Well…at least the weather was nice.

My mom always said that it was better to be an optimist than some lame guy who always hated his life. I do believe I responded along the lines of “So, it’s better to make yourself be happy fakely than get the real emotions out of the way and cry like a little girl?”

…She hit me.

So, because of my mom’s advice, I now try to look at things in the most happiest, positively awesome ways! But that isn’t that easy when you are simply not having a good day.

Let’s start from point A, shall we?

I woke up late. Meaning, hey! I was totally late to class. I didn’t have time for breakfast so I just rushed. I was halfway driven to the school when I realized I’d forgotten my bag for schoolwork. Greaaaat. So, of course, I drove back home, ran into the house, and grabbed my bag, then rushed back out to the car, and sped to the school.

Following by my general luck…I got caught by a cop car speeding and got pulled over. I don’t think my sarcastic tone and comments really worked for me that time. So I got a ticket, and I was twice as late to class as I would have been if I had just gone the speed limit.

Lesson learned.

I found out that my first period class had a test! And I would have to come in after school to make it up—it was my only opportunity to do so, and doing that, I would miss soccer practice. Tomorrow was a game so…coach wouldn’t be happy. I was one of the star players so…really not happy.

Moving on…I went to my other classes, avoided a punch in the face from Will (He gets grumpy, I’m not sure why, but I can guess!), didn’t avoid another punch in the face from Will, and went to lunch.

So…I forgot to get lunch money this morning. So I tried to charge and they wouldn’t let me ‘cause I’d charged too many times already. I let out a curse at that and got chewed out by a nearby teacher…Mrs. Hack. No one really likes her. She’s not very nice.

So I went without lunch and breakfast, so through my entire second half of the day, my stomach growled like no other. Not to mention I’d sat entirely alone at lunch because Will had been with Fadge, trying to get on his good side or something, and Sarah had been completely gone from sight within the first twenty seconds of lunch. I’d heard from Will through Fadge from Sarah that she’d gotten herself a boyfriend, and apparently they liked to eat face behind the tech ed room.

I now avoided that area like the plague.

To top it all off, there was this kid eating French fries in my next hour the entire class. So frustrating. Like, they hadn’t ever offered to share. That’s just wrong, man. Just wrong.

I finally got out of class and went out to my car—a nasty old thing that liked to randomly commit mutiny on me. Like it did…right then. I couldn’t get it started and Will and Fadge and Sarah had already left. Then I remembered…Shit! I have to go remake that test!

So I sprinted back to the room, but the teacher had already left, figuring I’d completely forgotten and wasn’t going to show. I slapped myself a few times at that moment and decided to just go to soccer practice.

So I did.

Well for starters, my coach didn’t really like that I was late. And then, when I went to kick for a goal in a scrimmage, I tripped on the wet grass from the sprinklers and twisted my ankle, also falling and getting my uniform covered in mud.

I just sort of decided to go home at that moment.

Then I remembered that my car wasn’t working.

Christ.

So I went to take the bus, but couldn’t get a ride home after realizing I didn’t have any money…and I hadn’t even eaten today. I lived four miles away.

My cell phone battery was dead.

…Christ.

So I decided to walk home, after locking up my car and giving it a hug, saying I’d be back for it. So I took off on a walk under the hot sun of the lovely roasting weather to walk home. I think I lost like five pounds from that one walk. This was also right after a soccer workout and on a twisted ankle.

Which still hurt.

But, at least the weather was nice.

I sighed dejectedly as I came upon the block of my house, making sure I had my keys. Now that would’ve sucked. I dragged my tired, and one injured, feet up the stairs and unlocked the door to my house.

Upon which my little sister tackled me to the ground and I hit my head really hard.

“Christ!” I yelled, carefully pushing the first grader off of me and grabbing at the back of my head with a wince. The little girl stared at me before her lower lip started to tremble and she let out a scream.

Oh, dear lord, have mercy on me.

“Mom!” I yelled, getting up and grabbing my sister’s hand. I led her back into the house, knowing I would be unable to get her to stop crying. My mother came running around the corner, immediately picking up my sister to cheer her up. “What happened?” she asked, looking at me with almost accusing eyes.

“She tackled me when I got to the door and I got hurt so she started crying.”

“Ahhh,” my mom said, patting Tess’ hair and nodding. Rarely was anything my fault around here. With my mom always getting called on emergency to work, I was the only one to look after my little sister. My parents had divorced and my dad lived on the other side of town and didn’t really care about us that much. So the relationship with my little sister was different than most. Whenever she accidentally hurt me she’d feel horrible and start bawling her eyes out. And yet, through her love for me, she liked to do things to express that love when she saw me.

For example, tackling me to the ground.

So it kinda worked in a never-ending cycle.

“So why are you home so late?” my mom called from the kitchen, my sister’s crying having subsided. “You’re usually home a half hour earlier.”

“My car wouldn’t start so I had to walk home,” I replied, realizing just how sweaty I was from the hot sun…and how much I totally smelled right now. “I didn’t have the nicest day.”

“I’m sorry dear,” she said, obviously totally not listening. I hated it when she did that—asked a question but then quit listening when I gave her the answer.

So frustrating.

“How are Will and Fadge doing?”

Nice thing about my mom—totally not a homophobe. Which was good news, saying as my best friend was totally gay.

“I think Will did something to make Fadge angry so he was grumpy all day and took some swings at me and then they both ditched me at lunch because I think Fadge was ignoring Will and Will was trying to get back on his good side.”

“He took swings at you?”

“Yeah…he does that sometimes when he’s angry.”

“Just at you?’

“Yeah. He once told me it’s because he doesn’t like my face.”

“What a sweetheart.”

I nodded, looking at my little sister, now sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of juice. “It’s not nice to hit people,” she said, nodding at me with a big grin.

“Nope, it certainly isn’t,” I said, ruffling her hair and going from the kitchen to the stairs. “I’ll be up in my room!”

I didn’t wait for a reply, instead jogging up the stairs to my room and crashing on my bed. I reached over haphazardly and flicked on the fan, sighing as the cool air washed across my face. “Ahhh…nice…” I mumbled, pulling my dead phone from my pocket and putting the charger in, then turning the phone on. It instantly started buzzing with texts and a missed call. I raised an eyebrow. Missed call from Sarah, two texts from Will, a text from Sarah and a text from…an unknown number. I blinked and checked the other texts first. Sarah never left voicemails. I replied to what they had to say. I then opened up the message from an unknown number.

Hey sexy, I had a lot of fun on Sat. What are you up to?

Uh…what? I quickly typed out my reply.

Who is this?

I stared for half a second before setting the phone back down. It buzzed a moment later and I jumped. Whoa, fast texter.

I decided to just keep the phone right next to me as I flipped it open.

Uh, this is Taylor. Who else would it be?

…Interesting.

Well that’s a really good question, ‘cause this is John, who are you trying to get to?

It took a few more seconds this time around.

Oh. Hi! Wrong number. But since we’re already introduced, let’s talk shall we?

…Sure…

I stared blankly at the screen, dropping the phone on my bed while I ran down to get a glass of milk. I came back up with a new message waiting for me.

I sipped at the glass of milk as the odd conversation ensued.

So, John, what do you do?

Play soccer, go to school, you know, boring cliché stuff.

If you enjoy it, it’s not that cliché, is it?

Well, I guess not…

Well anyway…

--

The sound of my alarm is really annoying. I mean, it’s also just the worst alarm clock ever. I needed a new one but my mom didn’t want to spend money on it so she gave me this old one that belonged to my older sister.

Let’s just say my older sister is really girly. So, this clock is hot pink plastic with Hello Kitty stickers on it.

I feel so manly owning such a thing.

Really, I do.

I grumbled to myself, rolling out of bed and walking to take a quick shower before I got a ride from Will to school. Maybe I could get my car to work later. Or I’d have to call someone. Which, by the way, is really annoying. After the shower I pulled on a pair of jeans and a simple shirt, shuffling down the steps and out the door with a piece of half burnt toast.

My cooking skills leave something to be desired.

“So, Will,” I said as I hopped into the passenger’s seat—Fadge driving himself, as usual—“Last night, this one chick texted the wrong number and we got into this really awesome and long conversation. She’s cool!”

“Good for you, man,” Will said with a smile. Oh, good. He and Fadge weren’t on bad terms anymore.

“Yeah, her name is Taylor. She’s a musician and plays the saxophone, but she also really loves science. It’s cool!”

Will sent an encouraging smile at me and I grinned back. I mean, you never knew, right? Even if she had been trying to text someone for some other date. But as she’d put it:

Well, since he gave me an entirely wrong phone number, he obviously doesn’t want to see me again. You’re more fun to talk to anyway!

“What do you wanna bet she’s cute, too?” I sighed, in my own ridiculous heavenly bliss. Will chuckled as we pulled into the lot. “I gotta go,” he says, seeing a mildly angry looking Fadge Clarens staring him down from his own car. “See you, John.” I quickly vacated the car as he locked it up and ran over to Fadge.

Sometimes, I think that Fadge’s mood swings could break necks if you’re not careful.

I shrugged at my own thoughts, turning to walk to my first class. On time. Time to face my teacher…about the missed test.

Oh, lord.

--

“I’m sure she’s very cute, John,” Sarah said with a small smile, ruffling my hair. I made a small yelp and backed away, straightening it out carefully.

“Can I get your advice on something, Sarah?” I asked. I kept trying to ignore her new boyfriend sitting behind her, messing with her hair and kissing her neck now and then.

It was a little distracting.

“Sure, shoot,” she said with a grin, flicking at her boy’s nose. They both giggled and got googly eyes for a few minutes. I resisted the urge to slam my head against the lunch table.

“So, how do you impress or get a girl to like you if you haven’t met her yet?”

“Ahaha…That’s a really good question, John,” she said, smiling widely. “To be honest…I’d have to know her to tell you.”

“Oh, great help you are,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Just be yourself,” she said. I shrugged. Myself was strange, sarcastic, with a dashing, but sometimes aggravating, sense of humor. I didn’t know if Taylor would like myself.

Then again…be optimistic, John.

“Well, I’m off, have fun children,” I said, waving and standing up. I tossed my trash out on the way to my next class.

Be myself, huh?

--

I realized after about two weeks of texting Taylor that we’d never actually spoken on the phone, nor had we met. I knew that she lived in town—she’d told me that herself. I’d never ran into her though, and we’ve never really talked about meeting. But I didn’t want to push my luck…so I didn’t say anything about it.

As day by day went by, texting her in class, laughing out loud totally randomly at the dinner table, and all sorts of things, I realized that I really really liked this girl. I didn’t know what she looked like, but I knew her better through all our conversations than you would think that I could.

I was totally in love with her.

I never said anything though, and our conversations never got awkward, but it nagged at my mind. Until, one day, I received the text I’d been waiting for.

“Yes!” I cried to Will when I got into his car—mine was in the shop for serious internal surgery. “She wants to meet!”

“Oh yeah?” he said, Fadge jabbing at his ribs for no reason. He almost swerved the car but kept driving. “When?”

“On Friday night,” I said with a grin. “It’s going to be so awesome.”

Will just smiled at me and Fadge flipped around in his seat, a shock of pink in his hair today. It always got me all distracted when Fadge had bright hair. “I’m happy for you too, mannn!” Fadge said with a gigantic grin, holding two thumbs up. I nodded, smiling my thanks.

“What do you know, being an optimist works out well,” I said to myself happily as I walked to my class.

--

I’m here, wearing a violet shirt and jeans, I texted her, standing near the park bench. I looked around—no girls in sight. She was late.

“Uh…hi.”

I blinked and turned—that certainly wasn’t a girl’s voice. A guy stood behind me, just about an inch taller than me, with messy brown hair and very pretty blue eyes.

Did I just describe a guy’s eyes as pretty?
“Hi there,” I said, blinking.

“Um…are you…John?” he asked, and that’s when I noticed the phone he had in his hand. A Blackjack, that’s not even fair! Wait…did he just ask me if my name is John?

“Oh…yes.”

We stared at each other for a little while.

Silence ensued.

Very awkward silence.

“Oh, right…are you, uh Taylor?” I asked, still startled out of my brain. I thought Taylor had been a girl! But now that I thought about it…she—he’d never mentioned in the texts whether he was a guy or a girl.

Well, shit.

“Yeah…”

More awkward silence.

“So…” I said, shoving my hands into my pockets. I decided to blurt it out right then. “I thought you were a girl!”

He stared at me, surprised for a few moments before he chuckled slightly. “Well, this must be quite the surprise for you then.”

“Yes. It is.”

“Right.”

More staring. Oh, god. Just speak, John.

“Ok so I’m just gonna spit this out. I could’ve sworn I was as straight as a laser, but you know, I’m kinda like in love with you and after seeing that you’re a guy…I’m not like, disappointed or anything.” I stared at him blankly for a few seconds.

He raised both his eyebrows. “Really. I always got some form of gaydar from you over the texts. And…in love with me. That’s…wow.”

“If it’s a problem I’ll turn around and leave right now,” I said, still shell shocked at the fact that I liked men. I mean…I think I still like girls. Yeah, I do. So…I’m bisexual?

I just got thrown for a loop.

“It’s…not a problem at all,” he said quietly, breaking eye contact for half a second before catching my gaze again. “Because uh…I think the right thing to say here is…I love you too.”

We stared at each other for a moment before I awkwardly stepped forward, slowly sliding my hand into his. He didn’t pull back at all, instead pulling me closer.

“You just had to be taller than me, didn’t you?” I said before leaning up and kissing him.

Maybe being an optimist isn’t always the worst thing to be.

--

You guys remember John? He was Will’s best friend in FLF. Some reviews would be great…

Any flames will be used to roast the flamer over a spit with. 8D