http:jungle

Welcome To The Jungle

'Fuck, you're so hot.' He slaps my ass. I smile. My tight checkered skirt perfectly hugs my hips, showcasing my slim waist and full butt.

'So do you,' I reply. Noah puts his hand around my shoulder, pushing away the cold morning's air, replacing it with a soft blankety warmth.  He begins to put his hands around my waist, tilting my chin upwards, leaning in. 

'Stop, not in front of-' I'm interrupted by Noah's sweet lips against mine. For a long three seconds I'm lost in a long feeling of comfort and love. His warm cheeks brush against mine, his hands perfectly clutching my waist, his leg grazes mine and I'm intersected with a jittery feeling. At this moment in time, I feel loved by the only boy who's ever understood me. Unfortunately, Noah's lips pull away from mine and my lips are left with the cold winter's air. They're chapped. 'You want to go somewhere?' He smiles, 'If you want I'll even skip practice if you wanna go out the whole day'. I'm tempted, intoxicated, by his curly brown hair, sweet Old Spice smell, coffee breath and sweet brown eyes. He kisses me again, this time for longer, it feels like forever. I didn't want it to stop, I just want to be in his arms for forever. 

'Noah, you know I can't, I have computer arts today, if I miss today, I'll be so behind,' I look longingly in his eyes, 'but we can hangout later?' I sigh. 'Amy, you're practically a genius, you don't need class to do well,' He rubs my shoulder, swaying me back and forth. I take his soft palms and drag him towards the school building, 'Noah, please?', I pout my lips and give him my best puppy dog eyes. He gives in, agreeing that the idea had been crazy whimsical idea, but I see the pain my rejection caused him. We walk to the school in an uncomfortable silence. 

In the hallway, he splits off to talk to his friends without a word. I look at my feet sheepishly, alone for the first time in a while. I don't get a lot of it though, for soon Mac, Emma, Ally and Nora find me. I don't like them. But I have to, at least for two more years. When I graduate. I can let down the facade that traps me, like a feather in a vacuum chamber. In our group dynamic, Mac is the second hand. Ally and Emma are merely followers, and Nora-- the freshie recruit. She's the bottom of the chain, a garbage feeder. She lunges at any way to bring down others so she could push herself up. She may act frivolous, bubbly, and fun, but inside she's a cold, calculating socialite. She'll be at the top soon enough. But for now, I'm the Regina to their Gretchens and Karens. 

We walk to my computer science classes. I stare straight ahead of me, pretending. I wave goodbye, and walk it to Comp. Sci. 

This is my world. I see a magic not seen by others. The clicking and typing of the MacBooks across the room. Slow motion, I see Ms. Brownstone speaking to other students. Here, I can be myself. Or the closest mask to myself. I sit down in my favorite wheelie chair. Unzipping my backpack, I wave to Shannon, my closest thing to a real friend. She has mousy brown hair, thick glasses. She's the cliche quiet girl. But she's nice. When she smiles you can see her teeth. She has this pink sparkly retainer which she wears, it gives her a lisp. I don't know why, but I think it makes her real-er. 

'Hey!' She shouts out eagerly. She pulls out her laptop, showing me her new program. 'I'm working on this new website that generates face drawings based off the person watching or using the site,' She presses the space bar and the program runs. We watch it create a new face. It draws a face with long wavy chestnut hair, grass-green eyes, and a tanner skin tone. Shannon gasps, pointing at my face, 'it's you!'. She smiles. I laugh along with her, but in my peripheral vision I see myself in the the face model. Dead eyes.

The rest of the class I work on my newest python program. Ms. Brownstone says I'm on a good track. There's a long beep on the intercom phone in class. 'Amelia Howitzer, please report to the main office.'

I immediately think of Noah. Oh shit.