Any Time At All

Chapter Twelve

Summer is coming to an end. All you have done is work at the arcade and hang out with Nancy, Mike, and the rest of the party. You find yourself dreading school to come more and more as the days close in on you. You don't want to have to be near Steve again. You keep these feelings shoved in the back of your mind and pick your chin up. You don't want anyone to see that the new you is already breaking down from the inside out. Change isn't easy but it's worth a shot. You and Nancy have shopped for so many new clothes that you practically have a new wardrobe. The extra income from your new job definitely helps. You like working there, the people are nice.

On the last day of summer break, you lay around in your room and think about all the possible outcomes of the next day. You've already seen Steve with several other girls. He's turned into quite the ladies man. In fact, people call him King Steve around here. Buddying up to Tommy has really helped him. You try not to let every single one of your thoughts trail back to Steve but it feels impossible at this point.

After an exhausting day of doing nothing, you skip dinner and go to sleep early. You wake up to your alarm clock going off. It feels strange waking up this early. The arcade didn't open until nine in the morning and even then, your shifts started at ten. You lug yourself out of bed. You definitely needed those extra hours of sleep. You figure you have enough time to take a shower before school starts and so you do that before going downstairs.

All ready for school, you leave the house and walk to your car. You look over to Steve's house and can see that his car is already gone and you thought you were leaving the house early. Looks like he was busy doing something last night. More like someone. You shake your head, as if that will get rid of the thought and the lingering image.

You get in your car and drive away. It's a short car ride over to the school but it beats walking. The warm sun shines bright in the sky as you pull into the school's parking lot. You heard that it may rain today but from the looks of it, it won't be any time soon. If the weather is anything like Steve, the clouds will roll in out of nowhere and disturb all of the good you have right now. You laugh to yourself at the thought and head into school.

You make sure that you look extra good for the first day of school. You walk through the parking lot and can feel everyone looking at you. Most of them haven't seen you since the end of the last school year and are surprised in the change of the vibes that pour out of you. You have on the floral sundress that you bought with Nancy when summer first started. It shows off more of your curves now than it did in the beginning of the summer when you first wore it and the end of the dress lays at your mid thigh. You guess you never realized the changes your body went through over the summer. The high heels on your feet are already starting to bother you but you figure, beauty hurts. You see a group of boys staring at you and you flip your (Y/H/C) hair to the side and grin. At the end of the parking lot, closest to the school, you see Steve and his friends. You pass by them and they all look at you like you're a completely different person. Exactly what you are going for. Steve's eyes linger on your body more than his new girlfriend likes and she shoves his shoulder. He looks away from you but he didn't think you could get any more beautiful. Now here you are, showing off your perfection for everyone except him. He fumes at the thought of you with anyone else.

You walk to your first class period and find that Nancy has the same one. You walk faster over to the desk next to her and you smile at each other.

"Damn, (Y/N). You look amazing," she compliments you and you thank her as the teacher walks in. You try to pay attention. This year, you're hoping to get really good grades. It's not like you have anything better to do. You try to pay attention but something just feels off to you. You look to your right and on the opposite side of the room, you can see someone looking at you. He quickly turns away as you make eye contact and pretends to be learning something. You look back to your notes and smile to yourself. You laugh a little and look back over at him. He's looking at you again but this time, he doesn't look away. The two of you smile at each other for a second before you raise your hand slightly and give him a small wave. He looks down at his notes with a large grin and you do the same. He's cute. His light brown hair is shorter than Steve's and styled up in the front. His shirt is tight around the muscles in his arms and his teeth are perfect. You feel like you could stare into his green eyes for days. This is a feeling that you haven't felt in a long time. You hope it lasts.