I drummed my fingers on the seat of the car as my mom pulled up into our school parking lot. I glanced outside at the kids socializing at their lockers, and quickly felt the urge to find my friends and do the same. Pulling out my iPhone, I checked my makeup, and slathered on a coat of lip balm before slipping my phone into the pocket of my black skinny jeans. As my mom parked the car, I grabbed my backpack from under my seat, and reached for the door handle.
"Okay Skye, remember; have a great day! Make sure to come out right at 3:15 so that we can make it to Aunt Debbie's for dinner," Mom called as I opened the door and rushed out with my books clutched tightly in my arms.
"Kay mom," I called over my shoulder as I jogged to my locker and punched in the code, 2-24-12. As I was checking my schedule, I heard someone cough. I glanced through the slits in my locker door, just in time to see a familiar blue jacket shoving books into the neighboring locker. Did he have to have the locker next to mine?! Despite my annoyance, I watched him pull out his schedule, and unconiciously ran my fingers through my side bangs- something I did when I was nervous or flustered. Suddenly, my gaze was met with a pair of warm brown eyes and a small, side-of-the-mouth smirk, and my thought process was inturrupted by a swarm of butterflies, flapping around in my stomach. He raised his eyebrows at me, gave one last amused smile, and walked off to his first class of the day.
As I watched him go, I coudln't help but smile a little. He was annoying, but enticing.
"Snap out of it, Skye," I muttered aloud, forcing myself to drop the smile. "He's not worth your time." But I knew, deep down, that that was a lie. Oh, what was my problem? What is it that captivated me? What coukd I possibly see in him that caused me to overlook what he had done? I leaned my head on my locker and shut my eyes in irritation. Oh Great.
**Flashback to sixth grade**
As my friends and I walked past the baseball field, I noticed an unfamiliar group of boys joking around and laughing. Breaking away from the group, I approached the fence separating the field from the rest of the park, and wached them chat and screw around. I turned around and motioned my friends to come over. As soon as they had joined me at the fence, I nudged my friend Brooke.
"Who are those guys?" I asked. Brooke seemed to know everybody, so I figured she would know who these boys were. Brooke seemed to know everything, considering the fact that she was the most popular girl in sixth grade. Twirling a lock of caramel-colored hair between her fingers, she explained.
"Well, that really fat one with the baseball cap is Ryan, and the cute one is Danny- the guy with the blonde hair, see? That skinny ginger guy over there by the water fountain, is Chase, and the tall guy with the blue jacket and the brown hair is Jason."
"Oh, cool. I wonder if they can see us," I wondered aloud. Much to my surprise, I turned around and noticed Jason look up at me, amused, with one eyebrow raised. I felt my cheeks grow warm as I smiled nervously and ran my fingers through my side bangs.
"Skye, why are you looking at Jason like that?" My friend Ana asked, hands on her hips.
"Like what?" I stuttered, surprised that she had seen.
"Like this!" Ana made a face that looked like a cross between a fish and a puppy, causing Brooke and my other friends to giggle.
I rolled my eyes and cracked a smile, and we started away from the baseball field. As we went, I listened to Brooke tell a crazy, if slightly exaggerated story about how so many boys wanted to date her, and I laughed along with the rest of my friends. When we got to the edge of the park, where Ana's mom was waiting for us, I hopped into the car alongside Brooke.
But not before looking back at Jason.
**End of flashback**
