Young Annabelle (18 page)

This is too much pressure! Jesus! How come
there’s no manual on how to act around douchebags?

I was only a few strides away from my
homeroom; I felt instant joy as I spotted the numbers 205 on the
door. I could hear the group’s laughter grow the closer I got to
the door. I didn’t look up, I didn’t want to. Even if I was a
little curious, it just wasn’t worth it.

I wished I could have stuck with my original
plan. I heard the sounds of female giggling; it mixed with the
laughter of the group. One of those female giggles burned my soul
because it intermingled with the laughter I was most familiar
with.

His voice.

I was a sucker for pain – what could I say. I
looked up.

For a second or two I was bombarded by a
circle of baseball caps worn backwards, sideways, and forwards. The
Kings of the Hallway stood in a circle, scrunched together because
of the growing crowds of students that pushed past them through the
hallway. Mixed in with the bros were a few lucky ladies, their
queens – or girls who expected to be their queens soon enough
because they were hot. It was only five seconds before my hand
would hit the doorknob that opened room 205 – my safe haven, a
place free of ostentatious laughter that made every inch of my body
uncomfortable.

Five seconds was too long! It should have
been a maximum of two!

I blocked the faces of every single guy in
the circle – a trick I’d perfected over the past few years –
instead focusing solely on one person, and she was standing right
next to a tall guy with nice muscles, his body leaned down a little
as she whispered into his ear, making him laugh a little
harder.

I recognized the voice as it cut deeply. My
hand, thankfully, had reached the doorknob. I noticed that the
voice stopped laughing and his body went still, the female,
however, continued to whisper into his ear.

Damn you, Donna!

I turned the knob and walked into the room,
closing the door behind me. I let out a sigh of relief as I enter
the empty room – silence was golden.

I could breathe again!

I glanced at the chalkboard and read the
message my homeroom teacher had written:

Mr. Doors

Welcome seniors

AP English, room 205

The room was completely empty, but I wasn’t
the first one in here. Mr. Doors’ briefcase was laid out on his
desk.

Probably getting a last minute coffee before
school officially begins – oh the horror!

I chuckled to myself, thinking about my
teacher stressing about the first day of school much more than his
students were.

*****

I chose a seat in the back row, next to the
window. The bell rang and the classroom door was flung open. A
trail of students stampeded in, obliterating the calm serenity I’d
been enjoying.

Nothing good ever lasts,
I reminded myself as the seats
were filling up.

I glanced at the doorway and a small chuckle
escaped me when I saw Mr. Doors walk in with a cup of coffee in his
hands, looking relieved to now have his lifeline safely tucked in
his hands.

Mr. Doors was in his mid-forties and had salt
and pepper hair. He was really tall; it only took him two strides
to cross the room to his desk where he put down his coffee.

“Hello everyone, welcome,” he said in a loud
voice as he shuffled some papers around his desk. We had another
minute before the final bell would ring and class could start.

I scanned the room, which was almost packed
except for one chair beside me and two in the middle. I stared at
the entire front row in shock. It was full.

Why the hell would anyone want
to sit up front?
I
thought, confused. I glanced at Mr. Doors.

Maybe he’s a good
teacher.
This was my
first time with him as a teacher. I hoped he was not a loony like
some of the other teachers this school had on the
payroll.

Hot weather will do that to you
– make you go crazy!

I began to laugh as I stared out the window.
The final bell rang just as some last minute student walked through
the door.

“Just made it,” I heard Mr. Doors say in a
sing-song voice.

“Yeah!” A familiar voice rejoiced
breathlessly.

Familiar voice!
I glanced up, horrified at what
I was about to witness. Everything was in slow motion. My eyes
started from the feet, slowing scanning upwards over his black
jeans, then to his tight blue t-shirt that showcased his body
perfectly, then slowly and most horrifyingly my eyes lifted to his
face and I took in his features one by one. The wind was knocked
out of me like it was the first time I was seeing his green eyes
and his sexy mouth.

Damn it, Annabelle! Not sexy –
stupid!
I scolded
myself. I couldn’t let myself fall back to the zombie I’d been for
the last two weeks. I hadn’t even been in a relationship with him
and he affected me like this.

I wasn’t made to handle things like
this!

I took a deep breath and looked up at him.
He’d paused at the front, staring straight at me with a grim
expression plastered across his face. His eyes left mine and looked
to my right.

What?

He strode down the rows of desks. I kept
thinking he was going to stop at one of the middle desks, but he
kept coming, stopping at the desk next to mine.

Oh shit!

I felt my face begin to heat as he sat down
next to me. I hadn’t been this close to him in two weeks. His scent
washed over me, a mixture of cologne and shampoo. It drove me wild;
I had to turn my head and stare out the window to catch my breath
and compose myself.

Cool it – act cool – just
relax!

I took a series of deep breathes before
facing Mr. Doors, who had begun teaching. Everything was going to
be okay, all I had to do was ignore the asshole to my right.

That’s all I have to do – yeah right! I
think an exam on Chinese literature would be an easier task than
that!

I opened my notebook and wrote down the
course code at the top of the page. I positioned my head so I
couldn’t see him, just the front and anything on my left. I felt
him shift in his seat, his eyes staring into my side.

It’s only an hour – Only one
hour,
I reminded myself
and tried to focus on Mr. Doors’ lecture.

“Hey,” I heard a whisper from my right.

Now’s the time, Annabelle.
Here’s your moment to show him what’s up. To stick it up his ass
for blowing you off!

I felt him lean closer, his scent wafting
over to me, taking my nasal passages prisoner.

Just breathe!

But I couldn’t. If I breathed, I’d end up
hyperventilating in his scent and then how would that look to him?
Desperate and pathetic! He’d know I was waiting like a fool, not
leaving my phone for even a minute just in case he decided to
call.

I ignored him.

“Ignoring me, huh?” James chuckled.

What? You didn’t think I had it
in me? Asshole!

I continued to ignore him for another ten
minutes, paying attention to my penmanship and to the lecture.

“That’s a nice color you’re wearing,” he
whispered, sounding smooth and flirty.

I felt my body subtly betray me. My feet were
restless, wanting to bounce up and down in excitement.

I ignored him.

“Yeah, that’s a nice color. But actually it’s
that shirt itself, the shape – it’s really nice.” The way he
emphasized the word ‘nice’ made it sound almost dirty.

The heat in my face rose up again. If he kept
going, I’d combust.

It was time to nail this puppy in the
butt.

I slowly leaned back into my chair and
dropped my pen into my notebook. I cleared my throat just loud
enough for him to hear. I mustered every ounce of cool expression I
had locked up in me. I turned my gaze to meet his. His green eyes
peered down at me with an intensity that made my heart skip beats.
I held my left hand over my mouth to shield it from any wandering
eyes and to shield me from getting in trouble for what I was about
to say.

“Fuck off,” I whispered nonchalantly. My eyes
didn’t leave his until I nodded once and returned my attention to
the lecture.

“Don’t be like that, Fireball.” James didn’t
sound the least bit affected by my blow.

“I’m trying to pay attention, please stop
talking.”

“You have to understand something.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

“Stop acting like that and I’ll tell
you.”

“Stop acting like what?”

“It wasn’t my fault. I fucked up my phone
during practice. Had to get a new one but I didn’t have your phone
number anymore. That’s why.”

Jesus, how many times had he
rehearsed that?

I turned disbelieving eyes on him.

“Yeah, that’s why, okay, that’s what really
happened.”

“You don’t believe me?” James actually
sounded offended.

I stared him straight in the eye.

“Does it really matter?” I asked. “It’s over
and done with. Do your thing and don’t worry about me.” I hoped
he’d take my word for it and leave me alone.

But you don’t want him to leave
you alone!
I screamed
silently as I turned my neck back around. This was just the way
things had to be. I knew my place and he should know his. Our
worlds were separate from the start, only by accident had we been
brought together and whatever happened afterwards was one giant
mistake.

“Calm down,” he dared to say as he leaned
back into his own seat.

I gave him an incredulous look.

“You calm down –”

“What’s your problem? Always riding my ass
about something I did.”

“I’m like that, bro,” I shrugged. “A big pain
in the ass. Maybe you’ll keep that in mind next time you waste
energy going after a girl who’ll accept you as you are.”

“
Bro? We’re bro
’
s now?” He turned and snickered silently to
himself before turning back to stare at me with a new, piercing
expression.

Damn it. Damn those green eyes.

I shrugged.

“I don’t know many bros that have done the
things we’ve done, Fireball,” James said, sounding amused.

I heard him chuckle as my face grew hot. I
didn’t have any words to counter-attack with.

I ignored him.

“I guess I was wrong about you,” he
whispered.

“I guess so,” I replied, pretending to pay
attention to Mr. Doors’ lecture.

There was a knock on the door. Mr. Doors
opened it and whispered to the person on the other side.

“Class, I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he
announced then left, closing the door behind himself.

Do it now!

I picked up my backpack from the floor and
took out my phone. I could feel James staring at me. I turned on my
phone and scrolled through my contacts list.

“What are you doing?” he asked
hesitantly.

“I’m just deleting something,” I replied,
nonchalantly.

“Something important?”

“No, not anymore.”

I pressed delete on ‘Tiger’ and tucked my
phone back into my bag. James shook his head and smirked.

Mr. Doors looked relieved when the bell
finally rang.

“No homework tonight!” he shouted
enthusiastically.

Everyone shouted back their approval.

Thank God!
I did not feel like doing homework on the
first day back. I flipped my notebook closed and tucked it in my
bag. The last hour had been interesting. Besides the obvious: James
sitting next to me, making weird grunting noises randomly during
the lesson. Whatever he was trying to do, I did my best to ignore
him. I focused on the front, making sure my line of vision never
wandered to my right even when some of his grunts were beginning to
sound suggestive towards the end of class. My head shook thinking
about it. I didn’t know where his mind wandered off to after our
little spat but somehow he’d decided that grunting was more
effective than using words.

Boys.

Maybe he’s borderline
retarded?
I
envisioned myself shrugging
like I honestly didn’t know whether or not he actually was mentally
handicapped; the image made me want to laugh. I turned to the
window and tried to hold it in but few quiet chuckles spilled
out.

“What’s so funny?”

I stopped laughing.

Shit! He’s still sitting beside
me!
I took a moment to
breathe out the last of the amusing image and slowly turned back to
face him.

“It’s nothing,” I said calmly. I hoped he
believed me.

He looked at me warily.

Okay, he doesn’t believe me.

Fuck it.

“Okay, it’s not nothing.” I grinned and stood
up with my backpack, pausing in front of his desk with my back to
him. “I was thinking that maybe you might be retarded.”

I sped from the room before he had a chance
to reply. I didn’t even get to see his reaction but I just called
him a retard, so I was sure it wasn’t going to be good.

What was I thinking? Do I have
a death wish?
I grimaced
as I shuffled around the crowded hallway making my way to my next
class.

*****

After two more classes, it was finally time
for my favorite period of the day.

Lunch!

Fuck yeah. I was starving.

My stomach had begun grumbling a little too
loudly during last period, loud enough that the person next to me
began laughing from the volume.

That was so
embarrassing!
I was
going to have to hide some snacks in my bag to eat on the way to
school if Mom kept giving me that twiggy breakfast.