Short Story

It was just another boring old day of middle school. I had just finished my trip to my locker, as red as a cherry. I walked up and down the crowded, small, and loud hallways, just trying to avoid running into people and trying to make it in time to my classes. But, then I started running. I didn’t want to be late again. This wouldn’t be the first time I was late, well, if I am late. I got too caught up with talking to my best friend, Lexie, and I lost track of time. Lexie has been my best friend ever since 3rd grade. We’ve been really close for a long time, and she’s always able to get me into a good conversation. Now I’m panting and racing down the halls, like a dog who just finished playing around in his backyard. The bell is a minute to ringing, and I quickly hurry inside the classroom and sit down as fast as possible. I slammed my binder down on the desk and let out a breath of relief. I heard the demonly bell chime it’s horrid tune and got my homework from yesterday out.

I was in my third hour class. This class was history class, so you can imagine how many world maps were hung around the room. There were lots of history books as well. We weren’t doing anything, and I decided to use my time to think about Lexie. I thought about her for a moment. Why, she was so funny! She was so caring, so sweet, so nice, so beautiful, so attractive, so… wait, what? Attractive? I snapped myself out of my thoughts, shaking my head. What is wrong with me? I glanced around the room, just to see what others were doing. Some were talking, others were doing work, and others were trying to take a nap. I sighed and buried my head into my arms. I had been having these thoughts a lot longer than I’d like to admit. They just suddenly came to me, and they’re very confusing to me. Why do I think of my best friend in that way? Do I have a problem or something?

Another hour passed, and another hour in yet another boring class. I groaned and took out my binder for this class. This class was math class, so it really was boring. I looked around at the various equations and graphs hung around the room. I also noticed a periodic table hung up on the wall by the whiteboard. I opened up my binder, pulled out the homework from last night, and placed it on my desk. I played with my pencil as I waited for class to start. I glanced around, watching as the seats continued to fill up as more time passed. As it got closer to that horrid bell ringing, almost everyone was in their seats. However, there was something I forgot about… something that I couldn’t get a grip on. Just like my pencil. I looked to the desk on the right of me.

“Lindsay!” I heard a familiar voice sing to me. It was Lexie. I forgot she had this class with me! I’m surprised at myself for the most part, but I smiled to her as she sat down. She pulled her binder out of her pretty pink and sparkly backpack and placed it on her desk. She looked over to me, and then at my homework, and did a back-and-forth exchange between them. She then adopted this look on her face, the kind of look someone would give you if you told them there was going to be a zombie outbreak.

“Lindsay, what’s that?” she asked me, her voice in a low and worried tone. I glanced down to my paper, grabbed it, and held it up in the air.

“This? Oh, this is just the homework from last night.” I said casually. Her facial expression changed from finding out there’s a zombie outbreak to finding out that the end of the world is coming.

“We had homework last night?” she asked me a little too loudly. I nodded. She looked around quickly, seemingly staring at the wall full of equations, and then thought of an idea. She looked at me with her pretty blue eyes.

“Lindsay, do you think you could let me copy the answers from your sheet?” she asked me in desperation. I thought for a second, because this could get us both in trouble. Should I take the risk? Just to make her happy and save her butt from getting chewed out by our teacher? I shrugged and nodded. She gave me a big, white-toothed smile and I handed my paper over to her.

“Bless you, Lin,” she said in relief to me. The way she said those words to me, so soft and sweet, pierced me through the heart. Seeing her happy, let alone making her happy, made me feel so warm inside. I smiled and watched her fill out the answers on her answer sheet. I watched her write so delicately with her mechanical pencil. She gave the paper back to me with another warm smile, and I placed it on the corner of my desk.

The teacher finally came over and checked our papers. He came over to us. He gave me and Lexie a strange look after he checked our papers, but he gave us the full points on our assignments. It was a relief that he didn’t figure out that she copied from my homework. I heard Lexie sigh in relief very quietly, giving me an “oh-my-gosh-thank-you-so-much” kind of look. She kept staring at me with her bright blue orbs. I smiled to her and just mouthed “you’re welcome”, while going back to picking up my pencil and starting to write again.

Class finally ended. A couple more classes later and it was lunch. I sat next to Lexie as I usually did every single day. Her and I usually sit at a lunch table by ourselves because there’s more room for us to be able to stretch out and put our lunches. I always brought cold lunch to school, because the school lunches at this school just suck! To put it simply, the lunches taste like chewy, expired dog food. Lexie and I always joke about this every single day (she brings her lunch too), and we started laughing at the thought of us actually eating that slop. We laughed and laughed. After our laughing fit was over, she looked up at me. The way she looked at me made my heart pound. It was sort of like a… a… a romantic look. I stared back, the same look on my face, hoping to get a reaction out of her. She looked away, and I couldn’t figure out why. I could swear she was shy about all this... All I knew right now was that the butterfly feeling in my stomach was coming back yet again. It wasn’t a bad feeling. Not at all. It’s just like when you have that food that you run to which is your relief food or your all-time fav food.

Finally, the last hour of the day came, which actually happened to be my favorite hour: band. I had been in band for 2 years (since 6th grade) and I decided to stick with it. I couldn’t tell if I was really into music or not. It’s fun, but I don’t know if it’s my passion. Lexie also happened to be in that class with me as well. Her and I also happened to play the same instruments together. I walked over to my chair, admiring the Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach paintings hanging on the wall, along with posters that had measures on them filled with notes. There were also posters of instruments on the wall and rules that we needed to follow.

I picked up my black French Horn case and placed it on my lap, opening the case and putting my French Horn together. Lexie was also doing the same. I twisted the mouthpiece on, making sure it was tight on, and then put it in my lap to talk to Lexie. We made a joke about how slow she is at putting her French Horn together, because that girl takes 5 minutes to put an instrument together. She then started telling me music puns that were so funny that I was crying from laughter, and my band teacher gave us a dirty look when he stopped to redo some music segments with the band. I always loved chatting with her during band. It was definitely the best hour to mess around with her, especially because it was the last hour of the day.

After band was over, it was time to go home. I grabbed my blue and black checked backpack, placing my French Horn case in my band cubby, then hoisted my backpack on my shoulders and walked out and headed to the bus. I usually ride the bus with Lexie. Sometimes I’ll even get off with her. Today, I just decided to go home. I stepped onto the bus and felt the same feeling I had when I was walking through those crowded, small, and loud hallways. I tried not to think about it and quickly made my way over to the spot where me and her sit. She was already there, waiting for me to sit next to her. I quickly sat down and took my backpack off my back, and started talking to her. We talked and joked the entire time. Eventually, it got to her stop. She lives in a small neighborhood and in a smallish house, but it was very nice looking and it looked like it had just been newly painted in a white coat. The grass was as green as evergreens, with various lawn accessories scattered about the yard. There was a stone pathway that led to her front deck. She stepped off the bus, but not before waving goodbye to me. I waved back, and shortly after, it was my stop. I lived fairly close to her, which was always nice when I wanted to get away from my parents or my life or I just wanted to go hang out with her and just go over to her place. I lived in a bigger house, the same color as hers, but having a brick path leading to our deck instead.

I got off the bus dragged myself inside. I greeted my parents, then dragged myself to my room and laid on my bed. The sheets were soft and warm and they felt nice to lay on. Here, I took this time to reflect on her -- on us. I thought about her, and how she was such a good person. How could someone like her be friends with someone like me; a person who’s an outcast, a loser, and insecure about herself? I know if I were her, that I wouldn’t be able to do it. So why does she make the effort to stay?

I thought for a long time. For a very long time. I even texted her in the process of my thinking. I laid there, just thinking and thinking and thinking. Then, I really started thinking. She really is something. I realized something amongst all this thinking.

I don’t like Lexie. I love her.