He was Hot, I was Not!

"Oh, thank you young man," Mrs. Monroe told Stan believing it was all settled. "I would see her to the nurse myself, but I have a rather unruly class this period and I need to keep an eye on them," she explained as she handed me some tissue to wipe the blood before she headed back to her classroom.

"Oh hell, no," I said unthinking, then, "No! But thanks anyway," and as far as I was concerned it was settled.

I really didn't...couldn't face Stan right now. I was feeling kind of uncomfortable thinking about that rather detailed dream I had about him last night. I felt so stupid...and seeing him right now was making me feel even worse...not to mention embarrassed.

"WTF?" did she just say "hell no?," Stan wondered looking puzzled.

"Yeah, c'mon man. She's okay," said Matt.

I started to walk off, and the weirdest thing happened: my head started spinning and I had to grab onto the nearest thing, which just happened to be Stan's arm, to keep from falling.

"Okay, maybe I should go see the nurse," I told him, kind of worried now.

I had never fainted in my life, but I really felt like I might just then. I started remembering something I had read about head wounds: they don't bleed much on the outside, but there may be internal bleeding or something.

"Hold on to my arm," said Stan. "I wouldn't want you to fall." "I'll see you guys later," he told Matt and June as he lead me to the Nurse's Office.

"What the hell is a "cretin" anyway?" I heard Matt ask June as they walked away.

Typical dumb jock I thought to myself.

"My name is Stan," Stan introduced himself as we walked to the nurse's office.

"I know. You're the quarterback on the JV team."

"So what's your name?" he asked flattered that she remembered him.

"Oh, I'm Kayla, Kayla Jackson," I replied.

Once we got to the nurse's office, I signed in and sat down to wait. I thought Stan would leave but he sat there with me. A few minutes later, the Nurse called me into her office and Stan followed. Before I could even say anything he started explaining what had happened to me.

"How much did he see?" I wondered to myself. Apparently quite a bit from what he was telling the nurse.

"You may have a slight concussion," the Nurse said while examining my head. "You're going to have to call your Mother and tell her to come pick you up,"

"I really can't bother her." I said. "Can't I just stay in here for a bit so you can watch me and see that I'm okay?" I asked.

"No, I'm sorry Kayla," she told me, "It doesn't look very bad and it has stopped bleeding now, but you really need to go home."

"Okay," I sighed. There was no sense in arguing, she wasn't going to let me stay at school, they wouldn't want to be held liable if something serious was wrong with me.

I walked out of the Nurse's office not realizing Stan was still following me.

"Aren't you going to call your Mother?" he asked interrupting my thoughts.

"No, I'm just gonna walk home, I can't reach her anyway, she's out of town" I explained.

"Is there anyone else you can call?" he asked.

"I, uh, No," I said. I didn't want to tell him about my family...that my Dad had left us, so there was no one else.

"Well, if you want I can take you home," he said.

"Oh no, not again," I thought. This was starting to feel like deja vu...

I sighed loudly, "Okay sure, I don't seem to have any other options right now," I agreed but I was less than thrilled.

Wow, Stan was gonna give me a ride home. At any other time I would have probably been psyched, but today had been a bad day and I was in a pissy mood--to put it mildly.

Stan and I walked out to his car. Actually it was a truck--an old beat up Ford, and for some strange reason, it kind of suited him. He asked me for directions to my home and proceeded to drive.

"Are you embracing this Texas lifestyle, or what?" I asked him.

"What do you mean?" asked Stan.

"You're driving a truck. I seriously HOPE that you're not a redneck!" Kayla exclaimed, and then "Are you?" she asked timidly thinking she may have insulted him.

"No, I can't even stand country music. I just like trucks, they come in handy--that's all," he said smiling--amused by what she had said.

Kayla feel quiet after that. She didn't want to ask any more stupid questions. She put her arm on the door, rested her chin on it, and looked out the window at the passing scenery.

Stan used this time to study Kayla's profile as he drove. She really was a pretty girl. She had that fresh country girl-next-door type of cuteness that girls in movies have--innocent. But then again, she is a virgin...maybe that was why.

"So how's your head feeling?" he asked.

"It's fine. I'm fine, really. I didn't sleep well last night and I really didn't feel like going to school today anyway, so I wasn't gonna argue with the nurse."

"So when will your Mom be coming home?" he asked.

"Sometime, this weekend, probably tomorrow," Kayla replied absently.

"Do you mind if I hang out with you? I don't feel like being in school today either," Stan surprised her by asking.