Chapter 2

Lindsay Sterling was the prettiest girl I had ever laid my eyes on. Her brown, curly hair and vibrant green eyes were both absolutely stunning. She was smart, popular, and way out of my league. I couldn't help but stare at her. I realized this is what I was doing when my friend, James, elbowed me in the ribs. "Dude, knock it off. You're a creep." He said. "I am not! She's just pretty." I replied. "Well if you like her so much, why don't you ask her out?" He fired back. "Are you nuts? I'd never have a chance with her!" I retorted. James laughed. "Man, you are so red!" He said through breaths. "It's hilarious!" He continued. I sighed and rolled my eyes. He can't see what I see in her, of course he'd laugh. He's too busy worrying about sports, while I worry about video games. He's too worried about parties while I like to stay inside. He and I are nothing alike. He'd never be able to relate to how I feel about her. He nudged me. "I'm serious, man. Go ask her. What's the worst that could happen?" He says, almost as if it's a dare. "I can name a lot of things. She could vomit. She could call me ugly. She could laugh at me with all of her friends. Etcetera." I replied. "Jeez, man. Who hurt you?" He says, almost sounding embarrassed. "Just give it a shot. If those things do happen everyone will forget about it after this year when we're all working in factories or sitting at a college desk." He urges. He's right, too. It really wouldn't matter 9 months from now. Even so, I'd like to save the embarrassment. He once again nudges me. "Fine." I say, harshly. I get up from my seat at the lunch table and walk over to Lindsay. "Hey, Lindsay." I said through stutters. "Oh, hi. You're Weston, right?" She responds. "Uhhh." I respond. She just stares at me, smiling. "Don't be scared, I'm not gonna bite you." She says chuckling. "Right. Haha. Um. I think you're pretty." I say. Smooth, Weston. Real smooth. "Thanks. Though, I don't see it in myself." She replies back. Are you kidding me? She doesn't see it in herself? Surely she was joking. "Yeah. You're welcome." I say. "Are you doing anything? After school?" I ask her. "No, I'm free. Why?" She replies, smiling all the more. Her face was beginning to turn red. Was she embarrassed someone as ugly as myself asked her out? Was she getting sick? Did I screw up? "I was just wondering if you'd like to maybe hang out?" I said. "Yeah, I'd like that. Do you have a place in mind?" She replied. She said yes? Lindsay Sterling said yes to me? What is happening? "Oh, um, great. I don't know. I didn't think I'd get this far." I said shyly. She chuckled. "Well, you did. Here's my number. Meet me at the pizza parlor here in town." She says. "Oh, okay. Cool. There's just one problem." I say. "What's that?" She responds. "I'm broke." I say, ashamed. "Well we don't have to eat pizza, silly. Just show up." She replies. "Oh, okay. Cool. I'll see you then." I say as I let out a sigh of relief. "See you then, Weston." She remarks. I turn to walk away, signaling a thumbs up to James. I can hear chatter from the table behind me. "He actually asked you out!" One whisper said. "I know. Finally! I've been trying for so long," said another. I made it back to James and sat down. "So, how'd it go?" He asked me. "She said yes, James. She said yes." I answered smugly. The bell rang to dismiss us from lunch. I figured I'd take my time getting to math. I've already been in school for a few months this year now. We started in September and now it's December. We're about to go on Christmas Vacation, and I care about that way more than my grades. I made my way into the bathroom and closed the stall and pulled out my phone. I began scrolling through my social media and did this until the bell rang that determined if you were late or not. When it did I washed my hands, though I didn't even use the bathroom. I got a late pass and made my way to math. I don't even know what happened, but math ended in only a few minutes it seemed. Then, I made my way to English. I was in heavy anticipation of meeting Lindsay after school that English began to drag along. It felt like I was in there for hours before the bell rang, but then it finally did. Now, it was time for Auto Mechanics. After that, I'd be out of school. I did my tasks changing tires and oil on a car and then from there passed the time in my notebook. I have a collection of drawings and doodles in my notebook, and I try my best not to let anyone see them, as I'm not all too confident in my ability to draw. I began to draw the wings of a dragon before letting the pencil wander to the head. I began to draw the bulk of the dragon when the bell rang. Every kid on campus fled out of the school at light speed, excited for break. I sat still for a while, mustering up the courage to go meet Lindsay. I drove home to dropp of Mel and wished her goodbye. I told her I'd be back and she said okay before giving me a hug. "Don't do anything stupid, Wessy." She joked. "I won't, I promise." I replied. With that, I reversed out of the driveway and sped to the pizza parlor. I parked my vehicle and got out to be greeted by Lindsay. "I almost left. I was wondering if you were even coming at all." She said. "Sorry, I had to take my little sister home." I replied. There was something about Lindsay that made her so different outside of school. She was much easier to talk to and was so much more casual. It was amazing. "So, what do you plan on doing?" I asked. "Well, we can just walk around if you'd like." She answered. That sounded just fine to me, which I told her. Her and I walked for hours until we reached the hilltops, then she took off her book bag, which she had been lugging around this entire time. She pulled out a blanket and put it on the grass. "Sit with me." She commanded. "Alright." I replied. So I did, I sat down on the blanking, eventually laying. We watched the sunset, and then the stars before she turned to face me. "So, you have a sister?" She asked. "Yeah, her name's Melanie. She's basically my best friend. She's a freshman in high school this year." I replied. "She sounds awesome. I hope to meet her someday." She answered back, looking as if she was enhanced in thought. "I had a sister, too. Her name was Bonnie. We were as close as you could ever get," She began. "One day we were riding our bikes. She wrecked and smacked her head off the curb. She didn't wake back up. That was 4 years ago. She was 13 and I was 14." She finished. Well, that's not what I expected at all. "You know, I'm glad she'd be ever so proud of the person you've become. You're smart, you're pretty, and you're strong. You are strong. To be able to keep going after something like that takes a lot of courage. People are proud of you." I comforted her as I wiped her tears. Suddenly, she pulled me in for a hug and all of my ongoing worries or thoughts went away. I sunk into her shoulder. We sat there like that for what had to be an hour, before she pulled away. "Well, I'd better get going home," she said. "I can't be out too late." I told her that I also had to go and offered her a ride home. She declined, and said she could walk. She hugged me again and began to walk. I followed till we reached my car, then I drove home. When I got home, it was around 10:00 p.m. Melanie greeted me and asked to watch a movie. I agreed. We sat on the couch and watched movies till around 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, chattering all the while. "What's she like?" Melanie asked, referring to Lindsay. "She's great. I think you'll like her." I answer. Melanie puts her head on my shoulder and sighs. "I'm glad to see you happy, Wessy." She says. "Thank you, Melanie." I reply. "How's school been?" I didn't get a response so I looked down at where Melanie was resting her head. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady. I grabbed a blanket and wrapped us up. Then I, too drifted off to sleep.