I don't ship it

Maddie

I finally finished a grueling class of English. Mr. Davidson keeps on making us write things. After I realize that lunch is in two periods, and I'm about to see Tyler soon, I perk up instantaneously. I practically run around the corner, and I upon seeing Tyler, I squeal. "Biffle!"

He smiles at me from across the hall. As I walk over to him, he asks "Is that Maddie Hoyt? Hehe! Kill yourself!" I roll my eyes and laugh along with him because he is such a guy like that. He tries to fix his messy dark hair. I laugh at his sorry attempt as I mess it back to what it was originally. "It looks better like this Ty," I say. He laughs and shakes his head looking down.

"Aww, look at TyTy showing his pearly whites," I joke.

"Watch it, Hoyt," he threatens with a smile on his face. "Besides, I've never seen anyone walk this excitedly in school, so check yourself before you wreck yourself." He looks so smug and unlike himself when he tries to make a point.

I smile and roll my eyes at his stupid boyishness.

"Well, shall we Mr. Lee?"

"But of course Ms. Hoyt," he says with a slight twinge. I've never been able to stand that twinge for some reason.

"I'm definitely changing my last name when I get married now." I roll my eyes and start to walk down the hallway.

"Well is there any last name you like in particular?" He says raising his eyebrow giving me a knowing look.

"Hmm, not really," I pause. 'Maddie Lee isn't that gross actually' I think.

"I'll think about what last name suits my name and fall in love accordingly," I say trying to get a reaction out of him.

"Well let me know. I can always help set you up with someone," He says winking at me. I laugh, who could he possibly set me up with?

He looks a little clammy and awkward, but I don't say anything because it's become a more regular sight nowadays. I feel like he's hiding something from me. It stings a little, but my friend helped me understand that if someone has a secret, you should be able to respect them enough to let them keep it. Let them tell you when they want to if they ever want to. So I've been keeping my mouth shut. I mean, he's my best friend; I would never do anything to hurt him.

We walk down to free period together, talking about how much our Mr. Davidson loves Tyler and hates me. Mr. Davidson just doesn't understand me and my brilliance. He says I'm a pessimist. I say he's too optimistic.

I start skipping because lunch is right after free period, and I love lunch. Tyler obviously thinks it's funny because he starts to crack up, but I am really happy right now. You don't understand, I live for lunch.

We get to class my class, and Tyler bids me goodbye. When Tyler says bye to me, I feel a wave of sadness wash over me. All I want to do is hang out with Tyler. Ugh, we should just both drop out of school or something and just travel everywhere together.

He is my best friend for pete's sake. I think the administrative office has it out for us. We don't have any classes together; only lunch, that's not nearly enough time to be with him! But Tyler's the kind of person who sort of mimics your emotion, and I don't ever want him to be sad. I plaster a smile onto my face as he winks and walks away. I have to laugh at his hilarious antics as he walks away, and I can tell he's smiling because he loves to make people smile, and I know him.

I walk into class and after my teacher takes attendance, we're allowed to talk with our friends. My friends start their daily talk about Korean dramas, and they talk about who's the hottest actor in the show. They suddenly take a strange turn in the conversation and start talking about the guys in our school.

"Why are all the guys at this school so ugly?" Sarah asks.

"Whoa wait, have you seen me?" John says flipping his imaginary hair.

"John, I think you belong under a bridge because you're basically a troll," I tease.

"You're just jealous Maddie. I know you'd kill for these guns." He rolls up his sleeve flexing his muscles.

Jenna leans over as he flexes and pulls his arm skin down. "Look at all that fat John," Sarah giggles.

Jenna laughs and sits back down. "Honestly, I'd rather date Tyler than you John. No offense obviously, and this is not a play on Tyler."

Sarah leans back and kicks her feet onto the desk. "Hmm, actually, you're not wrong Jenna. Tyler's kind of a catch. He's nice, polite, smart, and attractive. I wonder why he hasn't been snatched up by anyone yet."

"Well if it makes you feel better John, I'd rather date you than Mikey," I joke as he pouts.

"Dude!" Sarah exclaims. "I just realized that this is probably the longest that Tyler has gone without liking a girl." Jenna thinks for a second before agreeing with Sarah.

"Well, I mean, he probably likes someone right now and just isn't telling us or something," Jenna says rolling her eyes.

"Well, my guess is that if he likes anyone, it would have to be Maddie," Sarah states while Jenna nods her head in approval.

"I mean, it would make sense too. The first person he would tell would be Maddie, but if it was her..." Jenna ponders.

"He could like me. I mean, I'm a catch too guys," John mumbles.

"Oh hush John, we all know you're a catch. We just don't want to boost your sky-high ego," Jenna snaps.

John perks up. "Thanks, Jenna, love you too. So Tyler and Maddie? Oh yeah, I've shipped that since the 10th grade."

I roll my eyes because my friends can be so stupid sometimes. "Guys, we. Are. Just. Biffles. That. Is. It." I say over-enunciating while speaking slowly. Maybe it'll actually get through their thick skulls.

"Whatever Maddie. I still ship it," John says while everyone else chants "MYLER! MYLER! MYLER!"

I laugh and between breaths of air, I say, "Well, I don't ship it." As the bell rings throughout the school, I grab my books and head to my locker to get my lunch.

I sit down at lunch with my friends, waiting for Tyler to get here. I've been longing to continue our early morning conversation on aliens, and their plans to destroy the universe.

I was going to say that they are slowly injecting a lethal poison into our atmosphere which is meant to slowly kill us. Only the strongest will survive. Then the survivors of the attack would be the leaders of the human race that the aliens control in their effort to take over the world. I've clearly thought this through.

I'm talking to all my friends at lunch when out of the corner of my eye, I see a blinding flash of silver. I cautiously look up, and I see Britney, the meanest girl in school. Before I can ask her what she's doing here, she appears to be reciting something from a crumpled up piece of paper.