You've Got to Be Kidding Me (boyxboy) ON HOLD

4. The Bookstore

            I want nothing more than to go home. To lie in my bed and sleep, but yet again I have found myself wasting away in Biology. Therefore I did the only thing a sane person could do in a biology class: contemplate the meaning of life. I found that I was asking questions that had no answers like: why are we here? Is there truly higher forces that put us here so that the human race could run around and destroy everything it touched? Is that why we're here? Why am I here? There's a whole world out there why am I wasting it learning about stupid biology? I mean there had to be more to life than trying to figure out every goddamn function of . . . well, life!

            I groaned and put my head down. I couldn't understand where I was even going with my thoughts. All I know is that my body hurt, my eyes hurt, I had a headache, and today sucked.

            After first period I headed to my locker. Luke stood leaning against it, but when he caught sight of me he stood straight. "Hey," he said.

            "I hate you," I muttered, putting in my locker combination. "What do you want?"

             He stared at me, eyebrows furrowed, possibly wondering why I was being a dick. "What are you doing after school today?"

            "Sleeping."

            "Could I come over?"

            I thought back to what my house looked like when I left this morning. The food and wrappers strewn all over the coffee table in the living room, the dirty dishes in the sink, the dirty clothes around the entire house, my room covered in school papers, books, and dirty clothes, and the sheets and blankets I haven't washed in five months. I smiled; maybe I could gross him out enough to make him never want to see me again. "Sure."

            The smile that graced his face nearly blinded me. It didn't go along with my pessimistic mood and slightly surprised me because damn, he has a nice freakin smile. I think this was the first time I saw him smile so genuinely. I had never noticed the dimples he had. "Great, alright, um, I'll see you later," he said.

            "Yeah," I muttered, slightly dumbfounded as I began to walk away. This side of Luke was not something I was used to and it kind of scared me.

            I felt a hand clamp on my shoulder. "Where the hell were you yesterday?" Jake said from beside me.

            "I was kidnapped and forced to watch scary movies."

            "What?"

            "Yep, the worst kind of torture for a soon to be eighteen-year-old who lives alone," I said as we entered our English class.

            "So, what did Luke want?" Jake asked after we sat down. "I thought you said he was leaving you alone lately."

            "I thought so, too."

            I could feel Jake's eyes on me and I knew that he was suspicious. We've been friends since the third grade; of course he would know when I was keeping something from him. "You're keeping something from me," he said almost on cue.

            "Oh, whatever do you mean?" I asked glancing over at him and smiling slightly. If I acted like my normal self he would have to leave it alone eventually.

            "I mean that I saw him smile at you, which is really weird because that guy never smiles, especially for nerds like you."

            I rolled my eyes before turning away from him and pulling my binder out of my bag. "I have no idea what you mean."