My First Broken Heart

Chapter 2: Where do I start?

                                                                                                   THEN

“ Hey.”

         I was rummaging in my locker, looking for my science notebook when I heard Nick. I didn’t think he was talking to me right then. I thought he was calling somebody because the hall was bursting with students just before the classes started.

Why would he be talking to me? We might be both seniors and our school was not too big with only a couple hundred of students which guaranteed that everyone knew everyone else’s business.  But that didn’t mean everybody were friends with everybody else. Certainly not Nick and I. We were too different. He ran in a different circle. We didn’t belong in the same club. I didn’t knew any of his friends because saying that we live in different planets wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Because we did. We were following different orbits. How on earth would a nerdy nobody like me be friends with a hunky bass guitarist of a cool band? A tall, popular guy who got cheerleaders falling all over him wouldn’t spare a single glance to a girl who got nothing good going on about her besides a sharp head between her ears. No, not in a million light years.

“ Hey, Cass. Do you have a second?” Nick asked, tapping my shoulder. He leaned into the locker beside mine and glanced at my mess. I paused for a second. He was talking to me. Damn, he really was talking to me.  

Suddenly shy of my messy locker, of my over all messy self, I hastily grabbed the notebook I was looking for, slammed the locker and faced him.

“ Oh, hey.” I said nonchalantly, crossing my arms across my chest, hiding effectively the question hanging above my head: What the heck does he want with me?

A small smile crossed his lips. “I know you don’t know me. I’m Nick.” He extended a hand and I shook it. His grip is strong and firm. I guess it was a bit calloused too from playing the bass. “

“ Cassandra.” I said simply.

“ Yeah, I know. I mean I read your column and all.” Yeah right. Aside from being a geeky nobody, I write a column in our school paper called “ Hot Stuff” Yeah, I knew what a lame name for a column that’s about the latest, cool stuff and happenings in school. I didn’t think our paper got read at all. We released four issues a year, four issues that usually ends up in the trash can. I honestly thought kids would just throw their copy or fan themselves with it. I personally saw a girl sat on it to avoid ruining her new skirt. And here was Nick, telling me that he read my shit? Are you kidding me?

“So, we have this band, Icebox, just 4 guys fooling around with instruments. We’ve played during the Intramurals last year, if you remember.” He continued, leaning against my locker door. He was too close to me, too close I couldn’t think clearly.

I squirmed a little. I wanted to say, of course I remembered. I remembered you played Chasing Cars, my life’s theme song. I had been waving my hands above my head like silly with my friends while singing along. But I held myself from saying all that. No need to embarrass myself with over enthusiasm. So I just nodded.

He continued, “We got invited to play at Yzabel’s on Saturday. It’s their anniversary or something. We were wondering if you could write a piece about us for the paper. You know, to get our name out there.”

There was that smile again. He shifted his weight to his left and shrugged his shoulders. His hair looked messy and unwashed. He got a pimple in his forehead. He was wearing a black shirt and tight jeans that clung disturbingly low at his hips. His left sneakered foot was tapping against my locker door to some music in his head. And he was looking intently at me, waiting for what I have to say.

“I got to run it with The Chief but I will let you know,” I said referring to our editor-in-chief, not quite meeting his eyes. His eyes felt like they’re burning a hole in me.

“Great. I’ll call you.” He gave me a big smile, showing off his dimples and just like that, he was off. I was watching his back when he looked back at me and threw me a wink.

Shaking my head, I walked to my class. That guy definitely knew how to get what he wanted. That smile could get him anything, anything at all.

Then I stopped abruptly with a frown in my face. He said he will call me? And where the hell will he get my number? I glanced back to his direction,looking at his retreating back and suddenly had a bad feeling about this.