Luke.
That wouldn’t be the first, or last, time his name came up in conversation. It had been scattered in talks throughout our classroom, sometimes in whispers and other times in loud proclamations. I’d run into him a few times in the past, but he never left much of a lasting impression. Don’t get me wrong, he was a good-looking dude with his broad shoulders, styled hair, and inviting smile. The hunk of our grade, the girls agreed unanimously. Such a bold title still didn’t make him memorable, though. No, it was all the female company he used to surround himself with that had left an impression on me.
The fliers for some fireworks show crinkled in my arms, and I pinned a few more to the bulletin board with some extra tacks. I continued down the ‘L’ section of the school building, which was the part where the clubroom was. Whatever architect had designed Bayshore High School lacked creativity. The single-story building was nothing more than a square with a long ‘L’ shape amended to its east side. Core classes were taught in the square, and electives were taught in this part, much to the chagrin of the extracurricular teachers. Being farther removed from the office, people tended to believe they could get away with down here than over there. It wasn’t uncommon to hear mutterings from the teachers about having to break up kids making out or vaping in any spot that wasn’t under constant surveillance.
After school was much less busy–the art club and theater club were hard at work, per the usual–which is why I didn’t expect to see a lone girl wandering the hallway. Even from the distance between us, I could hear her humming, her cheeks puffed out. I figured she was a member of the band, but they were all outside practicing their marching for the halftime show at the football game tomorrow night. I also couldn’t quite place the melody, an odd rendition between classic rock and some innovative jazz.
I passed by her without a second thought to her or her humming, more concerned about whether I should toss the remainder of these and be done with it. Yet, that was a mere fantasy. The hassle wouldn’t be worth it nor would getting Miss Halsey to follow through on her threat. Besides, this was kind of a welcome relief from sitting in the clubroom with Nicole.
“Ah~, those posters. Did you get those from Aubrey?”
I gave her a once over, curious why she would know that. The girl seemed familiar upon closer inspection. Undoubtedly, I had passed her in the halls, yet I couldn’t place what stood out to me about her. She had a round face, with a splattering of freckles that were barely noticeable on her dark skin. Sun-kissed hair fell to the nape of her neck, and her green eyes glinted mischievously under her bangs that brushed her long eyelashes. About the only thing remarkable about her was how she managed to be a head shorter than Aubrey. Seriously, if this girl ever breached the five-foot mark, it would be a miracle bestowed upon her by the heavens themselves.
“Hey, why does it seem like you’re looking down on me?” she asked. There was a certain amount of chipperness to her tone that would annoy me coming from anybody else.
“It’d be tough to look up at you.”
“A short joke already? We’re like five sentences into this conversation.” She sighed wistfully. “This has gotta be some sort of record for how rude someone can be.”
I rolled my shoulders. “I always figured I was an overachiever. Seems like my teachers had it wrong for all these years.”
“An overachiever would have answered my question already.”
“You raise a good point.”
Her smile radiated an aura of smugness. “Of course!”
I chuckled. “However you’re still a few light years from being able to challenge me.”
Her face fell. “That’s what you’re going with? Out of all the lines you could quote, you’re going with a Pokémon game?”
“Hey, if you recognized it, clearly it can’t be that bad of a pick.”
The girl paused for a moment to mull that over. “I guess so. Although, instead of a Pokémon master, you’re a master of avoiding the topic. What’s up with that?”
“No real reason. You’re just easy to mess with.”
Her cheeks puffed out further than when she had been humming, launching a soft huff of air. Then, an amused grin took its place. “If you’re trying to flirt with me, I’ll have to turn you down. My heart’s broken, and I’m not looking for love right now.”
“You’re too young for me, anyway.”
She regarded me carefully for the first time, blinking rapidly as she took in my face. For a moment, I felt self-conscious about there being something on my face before realizing that was stupid. Nicole would have torn me to shreds in the clubroom had that been the case. A few seconds later that same grin replaced her thoughtful expression. “I wonder if that’s what he thought too.”
That connected the dots for me. Now, I remembered where I recognized her from and why it hadn’t been immediate. She was the girl with the bright smile who was almost always somewhere near Luke, usually until he found an excuse to escape. Unlike Aubrey, though, she had realized him having a girlfriend meant his escape route was permanent.
“Aubrey’s putting these up around the school, and I volunteered to help her out. If you took some, it’d be a big help.”
“Ok! You can count on me.”
She lunged at me, or more likely at the fliers, grabbing ahold of a fistful and pulling them away from the pile. Her hand brushed my own, and a spike of panic drove itself into my chest. My throat was dry as I jumped back, placing my back to the cool wall. Relax. No need to panic over this. She wasn’t going out of her way to spite me and wasn't going to hurt me either. Another freak-out would not bode well for me.
Relax.
I licked my lips, the undeniable pounding of my heart echoing in my ears. “Y-you startled me.”
She didn’t buy it. “Are you ok? Did I hurt you?”
“No, you’re fine. I just wasn’t expecting it.”
It was clear to me that she realized something was up, but to her credit, she didn’t push anything. The fliers were hugged closer to her chest, hiding the graphic on her sweater. “I’ll hang these up around the main area of the building, so you finish up around here.”
“Sounds like a genius plan.”
She blew a raspberry at me and scampered off. It wasn't until she turned the corner that I realized I didn’t know her name. Oh, well. If it came up, I was certain Aubrey would know who she was; her personality and looks were distinctive enough.
My back pressed harder on the wall, transferring much of my dead weight from my legs. I knew my luck was going to turn rotten sooner or later. Two incidents in less than two days were super unfortunate, more so considering I had gone my entire high school career up to this point without much of a problem. Nobody had ever really cared to invade my personal space, and any slips on my part were overlooked because I was never in a situation where someone was watching me closely. Thanks to that, I had been able to play everything off well enough.
Now, I might have been spiraling.