MOMENT 1:721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4GT6BzILk
'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.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tg0YOlIfu
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgDdePSvXT
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIWrGqSkys
'I wasn't picking on you!'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjN9rq6czFW
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUJiVfFeUA
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdD5aPb3FeX
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwSJm3LmYst
'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.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLJqJ92wvC
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24pwWSBoQA
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWWbPrCmM7
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcwjhPLMrj
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZZo7tKyxz
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4f2nCCh7g
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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkvRI1FPNg
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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyk4uWAd3fZ
'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.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXCfQYeayp9
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6KNSreRkBw
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL133vpCqVa
721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5CXehhOvCP
MOMENT 4:721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB7b6erHOVV
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRz7xb36Un
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwrnwNn025
'Just people.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR6u8GDWGo7
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0s55vO3f2
'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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUxgCyXfVd
'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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvpJODPlmY
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDSGOgaNPy
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡksX8fCtxNA
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhokqce6UF9
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkH1XTcSsXd
'Bastard.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsiWJPqP1M7
But I laughed.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqI2NnKJTe4
721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRRyevKEc1
MOMENT 5:721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnodVesHuF
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJGhb3zrVF
'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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjiS5RUqmjT
'Open em. Smaller one first.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12SllE5sSk
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrn9CgqUj8
The other gift was canvas paper.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBzS9ZzeXae
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyTLQNWaYJ8
'Come on, take it.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4P5k3wynXK
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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLUdNg2Bdq5
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCuZCK77EHs
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsEdtxMuCb
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthbfRhrKL2
'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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ61roZlb4gY
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiP5eeUHmTA
'Do you like it?'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZw0riXU4y3
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaS9GwuXEee
'But?'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rCzMGxtD7
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFWGwgLSQPX
'John?'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFAEFl6dCj
'Yeah?'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpi6zijTloC
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhAtLeHZfVo
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYzUOYtMtz
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvaYwlo0KTO
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwgEnWPigHg
'No, wait, that's not what I - '721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIlcW62uCE2
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtKCPSllOZ4
'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.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjB5hTAkHmE
'I... I don't understand.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpLXpFJrWX
'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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77FujKmqNB
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJ70dSLmIn
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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdEpXhVSS9
'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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFGBQnt6Uke
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.
