MOMENT 1:768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrnGX5IW1Z3
'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.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyn0cn3vwgH
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBPYsEvKG5W
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1b1MmieL17
'I wasn't picking on you!'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjPsGwm5w8y
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2tY0vwCOh
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvzA1sQPFT8
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhCi3aJAQqM
'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.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDcNtC04Lz
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhdA41QgDY
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJYfq5xHtP
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUCAo1i5aKz
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2x5X13BJ7
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmuixekFTeG
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.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFBpSTDReR
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.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCLDKmc70cY
'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.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhaLI4np35A
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcugz5g5sZ
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVAfbgc2GQ3
768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWuxK90XxOg
MOMENT 4:768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHhHirOQ5M
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwUpM5HBdzX
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmc8BOE85wv
'Just people.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLs8pcgCJqj
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw0tjDrqgDj
'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.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafTNpaARbe
'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.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRL8FBQeHU7
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ092BOgNCAD
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNprjwXAPG
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Ufh2i4pJD
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeM9DINduj4
'Bastard.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVXDv4eLci8
But I laughed.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjVfEVumePq
768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6J4bF28uw
MOMENT 5:768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBUpbCXWTYR
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVYJ4vrM1U
'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.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwtoI2h3isw
'Open em. Smaller one first.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6gOG31sHq
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbE5YtkZvr
The other gift was canvas paper.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS0JszJjc1U
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb82nXuWLLB
'Come on, take it.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIewDXJaR9L
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.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZoJA7LRq8
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZPukQncbk
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn4iWiKhnQe
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE88fBZRR5F
'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.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnvMTjM0Uk
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfehM7YnKxe
'Do you like it?'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrm2DDbrY8c
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNATkbya689
'But?'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEhVferVut
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQF4LAVvrWe
'John?'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LsRGLcDqo
'Yeah?'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnfCD4ayowm
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hu9pYoU54
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZDCvz1oOr
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXlq0ciVjI
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ09AxaQx9nW
'No, wait, that's not what I - '768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaL59SfUFV
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡucro5iZ3iP
'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.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh1QDrzm5nF
'I... I don't understand.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVn2jlZccl4
'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.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfFeJEvbDap
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFD98flXa8
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.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOWGzdSURV
'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.768Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt401T4bR50
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.
