MOMENT 1:735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSCasmThKN
'Hey, listen, I think you're pretty cool.' Alice said this only after I had landed a detention for flinging my fists at her. 'We should hang out more.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6oaVtNYdhp
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIdn8fLbCpt
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcf7II9s7Od
'I wasn't picking on you!'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3hRqyv3O7
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhiVtAEH0Qj
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdK8Avb9TzN
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjmRkxhEIMM
'You know it's not cool to gossip, right? A, I don't really care, and B, I thought I told you to leave me alone.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjaYdQIXTg
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjPog8IR9cP
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTidlo3hFKr
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKS9jYXwVYp
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07KBtJtd8L
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdNAAs6E1I1
I didn't want to surrender so early. 'Thanks.' I made an effort not to talk to her during the class, and she made an effort to show that she really didn't care what I thought of her.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9K6sdjrN4r
The bell rung, and as she gathered up her papers I caught glimpses of strange little sketches - a nude woman lying inside the core of a rose, spheres and pyramids in a dappled desert - and as much as I hated to admit it, she had a way with her pen, no doubt.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmBJHUrZAI
'Oh by the way - ' she put her hand on my shoulder just before she left, and used the other to point at a figure on my page, 'it's 1954, not 1953.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7hAxedZb1A
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCfdDu0GMGM
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKZcUbCAzd
735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmGKv9Z0e2R
MOMENT 4:735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZWC1UJWsA
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHSXxcHjz1
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrAUJg2mrGD
'Just people.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12owuGeZwA
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkO6ih5EAhH
'Woah, is that me?' It was a rhetorical question, of course - the sketch was so finely crafted there could have been no doubt as to who it was. I could see my tired eyes looking back up from the page, messy hair and one hand supporting the side of my chin, angular fingers curling up a faint trail of stubble.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ1R09QbW3M
'Nah, it's my brother. Of course it's you, doofus. You can take a closer look if you want.' She handed me the book, and I flipped through the pages. All pen sketches, some surrealist and some gritty and all too real. And on the last used page, me.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pAhiFPIZ7
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1kN1erQGV
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFwuRv0s1K
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXzmbW9vQOd
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4Cppa5rj8
'Bastard.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzEyvUQSXH
But I laughed.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8e69EORi2z
735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRzkqHvp1cI
MOMENT 5:735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjuRxq8czqj
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRYL0DGrdXf
'Oy, I didn't ask for anything. So I don't feel obliged to give you something in return.' A wink. She always had a way of avoiding saying thanks.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjy4si9iWU
'Open em. Smaller one first.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcK3qbcSlEy
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FKud8GMYV
The other gift was canvas paper.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJDsj9OMZJ
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTNA52TMeB
'Come on, take it.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsXPmCMQun
She smiled, but there was something else underneath. 'So long as you take these.' She handed the torn wrapping back into my hands before turning around and running away across the grass, footsteps light on the weeds below and laughter spiraling behind her.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHt0HaHaMEw
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj7mEaN282f
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbS9WpjdwQ
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmP57yHYyp
'I'll take that.' It was light, but firm. I tore the corner - canvas paper, and the smell of oil paints. 'Now that's cheating. Returning gifts much?' But she didn't laugh as I expected.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZNx4FlQKo
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66JDl727n4
'Do you like it?'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcbj01tICr
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQHhi28OMm
'But?'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡacEyIjGdTV
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYhTOUoV040
'John?'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxuulgzEJGP
'Yeah?'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMy8md4eODj
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmfHpkmkaVr
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcB0Ba2v7Q6
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWSrdRLl5Z
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9hKw9GSwgp
'No, wait, that's not what I - '735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIwVPcIJee
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfHOlBqj6r
'Wait!' I took a long, shaking breath. 'Listen, I... I really like you too. It's just that - I don't want anything more than this. This is all I need, this is all I want.' I put the painting down and held her wrists. 'Just this.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1dlxxrHeB
'I... I don't understand.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdaWnPqnBQl
'Just the way we can insult each other. The way we can mess around, the way we can talk about all kinds of stupid shit and just not care, you know? It's all I want.' To be friends.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiHpo9LeZZo
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChfzcj1TY4
I hugged her then, not whispering time old lies about love, just hugging her because I cared, because I cared about that girl who punched me, because I cared about what my feelings meant for hers.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlufOBc8TYM
'I just don't want anything to change.' I could feel, in every struggled grasp of her fingers behind my back, the futures she imagined folding in upon themselves.735Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97OEU9bIgU
I don't know how long we stood there in that frozen eternity, holding each other as she gazed through tears at pastel smiles laying upon the ground in a sun-filled park only a single lost moment away.
