Friday
I woke up eager today for reasons I didn't even understand. My insides were feeling all bubbly. And for some reason, I couldn't stop feeling happy. I couldn't even explain it to myself. That was until I walked into my 1st period American History class and my heart nearly hopped out of my chest. Xavier Jones was sitting next to the desk I usually sit at! He always sits in the back by no one else.
"Hi, Xavier." I said as I sat down beside him.
"Hey." He said like he was thinking about something very hard. Then he looked up at my face, hard, like he was trying to remember something about it precisely, and then looked back at his paper. I leaned toward him and peaked over his shoulder at his drawing.
Man, the guy could really draw. The picture was really colorful to say the least. The setting was of a beautiful garden-maybe a meadow?-and a very pretty girl, that seemed strangely familiar, holding a bouquet of dead flowers lying in the middle of the garden/meadow.
"Wow, Xavier. You're a really talented artist." I murmured in awe. He turned in his seat and smiled his star-gazing smile at me.
"It's just something I like to do whenever I can." He said, with a seductive purr in his voice that left me breathless. "You can have it if you want to."
I nodded shyly. He took out a black pen and wrote his name on it. I took it. I looked at him and then back at the picture and with a shocked gasped I took noticed that the girl lying in the meadow looked exactly like me.
"I was your inspiration?" I whispered, still awed. I couldn't look at him. He didn't answer. Just then the teacher walked in and demanded everyone's attention, so I turned reluctantly to face Mrs. Ferrell. During class, Xavier and I didn't get another chance to talk but out of corner of my eye, I saw Xavier looking at me with bright interest. My palms started to get all sweaty. How embarrassing.
I couldn't focus on Mrs. Ferrell or anything she was saying on WW1. At one point, I turned to take the paper off my desk and froze when I saw that he was still staring at me. Instead of turning around, something in his eyes just...I don't know... called to me-- as cheesy as it sounds. My breath was coming quick and quicker, "gasps, gasp, and gasp." I could my heart racing and the sweat building up on the back of my neck. I saw his eyes widened in surprise and could sense that he felt the exact same way.
The teacher called my name to answer a question I didn't hear. I turned my attention back to her and said, "Um..." luckily my friend Demetrice whispered "The king's Parliament" in my ear, so I said it and breathed a sigh of relief when she said it was correct. I tried very hard not to look at him during the rest of class.
When Mrs. Ferrell let out the class, Xavier left without even looking at me. At lunch, Layne told me that she heard from Demetrice about me and Xavier's "connectional moment" and wanted to know what's up.
"Are you holding out on me, Jess? I thought we were best friends who tell each other everything." She said giving me fake her pouting face. Courtney didn't sit with us today. She's eating with her senior boyfriend, Timothy, across the cafeteria. He is such a douche. I honestly don't know what she sees in him. I turned my attention back to Layne.
"Lay, I promise nothing is going on. He just gave me a picture." I ended a little shyly, thinking about it. "Look, we aren't going out behind anybody's back." But then I frowned because I wanted to say the opposite. She saw the distress of my face and decided I was telling the truth.
"Well...maybe you should make a move." She said eating a fry.
Layne is a chick with a small figure but she tries her best to be "fuller". My best friend is very pretty. She has long dark hair and hazel brown eyes. Her skin was perfectly tan and light caramel color. Layne has very full lips and could get any guy she wanted, if she tried. See, she has a serious case of low confidence.
"But what should I say? I mean, he's Xavier Jones. His whole family keeps to themselves. I don't even know how to flirt. He gets me so starstruck; I'll just look like an idiot at my own party. Ugh." I sighed in defeat and reached to take one of Layne's fries. She swatted my hand away playfully and said, "I don't know. Oh, maybe you should ask him to dance. Ohmygod that is soooo perfect because you know no one else will be brave enough to ask him." She said, and then bit a slice of her pizza.
"Lay, sweetie, that is a perfect idea, you know." And it is. "Thank you, bestie."
"Oh, you should also kiss him. You know, to break the ice."
I moved uncomfortably, "Ok, now you really are trippin'. Now let's change paths. How'd you do on your Spanish test?" Layne's face got pale white against her caramel skin. I knew that was bad territory, but I had to get Lay's mind off of Xavier --because mine was focused on him enough for the both of us.
