Not Everyone Deserves a Second Chance

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"School lunch is, well, gross. There's a pizza place just around the corner that i usually eat at. Wanna check it out?"

Me and Marcus sneak out of the school grounds and sprint to the Pizza Hut that i go to every day. I get my usual table, and the waiter greets me.

"Hey, Jess! Nice to see ya again. What would it be today?" He doesn't notice Marcus sitting across from me.

"Hey, Ben. I'll have a mini cheese with pepperoni," I turn to Marcus. "What do you want, Marcus?"

He sorta just looks at me, but then says, "Same."

I turn towards Ben. "Make that a double." He nods, and leaves to give the cook our order. It usually takes about ten to fifteen minutes for the pizza to get here, and I really want to know more about Marcus' homeschooling.

"Did you like homeschooling?" I ask

"Nah. I didn't have many friends. When I got a break from my classes, all I had left to do were more classes and work."

"Didn't you have a T.V. or a computer or something?"

"No. We're sorta poor. Well, not poor, but not as wealthy as some of you kids seem to be. Like that girl, Anna I think her name is, she seems rich. With all the dresses and clothes she wears. She sorta looks like a slut to me, but that's from my point of view."

I sigh, and I feel tears welling up in my eyes.

"Jessie, what's wrong? Did I say something? 'Cause if I did, I take it back, I promise!"

I giggle and wipe the tear that was now falling down my face. "No, you didn't say anything. It's the person your saying something about. You see, James, my ex-boyfriend, broke up with me last week, and the next day I saw him with Anna, doing the same thing he was trying to do to me."

"What did he do? Tell Dr. Marcus."

He's referring to the show Dr. Phil. I'm so glad he actually decided to show me his true self. I smile and tell him the entire story, beginning to end, with all the details. He listens very carefully, and it makes me feel good; like I'm important. Not just some girl that you want to lose your virginity to. When I finish, he told me that he wasn't going to be like that, which confuses me.

"What do you mean?"

He pauses for a minute, like he said something he shouldn't have, and then says,

"I mean, that if we ever got together, I would never be like that James kid."

"Are you asking me out?" I ask, shocked.

"Um... I don't know. Am I?"

"I don't know either. You have to tell me."

"Well, not saying that I will right now, but if I did ask you, right here right now, what would you say?"

"I'm not sure. It's your first day here. Maybe you should try to get to know me a little bit better. You might not like what you see, 'cause you might be disappointed, but-" before I could finish, the pizza arrives. Marcus looks at me like he's hurt, but I can see in his eyes, that he understands.

Neither of us say anything else while we're there, but that's only because we're pigging out on pizza. When about ten minutes pass, the pizza's are gone, and we both can't eat another bite. We throw the boxes out and return to campus.

"Jess?" I hear.

"Yeah Marcus?"

"Here." I have to turn around to get a glimpse of what he's talking about. He's holding out a piece of paper, folded a couple of times. I reach for it and pinch it between my index and thumb finger. When I start unfolding the mysterious paper, I see numbers.

"Marcus Phone #" it said. "(920)-476-2891"

"Thanks. Here," I say. I take out a piece of paper and write down my number. When he takes it, he looks at it for a while, and then looks me in the eye again.

"Thanks." His face is turning the lightest shade of pink, like he's blushing. A blond curl had separated itself from the others when he took my number, and now hangs loosely over his blue eyes. I brush it from his face, and he smiles. I find myself wondering what it would feel like to run my fingers through his soft hair. What his lips would feel like on mine. I caught myself before anything I was thinking slips out of my mouth. Like i said earlier, it 's his first day.

"We better get going." I say after a long silence. "We can't miss the next class. The teacher will throw a cow."