The class ends, and we managed to finish and submit our assignment during it. Ah, how good it feels to be in the smartest group in the class.
As I leave the classroom, I walk down the hallway with other students and see Parlan tripping over one of the boys from the geography class, where Jonathan still is.
The boys, Jonathan's friends, are such idiots. They like to pick on us—me, Parlan, Yareli, and Bria—because we're nerds, and this has been happening since we started school, so it was expected. They form a circle around Parlan and start laughing at him on the ground. And here we go again, defending our friend... as usual. Oh, what a tiresome routine!
"Hey, stop laughing at him!" Bria confronts the bullies.
"Yeah. You guys are so lame!" Yareli crosses her arms.
They look at the two cute defenders and start laughing uncontrollably.
"Hey! Enough already! Every day is the same thing, aren't you tired of doing this to us?" I raise my voice, making everyone, including my little group, look at me in surprise. "You should mind your own business instead of harassing us!"
Gibson, one of the boys, walks toward me with a stern look, staring directly at me. I flinch and cover my face with my arm, trembling, but nothing happens, nor was it going to. He simply walks past, as everyone else did, quietly. Parlan, still on the ground, Bria, Yareli, and I watch as the boys enter the cafeteria; we're dumbfounded.
"Guys... What just happened here?" Bria asks, alarmed, while helping Parlan to his feet. "Actually, what's going on today?"
"Yeah???? School's turned upside down!" Yareli agrees with Bria.
"How did you shout at them like that?" Parlan raises his arms, putting on a show.
"I-I don't know... I didn't even stutter, did I?"
"And they didn't even hit you! Man, that's weird."
Professor Xzavier leans against his classroom door, looking at us.
"Hello, kids! What are you doing in the hallway? It's break time! Go chat over there, I'm teaching."
"Yeah..."
"So, teacher..." Yareli tries to explain, but even she doesn't know what we're doing here.
"A CAKE!" Bria shouts, catching everyone's attention.
"What?" The professor looks confused, raising an eyebrow.
"That's right, geography teacher: we're making a cake," Bria appears with a bowl full of chocolate cake batter, stirring it with a wooden spoon. No one knows where that came from.
The bell rings again.
"Oh, class is really over now. Students, please pack up your things and head to the cafeteria or the courtyard," the teacher says. The students begin to leave the classroom gradually.
As the second bell stops ringing, which I still find unnecessary, I smile, waiting for Jonathan to come out of his classroom. The assignment must be tough since he didn't come out at the first bell five minutes ago.
"Hey, Sherwin..." Parlan touches my shoulder. "What's up with you and Jonathan?"
I look at Parlan, startled. How did he know about this?
"H-How did you find out?" I ask, concerned.
"Is there anyone who still doesn't know?" Bria puts her hands on her hips, releasing the bowl of cake batter, which falls to the ground, dirtying much of the hallway. "Dude, everyone saw and recorded you two together on the ground. It's all over Facebode. We just didn't want to bring it up so you wouldn't feel uncomfortable."
I freeze.
"How did you get a popular guy like Jonathan???? What's the secret???? What?????" Yareli shakes me.
"And Sherwin? You okay?" A soft voice, right behind me, greets me. Turning around, I see Jonathan finally. He has a shy smile on his face and his hands behind his back. I look like a dumbass and instantly smile. I lose all my ways of thinking!
Parlan comes close to me, looks at my face, then at Jonathan's. Then he starts laughing out loud. Jonathan and I snap out of it and look down, embarrassed.
"Look at these two! If this is what it's like to date and be like this, I'd rather die!" Parlan keeps laughing, unintentionally imitating a pig multiple times.
"PARLAN!!!!" Bria and Yareli shout in unison and pull Parlan away, leaving us alone.
"I-I..."
"I'm happy to see you!" Jonathan breaks the silence, smiling broadly. "Can I hug you?"
I leap into Jonathan's arms and hug him tightly. Jonathan wraps his arms around me too, and we stand there smiling.
"Man... this feels so good," I say.
"So much..." he agrees, widening his smile.
Jonathan seemed sillier than ever. I always saw him with a serious face, or at most, laughing with his best friend, Alice. I've always wanted to be someone important to him, and look where we are now.
After the hug, we hold each other's hands, looking at each other.
IS IT TIME TO KISS? HERE IT COMES! HERE IT COMES! HERE IT COMES!
He leans toward my face, closing his eyes, and I lean toward him, closing mine too.
HERE IT COMES!
Suddenly, I feel a hand on my mouth. Jonathan and I open our eyes in shock: it's Professor Celine—yes, the one who broke the wall after a meltdown—she put her hand to stop our kiss. Darn old lady!
She stares at us with an angry expression.
"Look, boys, I'M NOT EVEN GONNA SAY ANYTHING!"
"Professor Celine, can we expla--"
"GET OUT!!!!" She shouts in the empty hallway, cutting off Jonathan, and we run to the cafeteria.
I'm going to get rid of that woman someday. At least she won't call our parents, right? Is there still time to enjoy the miserable twenty (twenty-five, if we count the first bell) minute break?
YOU ARE READING
Out a Heartbeat (In a Heartbeat)
FanfictionAnother day begins, and Sherwin, a fourteen-year-old redheaded boy, needs to get to school on time to do what he always does before the first bell. "In a Heartbeat," by Beth David and Esteban Bravo.
