Chapter 10: I don’t know what to say…

By the time Science ended I wished it never did. (Did I just think that?!) I am NOT ready for this! I don’t think I can handle facing him! I couldn’t even handle being around him. (Remember the pole I ran into? And remember when I spilt the Sprite all over my shoes?) I slowly took my time to my locker. Luckily, Icky Matt wasn’t here today. Otherwise he would be on my butt following so close. I switched my Science stuff for my Spanish stuff and put on some fresh lip gloss. I fluffed my hair and straightened out my outfit. I just went shopping with my mom not too long ago, so I have a whole new wardrobe. Today I was wearing a tan corduroy skirt, a sparkly pink top with a white collared jacket. And of course I was wearing my Uggs! (It hasn’t stopped raining for days!) I tightened the strap on my shoulder (don’t know what that’s supposed to help) and closed my locker. I slowly walked down the hallway to Jake’s Spanish room. What am I expecting to happen? I have no idea, that’s why I’m trying to be ready! I am so glad that my day-dreams haven’t showed up recently. These past couple weeks have been real! And I can’t believe school is almost over. I turn the corner to the hallway of all-is-revealed. (I gave the hallway between my Spanish class room and his Spanish class room a name.) No sign of Jake. I turn around the corner. Then I finally see him coming up the stairs! And I swear, what happens next is real! At least, I hope it is. Once he sees me from around the corner, a big smile comes across his face. He walks as far as the hallway to my class room and waits for me to come to him. “Hey.” He smiles.

“Hey.” I couldn’t help but smile. You got to admit this kid is cute! He reminds me of a cowboy, but he has a skater attitude. I just had a flashback of the 6th grade on Halloween where he dressed up as a cowboy. I love my cowboys. I pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I wonder where all my dreams have gone. I’m kind of worried about myself. I haven’t had dreams in a really long time, and that’s a bad thing.

“How’s it going?” He asked. We slowly walked side-by-side down the other hallway to my classroom.

“It’s going good.” Idiot! Why did I say that? I could’ve said something smart like, ‘It’s never been great at school’ or something flirty like ‘It’s been okay, and you just made it better’. Arg! I’m losing my edge. Maybe I do need some more dreams.

“That’s good.” He nodded. Then there was an awkward silence that followed. This reminded me of the time we had an awkward silence at lunch and my friend said, “Every awkward silence, a gay baby is born.” I don’t believe it’s true, but it was funny at the time. The hallway started thinning. Jake’s eyes were gazing into mine. It seemed he was really into this conversation. Kate walked past us and she was in shock. She walked in the Spanish room in a huff and immediately asked anyone for gum. The bell rang and he didn’t budge.

“Uh, you do know that the bell rang?”

“Yeah.” He sighed, not taking his eyes off of me. He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “See you at lunch?”

“Yeah.” I said. I dreamly walked into my Spanish room completely ignoring Kate.

I tapped my pencil annoyingly on my desk. The clock was ticking oh so slow for lunch. Finally, when our teacher let us out, Meredith was waiting for me.

"Hey." She greeted me.

"Hey. Uhm... I'm going to eat lunch with Jake today." I told her.

"Really?" Her eyes got really wide. "Okay then." She left me and got along side Kelly. I was on my own now. I took my time walking down the hallway. Once I turn the corner, it's show time. I took a deep breath and turned the corner. And sure enough, there he was. He was leaning up against the brick wall waiting for me. He smiled when he saw me coming down the hall. "Hey." He said, when I approached him.

"Hey." I blushed. I'm such a girl. Why is he such a charmer? Maybe I'm just being crazy. Who knows what he is thinking now?! Kate walked past us and she said hi to Jake. He didn't even say hi back. She scoffed and walked on. He just kept looking at me. This was getting awkward. Why didn't he say hi back? "Don't worry about her." He said, reading my mind. "Come on." He motioned down the hall. "I want to talk to you." I followed close behind as he led the way. Maybe he wants to tell me he hates my guts and he never wants to see me again. I could understand that. I don't know why but he's making me uncomfortable. When we got to the hallway of doom, he stopped in the middle and faced me.
"I want you to be my girlfriend."
I almost choked on his words. Girlfriend? You've got to be kidding me! This was going to fast. What am I supposed to say to that? You could say yes. Breathe! I let out a big sigh, realizing I was holding my breath. "Girlfriend?"

"Yeah. I really like you. I guess I never stopped liking you but I want to try this again."

"We've already been through this. I don't want to get hurt again."

"You won't." He took my hand. "I promise."
Some promise that was. I pratically whispered yes and he smiled. He led me down the hall to go to lunch. Is it wrong to not have an appitite for the third day in a row?