If It's Meant To Be

13 February 2012

Tommy woke up with renewed energy. He was going to see her today. They had spent the weekend texting, talking about simple things like what they were doing and their favourite things. Now, the only thing on his mind was seeing her.

An hour later and Tommy stood by the car park, hoping to catch her before school started. Otherwise, the only time they crossed paths that day would be at lunch and that was too long of a wait for him.

The air was warm, the sun rising slowly towards midday. Students were dropped off, their expressions a clear reminder that it was a Monday morning. Tommy replayed the kiss in his mind, wondering when he would get the chance to do it again. He wiped his hands on his pant leg. The combination of thoughts of Anna and summer had made them slippery. He stood from the wall he had been leaning on for the last 20 minutes to get a better view of the flow of people. Where was she?

"Hi." Her voice said from behind him. He turned around, startled by her sudden appearance.

"What are you doing here?" Tommy laughed and took a step toward her.

"It's school. I'm here to learn." She said, her expression serious. This only earned her a playful eye roll from Tommy.

"I mean what are you doing behind me?" He began moving toward the school building with Anna following suit.

"This is how I always come in, my mom drops me round back and I walk here."

"Why?"

"Aren't you tired of asking me questions?" Anna sighed, shifting the weight of her school bag on her shoulders.

"Uh no. Why would I not want to know about you?" Now it was her turn to roll her eyes.

"Maybe next time." She said, any traces of humour she might have had were gone.

They were silent for the next few minutes. Tommy stole glances at her but her face had an expression he didn't recognize. She looked... unhappy.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked quietly.

Anna stopped. They were now in front of her register classroom.

"Not everything is about you Tommy." Her expression was so indifferent Tommy could only stare at her in confusion. Was this the same girl he been so excited to see this morning?

"Fine then. I'll see you later I guess." He turned away from her, for once looking forward to the distraction of school.

Anna watched him go, confused by his reaction. She simply shrugged and entered her class, looking forward to lunch and seeing Tommy there. Her thoughts went to Friday, the kiss still on her mind.

"Why do they feel the need to load us with so many equations?" Anna was packing her bag, thinking of how tiring math would be that night. "I mean I usually don't mind math homework, it can be fun when you know what you're doing but this?" An indiscernible sound that expressing her frustration escaped her.

"Right? We're gonna be staring at these all night!" Josie swung her bag onto her back, ready to escape the confines of the classroom.

"So, you're taken now."

"Are you asking me or telling me." Anna smiled at her friend. They had known each other for only a month but their friendship had formed from their distaste in the amount of math homework their teacher handed out her first day here. Josie was a social butterfly. She was friendly enough to be able to join any of their peers' conversations without seeming intrusive. Anna thought of it as a gift since she couldn't help but make conversations awkward half the time.