MOMENT 1:955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡke5hZfhkh3
'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.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡym69lgMXsq
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JZVhRF1uX
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡilIGiaySTu
'I wasn't picking on you!'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCw4JlzghqT
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXzVmjUSQj
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOJGIBGloG
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPggorvaKaB
'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.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVGvLxLMTnC
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa4LvWvIDIV
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8AWELl7JYK
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFCi1MujfR
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgj7zuAW2qI
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgU88iEwW6n
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.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4CH68lmaR
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.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBxeHQPHuIZ
'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.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsL16qyEOcu
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTx5Rw8xT0
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxApnOEoLYr
955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvx6VVFd0U
MOMENT 4:955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlUqeN9zk1
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbyIyucXMEv
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZEs7LDcfhB
'Just people.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkZAN23k8L
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXKqCy6lg6
'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.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4SukIXr8pr
'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.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUPJFurScVu
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYOSW13ZL5
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhyg4DVrPR
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaGPUm4yOtR
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF06SjlSj05
'Bastard.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwe2LGG1urZ
But I laughed.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7QXrgGeiw
955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08SzoJotiU
MOMENT 5:955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuEqqULMwEN
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGjsJlixRl6
'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.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbtd2dnxXmv
'Open em. Smaller one first.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFyZ5cTsd4H
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitd2uLJakC
The other gift was canvas paper.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1noO582xXI
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6KHEp98TC
'Come on, take it.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNElakhTlbt
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.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTFSLQ745t
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2z2hzP7laW
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhO3Ig8LIq0
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJV2se8ET7
'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.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP1aZ1HoKHj
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFkzJj8dfBq
'Do you like it?'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWXjTgb43Yr
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36Df43pwOb
'But?'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXyy2lTlHi
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuLJeDPGtpx
'John?'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS7kZ0VaF7m
'Yeah?'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMWJPHFpUq
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlTGHRpzktr
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuP3YYfMhL
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBa2st2GAf
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQKNe0yCfS
'No, wait, that's not what I - '955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPGKGttm9b
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdDk2lYsyXb
'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.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5nNAHAACUC
'I... I don't understand.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHJiAOShLZL
'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.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqpLXeVPFR
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nxLgCTgvm
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.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZGGzvhoLD
'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.955Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxvB1dZkan
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.
and then Add to home screen.