Him

Chapter 2

It was just then that the next day at school I was in the cafeteria, walking to my seat. Gilinsky and his friends immediately rushed to the table and sat down. “Hey so are we still hanging out today?” Shawn asked. “Um yeah, what time?” I opened my lunchbox and twisted my thermos open. “Now.” Cameron smiled.

“Haha I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re still in school.” I began to eat. “Relax there’s only two more periods left. No one will even notice you’re gone.” Johnson tried to convince me. “I can’t though. I don’t think you know who my parents are.” I took a sip of my water.

“Yeah actually I do. They’re filthy rich country club owners.” A girl had appeared behind me. “And who are you?” I asked harshly. “Oh Allison, this is my extremely rude girlfriend, Gia.”Gilinsky gave her a wretched look. She took a seat next to him and smiled. “Gia, apologize.” Gilinsky told her. “No, why should I? It wasn’t a lie.” Gia brushed her messy blonde-brunette hair with her fingers.

Her words offended me. And came as a total shock, because I didn’t even know Gilinsky had a girlfriend. He laughed with me yesterday and I could’ve sworn after he wrapped his arms around my shoulders that he might’ve had just the slightest crush on me. What a fool I was. We weren’t even meant to be and I wasn’t even a friend, just some girl that was hanging out with the freaks, that’s all.

“Nice meeting you Gia, I should go now.” I packed away my unfinished lunch and ran out of there so fast. I was just going to wait until school was over and just go home. I couldn’t take it anymore, being with these-these-freaks.

It was the end of the day and I was in such a rush to get home. I had to go to the country club with my parents tonight for a meeting.

I walked down to the bicycle rack and saw Shawn from the corner of my eye. All he did was stare at me with a smirk on his face. “Hey Allison.” I looked up to see a cigarette between his gritted teeth. “Hey! What’s up?” I tried not to sound rude. “Nothing much just getting ready to leave. Where are you headed?” He looked at my bicycle.

“The only place I should be: home. I have important stuff to do.” I was about to unchain my bike, but he stopped me. “What?” I said a little frustrated. “How about I drop you home. Trust me, no one will take your bike tonight. I’ll knock their teeth out if they try anything.” Shawn had a way with his words that made him so convincing. “Hey if we walk a little further, I parked at the park down the street. You can come with me and I’ll take you from there?” He pushed my bike back in between the racks.

“Fine, but you better get me there before five, because I have to get ready for a country club dinner.” I stood with him. We walked for a while and I finally spoke. “So how long has Jack been with that girl, Gia?” I asked. “They’ve been on and off for months now. I don’t really get their relationship, really.” Shawn threw the cigarette on the ground and continued with the walking. “What’s not to get?” I laughed.

Shawn scooted closer to my side as we walked and put his arm around my shoulder and resumed talking. “Well for one, she’s a total jerk. I mean she’s really high maintenance. And I can’t ever hold a proper conversation with her for a minute without her interrupting and disagreeing.” Shawn laughed along with me.

I stared at his beautiful face and the piercing ring under near the right of his bottom lip. And his squinted eyes that were glistening in the sun, almost bursting into tears as he laughed at his own joke. His nose was scrunched and up and for once, I saw the youthful teenager known as Shawn. He was so adorable, and wasn’t as bad of a guy as I thought he was.

He took notice to my staring and asked why I was laughing so hard. “Because you are so funny with that look when you laugh.” I laughed harder than ever before. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not.” He looked up. “It was a total compliment.” I calmed down on my laughing and began to breathe again.

We made it to the park and I looked around for his car. “Where is your car?” I asked. Shawn pulled out keys and walked towards a motorcycle, before saying “Right here.” He went into the back pouch and took out two helmets. “Are you crazy?” I said. “This is not a car!” I shook him. “I never said it was a car. I said I parked down the street. I didn’t say what I had parked.” He handed the helmet to me and put on his.

“It’s not scary, Allison. I’ve been driving bikes since I was a kid, c’mon they’re super neat.” He spoke through the helmet in a muffled voice. I stood in the parkway with my arms crossed. He stared at me for a minute and sat down on his motorcycle. “I can’t believe I have to do this.” He smiled. “Do what?” I questioned.

Before I could even conceive of his ideas, he lifted me up and gently placed me on the bike and putting the key in, revving the engine. Shawn wrapped my arms around his waist and placed the helmet on me. “You’re gonna have fun, I promise!” We sped off into the distance and a red light came. “Where’s your house?” he asked. “4992 Wallington Avenue.” I replied.

When we finally made it to my doorstep I reluctantly thanked him. “That was really fun! Thanks for that Shawn.” I handed him his helmet. “No problem. Hey, so I wanted to ask what this dinner thing at the country club was about tonight?” He put the helmet back into the basket. “It’s just these people that come and try to bargain with my parents and bid on stuff.” I shrugged my shoulders as if it were nothing.

“Oh, I just kinda wanted to-sorta ask… Never mind.” He began to walk back to his bike. “Hey Shawn, it’s okay, just say what you needed to say.” I grabbed onto his hands. He turned around on his heels and smiled. “I was going to ask if I could come with you. I mean it’s totally okay if you say no-I know you’re not even supposed to be talking to me right now so I’d understand.” He looked down at the ground.

I thought about it for a second. Would my parents mind if he came? Of course they would. But he was my new friend and I couldn’t be rude, especially to someone as kind as him.  I decided to say yes, even though I would suffer the consequences when he arrived in his ripped jeans and his big t-shirt. And how they would dread his messy hair and lip piercing.

“Great! I know where it is.” He stood with his hands in his pockets. “I guess I’ll meet you there then. It’s at 8 so I suggest you come earlier so by 7:45 haha.” I took my phone out of my bag and checked it quickly. “OK. Thanks again Allison, you’re the best.” He kissed the top of my forehead quickly and sped off on the motor bike.