MOMENT 1:763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMaCNthyKs
'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.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk7e7WyfXXQ
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFc13m6W1io
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjXbaNMiVcw
'I wasn't picking on you!'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgBKJjif5MC
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4P6u6fqJG
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xzPK5Kv6E
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1v640SieeW
'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.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLXETWt3XZ
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHD7ZumHtCI
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgHVs80hfdV
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf8csmfHyDy
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb2pfl4xlhb
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjmZMwXXUFV
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.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmFlaE67nW
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.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡheuWcwgxc4
'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.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPuqTgaoRKB
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7eBeyNnsLk
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5lVLMZxjs
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpUfAo7XZd
MOMENT 4:763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQif4zHSUoM
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1C0kaDqwY
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHyxQSL4uG5
'Just people.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VmFOwmzmL
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5R5DK9scBd
'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.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrgmd6SYUN
'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.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCr9amHMb5i
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP4NYgKXzU6
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcaffCVwkrk
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5fLxCubFeE
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOVdZtBWph
'Bastard.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb6GKhOOMqd
But I laughed.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EyLplRhV9
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1n1YXwHc9r
MOMENT 5:763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmgIzmhiNyK
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7TfgNHuwd
'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.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzgKgusEaQu
'Open em. Smaller one first.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡax7D1P02K7
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWM5589kLgJ
The other gift was canvas paper.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkho2QtbTSe
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqWdF3QZiAC
'Come on, take it.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLow9MS9eNn
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.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Y81htU1D8
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcaSNrpRK6H
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZH2tfQOhU
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhkCFiVCI1
'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.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpOc9NqVHD
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ6XHNLQ0PK
'Do you like it?'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2B2UDSvoT7
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8uzBwKi2Xi
'But?'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJkUNa5sLf
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAjxFN9CAxW
'John?'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0DqgkADyFm
'Yeah?'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmtceypEpx
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDoC1oqmXY2
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyGYBqTS6u8
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTds7L2LJaz
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBHhNtBNOV
'No, wait, that's not what I - '763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbzbmAoHEE
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgsRcGuiQ3
'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.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8byJoo4iEb
'I... I don't understand.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPmkq6g690
'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.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMqXYYZQa9
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfyofdMHZ8g
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.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLGWVyeYns
'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.763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSTyDFlMg3
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.