MOMENT 1:808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD6Kni0Gu2C
'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.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7v7mUsZ2p
I rubbed the bruise on my cheek. 'Yeah, really? You didn't think so yesterday.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9zDQGUaRfu
'Oy.' She says. 'You were asking for it. I see fights through when I get picked on.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXdWzuuOy8
'I wasn't picking on you!'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8ML0OdoSV
'You said my father was trailer trash, so close enough. Just don't do that again, okay?'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxj1HttP0D
What a crazy bitch. 'Fine.'
MOMENT 2:808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZaESWikp8T
'You will not believe this, John. I caught Samantha and Adam snogging in the locker room.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4NSkaXeLF
'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.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfv5lHV9z0t
'Yeah, well, no one else was gonna talk to you. It's not like I scared any of your friends away.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJok8axFM3e
'Alice, can you learn to shut up?' I began walking away from her to make a point.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSIqvjUxHj
'Whatever.' She laughed, godammit, she laughed as she strutted across the oval. Where the hell does she get the bloody confidence?
MOMENT 3:808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwlHvUWEcu
'Hey.' I sat down next to Alice in history.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoHX7l80lV
'Hey, look who it is. Lemme move my stuff.' She made some extra room on the desk for me.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOganYqrM6S
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.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUhTduK10W
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.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vmwcFK6T6
'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.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZWXCPUYcNU
The bloody cheeky smile of hers.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP1uje8RmuO
I didn't correct it until she was out of my sight.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8a69a0AFZ
808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN6bXr3eP9c
MOMENT 4:808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDDPQFHaAR
'What're you drawing?' Shit. Did I really just initiate conversation with her?808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvjeF3iVsr
She looked up with less than half the surprise I expected. Couldn't even grant me the small victories.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ44MKXgnJD5
'Just people.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PGLUkJ8Zi
I crouched down beside her and glanced into her notepad. It was faces. Luke, Chris, Jenny, Samantha and Adam (kissing), Paul, and -808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Hs8zLZKJK
'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.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHFikBYTkEH
'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.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX0gqOXvDNf
'Why're they all in pen? Do you do any painting?'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNzA0sfGmc
She shrugged. 'I just sketch. Can I have it back now?'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9xK1c5zr4k
'Sure, sorry.' I handed it back into her lap. 'You, um. You're a really good drawer.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLAMUIMTpj
'I know, right. It's such a pity the things I choose to draw are so damn ugly, then, isn't it?'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Va9yQ6VA8
'Bastard.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw1ecnGKetL
But I laughed.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzdNJy3pQM
808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEpRdm0qmg
MOMENT 5:808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjo861qvmT7
'Merry Christmas, you bugger.' I held out my two wrapped parcels for her.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7G5zpFjD4
'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.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8R9m0mvzy1
'Open em. Smaller one first.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgNxAzG6HC
Oil paints and brushes. She never talked about money, but I knew why she only sketched.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNmDkwVOJQj
The other gift was canvas paper.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7dVmIgV4sI
'Wow.' She said. That was all. 'I really don't - '808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl6WlRq0ws8
'Come on, take it.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04KcNyw7n6
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.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1BLnKWDmkA
Part of me knew, though, that the joke wasn't the whole reason for her quick exit.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzvTFAE0CgK
She didn't want me to see her crying.
MOMENT 6:808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHBAdZOR7Ys
'It's a few weeks late, but you finally got your Christmas present.' She was holding something wrapped in plain brown paper and string.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEdU5xeCH8
'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.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmlYtvrZ7Jb
It was a painting of us. Smiling, side by side, arms over each other's shoulders as we walked through a park.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKtIgXe8xF
'Do you like it?'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdurbHI2l6
'I, um, yeah, I do, but -'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡma8Q2hbvmf
'But?'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Mesl6CaDy
'Nothing. It's nice.' I didn't know what to say.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjZ8NR63Ec
'John?'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvewTxE4ttL
'Yeah?'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJd9wdJXglt
'I, um. I really like you and. Um.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8v3guiTMFj
'Okaaay, okay.' Shit, what? 'Right.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmaJcqrgW1g
She took a few steps towards me, and (fuck) I stepped back.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWFr3DS35mD
It took only that moment - that one step back - to see the hurt staining her eyes.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFHcKc5iHn
'No, wait, that's not what I - '808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsjH58CJbTb
'Yeah, sorry,' she said as she wiped her nose. 'Forget it. It's all cool.' She brushed down her sleeves. 'I should get going.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ63y0LEFP5Q
'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.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt2VNhETiYA
'I... I don't understand.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnjj5u8hVRh
'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.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡypxXvqig98
She managed a smile, a tear catching at the corner of her lip. 'It's all I need.'808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLeHnXJtYPa
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.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAE1oPxXmRh
'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.808Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvO4EcckBf
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.
