“Are you okay? You are really distracted and haven’t heard a word I have said for the last ten minutes.” Elisa brings me back to earth with a bump.“What?” I blink at her, pulling my thoughts back to the present, and look around, confused that I must have zoned out. The sun is beating down on us in this rare deserted patch of surf and sand. We’re having a very rare day of fun and downtime at the beach, and my head was a million miles away.“Earth calling Koala….. you have been like a zombie all morning.”“I’m sorry, it’s just….”Just what?That since yesterday, I have been fixated on my stupid brother and churning over every moment and interaction we have had all year to examine them and see if I do, in fact, have a crush on him. Picking apart my reactions to him and replaying yesterday like a stuck record. It’s totally screwing with my head.“Just…” Elisa tries to coax the end of my sentence out of me, staring at me with puppy dog eyes and the sweetest expression, and I crumple and b

As I pull out our class notes, I slide into my seat, eyes on my bag in front of me. Overly aware of students shuffling in, I refuse to look up and watch for the one person I don’t want to see. I’m uptight, irritated, and trying not to count down the seconds he walks in. I have managed to avoid Dane in other shared classes all day and pretended he doesn’t exist, but I can’t in this one. He has to sit and work with me, and I am so not over yesterday at all. I am still nursing a lot of bruised feelings, confused emotions, and a simmering grudge, and the last thing I need is more drama.Elisa yawns, balling her fist in her mouth and slumps down beside me with a gentle thud on her desk. Her body heavy, nestling her head on her arm dramatically and staring up at me with those cute puppy dog eyes. She looks so done with today too.“I’m so tired. We should have gone to sleep earlier.” She lets out a long exhale. Her figure slumped more with every passing second.“We ate too much sugar to sl

I walk up the steps after parking my car in our sweeping drive, focused on finding my house keys when I hear the telltale thrum of Dane’s bike pulling up into his spot behind me. I don’t turn to see his black deathtrap sleek machine pulling up, but I would never mistake that awful sound.For once, he’s come home directly from school at the same time as me, and I stiffen and ignore it. I wonder why he’s broken his daily habit of taking off with Tyler after class and instead decided to grace me with his presence. I locate my keys, open the front door and shove inside the heavy oak, knowing the house is empty. He knows it too, as it’s not like we hadn’t been told.We are all alone. Our parents work late almost daily, and today is Monique's scheduled day off so she can see her sister on her birthday. She reminded us before she left this morning at breakfast, we had to make our own dinner, and my parents would be eating out.I’m tired, so I plan to cook, do my homework, shower, and have an

Elisa and I stroll along the upper walkway above the school's main hall as we head for the study rooms, casually linked arms as the day is almost over, and we're both tired. We have a free period to do as we please for nearly an hour, and we decided to compile everything for the English essay to finish it. Once it’s done, I can stop sitting with Dane and won’t have to keep interacting anymore.Tyler and Dane, at some point, contacted some of our interviewees and got a lot of good quotes, so all that is left is to write up the sections we took and give them to Tyler to add to theirs. Dane has actually been contributing in small ways, which is so unlike him, so my decision to extract him from the credits has died a silent death. Especially after taking care of me yesterday.I rub my bandaged hand as I think of him, nowhere near as sore as it was, and carry on walking behind my girl. A few more days of the gel, and it won’t leave a single mark, and thanks to his instant care, it hasn’t g

My face is sore and swollen from crying like an idiot for the past two hours, sitting on my bed, and rubbing in a moisturizer to minimize the mess I made after washing my face. I know my skin is blotchy and pale, my nose red, and my eyes are puffed up. I’m washed out, yet it felt good to cleanse my soul and give into everything that’s been eating at me for days. I am physically lighter, as though a huge weight I was unaware I have been carrying this past couple of days is lifted from my head.So much for controlling my ability to cry over the past years. I don’t think I have ever sobbed like that for that long in my life, and I feel so stupid that Dane triggered it. I guess crying that first time broke the off switch, and now my emotions are a free for all anytime I get sad.For what, really?Yelling at me, making me feel repulsive? Or because I got to kiss him, and he made it clear that this weirdness growing in me was so one-sided, and a small spark had held onto loose hope that it