A Rose Among Ashes

Chapter Six

“Come on Ari, cheer up. Let’s shoot some Nazi zombies, okay? It’ll take your mind off of it. It’s better for strategy with at least two people, you know that. Ugh, and I don’t want to have to recruit some newbie from online either.”

            “Okay, fine, I’ll play.”

            “Glad to hear it. Here you go,” Ian said as he handed Ari a controller. “Don’t get so worked up about it okay? It’s only the first day of school. I’m sure she’ll realize what a jerk he is and that’ll be the end of it. Then you can make your move and all will be well. I swear you worry about the strangest things. You really have nothing to worry about though, because I’m gonna help you get a girl no matter what, all you have to do is sit back and watch.”

            “Right… What does Kate think about all this?”

            “All what?”    

            “This whole business of you trying to find me a girlfriend. Does she even know?”

            “Psh. Why would it bother her? I’m not the one that’s going to date them, you are. She doesn’t need to know everything that I'm doing. No need to make her worry about anything that doesn’t matter, right?”

            “I guess. If you say so. I just don’t know how she’s gonna feel when she sees you talking to all these girls.”

            “Just let me worry about that when I have to, okay? And dude, you seriously need to get a better gun or you’re never going to make it.”         

            “Yeah, I’m on it.”

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            The following day was much the same as the one before. There was nothing particularly eventful, even lunch was boring. Ari and Ian both looked for the girl, but saw no sign of her anywhere. They saw her earlier that morning though, so they knew she was at school. Korbin was at his usual table outside of the lunch room near the courtyard field. He was laying down on the table’s bench, with one leg bent and his arms crossed under his head.  His friends sat with him too. They were a strange sort. They all wore dark clothes, chains, some had piercings, and they never seemed to care much about anything. Last year, one of them got busted for smoking in the bathroom, though everyone knew that everyone in the group did too. They were outcasts, yet most were well liked. That’s what made them strange. Though they clearly had their own group, they had friends in many different circles. Ari didn’t mind the people in the group, except for Korbin. He had classes with some of them over the years. Despite their odd appearances, they were all pretty decent people. He just couldn’t understand how Korbin seemed to fit in with them, yet he seemed to be their leader in a way. Ari always found it kind of weird how girls seemed to be attracted to Korbin. He was so rough, so seemingly uncaring, so dark… It must be something stupid, he thought, they’re probably just attracted to the mystery around him, the feeling of being ‘bad.’ But how could they possibly think they ever would be happy with someone like him? The only time he ever smiled was if you were talking to him about drugs, alcohol, or…ugh I don’t even want to think about it… I’m not jealous. That’s not the reason why I don’t like him. Something about him just gets under my skin and I can’t stand it. I never knew that a single person could ever make me feel like this. I could usually avoid it, but now? Now I have to see him every single day. I have to sit next to him. I’ll just have to ignore him. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll just deny that he exists.

            It was time for English again. This time the girl was there first, and she smiled as he approached.

            “Hi,” she greeted him as he sat down.

            “Hey. I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself yesterday, I’m Ari.”

            “Nice to meet you, my name is Giselle,” She smiled politely.

            “So, are you new here or something? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

            “Oh, no, I'm not new. I’ve been here since I was a freshman. I’m not surprised that you’ve never seen me before. I didn’t always dress like this. I guess I just felt like I blended in too much and thought it was time for a change.”

            “Oh, I see.” So she’s been here this whole time? And…does that meant that if I had paid more attention and seen her sooner, I could have had her…she could have been mine? But because I never noticed her, because I was too distracted or too stupid, she decided to dress like this to get attention…to get his attention? Damn it all…

            “You don’t have to feel bad or anything, sometimes change can be good, exciting. Besides, I only changed the way I looked. I'm still the same person on the inside. I’ve just taken a liking to the darkness. I mean, doesn’t it seem silly to always live life in the light? You should understand. I mean, the dark romantics for example, they all had a very different view on life. It was darker, more realistic, as opposed to other writers of the time. I dunno, I guess I just wanted to see what it was like for a while, that’s all.”

            “Hmm. Okay. I guess that makes sense.” Any further hope of conversation was eliminated by a presence at the desk to Ari’s right.

            “Good afternoon Korbin,” she said quietly through a smile.

            “You too,” he replied casually, pretending not to notice the blush his words painted across her cheeks. The awkwardness just seemed to grow for Ari, who was stuck in the middle of all this. All he could do was pretend to write something down in his planner and act like he didn’t care what was going on. He could feel that Korbin was leaning over his desk, no doubt to look at Giselle. He could see Korbin out of the corner of his eye, smiling at her. Korbin reached an arm across Ari’s desk, paying no regard to Ari, and handed a small piece of paper to Giselle. His arm was right in front of Ari’s face. “You should text me sometime, Giselle,” He said, giving her a wink as she took the paper. As he moved back over to his own desk he looked at Ari, “Sorry about that, I guess it’s not your fault you’re in the way,” and he said it with a smile. Giselle didn’t notice, as Ari hoped she would, she was busy adding Korbin’s number to her cell phone before class began.

 

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             “Don’t say a word Ian, I don’t want to talk about it.”

            “Seriously? I thought you were just going to punch him or something. I mean, the nerve of him! Now I'm starting to understand why you don’t like him. I don’t know how you keep so much control like you do, it’s really beyond me dude. So what are you going to do now?”

            “I don’t know… maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe it isn’t really her after all…”

            “Have you seen her lately? In your dreams I mean?”

            “No, not since before school started…”

            “Don’t you think that’s weird?”

            “Since when do you care? I thought you would be glad to finally stop hearing about her?”

            “Under normal circumstances, I would. But not if it makes you miserable like this. Maybe you should try and talk to her or something, in your dream I mean. Maybe she can help you or something? I dunno, this is all kind of too weird for me, but you’re really starting to bring me down. We’ll figure something out, hopefully in time for the first dance.”

            “Thanks, Ian. At least I know I have you on my side in all of this.”

            “No problem. And as far as Korbin goes, just ignore him. Like I said; eventually she’s gonna see what a total jerk he is and that will be the end. Looks like you’re just going to have to be patient until then, as hard as that may be.”

            “Alright, I see your point. And can you just drop me off at home today? I have a lot of homework and stuff to do. I’ll come over later if I can.”

            “Sure, no problem.”