ring pops and cigs

02

HIGH SCHOOL IS JUST A SERIES OF TESTS THAT ONLY A HANDFUL CAN PASS.

one of those tests happen to be relationships. whether that relation is more friendly, or more spicy, it's hard to maintain. like grass. it grows unevenly and sometimes you just gotta cut it all off for things to be balanced again. sometimes it's prettier grown out-in all of its uneven glory. only time will tell.

my eyes scan the room, running over every face like sweat on a heated summer day.

"marie!"

my eyes forget who they were looking for. i suppose it doesn't matter.

someone was waving me over-probably christina, but their face was too blurry to make out. judging from the stripes and the bangs, it's gotta be her. i nodded to acknowledge their presence, strutting over with a slouch that took three years off of ballet to earn back.

my eyes drifted to the chubbier girl with freckles and the warmest hazel eyes anyone could meet. fatima had a bubbly grin on her face and eyelashes so thick that when she's smiling like that you can barely see the whites of her eyes. her tan skin always enhanced to a rosy shade, and sometimes i envy how easy it is for her to smile. it was contagious, though. i felt the right corner of my lips tilting upwards. i allowed her to tug me into a seat next to her.

"how was london?" inquisitive gazes surrounded me.

i shrugged, "wasn't like the magazines."

it was true. probably much more than just that, but words never came to me when i wanted them to.

after earning the giggles of a troop i don't particularly care for, i decided my presence must be worthy of something. teenage fools giggling at random, stupid words thrown. some way to judge.

my eyes glanced around again without my consent. i figure out who i'm looking for when my heart stops and my brain freezes.

i was expecting something big when we met again. i'm not sure what it was. he was in class already, his hair-a caramel blob-styled messily; already frizzy from the rain that it hadn't yet touched. his hair always got wavier when it's humid out. he sat near the back, with our usual friends, and some extras that he didn't bother to kick out. his skin seemed more tan than usual-a radiant beige that was gleaming under the fluorescent lighting.

friends don't notice these things, so i stop staring.