MOMENT 1:744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEzRv0ZtSiE
'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.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjACY4N4KIn
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoy2p3RxjbR
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHT5kKIv10c
'I wasn't picking on you!'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDFKmnyjbU
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwzyKCWBIV
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡowJoNE4wKA
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcrBLAgrTix
'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.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFVdobtGgqH
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKurzD3KsX
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzXcPV2UvuD
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjnXT2Q2LVl
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRUOUeWWMB8
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡICXGDsdlvK
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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQUizojVj6
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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ty9ccWFJa
'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.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJaL2KZ2Rzb
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPv1crNAJVL
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERggwdfYYa
744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRbBrgHNnb
MOMENT 4:744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtkHFI3adu7
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISFauBnkaw
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ2ev3EWXUD
'Just people.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwr3eC6S6A
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwdkJpBiZBu
'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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvoHbOmqLl
'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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpT3bxllso2
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMz8EsHkE6T
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx4RzOCtAWz
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxTtliVyAL
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwtYMSGhj1U
'Bastard.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrcd1S2ArX
But I laughed.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpunn1be3s
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MOMENT 5:744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgADHxHPsC1
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqUiC44TT6o
'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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRr0flPfIlk
'Open em. Smaller one first.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWrRyX3Y6D
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSWR5AxDKO0
The other gift was canvas paper.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8u5DYKe4Fl
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡniWn01vm9o
'Come on, take it.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBtzHINIR4O
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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKp15zLkEsv
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXEOnf32Ky
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeia1L2lpOf
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2A6NSOmAqP
'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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1k8p1Ck7y1
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWClnYbmgy
'Do you like it?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYZeihVYmG
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3fN7PReuU
'But?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP4DLeRcXjW
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡObIwExof9s
'John?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ44MDmyL4SQ
'Yeah?'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3wuQtrXQF
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBqchOeSEZ
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtadtOqqJvC
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡss4krL67Ky
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5hyTgt4zY
'No, wait, that's not what I - '744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJrXeBwSPJE
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrT8iAB9Whn
'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.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1RWkJWUUT
'I... I don't understand.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSuGdXpr3Kx
'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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpUh5fiYm5q
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZGsIrRNQk
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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcoRUNXyQlW
'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.744Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Q2KbPwJOH
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.
