MAY 2013
Enter: Louise Burke
“Can this year just end already? I need to get out of high school,” Ryan said softly to me. We were in my bedroom and were supposed to be reading Thirteen Reasons Why for our English class but we found each other much more interesting than this novel. His head was in my lap and whenever I toyed with the silken strands of his hair he closed his eyes in a sleepy sort of happiness.
“It feels like we’ve been in grade twelve forever, hasn’t it?” I asked. He looked up at me and smiled in such a way that my heart felt warm.
“Far too long if you ask me. Do you know they’re going to make Thirteen Reasons Why into a movie? With Selena Gomez as Hannah Baker,” Ryan said. We were both in our uniforms, but Ryan had taken off his tie despite how dapper he looked all dressed.
“Ugh. I don’t think anybody famous should play her. Perhaps Taissa Farmiga, the girl from American Horror Story. She’s pretty but she still looks ordinary enough to pass as a regular person. Selena Gomez is too pretty,” I admitted.
Ryan stroked my leg with the back of his index finger and chills shot through me. My face felt warm. If Daddy ever saw me cavorting with the neighbour’s boy like this there would be some drama on the street tonight. “So are you.” He said.
“If Selena Gomez is pretty how am I supposed to be pretty too?”
“There are different forms of pretty and everyone has beauty in them. You’ve got beautiful eyes. And such a cute mouth,” Ryan said with a grin. He sat up and leaned into me. I held my breath the way I always did when I kissed him, but his hand’s sudden appearance on my thigh comforted me. I relaxed and our lips met. “You gonna let me take you to prom?”
“I’d love it,” I said honestly.
Ryan grinned. He arranged himself so that we were sitting side by side. He put his lips next to my ear and whispered in a way that caused me to laugh because of the way he tickled me. “There are conditions you have to agree to.”
“Such as?”
“You have to forfeit the Advanced Reader Program contest and let me win.”
“Keep dreaming,” I said. I wasn’t about to become one of those women who put aside their hopes and dreams just for the comfort of a man. No matter how understanding he was, no matter how sweet his kisses.
The Advanced Reader Competition was a contest that consisted of students reading a book what was worth a certain number of points. For example City of Bones by Cassandra Clare was worth 20 points. The harder the book, the higher the point value (War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy was worth 100 points). A student needed a certain amount of credits for each English course in every grade. Grade nines needed 25, Grade twelves needed 40. There was an additional contest for students who went above and beyond their required amount, these students were given an award. Ryan and I were two of the ten people competing for the grade twelve spot. I had 109 points thus far and Ryan had 92.
Ryan smirked. “Do you want me to be painfully honest right now?”
“Of course.”
“I love how badly you’re beating me. I don’t know, there’s something a that gets me all worked up about a girl who goes after what she wants and can hold her own against the best. So please, Louise, go to prom with me.”
I grinned. “Of course, you’re the ‘best’.”
Ryan leaned over to me and kissed me slowly again. I loved it. And we kissed again and again until I forgot that I was living in a moment like a grain of sand slipping through our fingers into the great oblivion of the past.
July 2013
I won but I lost. I won the Advanced Readers Program Contest with a whopping 415 points compared to Ryan’s 350. He said I blindsided him. I didn’t mind and thought we were quite lovely taking first and second place. They called my name at the graduation ceremony and I was able to show the world what I could accomplish given the chance. It didn’t hurt that I was $200 dollars richer.
I won Ryan’s attention and affection but it was fleeting and I lost him. I couldn’t even get mad. I was happy enough to have experienced him so I wouldn’t fume over the fact that we weren’t together.
Prom was fun enough and Daddy pretended to be shocked that I was seeing Ryan. After a while my relationship with Ryan deteriorated into a period of staleness. We were too much alike. We stopped challenging each other and we were just affirming what we already knew.
My life was porous and that was the way it was meant to be. Places, people, ideas and beliefs moved through me. Though they made a mark and I was never left the same after the encounter.
END.
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Something About Us
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