I felt like my world was changing, well my high school days were. Senior year will be the year of growth and maturity. Derek sat next to me during lunch, he was going on and on about his summer. Derek was so unbothered and did not noticed how mostly everyone was staring at us. It was as if we were the only ones having lunch and he wanted to just talk to me about his fun summer. I did listen to bits and pieces. He is hoping to land a scholarship to attend PENN STATE. Derek failed to notice his ex girlfriend, Amanda walks in and just looks at us like we are a bad horror movie. I interrupt him and my palms touch his elbows and we both felt it, it was an electric charge just lightly on the surface. To shake that feeling off, I ask him why is he sitting with me, and without hesitation as if he was waiting for the question to come up, Derek answers honestly, "Maddie I like you, thought it was obvious". I was floored and said, "as friends I am sure. Before he could answer, I thought to myself, I must be dreaming, because Derek Puller and Amanda Elliots are meant to be. Derek drags me away from my cloudy thoughts and tells me he will not elaborate at the moment but friends it is. Amanda comes over to him and they speak briefly, she seems annoyed and completely ignores me. Storms off, I was too distracted with my own thoughts to pay attention, plus I did not care about anything but his semi confession of him liking me. I wonder how he likes me, and how long is this lunch period. Marie already had texted that she would be speaking to her boyfriend and will not interrupt my lunch session with Derek, super grateful for her.
I totally should have taken this lunch period, to tell him about my summer minus losing my virginity to an amazing guy who is in New York City and most likely I will see again because I applied to NYU for the fall; it is my dream school. Okay my story seems all over the place but I will go back to my summer fling after this amazing lunch period. I was over the moon, until Zach comes over and starts making fun of Derek for sitting with the losers. He does not say much, he ignores Zach and tells him to back off. The bell rings, In that moment I wanted to hug him because he was ditching his friends for me. He ask me if he can walk me to class, as we are walking he offers me a ride home, since I am car less at the moment, it feels like a no brainer to say yes. I should say yes, but I know Marie would freak out and think I am moving too fast with whatever is brewing between us. I take too long to answer, it feels that way because Derek does not object. He leans over and brushes my cheek with his lips and I thought for a second I woke up from this fantastic dream. Derek leans into my ear and whispers, give me a few minutes after school. I just nod, because I can not speak at all, I am so overwhelmed with these unexplainable feelings. It feels like when a forever crush finally notices you and the feeling is mutual but doubts form in the back of my head.
Afternoon
As the day busied on, I was in such a happy mood. I told Marie everything that happened. She tells me how before junior year ended, Amanda was caught cheating on Derek with a older guy she met on her college tours. Derek had caught them one night making out. After that, Amanda has been trying to win him back. Marie apologies for not telling me, since junior year was very intense for me. This reminds me of the origins of Amanda Fullers dislike towards me, It all started freshman year when I met Marie, she had arrived during the summer, Marie and I never got the chance to meet because I spend the summers with my dad. We bumped into each other and all is history from there, we were inseparable. Amanda did not like this, because she had welcomed Marie into her inner circle during the summer. Amanda being as she is told her she isn't allowed to have other friends, ever since that day Amanda feels like I am a nuisance, not that she ever noticed me before any of the Marie incident happened.
As the last bell rings, I have butterflies in my stomach because I am going to see Derek Fuller again, As soon as I walk out of art history, he is standing there waiting for me, everyone just looks at us, as we are the new IT couple or maybe they are in on something I am not. Either way I am over the moon, and keep my nerves in check. As we are walking, I tell him about my summer in New York. The moments that were appropriate of course, he is actually listening, and assures me I might get into NYU since I am such a bookworm. Derek tells me New York is a place he has always wanted to visit. I do not say much out of that because I know we are both seniors, best to leave that unsaid. Plus I do not want to jinx my chances of getting into NYU. I see Marie waiting by her car, and I instantly do not want this moment to end, but I know it has too. Plus in the back of my mind, we are both seniors, will we really fall in love and stay together. I should not even be thinking about this and this is just a mere walk outside and nothing more. We finally exchange numbers and I tell him, he should give me a ride to school in the morning, he gladly accepts and leans in and kisses me on the cheek once again, but this time his lips lingered on my jaw as if he wanted to kiss me on the lips. I pulled back and walked over to Marie, who clearly was watching the whole scene unfold. I contain myself from looking back because I know I will just ride home with him and let him kiss me as many times over.
On the car ride home, I tell Marie everything and how much I have to be on alert. As always she thinks I am being paranoid. I have my reasons, in due time we will get to the details. Plus I told her it is senior year and falling in love is pointless because we are all going away next year to college. Marie as per usual wanted to know every detail. I told her that I can not just catch feelings for him because I have a plan. She tells me just to have fun. Fun is for people without a college plan. As usual she ignores me and tells me I look smitten and to go along with whatever this is for the time being. Catching feelings reminds me of my summer fling in New York. Once she drops me off, I decided to be ballsy and text Derek first. " I texted him a smiling emoji along with, I appreciate the future ride." I head inside and my MOM is ready with all the first day questions. I tell her everything minus the Derek Part, she dislikes him after he was part of the students that laugh during my talent show portion. I rather not get into that just yet. I will go back and tell you about my summer, and how I was hopelessly in love with a freshman at NYU, his name is Adam. He was someone I needed during the summer and I am grateful I met him and spent most of the summer in a happy bubble. New York City in the summer is always unforgettable, including the late manhattan walks to the morning coffee shops near Soho.
#teenfiction #youngadults
