Class Valedictorian, Star Center on the Basket Team, good grades, good kid pretty much sums up Finn Nash a Senior at Lenape Charter High. Having his whole life planned out for him, nothing could have surprised him more then a bizarre encounter with...
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Shock would not be an adequate word to describe my mom's face. For the first time in twelve years, she did not need to push me out of bed or make my breakfast. She came down the steps in time to watch me put my bowl in the sink. I threw my backpack over my shoulder and kissed her cheek.
"See you at school. Don't forget those cupcakes." I grin, loving the "what the hell" look on her face. Yeah, that's right. I'm shaking things up people, you better get used to it.
Since yesterday took quite a bit of running to get to Brynn's stop, I knew I should prepare and get an early start this morning. My intention is to hopefully beat her there. As I approached where I saw her standing the other day, I notice someone walking toward me. It's Brynn. Only today the streaks in her hair are red. She does this often I notice, and I wonder if it's an artistic statement or just a mood thing.
Feeling rather awkward and a little stalkerish, I begin pondering if I made the right decision as I watch her getting closer. What if I freak her out? What if she gets pissed and tells me to go away? What do I say to her? She's getting really close now. Do I say anything? Maybe I should let her say something first? My brain hurts.
As she approaches, she shakes her head. She must be close enough now to recognize that it is me. I notice she is smiling and my stomach is flip-flopping all over the place. Is this normal?
"Am I going to need to invest in a restraining order?" Her smile is downright mischievous now.
This time I am prepared to make a witty comment back having thought of little else. Forfeiting the sleep I should have gotten in place of running imaginary conversations through my head.
"That depends, do you really want me to go away?" I challenge.
It's interesting to me how sleep loss works similarly to getting drunk, in that the more sleep you lose the less concerned you are about how foolish you may appear. Or at least that's what I witnessed it happening to friends at parties as I've never been drunk before.
"Straight and to the point. Nice," she counters. "No, for some reason, not really."
With that answer, I want to jump and shout, "Yeah that's right. She wants me around. Woohoo!"
Instead, I act nonchalant and say, "Cool."
"I guess I can give this to you now then." Brynn took a moment to dig in her bag before pulling out a note, which she then proceeds to hand to me. "My intention was to get this to you before classes started. Thanks for saving me the trouble."
"No problem." I can't stop grinning. I feel like an idiot. I take the note that is shaped like a fish from her hand. A fish?
Annoyingly on time, the bus, I notice is coming up the street. I want more time. Why am I forced to get only these brief snippets? The bus is now upon us and the doors swing open. Our seats are assigned so I can't even continue our conversation, or whatever you would call it.
"Miss Shelby. And Mr. Nash. I wondered where you were. Not like you to miss two days in a row."
"Good Morning, Ms. Vera," I say to our bus driver. She refuses to answer you if you use her married name yet she still expects you to use titles.
I climb aboard behind Brynn who is already up the few steps in front of me. From this vantage point, I notice for a little thing she has a cute butt. Wait? What? When did I start making decisions on Brynn's body parts? Hold it together, man. I need sleep.
I accidentally make eye contact with Ms. Vera who, I am embarrassed to say, must have noticed me checking out Brynn's butt and chuckles at me. I feel the heat creep into my face and want to throw my hoodie up over my head but decline, as it would be too obvious I have something to hide.
Brynn, who is thankfully oblivious, slides into her seat and I can't help but notice that her seatmate makes an awful face before sliding a little closer to the window.
Now that's just rude. Why are some people such a-holes? But Brynn either doesn't notice or doesn't care as she digs in her bag to pull out the book I had seen her reading yesterday at the bus stop.
I want her to look at me. Acknowledge me walking by but she doesn't. She just continues reading, which gets me thinking maybe things aren't so good. Maybe she didn't want me to go away because she wanted to give me the letter that is going to tell me to kiss off and I just saved her the trouble of tracking me down. Great.
I want to read the letter now but not here on the bus. My seatmate is also a bit of a jerk and I really don't want him snooping. It would really annoy me and with lack of sleep also comes a lack of patience, a bad combination in such close quarters. The letter would have to wait. I place it in my pocket.
Twenty minutes later we are in front of the high school. Everyone is getting off the bus and I look around but don't see Brynn anywhere. Maybe she is by her tree? I look but again no Brynn. Okay, this looks really bad. Is she purposely trying to hide from me? I knew it. I did freak her out.
"The pouty face again, really?" Tyler asks as he approaches. "What's wrong now?"
"I scared her off," I said more to myself than to Tyler. I was so mad. I felt like hitting something.
"Brynn, again?" His tone was bored. "Is she worth all this trouble? You've been pretty messed up since you talked with her yesterday. You're all over the place. You screwed up every drill. You never screw up."
"I want to explain it to you, but honestly I can't. I don't understand it myself." Agitated I run my fingers through my brown shaggy hair. Then I am reminded of Brynn's letter from yesterday.
How can you understand? I don't always understand myself.
The letter. Perhaps the note would shed some light on the subject. I pull it from my pocket but as I do the bell rings signaling the start of another school day.
"Stow it," Tyler tells me and we run up the stairs together.
I get to my locker and pack my bag with the books I need. I keep glancing around hoping to catch a glimpse of Brynn but no luck. I head with Tyler to English Lit and he continues to look at me worriedly.
"Quit it, will you? I'm fine," I state grumpily.
"If you say so." It's obvious, Tyler is not convinced.
We take our seats and Miss Valentino hands back our assignments from a few days ago. Stopping momentarily at Tyler's desk, she slides the paper in front of him with an A in bright red at the top.
"Nice Job! I am impressed with your efforts. Keep this up and you may even rival Mr. Nash over there."
Tyler couldn't wipe the goofy grin off his face.
"Teacher's pet," I grumble, once she walked away.
"Jealous much," he taunts back.
I slump into my seat. He's right. I should be happy for him. What's wrong with me? I really need some sleep.
