MOMENT 1:977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4kpnREKdV
'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.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9sZAXljh2n
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkvPCxrSHg6
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxHv0beViP
'I wasn't picking on you!'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuaIedvdJid
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaEvp1miP45
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqs9ffiezeK
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNqMoE2GX8p
'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.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhJx8DYhs5
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8b6mEyyrF5
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSzld0q5zPG
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8c640vG2g
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPOwaznZuP
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ypz2Qk3pc
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.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiW1LaNRQ2R
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.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15h3K2T7ku
'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.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSQLCFHf7D
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpUYd0UIJY
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKv00NLQo8
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MOMENT 4:977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88HErXB28s
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUimuFoPz0
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimlxzffbHX
'Just people.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDys9KOIbhm
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjh4KK8yAeF
'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.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOGmhiQeQc
'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.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVa9sHSk8KF
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWNqlztHOA
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDZRJKt49xW
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ4KOq2Mioi
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0iX6Osxr27
'Bastard.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdb8A9wsKe
But I laughed.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡboRdBMmqLn
977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnH98sHrrvu
MOMENT 5:977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtiWhZaYe3j
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiSPGWlNyyz
'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.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEeDofhOHFO
'Open em. Smaller one first.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9vUwibFCRq
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSechRv8Y5
The other gift was canvas paper.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFrdTtnfbO
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSDLMsRP5V
'Come on, take it.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCziNqjrbkX
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.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmoM3wheBc
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDzvf1tTvt
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhREJg0Z5GE
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJr31dMOI8
'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.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHAKHJfQil
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFeMcpmXns
'Do you like it?'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZCMooJmez
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUMjR5boCc
'But?'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6QLkSr7j8p
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4577uKkCa1
'John?'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡll4Al4Oh4G
'Yeah?'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzM75DZpDRW
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnYfVnQPZZ
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBT2bMnVE7S
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjKHOkumMU
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfEzxoJnex
'No, wait, that's not what I - '977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Nz7gJbeRZ
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkT4QJdvQX2
'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.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhTXiP3AMCT
'I... I don't understand.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CCzIeBY2u
'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.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHUBOP6jAMa
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgtmPGK1uPP
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.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5GayNH5Jh
'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.977Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmTsHjIsE2O
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.