His Girl

Jealousy

I had a tickle in my stomach the next morning as I got ready for school. I dug some makeup out of my packed belongings. A little blush brightened me up, but I was glowing with a crush.

It's not just that he was cute. I mean, he was cute (so cute), but there was definitely more there. There had to be, I'm a girl and we're not that shallow (right?). There was something mysterious about him that was hard to define. His attention on me was like sunshine breaking through shade on cold cement.

"Good morning, class." Ms. Suarez was wearing a gray skirt with ruffled trim below the knee. Her green sweater-set slightly faded. She qualified as frumpy but not completely unattractive.

Breaker entered class late, again. I looked down to contain my goofy smile. Once class settled, I heard him talking while a girl giggled in response. My smile fell into a frown. I sucked my bottom lip and hid my face further.

After home room, the halls filled with students. I needed to find the library to get a book I was missing. I was at my locker, staring at a diagram of the campus.

"Lost?" a boy asked. I looked at him, blushing with embarrassment. I shrugged.

"I'm Brandon."

"Chanel."

"You're new, right?"

"Yeah." We stood silently for a moment. "Library? Help?" He nodded. I felt immense relief.

We started down the hall. Passing Breaker and his friend Jake. They were tossing a backpack between them while a girl screamed and tried to grab it. They laughed while everyone watched the spectacle. My chest was tight. His eye caught mine, he stared as Brandon and I turned the corner.

When we got to the library, my new friend Brandon opened the door and showed me in. His jeans were narrow at the ankle, his shirt seemed a bit too long. I guess that was the look. His hair was in his face, his eyes were dark with extremely long lashes.

"It's the geo book for Mrs. Rommel's History class." He was at the counter helping me with the request.

"Thank you," I said and put the book in my bag before zipping it closed.

"The bad news is now you have to do geography homework." We were laughing as we exited the library. I was shocked to see Breaker standing outside. I didn't know if I should acknowledge him.

"What's up, Brandon?"

"Hey, Breaker." They seemed to know each other but it wasn't the most natural exchange.

"Chanel, you doing good?" Breaker asked.

"Yeah, hi." My insides were in knots. What was he doing?

"You know your way back, right?" Breaker said. I nodded. He put his arm over Brandon's shoulders (it reminded me of an aggressive 1950's mob boss). They were turning away from me.

"I'll see you, Chanel." Brandon looked at me as I stood there confused before walking away, alone.

In seventh period, I sat in a desk with my arms folded. It wasn't cool to chase off the one person who had actually been friendly to me.

"You can't find things on your own?" Breaker spoke to me in a mocking tone.

"Huh?" I fidgeted with the items on my desk, doing my best to look busy. I lined up the book with the syllabus printout.