COMPLETELY

Chapter 2 - nostalgia

Sigh history. 

A class I completely cherished. 

Hah. Hah. Hah. 

Mr. Baldwin buried his nose in his laptop temporarily while muttering;

"Now where's that file..."

The class fell into chatter, it's volume increasing over time. Let me take you into a glimpse of an ultimate nerd's life.

A nerd with no friends. 

I've got friends. 

Not here.

I KNOW. 

Imagine being stranded on an island. And every tree is just a boat that's slowly making their way to shore. But for some reason you can't reach the boats, or call out to them. So you just sit there,  surrounded by everyone yet surrounded by nothing. 

I flipped open my laptop continuing an English essay due in a week, allowing the detailed explanation and rage from the novel I picked, let loose on the keyboard. 

Brad and Colin talked over me. Not that I was paying attention. I just wanted to scream "You could just move closer ya know?" but my shyness acted differently allowing them to consecutively shout;

"What?" and "Say that again"

"Ok class"

Great.

Nothing good ever came out of that mouth after the words ok and class.

"New Project"

See what I mean?

"Pairwork"

OH PERFECT. I might as well be a fortune teller. Not to sound mean, but I wasn't really the socialising type. Ashlynn was the one who was out-going and frankly, she was how I met Ray and Justin. Thanks to her, our measly study pair became a study group.

At this point, Mr.Baldwin was pointing at people at random going "YOU WITH YOU" "YOU OVER THERE THE ONE WITH THAT HEINOUS TOP WITH THAT ONE" 

Heinous top? He was one to talk.

"YOU" he pointed to me. pleasenotbradpleasenotbradpleasenotbrad. with "YOU" he pointed to Brad.

HA OH GREAT HAHA THANKS SO MUCH MR BALDWIN! HAHAHA YOU'RE MY NEW BFF.

People started to move around filling the room with the pull of chairs and the squeaks as the tables starting dragging across the wooden flooring. The room was filled with low-volumed chatter and some productive discussions, others with giggles or regular chats. Brad and I were just sitting there. Looking straight ahead. Waiting for the other to make the first move. 

I sucked my teeth at the awkwardness.

"So" we both said simultaneously turning to each other. My hazel eyes locked with his ones through his dirty blonde hair.

My cheeks started heated up at that moment causing me to look down immediately-more like frantically-. Checks heating up. CHEEKS HEATING UP. Wait what? My stomach did a 360 and my heart sunk to the bottom of my ribcage. I looked to my right to see him looking down awkwardly. His heavy breathing obvious with the rapid movement of the rising of his slouching shoulders. 

As a nerd -adjusts invisible tie- I had to get this project started. I stared at the instruction paper siting untouched ever since Mr.Baldwin placed it there. Besides creating a model similar to the Greek statues, the first half of the page's content were numbered. They were questions we had to answer before dealing with the model. I plucked up my courage and the little dignity I had left and heaved a sigh.

"OKSOI'LLDONUMBERS5THROUGH10ANDYOUDONUMBERS1-4THENWECANDOTHEMODELSOMEHOWISITALRIGHTWITHYOU?"

I basically rapped out as fast as I could, my tongue moving at sonic speed that would make Eminem proud, wanting the sentence to be over, the longest sentence ever. 

He blinked with a blank face. Then something I didn't expect at all. No, no, not a meteor crashing into the classroom, though that would be perfect to get out of this moment.

A small smile crept on his face. He was trying to resist it. But he gave in and gave a light chuckle. His voice rang through my ears like a song  and the rest of the class suddenly felt silent-at least to me.

His smile vanished as quickly as it came. 

"Okay." he said cooly. His lips pressed in a straight line.

"Wait, you actually understood me?" I muttered skeptically. 

"I had enough experience with your Eminem side when you're nervous Tay-be - Taylor."

He quickly caught himself. Tay-belle. 

A name only he called me. A name I hadn't heard in years. Taylor Belle Sam. Only he knew my middle name. I used to hate it as I didn't want to associate myself with a disney princess of some sort-nope I am not a your regular girly girl-. So he incorporated my middle name into my nickname. Tay-belle.

Hearing that name again -well, almost- brought nostalgia.

flashback

"Tay-belle! Stop it you might fall."

"I don't care I'm flying and I'm free" I was standing on the swing on my tippy toes as my fingers barely held the chains.

"Tay-belle!" he sighed in exasperation. "If you I push you as hard as I could, would you sit on your butt like a normal person does on a swing?!"

It was cute how someone so young could be so protective.

I could remember his 8-year old hands pushing my little 8-year old back as my eyes were sealed shut and the autumn wind blew in my face.

"Hehe I'm flyiiinnggg"

"Maybe I should call you Tay-bird instead of Tay-belle!"

"Oh my goodness, please!!!" I begged wanting the ridiculous name gotten rid of.

"HAH! You wish! Tay-belle! Tay-Belle! Tay-belle!" he teased.

end 

The bell rang signalling the end of class. The familiar screech of chairs and tables met my ears again. I looked down at the instruction paper still untouched. I looked left to see Brad intently studying the first question. Okay, so he didn't notice the state of which I was blankly looking at who knows what. Before meeting any more awkwardness, I just stood up abruptly, packed my things and left the class. 

My wrist was caught. I turned back to see Brad clutching my wrist. 

"Um," he looked down and pulled away his hand to scratch the back of his neck in one swift motion. 

Gee nice save.

Then, Hayes came from behind him and gave him a slap on his back causing him to turn around and his face quickly turned to the regular face he wears all day. The signature smirk and slightly narrow eyes that said who cares. Figures. I just walked through the door.

I didn't see him turn around mid-speech to see me leaving.

-
nostalgia  in greek, "the pain from an old wound"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi guys! Thank you so much for reading! What do you think about the book so far. Do give it a chance, there's more in store. Haha. 

Vote and Comment! XD

xoxo

CreXenT