A Kiss for Maya

"Daisy and Gatsby?"

"Gatsby looked at Daisy in a way that every young girl wanted to be looked at."
~ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

***

Maya's POV

Class is about to end and I'm hoping I can talk to Max about me tutoring him. I need to know when I'll be helping him so that I can add him to my schedule and work my other tasks around that.

I hear Mason slightly tap his pencil on his desk behind me and my thoughts shift to him. I noticed that he's now sporting a black eye.

Serves the jerk right.

That would be a sweet taste of payback for his rude I'm-too-cool-to-say-hello-back attitude yesterday but it's unfortunately not. All the girls are swooning over it and his bruised lip as it adds to his bad boy persona.

Seriously?

He could lose his eye and come with an eyepatch and they would kiss the ground he walks on. Well, come to think of it, eye patches are really cool.

Imagine if something happened to your eye and you convinced mom and dad to wear one?

"What are you thinking about?" The cool, whispering voice enters my ear. Mason.

Why does he speak so closely to my ear?

I realise I have a goofy smile on my face and try to recover myself. I sit up on my chair then put my elbows on the desk and rest my cheek on my fisted hand. Each time I ignore his existence, I can hear cheerleaders screaming my name. Maya- 3, Mason- 1.

Have you seriously turned this into a game?

The bell for lunch rings and almost everyone starts shuffling for their books and backpacks.

"And not a single person should forget their homework tomorrow." Mrs. Miracle tries to speak over the ringing bell and chatty students. She holds the pointy tip of the thick frame of her nude glasses and directs her sight at Zac Murray.

"So, when can we meet up?" I ask Max once he's packed all his books.

"Huh?" Creases of confusion form on his forehead.

"Oh," I giggle nervously, "I meant for English. Your friend called me and told me you needed help with it."

I purposely refer to Mason like that to act as if I forgot his name and hopefully stir him up. It must be disturbing for a king like him to be ignored and forgotten by a girl.

"Oh, yeah!" Max seems to understand. "Uh...how's...how's today for you?"

"Uhm..." I mentally go over my schedule. "It's good."

"May!" I turn around to find Shelly and Bianca standing by the door.

I grab my books and sling my backpack over my shoulders. After waving goodbye to Max, I walk over to them.

"Okay, I forgot my lunch so I have to rush to the cafeteria and you know the lines there but when I come back you are spilling the details!" Bianca says and without explaining any further, runs down the stairs.

"What details?" I question Shelly.

"Oh, don't act dumb." She gives me a sly smile, "We saw you whispering to Max the whole period then you two were speaking afterwards."

Shelly grins like a stupid idiot and I jokingly slap her arm.

"I told you guys I'll be helping him with school." I laugh at the ideas that must have been running through their heads.