STAY

9.

As I woke up the next day, I couldn't get Michaels face of my mind. It was so different from the one I would normally see at school. Sure, he would glance over at me and smile in a greeting way, but this was different. This was a different person than I had met before. But that's when I realized I had met him like this once before. He had been flirty and charming when we met the first time, bumping into each other outside of the school library. He had already catched my interested back then and I seemed to have done the same. How could I have forgotten that encountered. Maybe it was because he after a while, turned out to be colder than he seemed when we first met.

When I stepped of the bus at school that morning, I couldn't see Christina or Daniella anywhere. I tried calling them, but none of them picked up. When I finally gave up and decided to go get ready for class without them, I saw Michael and his friends leaning against the railing on the stairs. I couldn't help but to look at him. His smile while talking to the others. His way of joking around with his friends. It made my heart jump. At first, he didn't seem to notice me walking past him. It looked as if he was busy talking to Eduardo, but the second I reached the first step he turned his head towards me and a tired but warm smile started growing on his lips.

" 'Morning Oliva", he said and nodded, his friends looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"Hey", was the only thing I managed to say as I walked past him, up the stairs and into the school. Maybe he wanted me to stop for a small chat, but I wasn't going to be late for my class, even though most of the other girls probably wouldn't mind.

***

After Spanish was over, I headed towards my locker and checked the phone. Neither Daniella or Christina had shown up at school the whole morning. As I checked my messages, I could see that I had received two. One from Christina and one from Daniella. Both were late and wouldn't make it to school before lunch. I checked the time and saw that it was 11:30 and thought that they should be here by now, but they were still nowhere in sight.

"Hey", I heard a raspy deep voice say behind the door to my locker. I recognized his voice immediately, and I couldn't help but notice that there was something different with it than it had been yesterday. He sounded tired, as if he hadn't slept well. I slowly closed my locker, and the first thing I saw was Michaels deep brown eyes staring down at me, looking as if there was something special on his mind. His lips were crocked in his gorgeous smile that he had had yesterday, and that's when I knew it.

That's when I first felt it. Daniella had described the feeling several times when she was dating a guy; the tickling feeling in the stomach, the immediate panic not knowing what to do and the heart starting to beat faster and faster. I finally had to admit it to myself. I was attracted to this guy. Every single nerve in my body agreed to that statement once I thought of it.

"You just walked past me this morning", he started.

"Well, I had to make sure I went to class"

"You had ten minutes?"

"Ten minutes to get my stuff"

"You would've managed to stop by. Don't tell me you were avoiding me? The dinner wasn't that bad", he said jokingly.

"No I wasn't avoiding you", I said giggling. I was just having other thoughts on my mind"

"Me?" He winked.

For a moment I just started at him. How could he possibly know? No one can read minds, not even him. Was it that obvious?

"Joke. Joke. Joke", he said as he made a calming gesture with both of his hands.

"Not funny"

"Your expression was funny. Did I catch you of guard? Or did I discover one of your secrets?" he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Yeah, right. Very good Michael. You got me.", I giggled. "You discovered my dirty little secret"

"Dirty?", he raised an eyebrow looking amused.

"I was joking!", I exclaimed before I hit his arm. "And besides, I'm not the one having secrets here".

"Yeah that's true", he continued. "You're like an open book. You can't have secrets"

If you only knew. "Well, I didn't know Mr. Badass here was into books?"

"Badass?"

"Don't try and change the subjects."

He raised his eyebrows, looking amused before he talked again.

"Well, every bad boy has his own secrets right? Well books are mine", he studying my face. "Let's take walk outside", he said as he gestured towards the doors. I nodded, took my books and walked after him.

"I figured you would be interested in other things", I started.

"Like what?"

"Like... I don't know. Boxing maybe?" I'm not sure why I said that. Maybe because of all the bruises he would have?

"Why would you say that?", he asked me, his tone becoming harsher. Maybe I was on to something here?

"Well I don't know. A wild guess maybe?"

"Well it's true", he said, sounding a bit more relaxed now. Maybe even relieved. "Boxing is also kind of my thing. Thing number two actually. Books always come first"

"Is that so?", I asked him as we came outside. The sun was shining, feeling warm towards my skin. "So one of your halves is a boxing dude, and the other one is a book-nerd? Interesting..."

"Interesting?"

"It's an interesting combination", I continue.

"Well I am interesting", he said with a smirk on his face. I burst out laughing, and so did he. There was something different going on between us. He was not like any other guy, trying to charm me with compliments, but he joked with me in a way that no one else had.

In the corner of my eye, I could see Eduardo and the others stand by a black car. As I heard someone shout Michaels' name, we both turned our heads towards them.

"Well, I better get going to my guys", Michael said as he turned his back towards them. "I'll see you around in school" he smiled as walked away, but quickly returned as if he forgot something.

"I just remembered, here you have my number. Send me a text so I have yours". He handed me a small orange post it note. "So I can text you when I finished the book you borrowed for me"

"Sure", I managed to say before he left. As I looked down at his number, I felt my heart have an extra beat, before I felt a hand on my shoulder and I quickly turned around, to see Daniella standing behind me.

"Dammit Daniella, don't do that! You scared the hell out of me"

"Sorry...", she mumbled. "What was that all about?", she asked me with raised eyebrows. Since I didn't really want to tell her about the me and Michael, I just told her that I had borrowed a science book for him at the library the other day, since he had forgotten his library card, and that him giving me his number was only a way to make sure that he could reach me outside of school. Daniella seemed to buy the white lie, but I have to be honest. I felt kind of guilty about lying towards her. However I wanted this to be mine and Michaels little secrete. At least for a while.