MOMENT 1:728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8US7ZmN06
'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.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1ntV1O1iy
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt6oQlF715e
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHNR4qFLkb
'I wasn't picking on you!'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvQf6II5mDA
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROzKET77CH
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyAfPllGkHS
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47p2wqJcUD
'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.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHa2WL05EdF
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5SPbSDYpA
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnvQ9f1xp3
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxORlsUgz5i
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHCGKQ3kNT
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54Heujkrqg
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.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ386EbTUDbA
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.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5VWYa227C
'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.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO9Yhy4okZG
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwHatVnbX2
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIv2S9iUYa4
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MOMENT 4:728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5nJykgwJ6
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYKS3wtU5Es
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8WfYIUEllL
'Just people.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGnjOb7pka
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38KbEDrAG6
'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.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeglrHwMtSQ
'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.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUv74RLvxh
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7KvaeO2YD
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5kcuykmqUO
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCtqDzGrji
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMYZVolBMd2
'Bastard.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVY1GglmUEz
But I laughed.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxtVi5p2vF
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MOMENT 5:728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4X1DBOpoe
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdI4W4qPY5f
'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.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRAlSbpEOrG
'Open em. Smaller one first.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdgfKrmeXj
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKVg9WhpIn
The other gift was canvas paper.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZYxr4aP6J
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZer91ZjTT
'Come on, take it.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mY9mqksLV
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.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTo6T0Nq87
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGUOEBWcTm
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOVJoB5orD
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9eHvhJWtA
'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.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ93dF3USISr
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJ8PVPuYuQ
'Do you like it?'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLuFrboG06
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqboBf17f0X
'But?'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNVbOull76o
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSlIQMehTB
'John?'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBWSNXmYoqv
'Yeah?'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHXQSMYBlD
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4p7VFuytC
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA0RTi7vPjG
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTbwJzFxUDh
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBohJVaDwo
'No, wait, that's not what I - '728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwLGvU09Tjr
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQr6Qmhiluo
'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.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHo7HsJ3Qv0
'I... I don't understand.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXLmAmVhNnA
'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.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRF7GukQ4xA
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡULh1rPofcI
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.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYI8li3KJPZ
'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.728Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC7aRVFBCuf
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.
