Loser Lessons

Jesse

                I stood at my locker at school the next morning, trying not to get bustled and jumbled around by the students passing by. They were more rowdy than usual and I found myself almost climbing into my locker to get out of their way.

                “What are you doing?” a male voice asked from behind me.

                Awkward.

                I stepped out of my locker and turned to face Carson with a sheepish smile, “I was just uh—“

                I was stopped in my tracks when I realized the guy standing in front of me wasn’t Carson at all. He was pretty much the exact opposite, actually. He was tall, with blonde hair that was styled nicely; his eyes were a brilliant blue and his pink lips were pulled up into a smirk. He was built bigger… he probably played football or something. I think I’ve seen him around school before, but I’ve never spoken to him. He was one of the popular people, and I tried my best to steer clear of them.

                “Nothing,” I muttered, feeling a blush rise up on my cheeks. I quickly grabbed my books, shut my locker and walked swiftly down the hallway staring at my feet.

                “Hey wait up,” the guy called after me. I stopped immediately and then winced at how I just obeyed him like a dog. Just because he was more popular than me didn’t me I had to do as he said.

                I guess I was kind of like that, you know, before I moved here. I expected everyone to listen to me because I figured I was a step higher than them… that I was better than them. I wasn’t.

                Just as he caught up I started walking again, deciding that he wasn’t the boss of me.

                I heard him chuckle, before he caught up to me again. “You’re kind of hard to keep up with aren’t you?” I wasn’t really sure what he meant by that, so I stayed quiet. “My name’s Jesse,” he introduced himself as he kept pace with me.

                I nodded and gave him a small smile, but otherwise didn’t respond. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him smile like I was being funny. “Okay,” he said slowly, still smiling. “What’s your name?”

                “Annie,” I mumbled quietly, trying to walk faster to hint that I didn’t want to talk to him. Not that he didn’t seem like a nice guy, he did, I just know what his kind of people were like and I wanted to avoid that as much as possible. The only popular person I hung out with was Alex, and we only talked when we saw each other in the hallways.

                He didn’t take the hint, his pace caught up to mine again as he said, “That’s a cute name, really fits you.”

                “Thanks,” I mumbled again. Why was he still talking to me?

                “So,” he continued, trying to keep the conversation going. I don’t know why he even bothered. “What class do you have first?”

                “Biology,” I answer quietly, glancing up at him. He was looking down at me like he was really listening to me. Probably because I was talking so quietly he had to strain to hear me.

                “That’s cool,” he nodded, “I have gym class. We’re playing football, which is awesome. I’m the running halfback on our school’s team.”

 A football player, just as I thought.

                I tried, I really did try, to look impressed but I had absolutely no clue what he just said.