He
doesn't even notice me. I mean, he does, but it's
just a glance while he's scanning the surrounding area
for a friend he’s been talking to. A girl friend,
possibly soon to become his girlfriend. On the first day of
school I walked into my third class, wishing for the day to
be over. The stress was too much, although it wasn't as
bad as I thought it would be. I was one of the first in the
room, so I took a seat at the far end of the room. Once the
room was full,I realized I was surrounded by strangers.
Lower classmen I didn't even know. My second day in
that class I took a seat on the other side of the room with
students my age. That's when I noticed him. He was so
cute and when he smiled, my heart skipped a beat.
Butterflies flapped their wings, trying to escape my
stomach. I wanted to talk to him, but didn't know how.
So instead of making conversation I asked for help.
“Um...Do you know how to do this? I’m so
confused,” I started off, with a little laugh. I
hoped he couldn’t hear the nervousness.
“Yeah,” he said and went on to explain what we
had to do. “Thanks,” I said quietly. Everyday
was the same. Almost. He sometimes asked me for help. I
loved when he did that because I loved to hear his voice. I
pretended not to like him too much. And I didn’t want
to show him how desperate I was to have a friend in that
class. One day, a few weeks into class, he moved seats. He
moved one seat over so there was one between us. I could
have sat next to him, but I chose to sit in my normal seat.
Is that what he wanted? To no longer have to talk to me? I
wasn’t the prettiest girl, but he could have just
stopped talking to me. It wasn’t like I had talked to
him everyday and flirted. I had barely talked to him at
all! It went on like that for a few more classes, until one
day he moved back. He talked to me first this time.
“Hey. Can you help me with this?” I was angry
with him so I just said, “Sorry. I don’t know
how to do it. Ask the teacher.” I leaned on my arm,
facing away from him. Yes, it was childish, and yes, it
made my heart ache to do it. But somewhere inside of me, I
felt it was the right thing to do. Those gut instincts
proved right, when the next class he sat next to me with a
bright, lovely smile. “Hey. What’s up?”
“Nothing,” I said. “What’s up with
you?” We went on like that, making small talk.
Finally, what I had been hoping and wishing for came true.
At the end of class, he stopped me by grabbing my arm and
letting everybody else out. “I have a
question.” He seemed a bit nervous. It made me
nervous also. “Yeah?” “Um...” he
cleared his throat. “I like you and I want to get to
know you better. Will you go out with me this
Friday?” I couldn’t even speak. But the look on
his face showed me that he was more nervous than I.
“Sure.” His smile lit up his face. I gave him
my number, thinking, Maybe he did notice me after all, and
walked out of the room composed, while inside I was jumping
for joy.