6. The Awkward Ride

Steph's Pov

“Steph, are you okay?” It had been a regular, foggy winter morning. I had arrived at school early, like I always did, and was sitting in the library, trying to get my head around the bizarre chemistry equations, when Kylie had rushed to me, out of breath, with a look of concern etched onto her face. 

          “Yeah, why?” I was confused.

              “Well?” She hesitated.

                “What's wrong, Kylie?” I asked, holding her hand, worried something might've happened to her.

            “Someone egged your locker. I was afraid you were hurt too.” She said, clasping her hands and looking nervous. My heart dropped when the words came out of her mouth. We rushed towards my locker, and surely enough, it was splattered with eggshells and egg yolk all over it, sending a foul smell throughout the hall.

       “What's all this racket? Move aside, let me in.” Mr Avery, the janitor, made his way through the crowd.

       “Well, well, well, look who we have here, Miss Hudson again. You've sure got a lot of haters, haven't you?" I tried very hard to hold my tears back. It was okay. We had been through this before, we'll tackle it now too.

       “Off to the cupboard room, Miss Hudson, I want this mess cleared immediately!” Mr Avery commanded. Well, that worked in my favor. In that moment, I wanted to be anywhere but in the middle of the hallway, becoming the laughingstock for the whole school. I heard Kylie trudging behind me silently. We quickly grabbed a mop, bucket full of water and a garbage bag.

            This was the third attack on my locker this month. It had been happening so often, that I'd come prepared with an extra bottle of deodorant in my bag, to make the pungent smell of eggs go away. Kylie and I quickly cleaned it all up before class, while Mr Avery shooed everyone away.

       “Go on now, get on with your things. There's nothing to see here.”

        “I'm sorry and thank you. I always end up ruining the day for you, don't I?” I apologized to Kylie. I knew she had dressed up for Nick today. She had worn a lovely plaid skirt with black tight, which now probably smelled of eggs.

        “Stephanie, shut your face. If there's anyone who should be apologizing, it’s the person responsible for this. Who does not have the balls to show their face in person?” She said a little loudly for everyone in the hallway to hear. I loved that about her. She had always been the feisty one. Fighting for what's right.

        “Oy, that's enough. Get back to class.” Mr. Avery yelled at us. In class, everyone scrunched up their noses when we passed by. I wondered if the people at school could be any sweeter. I immediately immersed myself in my books; if there was any way I could get through the day, it would be by studying.

          “Ok class, this is Cole Bennett; he'll be joining our class today.” A tall boy, with shaggy brown hair drooping against his forehead, walks in with a lanky bag loosely hung against his shoulder. He has his hands deep in his pockets and looks completely disinterested. I hate this about most people in our school. They have this high, I-know-it-all stature about them all the time.

             “Gosh, he's cute!” Kylie whispered in my ear, and she wasn't the only one gushing over him. A lot of other girls in class began to giggle to each other. Well, I guess I was a hater. 

     “You may take your seat, Mr. Bennet.” Said Mr. Brown, politely ushering him towards the empty seat in front. He, however, walked towards the back of the class and sat at the last bench.

       “Well, okay then. Class, we'll be starting pseudocodes, so we'll all be heading towards the computer labs. One computer will be allowed to two students, so please find yourself a partner.” Well, that was not an issue at all; Kylie and I were obviously going to partner up. I turned to look at her, only to find her walking hand in hand to the front of the class with Nick. That bitch!

         She turned around to look at me and mouthed a sorry. Well, with all the egg shenanigans today, this was the least I could do for her. Then I saw her winking at me, and nudging her head towards the guy, asking me to partner with him. I rolled my eyes and ignored her. I'll probably be the only one left without a partner and have a computer all to myself.

        “Do you have a partner?” I heard a deep voice behind me. I turned around to find Cole with the same nonchalant expression on his face.

      “No.” Oh God, why did I say no?

    “Mind if I join you?” Yes, I would very much like to be left alone. Thank you very much.

      “No.” Ugh, what was with me and these one-word answers.

       “Okay then.” He picked up his bag and began to wait for me at the front of the class. In class, we began to take turns writing the pseudocode for an alarm. He turned out to be quite the genius. It took him no time, to come up with variables, and he even helped me out a lot suggesting changes here and there.We were sitting close by, our shoulders kept touching, making it awkward.

         “So you're new in town?” I tried making conversation.

         “Mm-hmm.” He replied shortly, nodding his head. So, I guess he wasn't a big talker.

        “You shouldn't have let him do that.” He said suddenly.

      “Huh?”

      “You shouldn't have let the janitor treat you like that. You weren't at fault at all. If anything, you were the victim.” Oh. Oh dear lord. He saw all of that too? Yeah, well, everyone in school already knew, so I guess one more person wouldn't hurt. So I just giggled pathetically in reply. I really didn't know what to say.

       But later, walking back home from school, I thought over it. He knew, I wasn't the most favorite here, yet he chose to pair up with me. Well, maybe he wasn't so bad after all. 

After school, Kylie and I walked with our arms locked to the staff room, where Kylie had volunteered to help the history teacher with a few papers. We had planned to meet at my house after she was done. I walked out of the school doors to find that it was raining heavily, and there was no way I could walk home in that weather, so I decided to call Simon. 

  "Steph?" Duh, who else would be calling from my number?

  "Yeah, could you pick me up from school? It's raining."

  "Um, so the thing is, I kind of forgot to tell you." Now what? I thought to myself with an exasperated sigh.

    "So," he continued reluctantly, "I promised to take Rita out on a date after school, but I can ring Brian and ask him to pick you up. Give me a second." He hung up before I could say, 'No thanks; I'd rather walk.' Then, a minute later, he was calling me again: "Yeah, Steph, Brian will pick you up. Okay? Bye. Take care." 

   "Yeah, go enjoy your date." I said to myself. This idiot had been having too much fun without me at home.

   I was standing under the cover of the roof, waiting for Brian. I decided to kick a few pebbles into the puddles when I heard the revving engine of the car approach. I jogged to the car, and my eyes met Brian's through the windshield. I do not know what I was feeling then. I was dreading it, afraid that it would be really awkward, but then again, I was also looking forward to this car ride too. I look forward to being closer to Brian. 

   Inside the car, it was really quiet. Neither of us could muster any words to say to each other, which made it even more awkward. The car smelled clean and like men's deodorant. 

   Brian cleared his throat before speaking. "So, how are you?"

   "Good, you?" Did my voice sound too chirpy? Was it obvious that I was nervous?

   "Fine." He continued after a pause, "How was the exam?"

   I grunted, "I'll pass." 

   "You liar, you're better than Simon and me together," he sniggered. "You'll do well, I'm sure." I smiled back. Brian had a tiny dimple above his chin, and you would think he was smiling for real every time it showed up.

   It was quiet again, and then Brian pulled into a gas station.

     "Steph, about the other night," oh no, do we have to talk about the God-forsaken night? “I've been thinking about it, and I feel like I came off as a jerk, and I probably hurt you too. I'm sorry." Oh. 

    "No, no, it's okay; we're fine. I mean, I'm fine; I'm good, not hurt." I rambled hurriedly. Obviously, I forgot to speak properly in front of this man.

   "No, it wasn't fair to you, and I wouldn't do it again, I promise." He said it sincerely.

I smiled back at him. 

   "Besides, Simon would kill me if he found out; you know how he feels about his friends and his little sister." Ugh, not this again. As much as I hated the fact, it was true. Ever since the accident, Simon has been extremely protective of me. Then the fact that my only boyfriend ever, Nate, had decided to cheat on me, did not help. I was young, and it had been a heartbreaking experience, and Simon had gone berserk. He had warned everyone to steer clear of me. Owing to which, to this day, I could not get into another relationship, and I could not help crushing over Brian. It would annoy me sometimes because of Simon's overprotectiveness, which was another reason why I wanted to leave this town. Also, Simon was so popular that everyone would somehow hear of Simon's little sister and would shudder, even at the thought of dating me.

  "So, in order to make up for it, can I treat you to an ice cream?" He asked with glistening eyes that I could not say no to. I've seen this smile on his face after a very long time, even though you could still see the weariness in his eyes and his posture. This was not as popular and muscular as ever Brian. 

   He went in to buy me a chocolate cone, and while I was waiting for him, I rolled the car window down. It had stopped pouring, but the sky was not clear yet. I perched my elbow on the window and gazed at the ripples made in the puddles by the passing cars, deep in thought. I was glad he had realized; I was happy he had respected me and eased the tensions and awkwardness between us. However, somewhere deep down, a stupid part of me, a part that was obsessed with Brian, could not help recalling that he had said, 'I've been thinking about it.' He had thought about it too. The kiss we had shared. As much as I was grateful that he would be careful about hurting me, I also hated the fact that he had promised to never do it again. That he would never kiss me again.