her on what exactly he said to her, Kyle suddenly appeared next to me.
“Hey, what’s up?” he asked nonchalantly.
“Not much. You?” I wanted to hide. Oh, why couldn’t Aria tell me everything before I had to face Kyle? Luckily, though, he left as quickly as he had appeared, giving me time to quiz Aria before my next class.
“It doesn’t matter what he said exactly,” Aria insisted as she rummaged through our locker. “Just that it didn’t mean the same thing for him as it did for you.” She slammed the locker shut. “I think he was just messing with you.”
For some reason Aria didn’t want to say more than that, so I dropped it. I also dropped any idea of getting together with Kyle. My pride was too hurt to have much to do with him from that point on.
3. Jensen
With a renewed focus on school instead of Kyle, October and November passed quickly and I was glad the holidays were coming. On the last day of school before Thanksgiving there was quite a feeling of excitement going around the school, not only because it meant we had a four day weekend coming up, but because we’d be out of school two weeks for Christmas vacation. I couldn’t wait.
As I sat in the commons area chewing the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I had brought from home, Aria glided over to where I was sitting after her kissing session with Jack; her boyfriend of nearly three months.
“We’re going to the dance tonight, right? Last one before Thanksgiving break,” she said.
I hated the thought of being dragged along to another dance. The last two weren’t very fun as I spent most of the time trying not to pay attention to Aria and Jack kissing in the corner. They both probably walked out of there with three or more hickies. I didn’t see the draw of sucking on someone’s neck, but I did, however, see the draw of kissing another person, which made it twice as hard to stomach.
“Yeah, I guess I’ll go,” I told her. “Do you want me to come to your house after school so we can get ready?” I took a sip of my Diet Coke.
“Of course,” she confirmed, sticking her hand out for a drink of my Coke, “and you’re staying after the dance, right?”
I said that I would stay as long as Jack wasn’t coming over. There was no way I could handle watching them constantly kiss at her house and the dance. Aria only gave a sly look and changed the subject, saying that she had a feeling someone would ask me to dance.
I immediately thought she meant Kyle, but was surprised when she blurted, “The guy’s name is Jensen Meyers. He’s a year ahead of us, but the same age we are. I think he skipped a grade or something. Definitely your type; a nerd,” she said, throwing a wadded-up piece of paper at me, which came from my straw.
I shrugged. It would be nice to have someone take my mind off of how single and alone I was. “Well, okay,” I conceded, “introduce me at the dance and I’ll dance with him if he asks. How do you know him?”
“I met him last summer when I was dating Cole. Cole had a few classes with him and they hung out.” Cole and Aria were short-lived, but heated. She told me that he was a sophomore who eventually realized that dating an eighth-grader was strange, so he broke up with her in July and moved away in August. Aria was glad that she didn’t have to see him at school, which would have been awkward.
A few hours later after Aria and I arrived at the school, Jensen did ask me to dance and he was everything I had hoped for. He was about six-one with somewhat short, medium-brown hair that seemed to wisp around itself in a sexy, unkempt way. Jensen was also soft-spoken in a seemingly shy sort of way.
As we moved slowly together to the music, I rested my head on his shoulder. His left hand pressed into the small of my back keeping me close, while his right hand rested on my upper back. I pulled away slightly to get a look at his face and he smiled down at me. Oh, I could easily get lost in those blue eyes of his.
“Are you having fun?” he asked. I only nodded and rested my head back on his shoulder. “It’s just that Aria mentioned she had dragged you to the last few dances and all you did was hang out in the movie room. She gave me strict orders to ask you to dance tonight.” His eyes seemed to sparkle as he gave me a crooked little smile.
“Yeah, that’s probably all true,” I confessed, thinking that he probably thought I was weird.
At that moment Kyle crept into my head for a second and I didn’t know why. The way he had acted toward me still stung, but at this time I was with a nice, good looking guy who could probably make me forget all about Kyle. I looked up at Jensen with a bolder attitude and remembered his first question. “And yes,” I said determined, “I am having fun.”
Jensen smiled back and put his cheek on the top of my head, pulling me a little closer as he did so. I snuggled in, glad that we were dancing to the extended version of Enigma’s Sadeness Part I. The moment was right and I felt like I didn’t ever want to leave Jensen’s arms, but before I knew it, Smells Like Teen Spirit started blaring through the speakers. I didn’t know how anyone could dance to grunge.
“I think we’re about to get swallowed up into a big mosh pit,” Jensen shouted as he pointed to where there were fewer people. “We might want to go over there.”
Jensen was right. As we walked out of the commons I could see dozens of people moshing and running around, and it wasn’t long before we found Aria, Jack, Krissa, and Krissa’s new boyfriend, Dean Anderson, lounging on chairs meant for people eating food from the student store. By the look on their faces, I could tell Aria and Krissa were dying for details, but I decided they would just have to wait because I wasn’t ready to share.
“Do you want to go outside for a bit?” Jensen took hold of my hand before I could answer. He had to shout because the music seemed to have gotten louder. “Let’s go outside. I’d like to talk and get to know you better.”
The cool air hit us as we opened the doors and stepped outside to where a few other couples had already retreated to. The stillness was immediate, even though you could hear a dull sound of unintelligible music coming from the building. Walking across the parking lot, we sat down close to one another on a concrete structure with a wooden built-in bench. Neither one of us said much at first so I smiled to break the ice.
“You should do that more often,” he said, reaching over and moving a piece of my hair out of my face and tucking it behind my ear.
“What? Smile?” I asked. “How do you know that I don’t?”
“I’ve seen you around school,” Jensen explained. “Actually, Aria pointed you out to me earlier this week and told me I had to meet you. She also said something about you just coming out of a bad relationship.” I cringed at his words and wondered how much Aria had told him about Kyle. It wasn’t a relationship at all, but he had affected me.
“So,” I said, changing the subject. “Aria tells me you skipped Kindergarten and went right into first grade?”
“Yeah, I didn’t go to Kindergarten. But,” he added, “my birthday is in December, so it worked out just fine. If I had gone I would be graduating at nineteen instead of eighteen like the rest of my friends. The school system has weird rules for how old you can be before starting school.”
Leaning back against the wooden bench, I moved a little closer to Jensen, prompting him to put his hand on my arm. It felt electric, but I wasn’t quite sure what my next move would be. Fortunately, Jensen made it for me, touching my cold face with his warm fingertips. He was doing a good job of making Kyle only a distant memory.
Jensen slowly pulled his hand away and replaced it with his index finger. “Eyelash,” he said as he whisked it from my cheek and held it up for us both to see. I smiled, but felt a little let down that he wasn’t kissing me instead.
“Oh, am I supposed to wish