Paying Attention

CHAPTER FOUR

I walk into school, people buzzing around me. (Not really though. That would be weird.) I am trying to look for Alicia, but it's kind of impossible to do when you're walking behind a group of people who are walking like a mile an hour. Seriously. I keep on trying to get around them, but then once I start to, someone coming from the opposite direction starts coming, so then I have to move back behind the slow pokes. I hate it!

I see Alicia surrounded by some of our other friends, Wesley, Jessica, and Melinda. They see me too and nod for me to join them. Once I get there I see a Godlike figure walking behind Jessica, then past me, giving me a little nod, acknowledging my presence in the universe. I catch my breath. Mr. Hotty Mc. Hot Hot looked at me. Me! And nodded! Oh crap, what do I do? Do I nod back? Or do I just act as if I didn't even notice? Crap.

I choose option B.

I looked down and then back up at Jessica. I feel my face burn as my pulse begins to quicken. Did he notice? I sure hope not, because if he did that would be imbarassing.

Once I feel brave enough to look around again, he is gone. Oh, man. I think. We have our next class together.

The bell rings and I wave to my friends and tell them that I'll see them at lunch, then walk to room 3104 to Mrs. (Miss) Smith's class. On the way there I am so distracted by my hatred towards her, and love towards Godlike boy, that I suddenly slam into something.

All of my books fall out of my hands and to the ground. I quickly stoop down to pick them up when a hand grabs a paper and pencil. Then moves on to my books and notebooks. The only thing that I ironically grab is my Math book. When I look up I see a boy handing all of my things over to me.

"Thanks." I say.

"No problem." He replies, smiling, not moving. Dang is he cute. He has the nerdy but hot look about him, wearing a black and white striped cardigan with a gray tee underneath. His pants look a little worn, but not terribly. He is wearing big black framed glasses and he has brown hair that is a little shaggy, causing him to push his bangs out of his eyes. Those fricken hot ocean blue eyes.

"Well, uhh, I guess I'd better go." I say slowly, pointing behind me with my thumb, beginning to turn around.

"Wait," he say's stopping me. "What's your name?"

"Um." I pause, wondering why he wants to know my name. Does he want to ask me out? Do I look cute? Am I making this pause last too long? "My name is Sam."

"Sam. Sam. Hm.... Are you Samantha Brown?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Sam! How are you? I'm Daniel Crass. From elementary? We were in Ms. Lewis's class together. Remember?"

I just stand there, wanting to remember, but can't. "Sorry, no." I continue to just stare at him, hypnotized, but he doesn't seem to notice.

"Ahh, that's too bad. We were pretty good friends back then. Oh well." He sighs. "Well, what's your next class?" He asks as we begin to walk away.

"Ugh, math. Gag me with a spoon."

He just laughs. "Well I don't have that, but if you need any help with math we could form a study group."

"Sure." I say, smiling slightly. "Sounds great."

"Cool. Here's my address, and if you have any questions here is my number as well." He says, specifically tapping the number.

"K, that sounds good." I smile, stopping right before my class. "I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see ya tonight."

Once I sit down in my desk I write in my palm, see old elementary pictures and check for Daniel Crass. And then, as usual, I zone out as 'Mrs.' Smith rants on about decimals and fractions. Man, I really can't wait until tonight.

Paying Attention

CHAPTER THREE


On Friday morning I wake up and think about yesterday and about Mr. Hotty Mc. Hot Hot. I can't help wondering why he asked me for number eight on the worksheet. Could he seriously not tell how I hadn't done any of the work and I kept on glancing at the clock?

Oh well, can't worry about it now. It's 6:45 and I still have to get ready for school which starts at 7:45. I was supposed to get up like fifteen minutes ago, but the Snooze and the Stop buttons were staring at me right in the face, and I knew that if I pressed the Stop button I would never wake up. Also, I really just wanted my alarm to shut up.

Now that I am awake I am just sitting up and I stare at my bed spread. My eyes start to close again but I will them back open. I look around, back down at my bed, groan, and get up. Once I get out of bed I turn on my light and blink away the searing pain, and in the process remind myself not to look in my full length mirror right now or it will cause even more pain. Once my eyes adjust to the light I open my closet and look at my clothes and wonder what I am going to wear today. I contemplate on the idea of stealing something of my sister Mariah's, but then dismiss it because I know that she will never let me. It would also be hard to steal something right now considering that she is getting ready for school too. And doing something like that will make her mad. And mean and tired is not a good mix.

I continue to stare at my clothes for another five minutes or so, then sigh and grab one of my minni dresses and my leggings and put those on. Finally after all that is done I shuffle upstairs and turn on the kitchen light and grab a bowl of cereal. It takes me about ten minutes to eat it all, and then by the time that I am done it's 7:15. Five minutes slower than usual.

After I put my bowl in the sink I head back downstairs and go to brush my teeth. As I'm doing so I look at my pale skin and my blue eyes. My mom say's that I have full libs, so guess I'm pretty lucky there. But my hair. It's short and light brown with blond streaks in it. People ask me if I died my hair recently and I say, "Nooo." And that's all for the conversation. Other people have said that I'm a dirty blond and I say, "I am not a dirty blond. This is clearly brown." But some people just don't believe me. It's really annoying. I guess that I have a pretty thin body, but I still feel like a total fatty. Food is my lover.

Now that I am done I look at my face to see if I need any makup. Maybe some cover up because I look like Edward Cullen right now. And that is not pretty. Luckily I don't need any more makup, because I really don't feel like putting any more on.

Paying Attention

CHAPTER TWO



"Hey Sam." Says Alicia when I call her.

"Hey my sexy lady friend." I reply in a flirtatious voice.

She laughs. "So, what were you calling for?"

I pause. For dramatic purposes. "Lici, I need some help."

"I am not bailing you out of prison again."

"Again? That's never happened."

"Ya-huh. Remember the time when you TP'ed Mrs. Smiths house, and put a burning sack of poo on the front step? And remember how you got caught? Hmm?"

"Alicia, I didn't go to jail for that. Remember? I got caught, got a record, but was never put in the police car. Jeez, you really got to work on your memory skills. They're a little below par."

"Anyways." She says irritatedly. "What do you need?"

"Well, there's this guy..."

"Oh, a guy? Why didn't you mention that before?"

"Because you were saying that I was in jail once, and I was correcting you."

"Whatever," she says, now sounding excited. "What's his name?"

"Umm, Brady, Brandon. Well he kind of looked like a Steven actually-"

"You don't know his name."

"Excuse me, I was talking."

"How am I supposed to help you with a guy that doesn't exist?"

"He does exist, I just don't know his name, that's all."

"Sure." She replies sarcastically.

"Anyway's, can you help me look hot for tomorrow? He sits behind me in Math, and I need to make sure that the back looks just as good as the front."

After she lets out a long sigh, she says, "Sam, you're already beautiful. And by the way, he's not going to like the real you if you act like someone else."

"Ugh, thank's mom. Can you just help me please?"

"Fine."

"Thank you." I say.

"Yeah, yeah."

"I love you!" I sing.

"Bye." And then she hangs up the phone, and mom calls me down for dinner."