Once again, I woke up startled by the sound of the alarm clock. I had to get used to the sound eventually. I forced myself to get up. I felt more groggy than I did yesterday. I went through my normal routine except, surprise surprise, no breakfast being made. I grabbed a cheese stick to hold me over till lunch.
Once I got to school, my homeroom teacher, Mrs. Jamie told us we had an assembly in the cafeteria. I made sure not to make myself too comfortable. Once we said the pledge, I grabbed my books and walked down to the cafeteria with Alex. She wanted to sit together so we sat on the far side. The benches were plastic with some kind of fake wooden paneling. The benches were attached to the tables so once you sat down, unless you were on the ends, you weren't getting up until everyone else did. In that case, I made sure to sit turned around so I wouldn't be trapped under the table. Alex and I were making small talk. She was telling me about something her mom did that morning and a conversation she had at dinner with her brother last night. I was listening but I wasn't 100% in the conversation, but that was typical for me. In the middle of her talking about something, I looked up and saw Mr. Slin's homeroom entering. I made eye contact with one face in particular. I'm sure you can probably figure out who that was. Did I like Shane? I guess, but I barely had a conversation with him. How could I like someone I didn't even know? He smiled at me. Oh gosh, I was kind of freaking out now. I had really bad anxiety so I started freaking out. He walked over and said hi and sat down next to me. What was he doing? Why did he choose to sit next to me? Could he possibly like me? No, Mia, don't be stupid. He was cute and funny. There's no way in hell he could like me. I was short, kinda chubby, nappy hair, and absolutely no chest whatsoever.
He leaned over and whispered to me, "What is this assembly for?"
I paused for a second before responding, "Umm, it's an assembly for bullying."
"That's ridiculous." He said that with a smile. I don't know what about the smile but I really liked it.
"I know right." I mean we were in ninth grade, it's not like it was going to help. High school was ruthless.
"I mean what kind of school promotes bullying." He looked at me expecting some kind of reaction. It took me a second to think about what he was talking about. I neglected to say the assembly was an ANTI-bullying assembly. I gave it to him and giggled.
We spent the rest of the assembly whispering and giggling. The more we talked the more I liked him. And I couldn't stop looking at him. He was so cute. I guess to me he is. I have an acquired taste in guys. When I looked at him, everything about him was perfect. He stood at about five foot five. He was skinny, but still kind of muscular. He had big brown eyes with a touch of green. His legs and arms were perfectly shaped. His fingers were huge, compared to mine at least. This was stupid. We barely knew each other. I knew if I started giving him hints too soon, he'd leave and ignore me just like about every guy I've liked so far in my short 14 years. I had to play it cool. I turned away and started talking to Alex again. Shane looked kind of annoyed so I started a conversation between all three of us.
The assembly ended so they told us to go to first period. I had gym so I had to walk towards the front door. He walked with me out the cafeteria but he had drama which was right there so he said goodbye. I went through my day normally and didn't really talk about him much to my few friends.
Then in English, I sat behind his sister, Caroline, and I guess she saw us sitting next to each other at the assembly and basically starting laughing about it and asked me if I liked him and started saying how we were gonna be sister in laws. It was kind of weird but I let it happen and just played along.
Once the day ended, I headed to the bathroom for volleyball. Once I locked the stall, I took out my phone and texted Joy.
To: Joy Joy- Hey I have a question
I locked the phone and started getting changed. I heard it vibrate so I checked and I had a new message.
1 New Message: Joy Joy- Yeah sure bro what is it?
I clicked reply and began typing.
To: Joy Joy- I was wondering if you maybe possibly had Shane's number.
I unlocked the stall and walked out. It vibrated again. She said yes and gave me his number. I don't know why I didn't just ask Shane myself. I guess I was just too nervous. I opened a new message and typed a message out for him basically explaining how I got his number. I knew he wouldn't respond until later because he had soccer practice. So I locked the phone and put it in my bag and headed to practice. Although it was kind of difficult to stay focused. I couldn't stop thinking about him.
