24Envy Me, Envy You.
She was beautiful, he was not. She was envied, he was not. But above all this talk from people, she saw something in him…something he could not see….
Beauty.
She cursed herself for having such good looks. Now she wasn't vain or anything, she was far from it. She wore baggy sweatshirts to hide her goddess-like figure; she wore baggy jeans held by a belt for they were bound to fall off without one. She tried her best to hide her face by using her fringe as a cover and letting her hair fall like a curtain around her face. She did all this and yet it was unmistakeable, she was beautiful.
Her long curly brown hair that had a faint shade of blonde in it hung loosely. Her dark ocean blue eyes shone brightly no matter what her mood was. She was the first in her family, in generations, to inherit blue eyes. She broke the brown eyes curse, as her grandmother put it. Her perfectly shaped lips were full and always a memorising shade of pink. The rosy cheeks she had were not because of a chemically man-made product, but of her own genetic characteristics. She could've walked the streets wearing a plastic bin liner and yet she would still be considered gorgeous. She hated that. All in all she was envied.
x-x-x-x
He cursed himself for having, what he thought were, such bad looks. Now he didn't think lowly of himself, but in his mind he knew that he wasn't blessed with gorgeous looks. He wore the most up to date clothes, the trendiest shoes, the flashiest 'bling', and yet he rarely got a second glance. He tried his best and each time he knew, he would never be beautiful.
His cheekbones were too high. His black hair would flop in different directions, falling messily over his face. His light brown eyes would always appear dull, never shining brightly, never having a twinkle in them. His lips were only slightly edging towards being too thin, they had never, for seventeen years, been kissed. This was one detail he never told anyone, not even his best friend who he knew would mock him till the end of time. In the end he stopped trying with the flashy 'bling' and latest outfits. He was sick of trying and pretending to be something he was not. All in all he wasn't envied.
x-x-x-x
She walked down the halls of Lakely High. The guys that passed her by looked at her longingly, knowing that she wouldn't give them the time of day. The girls that walked past her smiled and said their hellos, even though inside, somewhere inside, they were green with envy. She went to her locker where James Cumber was waiting. She groaned inwardly. James had asked her out every morning for the past year, and every time her answer was the same, a simple no. James was her male equivalent. He didn't have to try and he looked stunning, although unlike her, he knew it and tried. He made sure his hair would be to perfection. He made sure his clothes were intact; he even made sure he never wore the same thing twice. All of this and the fact that he was a complete asshole made her say no. But James Cumber just never knew the meaning of 'no'.
"Hey there Annaliese," he said pronouncing her name wrong…again.
"Hey James, and it is Annalisa." Annaliese was born in France, and even though her parents were completely British, they felt it was only right to give her a name that was French.
"What is Annalisa?" he asked confused. Annaliese just smiled wryly and shook her head. She spun the dial on her locker and took out the books for her first two lessons.
"So anyway," he said. "I was wondering whether you wanted to do something together. Think about it, me and you, Friday night, dancing under the stars. So, how about it?" he asked.
One thing he didn't know was that she wasn't your average beautiful face, romantic dreamier. Oh no, she hated clichés. The whole romantic dancing under the stars and moonlit dinners just didn't excite her. Sure she loved reading romance novels and she loved watching romantic movies, but she felt that those clichés were better left off in the movies and books.
"No thank you," she replied politely to his questions. James didn't look disheartened.
"You'll change your mind in time," he said mysteriously. He always said that, and yet she never changed her mind.
x-x-x-x
He had heard the exchange between the two people a few lockers away from his own locker, James Cumber and Annaliese Johnson. The It people in the school. It maddened him that they wouldn't go out together. Every day he asked her out and she refused. It was like she was taunting everyone, saying 'Hey look. I'm so beautiful I have this guy under my spell and I'm not about to break it'. He spun the dial on his locker and tried to open it. It refused to budge. He sighed watching as the others around him opened their lockers with ease. He slammed on it, pulled it, and yet nothing happened. Some people just walk in the light, he thought. He rested his head on his locker and banged against it.
"Freak," James muttered starring at him while walking past. Annaliese walked up to him silently. She watched for a moment as he took his head from resting against the locker, and started tugging at the door of his locker. He pulled again and yet nothing happened. He started banging on it, just as he was about to give it another blow a hand placed itself on his arm stopping him in midair.
x-x-x-x
Shawn starred at the hand. It was female, too small to be a males and too delicately soft. He looked up at the owner of the hand. Annaliese. "You won't be able to open the locker that way Shawn," she said. He was surprised that she even knew his name. "What's your combo?"
"36-17-11," he replied surprising himself that he managed to speak. He watched as she took her hand off his arm, spun the dial, before she entered the last digits she banged on the locker and put in the last numbers. He heard a click as the door to his locker opened.
"Wow," he said. "Thanks."
"No problem, I had that same problem with my locker." Shawn nodded. Annaliese found herself looking at the boy. She'd seen him around school with a couple of his friends. He wasn't popular, yet he wasn't unpopular. She knew his name because he was in one of her classes, and because he came into school soaking wet from the rain, late. Shawn raised an eyebrow at the blatant starring. Annaliese blushed, her face tinting redder. She quickly averted her eyes to his locker door. On the inside there were posters of Raging Fuel. They were a recently discovered band by they major label Breaking the Takeover Records. Annaliese was surprised he knew about them.
"You like Raging Fuel?" she asked incredulously. Shawn looked at her and nodded. "Me too," she said smiling softly. Just as she opened her mouth to talk more about the band to a newly found fan, the bell rang.
"Well I'll see you around," he said.
"Yeah, see you." They both walked off to their separate classes, both not noticing the crowd that was watching them in awe. Annaliese Johnson was not known for having a conversation without a guy for longer than a second, especially when that guy wasn't James. All the guys knew that they had no shot with her, so they left the beautiful for the equally beautiful.
x-x-x-x
Word had got out that Annaliese had had a conversation with a guy other than James. By lunch James himself heard of the news. It displeased him. He was supposed to have her. Didn't the guy know that Annaliese was his? James was going to make sure Shawn Henry knew where his place stood in school.
An unsuspecting Shawn walked into the lunch room. The room continued as normal, no one stopped to look at him like they did when James or one of his friends walked in. It was as if he never even walked in. Holding his spaghetti on his tray Shawn started to walk to where his friends were calling him. At least some people cared, he thought.
Shawn didn't notice James walking up to him. "Shawn right?" he asked. Shawn nodded frowning. "Stay away from Annaliese she's mine. You hear?"
"I don't-"
"Don't know what I'm talking about?" he asked sneering. "Sure you don't. Just stay away from her." With that James pushed the tray Shawn was holding upwards so the contents fell on him. "You're nothing, you are a nobody so don't be deluded into thinking she'd actually like you." Shawn was angry and confused. He was thinking of anything but that. He knew Annaliese was way above him, he would even bothering dreaming.
James and his friends laughed at the sight of Shawn's red face and spaghetti covered clothes. Shawn didn't bother with a reply; instead he turned and marched out of the hall.
Annaliese was standing a few feet away watching with shock on her face as the events unfolded before her. Annaliese slammed her tray on the table nearest to her. The 'populars' jumping slightly. She marched up to James who was still standing there laughing.
"You," she said menacingly.
"See, I told you boys she wants me," James said smirking to his friends.
"Want you? Are you mentally retarded? Do you have any idea what 'no' means?" she shouted. The hall grew quiet aside from a few snickers.
"huh?"
"Huh?" she echoed in disbelief. "I do not and will not ever like you. I don't like you as a friend let alone anything more. Stay away from me, stay away from my friends and stay away from Shawn. No one likes you James," she said glowing with anger. The girl who had never spoken, let alone shouted, was standing in the middle of everyone screaming her lungs off at the most sought out guy. Annaliese nodded her head in satisfaction and marched off. She left just in time to hear hoots of laughter and clapping, not surprisingly started off my a couple of Shawn's friends.
"hey," she said walking up to Shawn who was at his locker.
"Save it," he said.
"What?" she asked shocked at the menace in his voice.
"I don't want your sympathy; I don't want anything from you. You're the cause of all this. If you'd just said yes to the buffoon you'd be doing everyone in this school a favour." He slammed his locker and walked off.
"Hey!" she called out, but he just continued walking leaving her confused. Her anger slowly rising again.
x-x-x-x
The school day ended quite quickly. James left on the pretence of a stomach ached soon after the fiasco at lunch, much to Shawn's delight. He managed to get a shirt from one of his friends after lunch to replace his own spaghetti covered shirt. He said his goodbyes to his friends as he walked to his locker. On his locker door was a note.
Shawn,
I didn't speak to you because I felt sorry for you; I did it because I cared. If you're wondering why I say no to him, well it's because James' an asshole. You know it, I know it, and we all do. Why would I say yes to him just to please people in school? I'd like to go out with someone I want to go out with and not someone I should go out with. Besides no one knows me well enough to judge me about why I said no. It wasn't because I thought so highly of myself. Just thought I'd let you know.
-Annaliese
P.S. Silent Disaster by Raging Fuel rocks, does it not?
Annaliese watched from a distance as a small smile crept onto Shawn's face as he finished off reading the rest of the note. There was something about him that fascinated her. He wasn't someone off a magazine cover, but that was why she was fascinated. She could see the low self esteem radiating off him. He didn't know how beautiful he was. It wasn't love at first sight, no it was something different. She walked up to him when he closed his locker.
"Hi, I don't think you know me. I'm Annaliese," she said grinning sticking out her right hand. He grinned too.
"Shawn," he said taking her hand into his own.
So, just something I came up with when I was bored. I didn't want to put it up, but I thought 'what the heck?' I'm not really good with one shots… Anyway, I should be doing my coursework now…but then again; I never do anything I should be doing.
Claimer – Oh yeah! My first claimer! I totally made up the band Raging Fuel, and I made up that major label Breaking the Takeover Records, weird name, I came up with Takeover records (which I don't own) but when I Googled it, it existed so I changed it…Fall Out boy (whom I don't own) inspired me. (LOL, you must know the song I'm referring to)…so yeah…