Without The Words

Chapter 6

Before I could respond, Mr. Lee walked into the room. Vera mysteriously smiled in my direction and turned her attention to Mr. Lee, as well as the rest of the students doing the same.

I couldn't help but think about all that could go wrong with Vera openly inviting me to be her friend. It wasn't that I didn't want to be her friend, it was that I wasn't good at being a friend for obvious reasons. Not only did I not speak, but I was awful at responding to people in a way that would be considered normal.

Instead of stressing myself out over the topic, I focused myself on Mr. Lee, which felt oddly natural. Before he began to speak, he turned to me.

Out of all the people sitting on these bleachers, which for sure had to be at least a hundred, his eyes fell upon me and it made my heart flutter in a way that I was unfamiliar with. I have never felt something so exhilarating before. It was a good, warm feeling; something I had only experienced with my parents and knew was identified as love. But this? Clearly this was not family love, nor was it love at all, but it related to excitement. I couldn't help but smile with these emotions bubbling inside me.

"Are you okay?" Vera asked, chuckling slightly. My cheeks instantly flushed. I hadn't known she'd been looking at me smiling. Another embarrassing move on my part. It seemed that my body and my actions could not stop possessing such awkward and embarrassing movements.

When Mr. Lee and I locked eyes, which lasted for exactly five seconds and I knew because I was counting, I had smiled and oddly enough, he returned the gesture. However, his smile was more ghostly, more secretive. It was gone before I could revel in its' undeniable attractiveness.

"Okay," Mr. Lee said loudly, his voice echoing and bouncing off the walls. "This is Mr. Falliner, for the students who don't know who he is." He introduced, pointing casually at Mr. Falliner who smiled and waved at the giant group of eager students.

"Row by row I'll let you guys walk up to him and tell him what sizes you'll prefer for your cross country uniforms. And for the guys, I promise the shorts will be longer than last season. I can see how that'd be uncomfortable." Laughter echoed mainly from the boys, but a few chuckles escaped from the girls' as well.

He ended the conversation and disappeared into the doorway of the indoor track as chatter replaced his voice. Slowly, row by row, the students formed a line while Mr. Falliner jotted down the sizes.

Mr. Falliner was small and bald, but not in a typically unattractive way. His hairless head presented that it was in his consent. Black stubble dusted his chin and his whole figure was husky and insanely muscular. Veins swooped at different angles visibly under his skin on his arms and legs.

When it was time for our row on the bleachers to go, I shyly stepped down the bleachers, Vera confidently trotting down in front of me, her wavy dark blue hair bouncing against her back. My own hair fell down to my shoulders in a messy clump, which was a reminder that there is a possibility that I could put in effort to do something with it.

We stood on line for a few minutes with it thankfully moving faster, Vera making conversation easily with just about anyone who came by. Vera would introduce me to a few people, for which my eyes would glaze and my focus would diminish. I would unsteadily nod my head in their direction instead of speaking, for obvious reasons, of course. Some of them looked at me strangely but the attention was always back on Vera within the minute, not that I was complaining.

When it was my turn, Vera already saying her size and lingering near me, I froze in my spot like a deer in a headlight.

Mr. Falliner looked at me expectedly, his hazel eyes boring into mine with unintentional discomfort. The realization that I left my pad and pen on the bleachers began to sink in. My hands shook and I shoved them into the sleeves of my thin sweater while my heart began to skip a few beats.