece glowing on his leg. I double take at the familiar puzzle piece that's normally on my leg. Pasta boy raises an eyebrow at the rest of the school and they return to their business, Even Andie steps off. Pasta boy winks at me, "I'm Warren. So, know any good Chinese restaurants around here? Or pizzerias?" I stammer and flush crimson, never being under such attention before, "I-I don't know... I mean..." He laughs, "You're cute when you're nervous." I smile awkwardly, "I've- I've never even been kissed before, I don't know how to go on a date." He leant across the table and pecked me on the lips, soft and sweet. I blink in surprise, lips still tingling. Wow. "Problem solved." he grinned. I blushed again, "The best is down the block."