MOMENT 1:975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKM9Ozl5RrO
'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.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKt3HvJPrZH
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQsaYx6jmV
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0WmRI67G8
'I wasn't picking on you!'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPv94QydzKp
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJX4OGrBkzf
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6b2S7oo4W2
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0XyVrBaDW
'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.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpiNtBdInE
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTeCg9s4FsN
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5H13g4us1d
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyXuCrn89RW
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXiNxGSsUET
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6PW7ThPjjN
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.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtkJLbPl54w
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.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnicNqy1tUS
'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.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5c00ErrObz
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQZ3tYVflq
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJvra4rqGL
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MOMENT 4:975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡILWr5p7aVs
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6FNndeakq
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ro0aDe01c
'Just people.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmBEAEnxRzO
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1P77HPbnX
'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.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0PIMto2znn
'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.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjAfOLOtQD
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHBrg9x83g
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpS4jthnznD
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6aHkXy7n2
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUB6tPcHMc7
'Bastard.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagw1ujzS3V
But I laughed.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvqBX8FeQL
975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZa01lHXHan
MOMENT 5:975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGg6069ZNhH
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffWn2ZUEUW
'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.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnlyUgyNvJ
'Open em. Smaller one first.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6k1bdH1Uw
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡELoyrJSkpL
The other gift was canvas paper.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gUyIrL2ej
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUy3PUw26C
'Come on, take it.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSON0cBgyp
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.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNYGajNgP2
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhJhloQPIC
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9RvE4UKf2
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSsK7eZLtOF
'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.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2OxhaYOnMp
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmc8STTa0no
'Do you like it?'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbDZfUUaSxu
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI854Luhsjj
'But?'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXoT71uS5EL
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZ2Qe01jcz
'John?'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRq3keGhPQ1
'Yeah?'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlkkRVXhSI
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡajnJEcLPXS
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvnyNcIQke
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXelWtUSm2Z
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNpDVM2cTs
'No, wait, that's not what I - '975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpda7g7vMl
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyICRaQ0tzz
'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.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdE9ul2wyCW
'I... I don't understand.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3enL1i7eIC
'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.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkVSO8jPh2B
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO01SDhd8AH
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.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDHSSbBREc
'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.975Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ7cs8d9Z3Y
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.