A Simple Switch

3 - Shitty Days for Days

MICHAELA

Cameron Benson tried to strike up a conversation with me again. Audrey and Madison had been trying to set me up with him for weeks now. Usually I'd flirt back, but today I had had enough with guys trying to get into my pants.

"You two would be perfect!" they'd tell me. "Just open up!"

Easy for them to say; Madison had found her perfect guy, and Audrey was the queen of one-night stands. They had their shit together.

But that's not what I want. I don't think it is at least... To be honest, I still have no idea what I want.

I pushed the thought to the back of my mind; that was to be figured out later. All I knew was that in this moment, I was pissed: really fucking pissed. My parents had gone off on me for BARELY scratching their SUV, I nearly failed my English exam, and I had sleazy dickwads hitting on me in hallways. And now I had a shitty Gov class to sit through to top off an incredibly shitty day. Great.

Ms. Kent shut the door loudly after the last student walked in, waking me from my thoughts.

As the boy shuffled past my desk, I recognized his baggy button up.

I confusedly looked up at his face.

This was the guy who ran into me in the hall!

We made eye contact and he flashed me a sheepish smile.

Has he always been in this class? I wondered. I'd never seen him before today.

The boy comfortably took his seat in the back row and immediately immersed himself in his notebook.

He couldn't be! I would've reconized him. Probably.

Ms. Kent was holding Raffle Trivia today, where she chose random desk numbers out of a hat to quiz students with challenging practice AP problems, and incidentally, seat 19 was chosen first.

"Dylan," she called. "Can you please define the term 'pork barrel' in the context of United States politics?

Didn't those belong in barns...?

I turned around. Without missing a beat, he responded.

"Sure, um, pork barrel legislations are designed to support local projects using government funds, intended to benefit constituents and please voters."

"Very good, Dylan. I see you've been studying for the Unit 3 test. You all should be doing the same," Ms. Kent said, addressing the class now.

As soon as Ms. Kent called on the next student, the boy went right back to his notebook.

Dylan. From the hall...

How had I missed him? We've been in the same class for what, three months now?

And he didn't seem the slightest bit familiar. A wave of guilt washed over me.

Class continued and I spent the entire class hoping she wouldn't call on me. I had skipped Gov five times this month, and I've never even thought about opening up the textbook.

--

As soon as the bell rang I grabbed my belongings and rushed out the door. I just wanted to get home as quickly as possible, as if it'd put an end to this less-than-preferable day.

I heard footsteps catching up to me.

"Hi."

I turned to see Dylan on my right, matching my pace.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry, for earlier. I'm not that kind of douchebag, character that-"

"No I'm sorry," I suddenly blurted. I slowed down and turned to face him.

"You've been in this block this whole time, and I'm pretty sure I had no idea who you were."

He looked taken aback that I responded, but not at all surprised by what I said.

I didn't know where I was going with this.

"But yeah, I'm sorry for that, and I'm sorry for being a prick earlier."

With that I turned back around and left. Still a shitty day, but at least now I wouldn't feel like a shitty person, too.