Until Her
He's never gone out with anyone before. He's never been rejected. He just thinks that there's no point in dating during high school. To him, high school is only an in-between stage, a time period that he just has to get through to get on with his life. He doesn't want all the unnecessary complications of girls and dances and dates. What's the point? After high school, they'd just break up anyway. High school graduates can't keep up a long-distance relationship for long.
What's the point of looking for a mess that he can avoid? Better to focus on his future.
That is, until he finally met her.
o.O.o
She doesn't seem any different from all the other freshmen girls: giggly, a little nervous, rather clingy and all-around in-your-face. So he pays her no attention. With a corner of his mind, he notices them looking at him and giggling. He ignores it, pretty much used to the attention. He isn't deaf; he has heard about what the girls think about him. Usually, he tries not to let it get to his head.
This time, however, he sees that she is steadfastly refusing to look at him. In fact, she seems to be in an intent conversation with another of the girls, apparently oblivious to his very presence.
Some strange feeling fills his heart. He doesn't recognize it; he isn't sure he really likes it at all. In fact, it feels a little uncomfortable. But he shrugs it off, telling himself that it's only because he skipped breakfast this morning.
o.O.o
He can't take his eyes off of her anymore. It's strange, almost scary, the way he feels whenever he sees her. He still can't put a word on how he feels, though. He's never felt this way before. He wonders what she's doing to him.
It's free time now: two glorious hours of doing whatever they want at the camp. His friends want him to go out and play football with them. He considers it for a moment, but eventually declines the invitation. He wants a chance to talk to her, as pathetic as that sounds.
But she is nowhere to be found. He looks for her, but she isn't in the main building, nor the most obvious other places. The only place he can think of that she'd be is her dorm, whicih he can't go into anyway.
He returns to the main building, feeling rather dejected. With a cup of water in his hands, he sits down to wait for her eventual return to the main building. She has to go there for dinner, anyway. Maybe she would come earlier to hang out with her friends.
Unfortunately, his friends get back before she can appear. By the time she enters the building with her friends, he's already surrounded by his group. He sees her glance at them for a brief moment, and then she looks away and starts talking to her friend, the one she's constantly next to.
He is tempted to keep watching her, but his friends draw his attention to the card game they are playing. It's his turn.
o.O.o
He's scared. Terrified. He has no idea what he's going to do. She's standing only a few feet away from him, and he can feel her presence as a scorching heat. He desperately wants to talk to her, but her friends are still there. And besides, the room is so crowded.
Oh, what the heck, let's do this, he thinks. But just as he is about to approach her, she abruptly leads her friend off in the direction of the bathrooms. Feeling a little dejected, he watches them walk away, their head bent together and conversing quietly.
Something hollow begins to form in his heart, filling him with an aching sadness he has never felt before. What is this? he wonders. But he doesn't know.
o.O.o
The camp ends, and everyone leaves for their respective lives. It is unlikely that they'll see each other again any time soon. At best, they can only hope that next year they will all return.
School starts again. He becomes busy with classes and college applications. He shouldn't have any time or energy left over to think about anything at all. But he can't get her out of his mind, no matter how hard he tries.
It gets to the point where he is almost Facebook-stalking her, poring over the pictures of her others have put up and reading the conversations she has with her friends. He feels like he is about ready to explode from his suppressed feelings. Luckily, he doesn't.
o.O.o
Amazingly, he sees her only a few weeks before Christmas. She is standing in front of the high school front doors, looking a little nervous and uncertain. He is there for an extra band practice the teacher scheduled, and he assumes that she is there for the SAT II tests to be administered at the school that morning.
He walks up to her purposefully. Immediately, she looks away and pretends to be busy searching for something in the small tote she is carrying.
Gently, coaxingly, he asks if she needs help getting somewhere. It is the first time he's ever spoken to her, and she blushes a bright red.
After she murmurs a brief affirmation, he leads her to the classroom where the test is taking place. She slips into the room quickly, leaving no time for him to say goodbye. He is left staring after her, ten minutes late to band practice.
o.O.o
He shouldn't be waiting for her. She had made it abundantly clear that she doesn't want to spend a second more than necessary in his presence. Still, he finds himself outside the classroom an hour later, waiting for her to finish.
The door opens, and a trickle of students files out. She walks right past him without seeming to notice that he is there. Quickly, she turns down the hall and makes her way to the front door.
He calls after her, drawing the attention of a few of the other students. At this point, however, he is past the point of caring. He just wants to talk to her.
She turns, finally, and waits for him to catch up.
The two of them walk out together, her face still tinged pink with embarrassment, his face overcome with excitement.
She explains that she avoided him because she was too shy and too scared to interact with him properly. He tells her about his resolution not to date anyone during high school. Her hopeful expression falters for a brief moment, before he says that she has persuaded him to change that policy.
In fact, he reflects, years later, it wasn't a bad policy. It was quite a good one, he thinks, at least until he met her.
AUTHOR NOTE: This was another random splurge thing, inspired by something my friend told me about a guy. I based it off of that.
In no way do I own Facebook or the SAT IIs.
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