MOMENT 1:974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyB5gogwjEw
'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.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNZfYuRCeCe
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJOI0KcePb
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCnfjSpUqPu
'I wasn't picking on you!'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDs41mVhy7D
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtq9xP5YX9
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRMAgBjIhxn
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYJ25cln0y
'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.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVGV4SE8fX4
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OETydQcdv
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkiegyOebd
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGsD23Z2dZ
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2GmjJl4ht2
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBHPhCzTnF
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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ23FoMfk9fU
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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjlAcyFOe8
'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.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5onLwasED7
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfRkavlVi9
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2FYRdAaPn
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MOMENT 4:974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlggtp7K2Y
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejmM4YM8hY
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqqVyr7LlT
'Just people.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCoyW5487aZ
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡirZ6dyBE07
'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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtig73B5Uk
'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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡue7LBITstM
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQP5yyKovO
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8042gvNLGg
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5lx3NDdQB
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmq7PlJi2R
'Bastard.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJEOGuqbrI
But I laughed.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQmw3hgBsK
974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1RoEDTYjXD
MOMENT 5:974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxnDlCKYAG
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKqtuIjsIi
'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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4m3Qtzjj5H
'Open em. Smaller one first.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9uha7XR0zz
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYYuRFK6RC
The other gift was canvas paper.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzf5eDLNdVO
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegrfwD9LB9
'Come on, take it.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaibmBL1eBH
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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43TpenfdOD
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD5Ktl7HJiQ
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGQq5usQLsC
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ceK22jXHi
'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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyCMbm7WgU
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYF0nliGTY
'Do you like it?'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8blGVbLQZC
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBTMsm6721
'But?'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWjNV4WmVE9
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhyhIXc4okv
'John?'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjnXLjrjthC
'Yeah?'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPC8hVLyZL6
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGO2wkwVHsG
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg11ppMCn4F
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfD8pdrLxF7
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeDktjsRJZt
'No, wait, that's not what I - '974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDi3pkf0vk3
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtjfsykcSke
'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.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qoSDurbM0
'I... I don't understand.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaspK1qpr3L
'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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsYCpegeEqc
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3vCq1WOnA3
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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTvLgy36Bxc
'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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQUvNJu6cn
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.