STAY

7.

The weekend passed smoothly. It was raining on Saturday afternoon and the whole Sunday. Mom and dad were both home on Saturday, but dad had to go to work at Sunday again. There had been an emergency at the hospital and he was needed. Which left me, mom and Jacob home alone. We didn't do much at all because of the rain. I was mostly reading my book, while Jacob was playing with his toys on the floor and mom was sitting with him. I actually enjoyed these days, when one of them was home. They would always make sure they spent time with Jacob during the day. In the evenings they would usually try to spend more time with me, asking me how everything was going in school and what was going on in my life. I remember mom asking me while eating dinner, if there were some new hot boys at school. I didn't tell her about Michael, but I started talking about some of the senior boys and how childish they were in my eyes. I made it pretty clear to her that I was not interested in any of them.

"What about this new boy? I heard there was a new boy that started this year. Is it true?"

I didn't answer at first. Where did she hear that from? I surely hadn't told her.

"What is he like? Have you seen him around school?"

I shook my head and kept my eyes on my food.

"Hmm, weird", she said as she was feeding Jacob the last of his food.

"I mean I'm sure I've seen him, but not put much notice on him, and we don't have the same classes so it's not that strange".

My mom didn't say anything after that. Maybe she realized that that was a fair argument. I was just glad I didn't have to discuss this point even more. It didn't matter how hard I tried not to think about him, he would still be there in my head. His smile would send weird shivers through my body. His eyes would make my heard skip a beat. And the way he called me "Sunshine" made my smile seem so foolish. I wasn't going to deny that he was the most handsome boy at school. But I could definitely say that I was trying my hardest not to think about him, and stay away from him. I had a feeling it wasn't working.

***

The week started as usual, but something had changed. The way Michael approached me in school was different. He wouldn't just walk past me anymore. He would actually nod and smile as we met in the corridor. At first I didn't know how to react, but after a while I just smiled back towards him. I didn't want to be rude. I had, after all, borrowed a book for him, and I really wanted to make sure that he would hand it back, so that I didn't have to pay for it.

When Christina and Philip dropped me of at my house on Wednesday the next week, I was exhausted. I had stayed at school to finish my history assignment and start on the psychology one while waiting for Christina and Philip who finished at three. When they were done, the three of us went running some laps around the school tracks. I was the one hanging after them, but considering the fact that I wasn't as athletic, I was doing pretty well. After 30 minutes of running on the track, we went and took something to drink at the café, before they drove me home.

I entered the house. I had seen both my moms and dad's car outside the house, and was surprised that both of them would be home this early on a Wednesday evening.

"Sweetie, where have you been?", my mom asked me as she walked out of the kitchen with Jacob on her hips. She was wearing a black skirt and a white blouse. Her makeup had been touched up, and her hair was laying perfectly on her shoulders.

"I was out with Christina and Philip. We were running", I said as I dropped the training bag on the end of the stairs to take it up later. I was still wearing my running clothes and shoes. I found it more comfortable to shower at home.