MOMENT 1:750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxDfaSyFUt
'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.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJPzGhdaebm
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaocdDEwsD9
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGczMMmjZPw
'I wasn't picking on you!'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoyWSyGQgEo
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkY3c2OU4Xz
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPxyRMUwPZf
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvEG1dXmUL
'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.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA37ARMji16
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4tEN4NVaag
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI908ZV1ISj
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKeHhKgy6kA
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2faWa9L1l
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdC3qDArWGu
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.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhD320LDiu
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.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcygVsPMJXD
'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.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WabiV0fBE
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0jWRZ93xhr
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3ya02CgcP
750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEfUVb2Wdv
MOMENT 4:750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MzORgBBWA
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL8FQwAofNb
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZOjhe9R6B
'Just people.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxvKTT76eb
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlI4F62rIU
'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.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwwJz5dQRQ
'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.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34OinIt7ls
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgxMQBNV6BV
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRpnPHvX4m
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkvnywTmqD
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxHKhEJUTY
'Bastard.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGklztgr4Fd
But I laughed.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6X2pmb3qAk
750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FzZ69DUG3
MOMENT 5:750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXWZdF69IxA
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNlrD80CldA
'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.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDzpW0GAfJN
'Open em. Smaller one first.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7maw4g2tq
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ00lxbdnoFF
The other gift was canvas paper.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MUStKzSQS
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4Rjh4obVm
'Come on, take it.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25ZosQYJ32
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.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2BCwv95lbA
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19VfBO1f8w
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZvnuJ0UaCX
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hhnRpzZMD
'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.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPq99kiseS
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiDetIW9tFW
'Do you like it?'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpQOToO92O
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa96WNg8obj
'But?'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fZIAWpVmq
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSOONaJ65x
'John?'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlt4E1sccas
'Yeah?'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPIoznrdLy
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡetuUxYg0GB
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrkqWN7aBo
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKuKGM2GX9
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZCh51dTLw
'No, wait, that's not what I - '750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8aoQc3IRpY
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtGG2BqvmgH
'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.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCLHsifDhLL
'I... I don't understand.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrlhPcEblr
'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.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjbx1W8pk7
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFF1pFbuZ8s
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.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOtDi1IuOx
'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.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0Z49na7lo
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.
