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The moment had finally come. I arranged the pieces as carefully as I could. Now, all I needed to do was to get this chick to reciprocate and then I could move on to the next step in my plan.
Leading her by my hand, I bring her to the rooftop of the school building. A cliché scene for my confession, sure. But no one could deny its effects on the young, lovesick students of Norlake High. It’s pretty much all I ever heard about from my ‘friends.’ Who was seeing who, who cheated, who didn’t. It made me wanna vomit, but no one could deny the extra effect you had on people when they knew a girl wanted you. So here we were, with one of the most popular girls I knew in the school—Amy Clarington.
“Won’t the door be locked?” she asks, blushing.
I turn around with a suave smile. “Usually, sure.” I pull the key out of my pocket to demonstrate my thought out plan. “But that won’t be a problem.”
Smiling, she plays with one of the thick locks of her long, blonde hair, and giggles. “Always a step ahead, huh Erikson?”
As soon as I look back at the door at the top of the stairs, I remove the smile from my face and focus on my plan of action. I had come this far and I’d hate to go back and fix it all. I spent too much time on this one. If she was going to do the same shit the other girls did, then I’d just about snap.
Just as we reach the top of the stairs, I pull the key out of my pocket, my grip on Amy’s hand never leaving. The door opens with a firm click, the bright orange glow of the setting sun spilling into the hallway. I brush my black hair out of the way and lead her outside.
“Here we are,” I beckon to her, at last releasing her hand so she can step ahead of me. It was important to be as much of a gentleman as I could be with her. Based on my research, she valued romance, chivalry, and a cool attitude. The look on her face gave me confidence that I perfected my technique.
With the two of us on the rooftop now, I shut the door behind us, making sure to keep it unlocked. Being called out to the rooftop alone by a man was probably enough to get any woman to feel apprehensive. To help her feel safe, I stand ahead of her so that the door is closest to her.
With a few feet of distance between us, I get right to my point.
“Amy, I have valued our friendship more than you realize. Your beauty, your demeanor, and your generosity seem to have no bounds,” I say with the smile I had practiced in my mirror hundreds of times.
Another giggle from the girl’s mouth. “Thank you very much, Erikson.”
“Ah, ah,” I say with a wave of my index finger. “Please, call me Stuart. I couldn’t rightly call you my friend if we remained so formal.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right.” She shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath before acquiescing to my suggestion. “Then... Stu. I’ll call you Stu.” A smile decorates her tanned face, a fascinating change from her pale color only a couple months ago.
Her green eyes meet mine, and that’s when it suddenly felt right. This was the perfect moment.
“Amy Clarington, would you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?” It’s beyond embarrassing. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t even use these sorts of methods, but it’s all I could think of to get the girl.
I hold out my hand, which is shockingly white in comparison. We were essentially identical in our skin tones not too long ago, but I had the idea that this is something she would’ve preferred on a more physical level, especially when it came to being seen in public. It allowed us to stick out more than the usual couple, which would mean more popularity for her.
Her gaze dances around the floor, her fingers fiddling about together nervously. Not once does she meet my gaze. An uncomfortable air of silence washes over the moment and I can feel my hand slowly descending downwards in disappointment.
“I’m sorry,” she says, “but I don’t think we’d make a very good couple. I need someone who can lead. You always ask me for permission, and as much as I val—”
With a mere thought, I stop her there. The scene surrounding us has completely frozen, her body stopped as if time around us had demanded so.
I shake my head. “Again with this shit. You’re a bitch, you know that?”
She doesn’t respond. Of course she doesn’t, she can’t. I’ve made sure of it. Sighing, I look to my left and a holographic screen appears in midair with a list of the save files I made earlier. I backtrack to the one I made only a minute or two ago and my finger hovers above the ‘LOAD STATE’ button.
The corners of my mouth twisting into a smile, I push against Amy’s face and smash the back of her head into the cement. I could hear something crack, and a feeling of relief eased my mind.
“Might as well watch you bleed a little before I give this another try.”
With another thought, time returns to normal. A bubbled gasp escapes her mouth. Initially I thought she might scream, considering her skull had just cracked. But I suppose the impact had done a lot more damage than I thought it would.
The red of her blood spilling out onto the cement causes me to laugh. Her eyes are shadowed over and she makes vain attempts to speak to me with her hand held outright at me.
“This makes me feel a lot better.” I spit on the ground next to me and divert my attention back to the screen beside me. My finger hits the ‘LOAD STATE’ button, and I’m placed back on the rooftop right before I had moved to stand ahead of her. A countdown only I could see starts moving downwards from ten, and I go over what she had said to me in hopes of changing her mind.
“All right, I should be good.”
As soon as the timer hits zero, time has returned to the desired moment. I lock the door behind me and rest against it to assert my masculinity. Amy appears uncomfortable, clasping her fingers between each other.
“Allow me to be frank. I think you’re an attractive woman. Between the two of us, there isn’t anything that could stop us.” I move away from the door and step closer over to Amy, prompting her to take a step back. “Follow my lead.”
There’s a pensive look about her. Unlike before, she seems focused, attentive to the idea that I had just proposed. She looks away, the shyness of her personality currently absent. Her chin between her fingers, she looks to the ground for a few seconds, then back to me.
“Is this a confession?”
“You may call it that. To me personally, I think we can satisfy a couple of each other’s needs. Besides,” I say as I cup her chin in my fingers this time, taking advantage of her short stature to improve my appearance. “You haven’t shared a kiss with anyone yet, have you?”
She furrows her brow, looking away.
“No...”
“Then allow me.”
And with that, I took her first kiss.
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