MOMENT 1:762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ13EhPa4eU
'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.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUvjQE2Ga0s
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5IpDcn0mSK
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETptEyKwyz
'I wasn't picking on you!'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡALldqNgYdN
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtOWUmHPvc7
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKG4q51Oj1b
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVXUXncQVuc
'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.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe44XxoInV6
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTY22CEra0
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJC3B7ompHi
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu3jQ2o4uN8
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZBFWDlEJO
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XgaqhDlQB
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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmC0mUWvnpk
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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6jvnBx1jgn
'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.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtm9nshgw93
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsaTVEImnK
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdVxqMoBft
762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYa14Vemmqt
MOMENT 4:762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ymjDWnRus
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MynFvHAGl
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡICV5Jpbomj
'Just people.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8AW8xdS2A
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRh3IIYfTl
'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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEMdeBXKi05
'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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6VnbreNtS
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRqY5tdl4o
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfegXy1HHV
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqczz8Vs8Lj
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3UhIVH0QK
'Bastard.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLLmoOLGDo
But I laughed.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKdm5cvLQ6r
762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hRTrgxHJS
MOMENT 5:762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyoG2GzQMfF
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuNtoCZQfCt
'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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8aQzzi7rDU
'Open em. Smaller one first.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfJgBoH3fS
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7d3h5xU5C
The other gift was canvas paper.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcJZxvr8hl
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmj4agvgA3Q
'Come on, take it.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQmiYaBRbf
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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7LaF4M53G
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtE6kzkazoA
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrX58ndl0Gx
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKfERQrDa8J
'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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoWry5JsRcE
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡciefp9b5Nf
'Do you like it?'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcTYNzqc4q
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIuB2tXvrfL
'But?'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNgVFHtOKl2
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvRGcUqXcYr
'John?'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBPK5wq04B9
'Yeah?'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYRk7r9Pkf
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp0ZCqnP0tn
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXX0476LxMn
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcObdzRCARD
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFoIWa11dQ
'No, wait, that's not what I - '762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7ZqDpYIjS
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡawcpACsav4
'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.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRB8E2e75l2
'I... I don't understand.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1MG1QCrqH
'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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkblWVNXzcp
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9ZOQ6oLBD
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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5jb3b9ufUj
'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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LB0r4P13u
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.
