Dancing Around // peter parker

2

I was having trouble making friends. School had started sooner than I had expected and I had found myself floating aimlessly through the halls of Midtown High alone. It wasn't until well into the first month that I had a full-length conversation with someone on my soccer team and not just a quick 'good job' thrown over a shoulder.

We sat on the bench, both of us drinking water as we watched other players on the field, sweat slipping off each of their foreheads as our coach yelled for them to keep running. The sun blazed down on us as we tried to keep our breathing steady so early in the morning.

Cindy pushed her eyebrows together as she looked at our coach. "He's kind of hot," she said.

At first, I didn't know she was talking to me because her eyes were pointing somewhere else. With my eyes squinting due to the sun, I looked at her and then at our coach before nodding my head. I looked down at my shorts and bare thighs, noticing bits of red from my terrible shaving. I placed my hands casually over the spot, hoping to block it from anybody's view. "Yeah. He's kind of hot." I tilted my head, trying to find the attractiveness of a man twice my age. All I could see were the wrinkles that formed on his forehead from all the stress. "He's kind of an asshole, though."

She nodded her head. "Oh. Definitely." She laughed, throwing her chest forward. I smiled. "I like your earrings, by the way. Though, you know you're not allowed to wear them during practice? It can get in the way."

"Yeah, I know. I think...yeah, I think that's why I'm wearing them. I'll take them off when we're playing but for now, I see no harm." I looked over at her. "Plus, I think it pisses off our coach."

Cindy laughed. "Yeah. Yeah, it really does."

With his back facing us, we watched him raise his hands along with the sharp sound of the whistle. "Okay, you're done! Hurry off to class!" He turned around, and one of his fingers pointed directly at me. "Except you, Marina! You get to run extra laps for wearing earrings again. Go!" He blew that whistle again. I smiled warmly at Cindy, before standing up. I started walking towards the outer lap of the soccer field. He blew his whistle again, but I didn't pick up my pace until I reached the outer lap and then started running.

I ended up reaching my first period late after I finished getting ready. I had to run down the empty halls. All the teachers were behind doors so there wasn't anybody to tell me to slow down. I didn't hurry into the room right away. Instead, I took a second to look as put together as possible before walking into the classroom. I gave my first-period teacher the note from my coach, before heading towards my seat. I felt eyes on me, but they all looked back towards the front once the teacher began their lecture once more. All except one.

A boy with green eyes from the first row wasn't shy. He smirked from across the room when I finally met his eyes. I was more curious than intrigued, but once he bite his lower lip at me, I suddenly understood what he was trying to do. I looked forward and paid attention in class. Struggling to keep my eyes to the front all while knowing he was right outside my focus.

The rest of my classes ran past me and before I knew it I had a tray in my hands, and I was staring out at the lunchroom. I had been sitting alone all through August and honestly, I hated it. I hated the looks, the faces I had to make, pretending like I wasn't bothered and every second hoping someone wasn't going to try and be funny and talk to me only as a joke. Or maybe thinking I was some weak prey they could jump on just because I was alone.

Many times I had tried to make friends in my class, and I tried to sit with them at lunch. I tried sitting with the girls in my math class, but they spoke of things I didn't understand, like they were trying to make me feel left out. I tried sitting with the chest team, thinking they would surely let me become a part of their clique, but I felt like I was not smart enough to be around them. Like I was lacking something. September was going to be different.