Give Me Love // ethan karpathy

his jumper

It was my first day at St Ignatius College. My parents and I had moved to Geelong from The Gold Coast for dads work.

I put on my new uniform and loaded my text books, exercise books and pencil case in my bag. With our uniform, our school didn't have jumpers or blazers so we were allowed to wear any jumper or jacket we wanted. It wasn't that cold so I didn't bother getting one. I brushed my naturally straight, ash blonde hair into a high ponytail which came down to a little below my neck and tied a white ribbon in a now around it.

"Brooke, the bus is going to be here in five minutes!" Mum shouted from downstairs.

I put my bag on my back and ran downstairs. I grabbed a few pieces of bacon and kissed mum on the cheek. It was the last time I was going to see her until tomorrow morning. She was a nurse at the Geelong hospital now. She'd be gone from about 1pm and come home 12am. I know, it seems like a long time but she volunteered to work those hours. She'd occasionally get the day off and be home to cook dinner and say goodnight to me but that wasn't very often.

"Be good, have fun and make some friends." She said to me. I saluted her and rushed out the door.

The moment I stepped outside, the bare parts of my body were greeted with an icy chill. I made the bus stop a few seconds before the bus arrived and there was another boy about my age waiting to get on. I followed him up the steps and looked for a seat. There were your typical popular girls that sat up the back and the nerds at the front. I spotted a row that was empty and sat down there.

The bus ride was short since we were the last stop. Everyone piled out of the bus in a hurry and I was pushed around like a rag doll. I fell down the bus steps and stumbled nearly falling to the ground. The boy from my stop this morning grabbed my arm and steadied me.

"Thanks." I mumbled. My teeth were chattering and I had goosebumps that were clearly visible. I should've known to wear a jumper today. All I had on was the school button down t-shirt and a skirt that came to mid-thigh. And of course my school shoes and socks.

"Are you cold?" He asked.

"Is it that noticeable?" I laughed.

He took his sweatshirt that had Geelong Sharks soccer club on it off and handed it to me.

"I can't take your jumper. Then you'll be cold." I refused.

"No, really. I'll be fine. I'm tough." He smiled.

I hesitantly took his jumper and put it on. It was definitely warm and smelled really good.

"Thank you." I said to him.

"You're welcome. I've never seen you before. Are you new here?" He asked.

"Yeah. First day."

"I'm Ethan." He said.

"Brooke." I responded.

"I'll see you around, Brooke." He said waving at me and flashing me two rows of pearly white teeth. He started walking towards the school when two boys came and started talking to him. They laughed and continued into the school together.

+++++

"Why are you late?" The teacher asked as I walked in.

"I was at the office getting my schedule and map." I replied cautiously.

"That's no excuse. Detention after school in the library." The teacher, Miss Fudgeybloom, snapped.

"Woah. Calm down miss." I put my hands up in surrender and backed away slowly.

She sighed and told me to take a seat.

I looked around the classroom and my eyes landed on Ethan. He smiled at me and beckoned me to sit next to him. I returned the smile gratefully and made my way over to him.