Not Your Typical Love Story

Chapter 2

It's another dreadful morning of me fighting to get up. Why does the school have to start so early? It feels like it's the crack of dawn. Dawn of the dead. All of the students looking like zombies, not functioning right because of lack of sleep. As much as I want those thoughts to flood my mind, I couldn't stop thinking about that guy yesterday. I could hear my grandmother down the hall humming to her gospel music. I cannot let her know I am going crazy over a guy. She would freak out. I have to keep myself contained. What is it about this boy that I couldn't shake off? Was it because he said something to me? I turn to my side to look at the time on my phone. It was only 6:15. "Ugh." I sigh in frustration knowing that I have woken up 30 minutes before my alarm again. I rolled off the bed making a thump on the floor. It felt like I should have fallen through the floor but how could I? I am only 110 lbs. I slowly drag my feet to the bathroom. I turn the faucet on while splashing water in my face. As water is tickling my face, I'm just having strange visions in my head. What if that guy likes me back? What if he doesn't? Just a huge what-if scenario in my head.

The schoolyard was typical. Students were talking. Chatter flooded the schoolyard. It feels like you can hear everyone's conversations but you cannot listen in on all of them. There were weird kids underneath the pavilion. Rumor has it they be having sex there. I am not sure if that's true but I like to mind my business. I'm just speaking to my friends about some drama they recently got into. "And then this bitch decided to block me," Amber said. She was your "not cool" girl but was always in some type of drama. If it is not a boy drama, it's a drama about a girl but this year was always something about this particular girl. "She thought my friends didn't follow her on Facebook because I got the screenshots." She showed us scrolling through the pictures. "I'll beat her ass." I chuckled under my breath. I knew for a fact she was putting up a front. Junior year she got into it with someone. They confronted her and I am guessing by all that hair dye in her head she thought she was gonna say something to them. No. She malfunctioned, scream, and told the police.

Amber recently dyed rainbow hair was blowing in the wind revealing her hoop earrings. It was just something majestic about her sometimes. It could be the bright blue skinny jeans. The graphic tee. The rebel with a cause. She was one of those students who hung out underneath the pavilion but she was different. She wasn't like those kids. She was contained, straightforward, and book smart. I never have seen her do the goofy stuff they would do underneath there. However, she did a fake side I did not admire. That's why I feel the way I do when I see my friends. I could never tell if they were real with me or not. "Levi, what's wrong?" She asked me scrolling through her phone with a mouthful of chips. "Nothing," I said sitting down next to the band door. "You're not very talkative."

Avoiding her eye contact, in the corner of my eye I see that guy again. He was very cute today. I feel like I am in a movie scene again. An explosive just went off near me. I am near death. My vision is blurry to the point I can no longer see faces and the voices around me sound so faint. Amber's words were going in one ear and out the other. I was not paying attention to what she was saying. As if this guy has a spell on me. Why am I so intrigued? Why am I so interested? What is it about this guy I like? Do I even like him or just like the appearance of him? I don't know any of these answers but he was my eye candy.

"Levi!" Amber shouted. Some students were starting to look in our direction. I felt embarrassed. My face was hot. I just closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and looked at her. "Sorry, I am really tired." I lied but her glare at me didn't take the bait. "Look. I don't want to hear about the whole drama you're going through. That shit is just so dead at this point. Can we please talk about something else?" Amber looked at me puzzled. A quiver was on her lower lip. She was hurt by what I said. I was tired of hearing about the antics and the drama she was always in. It was tiring. I wanted to focus my attention somewhere else. I wanted to invest my time and effort into something else. I wanted my attention to be on that boy. "I'm sorry," I said lowering my shoulders. "Save it." She said walking off with my group friends. They all had to the cafeteria. I stayed on the ground. I message one of my friends from last night asking her more about Zack. I even told her that I wanted to tell him today that I liked him and I wanted to get to know him a little bit more.

However, in the back of my mind, I was thinking about my previous relationship. His past my sister and I found on Facebook. His ex was in jail. Was I liking someone who has a troubled past? I closed my eyes hoping my phone doesn't ding but it does. The message read "Okay I won't tell him." I sighed in relief. Maybe now I can work up the courage to tell him. Maybe not. I'm too cowardly to do that. It's my senior year for crying aloud. I shouldn't be spending my last year of high school all goo goo eyes on some guy I don't even know. I am sure he forgot all about our encounter yesterday. I mean it wasn't anything memorable. Just a question and a statement that followed. I shouldn't get too worked up about it. I'll just go to my first period. Sit in the corner like I usually do and keep to myself.

Like I said earlier, I am sitting in my first period keeping to myself. I had an earbud in one ear just if someone chooses to talk to me. I am sitting crisscrossed in my seat. I am gently and carefully painting in my art journal because for a short period, I was into art even though I was the worst when creating it. I didn't think I had enough skills to be an artist. I am listening to my traditional breakup music. It occurred to me. I am an artist. All these years, I have written songs and poems. I am not an artist in the sense of drawing creatively. I am an artist with my wordplay. My stories I chose to tell. The notes I would write to people. I look up in the class. Everyone is doing their own little thing. Some were painting and others were just on their phones. 'Notes.' I said to myself tapping the freshly new paintbrush bristles on my lips. My mind gets cloudy. The room starts to shift to when I first met this person. A memory triggered in my mind about my previous relationship.

I truly believed my last relationship was gonna work out but it didn't. It was strange. My heart would skip a beat. My heart would race down the hallway when I see this new guy. However, in the back of my head, I was not over what happened with my ex. It wasn't a huge breakup. It was a long-distance relationship. Looking back I noticed how close he was and then how far he was. Not only the distance but emotionally too. At one point we did exchange "I love you" to each other but was it truly love? We never saw each other. There wasn't much him and I could do. I'm sorry I drifting off a bit. That's a story I'm not ready to talk about that with anyone. I like to keep that story to myself. I don't want anyone to know how I felt about him. A ding ringed in my ear as the room shifted back to reality. I was shocked because usually, my friends don't message me during school hours. As if they message me at all.

I looked down at my phone seeing that the number wasn't saved on my phone. I was confused for a moment. I don't know who this person is but the area code was my town's. Maybe it was someone messaging the wrong number. I open the text. Welcoming my eyes was a message that said "Hey Allie told me to message you :)". I was confused for a moment. I told Allie I wanted to tell him myself. Allie didn't tell him. She couldn't have. Deep down inside I knew that she did. The message was right in my face. There was no way for me to escape from it. Maybe if I delete the message or block the number. I didn't know what to do. My heart raced. My hands got sweaty. I felt my face get hot all over again. Butterflies flew inside of me when I read this message. I was going head over heels for a guy again. It was him. It was Zack.