Not Your Average Love Story

Not Your Average Love Story Chapter 2

It was the week after I met Toby, and the bell had finally went for the end of school. I crossed over the field and thought I heard someone calling my name, and I turned around to see Toby not standing out quite as much as he did on his first day, as he was now clad in the compulsory green and grey uniform. We had made talked over the past couple of days and gradually become friends, but I still got nervous every time I saw him. I was going to have to do something about that.

"Grace!" He called, waving his arm in the air. I started to walk toward him.

"Hi," I said, when I got to his side. "Can I, er, help you with anything?" Ah! Why did I turn into such a dork whenever he was around?

"Well, I was wondering, maybe..." Toby started, shifting his weight onto one foot. "Maybe you wanted to walk home with me? Of course, if you don't want to -"

"I'd love to." I said, cutting him off. "So where do you live?

"You know Queens-way Avenue?" I nodded, smiling.

"Oh my god, me too!" I exclaimed, maybe a little too excitedly.

"Cool." Toby grinned. "Hey neighbour." I laughed, and we turned towards the school gates. As we were walking we passes Rhiannon and her gang. I held my breath, hoping they wouldn't say anything (like they usually did when they saw me.) Toby must have seen me tense up, because he whispered to me:

"Don't worry about them. Here, watch this." Before I knew what was going on, Toby had grabbed my hand and pulled me towards Rhiannon and the rest of the popular kids.

"Toby!" I screeched, but he took no notice.

"Hey Rhiannon!" Toby called, waving his free hand. "What's up?"

"Um, nothing." Rhiannon replied, glancing towards mine and Toby's entwined fingers. "Listen, we've got to go. See you around?" And with that they all left, without a mean comment or even a backwards glance. I stared at Toby.

"How did you - why did - what?" I asked, confused.

"Well, you know the school dance next month?" Toby inquired.

"Oh yeah." I answered, as if it wasn't one of the first things I thought about every day and a huge and completely stressful worry. "What about it?"

"Rhiannon was hinting that I should ask her to it for the past couple of days." My heart skipped a beat. Had he asked her?

"But," Toby carried on, "I don't want to go with her, so I didn't." I breathed I sigh of relief. "And I knew that seeing me with another girl would really annoy her."

"Oh, so I'm just another girl now am I?" I said it jokingly, but Toby looked serious.

"No, that's not what I meant. I mean, we're really good friends, you know, for just knowing each other for like a week and -"

"Toby! It's fine, I was only kidding."I laughed, and punched him lightly on the arm. He punched me back, and soon we were pushing each other around and giggling like little kids. I was thinking how much I liked Toby's laugh when he caught me off guard and pushed me so I tripped on the curb.I panicked, thinking I was going to hit the concrete, but the blow never came. Instead, Toby had caught me, and he was now holding me in his arms.

"Oh," was all I could say, my face turning red. "Um, sorry -"

"Don't apologize." Toby said, grinning. "It's my fault. As you may be able to tell, I'm a little clumsy." I started to laugh, then realized that he was still holding me.

"Um, Toby?" I said. Toby lifted me back up, blushing aswell.

"Oh yeah sorry." We walked in a pleasant silence for a few minutes until Toby pointed at a house a few doors down. "Well, that's mine. I better get going." I looked over at my house, directly opposite his.

"Me too," I replied. "Loads of uh, homework." Geek! I thought to myself. Toby started talking, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"We should do this again sometime." Smiling, I nodded. As we both walked up the front steps to our doorways, I called:

"See you tomorrow!" Toby, after giving me a heart melting smile, yelled back:

"I can't wait!" My smile was embarassingly wide and bright as I unlocked my front door. And when I got inside, I sat on the floor, my back resting on the door. Ugh. Since when had I turned into such a... girl?