EXASPERATED

The next day I entered my class and took my seat beside Maggie.

“You are too early, what’s up?” I observed.

“I woke up early”, she said with a smile. I looked around to notice that Kate was surrounded by her sidekicks like always.

“It looks like Kate broke up with Flynn” Maggie explained, “I bet it has everything to do with the new guy”, she said with amusement.

“Ha! Whatever, who cares?” I retorted with a shrug.

“Hey bookworm!” Kate called, she was dressed like a runway model and was moving towards us. May be she heard Maggie. I am not really in a mood for a fight right now. And yeah, that is how almost everyone in this college calls me. I take it as a compliment though I know they don’t think it is. I really love to read. Books are one of my essentials. I don’t really care what others think about me.  I am not going to give up reading just ‘cause they name me a Geek, Nerd, or a Bookworm. I am a little above average student who reads a lot and never dated.  Huh, I have read hundreds of books and zero boyfriends. I never really liked anyone anyway.

“I’d like to invite you and Maggie to my birthday party this weekend”, Kate said with a haughty look. Maggie just nodded.

“Sure, Kate”, I said forcing a smile. I never liked parties.

“Don’t be late!” she called over her shoulder already moving away from us.  I know her sweetness was not a genuine one.

“You are not going, are you?” Maggie guessed.

“Of course not!” I said turning towards her.

“Are you?” I asked her with a frown.

“Yeah peter will be there and he asked me to accompany him”, she said. Her eyes gleamed, a genuine smile lingered on her face. She had a huge crush on him for years now, and she never said it out loud fearing his reaction and finally, he has made the move!

“Wow!” I mouthed at her.

“You should come too, we can have fun together” she said worriedly.

“Eww… a threesome that is so disgusting Maggie” I said with mock revulsion. Her eyes bulged.

“Ana!’ she chastised me slapping my arm and laughed. I sighed.

“You should go Maggie. You know I hate parties I would rather go to the park and read” she looked unconvinced.

“Aw…girl don’t feel guilty you are not leaving me out, seriously, I don’t want to go”, I tried to convince her as best I could. As she nodded, there was a sudden hush over the room. And that can only mean that the Greek God has made his appearance. I confirmed it with Maggie’s gapping and buried my head in the books! Half way through Mr. Snitch’s class there was a loud series of cough, it was too forced to be true. I looked up in time to see Mr. Snitch walking towards us. I nudged Maggie awake. Who has dozed off, with her right hand cupping her cheek.

“Reading something interesting Ana?” Mr. Snitch asked. My heart was hammering too loudly.

“No, Mr. Snitch I was just reading the textbook” I placed my subject book above the table, deftly placing the novel underneath the desk. I hoped fervently that my voice didn’t give me away. I am a very bad liar, it usually took, just four seconds for people to catch me red handed when I did. Please let this not be one of those times. I chanted.

“Pay attention”, he said and went off frowning. Phew. That was close. Only then, I realized that the cough was from Ethan! I turned back and looked at him assuming that, I surely mistook the voice. He was looking at Mr. Snitch with a smile playing on his lips. It really is him.

“Thank god”, Maggie said sighing loudly. As if on cue the bell rang.

“I am gonna stash these in my locker you go ahead to the cafeteria”, I muttered and walked straight towards the locker room.

I opened my locker and hoarded them inside. I took out the novel I am currently reading and started to read leaning on the locker beside mine. No one used it. I should deposit this book too, there were only few more pages to go…

“Hey, do you mind?” a beautiful voice asked, I looked up. There he was! He was …he was striking! I noticed that, he was wearing a dark blue shirt paired up with faded ripped jeans and sneakers. And his face was as usual perfect. He towered over me, I had to strain my neck up to look at his face. He was pointing at the locker I was leaning on.

“Oh! Um…sorry” I stuttered and jerked away. I decided to take the book away with me.

“I’m Ethan”, he said unlocking his locker. My head snapped up at him. I cleared my suddenly clot up throat.

“Ana”, I said locking mine. “Thanks for your heads up during Mr. Snitch’s class”, I added.

“Sure”, he said and smiled. He had lovely dimples! I blinked and had to remember to smile in reply. I turned away from him and started to walk away.

“Hey! Wait up” he cried, I was already few feet away, I turned back to find Jessica, one of the cheer group girls, calling out for him and almost jogging towards him in a stunning black dress with an intricate hairdo, she looked beautiful. He was still looking at me. I pointed at Jessica and smiled. I promptly turned back  and sped up my pace. I can’t believe my heart has been skipping a beat all this time. There is something about him that makes me wonder…I stopped right there. You found him annoying do you remember? I silently cursed my heart. As soon as I reached the cafeteria I let out a huge breath that I dint know I was holding up.

“You ok?” Maggie asked.

“I am fine, why do you ask?” I encountered.

“You are pale”, she said, scrutinizing my face.

“It’s nothing” I said and looked down at my lap letting my hair hide my face. Soon the lunch break got over.

“Peter is taking me dinner tomorrow”, Maggie said, as we made our way towards our next class.

“Finally!” exclaimed, I was genuinely happy for her. We took our seats smiling. Ethan entered the class room with a very enthusiastic Jessica holding his hand. I looked away swiftly not wanting to meet his eyes for several reasons.

“Whoa! What’s up with the new makeover? Kate will be pissed when she hears about this”, Maggie said pleased.

“Pissed? I bet Jessica will be missing a tooth in two days”, I said smiling.

“I want Jessica to win”, Maggie said.

“I am not really sure”, I said with a grin, her face mirrored mine.

I headed towards the library while surfing through my mobile. When I was about to get inside, the Librarian Mrs. Sophia came out hastily, looking extremely anxious and said in a rush that there was some kind of inspection going on and that they wouldn’t need me that day but the next. I wanted to ask her if everything was okay. But the telephone blared to life, she rushed to grab it. I decided to trade my classes with our coach today, so that I could help Mrs. Sophia tomorrow.

  Mr. Gretchen our gym coach accepted it enthusiastically and divided us into teams of three members each. To my disappointment, Ethan, Jessica and I were put in the same team. I wish I was back in the library amidst the intoxicating smell of thousands of old and new books mingled together. This day is getting better and better. We were to take turns as pairs and play against the other team. When Jessica and Ethan were playing, Jessica time and time again bumped on him, I rolled my eyes not for her ‘unintentional’ bumping, but when she faked an apology each and every time she did. When I took my part of the court during my turn he looked at me as if he had something to say but in the end decided against it. I stood as far from him as I can I haven’t forgotten the last time he bumped on me that left loud laughter in its wake. Our opposite team was Maggie, Kate and Alan. Kate asked Jessica if she wished to switch places with her. Of Course she wishes to switch places with her. And Jessica of course said no, and I decided to cease the opportunity.

“Kate I will be grateful to switch places if you would like that” I shouted.

“With pleasure Ana” she said and walked to this side.

I never thought there will ever come a day when I would be grateful for Kate.  I shook my head and played the rest of the game with Maggie and Alan.

      I spend almost all my weekends in this park, for so many reasons. One, it is near my house, and my grandma used to bring me here when I was a toddler. Since then, I have made it a habit to visit it in weekends, two, it has got a lake and the best view of sunset, three, only very few people visit this place. Overall, a best place to relax and enjoy the peace and of course read. I sat at the white stone bench, with which I had an emotional attachment. I spent most of my time in its company. I sat there cross-legged and looked at the beautiful view in front of me, the white clouds were tinted in a light orange and red shade, one of them almost, looked like a giraffe with its head turned towards the horizon, the birds flapped their tired wings slowly and almost dragged themselves to their home, anxious to see their young ones. The sun was too bright in the middle of it as if overlooking everything and making sure that everyone does their part perfectly, I smiled.

“Hey Ana!” Erick said and sat beside me on the stone bench. He was one of my best friends. Where did he come from?

“Erick!” I said surprised. How did he know I am here?

“Maggie said you’d be here, so I decided to stop by”, he said.

“Oh! What’s up?” I asked with a frown. He looked nervous, was something wrong?

“Is everything okay?”I asked anxiousness seeping through my words.

“No! No! Ana, everything is fine” he said with a nervous laugh. I frowned.

“Look Ana, I was wondering if I could take you to Kate’s party tonight” he said with a short pause. Oh! I thought.

“No, Eric you know I hate parties” I said apologetically.

“It’s okay Ana, we can go to some other place of your choice… together. I could um, take you to dinner if you would like that” he said with a nervous smile. Oh no! Eric was a good friend of mine. I care about him. But I have always liked him as a friend. He is good and handsome too, but I don’t like him, that way. I winced, I don’t want to hurt him. I can’t believe I am about to do this.

“Eric I… I can’t” I stuttered.

“Ana, you know I like you very much” he said and casually slung his arm around my shoulder. Uh-oh, please don’t make me do this. I slowly took his arm off my shoulder, so that I wouldn’t hurt his feelings. I placed his hand on the bench and got up from the bench.

“I like you too Eric, but you are my friend. I like it that way”, I sighed. “It’s getting late I should get back home” I said and turned to go. Please don’t call me, please don’t call me, I chanted.

“Ana?” he called. Shit.  God please don’t let this go on any further than it already has. I turned to see his disappointed face.

“See you day after tomorrow Ana. I am going to be out of town” he forced a smile, trying hard, to obscure his disappointment.

“Sure, Eric, bye” I nodded politely and made my way towards the pavement. Caira a four year old girl came running after her ball that stopped right in front of me, I have always loved her she was so witty for her age. I took the ball and playfully demanded a kiss from her in exchange for the ball. She gave it right away and scurried off towards her brother bidding me goodbye. If I weren’t in worried about what just happened with Eric I would have gone with her. I suddenly noticed a Black Mini Cooper parked near the sidewalk. Odd. I have never seen such expensive cars parked near this park. I don’t know why, this car looks familiar. Huh. There are lots of Mini Coopers in Seattle. I walked right past it still frowning, trying to erase what just happened few moments ago. Within few minutes the Mini Cooper sped past me. I am getting paranoid. I have to get back home.