Honor Student

Chapter 7

Regina seemed distant the rest of the week. She wasn't mad...that much was obvious, but she clearly had something on her mind. This was our last week of school before going on Christmas vacation and I wasn't quite ready to go yet. As much as I hated to admit it, Regina had become a part of my everyday life and the days I didn't see her were truly the worst.

I was tired of waiting, she still hadn't talked to me and it was Wednesday so I decided to take things into my own hands. During first period I asked if I could stay after school to work on some extra credit work and she politely agreed, not giving away any hint on how she felt about it all.

The bell rang to dismiss us and I practically jumped out of my seat and sprinted to her door. I knocked and waited patiently for her to allow me inside and as soon as I set foot in her room I asked if we could talk. She looked at me as if she'd expected it and sat down in front of me. "The only question is...about what?" She gazed up at me and I knew there was something I didn't know, that she did.

"Why haven't you been talking to me?" I followed her and watched as she rubbed her temple.

"Because I can't lie to you", she said and I watched as her eyes began to twinkle and tears began to fill them. "Your mother...I used to know her." She pulled a photo album out of her desk and it was pictures of my mother as a teen. She was young and wild and carefree, and in all of them standing next to her...was Regina. She was cute, with wispy bangs and tank tops...she looked like a completely different person. She allowed me to flip through and as I looked over the pictures I couldn't see why she would want to keep this from me, what could've been so bad about her and my mother hanging out? As I got to the end of the book there were pictures from a New Years party in 1994.

"I was 17 there", she said and I watched as the nostalgia filled her eyes. "Me and your mother had been invited to a party that year and we decided to go together...I knew the moment I saw you that you reminded me of someone. You were special the moment you walked in my door, something about you was so...", she paused while she searched for the right word, "familiar."

I felt...confused. Was she only seeing my mother this whole time? I looked up at her searching her reaches for some sort of sign but she gave away nothing. I decided it would be better to just straight up ask. "So...this whole time-"

"No...", she looked at me as if what I was about to ask was ridiculous. "I fell in love wi-", she stopped herself and took a deep breath but before she finished I pulled her into my embrace. I felt the warm stream of tears as a tight hug turned to a kiss and once we started we couldn't stop. My hands traveled down her back and all the way back up to caress her cheek. Neither one of us was willing to pull away anytime soon. She pulled me in deeper and my heart fluttered as I wiped the last of her tears. I laughed as we pressed our foreheads together and I looked up into her eyes. She was happy...genuinely happy.

We didn't talk much about what had happened during our last after school session but we didn't need to. I understood it was so wrong but it felt...right. I couldn't explain my feelings for Regina, part of me wanted to confide in her and get to know her, but the other part wanted to isolate myself and get as far away as possible from her. She had this effect on me. It was hard to put into words but when I was around her I was the best version of myself. Something about her gave me the confidence in myself that I never knew I was missing.

The last day before Christmas break I decided to get her a gift...I brought the small red bag to her desk after class. She watched me curiously out of the corner of her eyes and turned around with a puzzled expression, "What's this?" She studied my face as my lips curled into a mischievous smile...

"I don't know...you tell me." I was being hella bold today. I watched as she unwrapped it like a little kid on Christmas morning, she pulled out a box. She looked up at me in confusion and signaled for her to keep going. She opened it to see a note that read:

Merry Christmas!!! I hope your week is amazingggg!!!

P.S: There's something else at the bottom of the bag but wait until you get home to open that... ;)

She smiled and as simple as it was, pulled me in for a hug. I smiled knowing what was in store for her when she got home.