O.J.

by Penny Hawking

  Andy looked a little taken back.

  “I mean you’re cute, I guess.” I said looking him over. “But you’re not really my type.” I admitted. His hair was too long. He was too skinny. His pants were too tight. He wore way too much black stuff. The spiky collar around his wrist scared the crap out of me. And my mom would die if I ever brought home a guy with a lip ring and gauges in his ear…well they were small gauges but gauges all the same. “Plus, I don’t really do white boys.” My taste ran on a different spectrum than Andy Perth.

  He stared at me for a minute and then nodded. “Cool.” He shrugged.

  Wait did everyone think I was in love with him? I don’t even know this guy, he just has pretty eyes. “Wait so is that a cool you’ll tutor me and be my friend, or is that a cool now move out my way bitch?” I asked.

  He smiled faintly. “That’s a cool I gotta go to class.”

  “You should smile more often, it makes you look less dead.” I said encouragingly. From the look he gave me, I realized I said that out loud. “Oops…I meant to say that in my head.” One of these days, doing that will get me in trouble…not that it hasn’t already.

  “I’ll go now.” He said slowly.

  “Sure.” I said stepping aside. He always had a way of ending the conversations in a way that made me feel dumb. I shrugged it off. It happened to everyone.

  Andy walked away and I watched him. I wonder if he knows he has ultimate swag when he walks. I thought, I shrugged and happily turned to skip my way to Nico who was waiting for me on the couch. I’ll tell him next time. I abruptly stopped and turned back around. “You never gave me an answer!” I yelled down an empty hallway.

  Chapter five

  I leaned back further against the tree trunk as I brought my camera to my eye. “Right there, don’t move.” I whispered softly as I zoomed in. I scooted back a little. Satisfied I snapped the picture. I slowly put Lucy a.k.a my camera down as I watched the twins that I had just taken a picture of. They were two red heads with the craziest coolest fashion sense I’ve ever seen in my life. And these girls were gorgeous, I’m talking runway model gorgeous you know tall, pale, big eyes, pouty lips. Right out of a cover of vogue. I knew I could have asked them to let me take a picture of them, God knows how many times they’ve posed for me last minute, helping me out with a variety of projects. But there was something so raw and real when taking candid of people. You discover their true self and it ends up making one of the best pictures. Even right now as I lifted my camera to review the picture, it was such a good shot of them laughing and Katherine throwing sprinkles of water in her sister’s face. I even managed to catch some drops midair.

  I looked around and brought Lucy back up to my eye. I spotted a group of skateboarders. Oh these guys were my favorite. I grinned as I took a picture of one guy jumping off the railing, I got the perfect shot because right after that the skateboard slid from under him and he fall face down on the pavement. I cringed. That must hurt. You see at least in pictures you can’t see the end results.

  I looked down as my phone vibrated. FYI, I never put it on ringer, not cause I didn’t want to, but I never found a ringer pleasing enough for me to listen to every time my phone went off. I clicked the dismiss button as Jazmine’s face showed up. No I wasn’t ignoring her, but had it been anybody else I would have done the same thing. I mean sometimes I just didn’t feel like talking on the phone you know. Sometimes I wanted to be alone, just me and my camera in my little hiding spot. I took out my silver DJ headphones and put them on. I clicked play on my Zune as I looked through my pictures.

  Getting lost to the tune of old school Mayday Parade in the middle of the afternoon was a bit of heaven in my book. I nodded my head as, You be the anchor that keeps my feet on the ground, And I’ll be the wings that keep your heart in the clouds, played in the background.

  “Andy?” I said taking off my headphones. Of course he didn’t hear me, this boy never hears anybody. I decided against calling him again and watched him walk with his head down, busy texting away on his cellphone. “So he does have friends?” I said softly. Because of course who would he be texting if not a friend….a girlfriend? Naw he didn’t give off boyfriend vibes. Maybe he’s not even texting maybe he’s browsing the web or something, yeah that made more sense.

  I watched him carefully as he crossed the street and went to Lot C which was one of the designated parking lots for commuters. My own car wasn’t that far away.

  I brought my camera to my eye. I wondered what kind of car he drove. I took a picture of him pushing his bangs out his face. I took a close up of him reaching in his book bag for something. I paused for a minute. Was I invading his privacy? Did this count as being creepy or stalkerish…yep definitely stalkerish. Oh well. I took another picture. This kid is really photogenic. He looks good on camera. I zoomed out to get the mountains in the background. Wait a minute he drives a truck? I put my camera down as I squinted. A red Chevy pick-up truck. Wow I never picked him for a truck type of guy, shows how much I knew. I always imagined guys with pick-up trucks like big burly working on the farm type dude, or cowboys... or something, anything besides this tall skinny kid in front of me. I took a picture of him getting in the car. I’ve never been in a truck in my life, they seemed so rugged, so hardcore.

  I looked down as my phone vibrated again. This time it was Nico and I ignored it. You see told you Jazmine wasn’t the only one, I just wanted to be left alone. There wasn’t a problem or anything, I wasn’t mad at anybody, I just wanted to be alone. I put Lucy down as I watched Andy pullout the parking lot. I looked down at the pavement. I really don’t know why I didn’t try to talk to him or anything. Besides it’s not as if he was going to talk to me anyways. I put my headphones back on as I stretched against the tree and resumed looking through my pictures quietly.

  ********

  “And all I’m saying is that this boy had to be put back in his place.” Jazmine said taking another step forward.

  “And all I’m saying is that you have a tendency to be a certified bitch, so why don’ you just ease the fuck up.” Brittany said rolling her eyes.

  “Guys come on.” I said interjecting for the third time. They were acting so childish, any time one of them said something the other one would snap back a smart remark or something. I always had to fix things. “Jazmine, you were a bitch now stop being mean to him.” I turned to Brittany. “Bri fix your attitude.” I said sighing.

  “I don’t have an attitude.” She remarked.

  Please somebody please get me out of here. “Hey look space…move up.” I said scooting Jazmine forward but she was too busy staring at Brittany.

  “Shit let it go.” Jazmine said in calm voice, almost in a whisper.

  “Let what go?” I asked.

  “I did let it go.” Brittany snapped.

  “Let what go?” I asked again.

  “Yeah right you’re still bitching at me.” Jazmine said rolling her eyes and checking her nails.

  “I’m not bitching, you’re just a bitch.” Brittany whispered. But it was loud enough for both me and Jazmine to hear.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. Is anybody listening to me? Hello I’m still very much alive and I very much want to be part of the conversation, okay not really but it gives me something to do.

  “Nothing.” They both snapped at me not taking their eyes off each other.

  “Damn fall back.” I said taking a step away from my two best friends. Why were they getting mad at me? People are extra sensitive nowadays huh?

  “Bri just needs to learn how to leave things in the past and forgive and forget like she said.” Jazmine said crossing her arms.

  “Forgive what?” I tried again to get in the conversation.

  “You’ve been forgiven…but not forgotten.” Bri said softly.

  I leaned towards Brittany. “Forgiven what?” I whispered.

  Both Jazmine and Brittany sighed. “Nothing, it’s not like you notice anything anyways.” Brittany said
.

  “Hey!” I said holding my chest. I should be offended by that.

  “No really you’re oblivious to everything around you.” Jazmine said smiling pitifully.

  “I’m not.” I said defensively.

  “Exhibit A is coming right now.” Brittany said as she went up to the cashier. “Can I get 3 grande blueberry green tea please?” She ordered our drinks without another word.

  “Exhibit A?” I said turning around. The only person I saw was Nico. These girls were tripping. What were they talking about?

  Nico came up and put his arm around my neck as he gave me a sloppy kiss on the cheek. “What up babes?” He asked, giving me another kiss on the other cheek.

  “Nico am I oblivious?” I asked, looking up at him. If anybody was going to tell me the truth it would be my best guy friend. Why of course not Orange Juice, you oblivious…never! I saw the hesitation in his eyes, and to my curiosity he gave quick glances to Jazmine and Brittany.

  “Hey why are you looking at them? I’m asking.” I said turning his face back to me.

  “Sometimes.” I thought I heard him mutter under his breath.

  “What?” I asked, needing him to speak up for confirmation.

  “I said…” He said squeezing my shoulder. “Of course not.”

  I smiled at him.

  “I think we’ve all come to terms with the fact that you see what you want to see.” He added while giving my two best friends another look. Jazmine checked her nails and Brittany looked through her purse for her wallet.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

  “Absolutely nothing.” He said reassuringly. “Now let me walk you to class.” He said turning me around.

  “Wait my drink.” I said stretching out my hand to Brittany. I smiled up at the cute little Asian guy that made our drinks, I think his name was Jay or something. He didn’t have a name tag, and I’m really bad with names. “Thanks hun.” I said taking my drink as he smiled back at me.

  “I’m going to class, see you guys later.” I said to my friends. They both nodded but didn’t turn around.

  I turned to Nico. “I don’t want to go to class.” I complained. I took a sip of my drink. This was really good. I like the pomegranate tea too.

  “Come on, it’s your favorite class. You guys don’t do anything but sit on your asses and look at pictures, what more do you want?” He asked jokingly.

  “First of all.” I said poking his side. “We do more than just sit around on our asses looking at pictures. We sit on our asses and get on Facebook and Tumblr too.” I added. “Oh yeah, I put more pictures on my Tumblr, look at it.” I said. I loved my blog. I wrote whatever I wanted on it and I posted my pictures and reblogged pictures, I was hooked. Every time I got on a computer you could rest assure that yours truly was going to her Tumblr account. Fuck Facebook, who did that anymore, it was all about speaking your mind now.

  “I’ll make sure to check it out…maybe while I’m half asleep in that dry ass accounting class.” He scoffed.

  I laughed. Nico hated the accounting class with a passion. He swore up and down the teacher was a racist and hated him, even though he had no evidence backing up his accusations. But I will admit he had to go back several times to get his quizzes checked or his tests checked by several teachers to confirm that the accounting teacher had indeed overlooked some of his answers. He got mad because they would laugh it off and blame it on old age. Mr. Serter was old, I feel like he’s practically 90. I was too scared to find out his real age. He was grumpy and he was from Texas.

  “Here we go your highness.” Nico said sticking his head in the class and looking around curiously.

  “What are you doing?” I asked laughing. He looked absolutely ridiculous.

  He came out the classroom. “The cost is clear you should be safe for the next 50 minutes.” He said bowing.

  I rolled my eyes and smiled. “You silly.” I said punching him lightly on the arm. He had a goofy grin on his face as he just stood there staring at me. I shifted uncomfortably. What was going on with people today? “What?” I asked. “What’s wrong? Do I have boogers in my nose, stop staring at me.” I said scrunching my nose.

  “Well actually…” He trailed off. He brought his hand up and tugged at my nose. “Ladies don’t talk about boogers.” He said sweetly pinching my nose.

  I swapped his hand away. “Phooey.” I said the first thing that popped into my mind. “I gotta go to class, bye babes.” I said turning around. I brushed against him and playfully smacked his butt. I winked at him and headed to my class. As soon as I got in, my good spirits disappeared. I fucking hated being confined by these dreaded four walls.

  I sat by myself at the table, staring at the people walking by as I ate my cup of Sheetz fries. I had to say Sheetz fries were amazing. I didn’t know why, it was fries from a freaking gas station for goodness sakes. I laid my phone down at the table. I was all alone. I should pretend like I had tons of friends and start texting away on my phone so as not to seem like a loser. I just didn’t have the energy to put into all that pretending. Any other time when I was by myself and didn’t have a camera, I would be texting away…but not today. I didn’t mind just staring off into space like a psychopath.

  **********

  I don’t know how long I’d been staring at the figure. You know when you’re looking at something but you’re really not. You know you see it but your mind doesn’t register it and so the person you’re staring at actually thinks you’re staring at them but you’re really not? They were just in your eye space. I blinked several times until the image registered. Andy was staring back at me, but he wasn’t making any movement to come or go. Any other normal kid would have smiled or waved to make the situation less awkward but not him. He stood there expressionless, actually I was kind of shocked he hadn’t left.

  “Well if you’re gonna stand there and stare at me, you might as well come sit down and get a better look.” I said teasingly.

  Andy turned and looked around the 2nd floor Computer lab. He tugged the one strap on his book bag that was somewhat salvageable. He looked around again and lowered his head as he came towards my table. I smiled as I leaned back in my seat watching him.

  “Actually you were the only somewhat empty table near an outlet.” He said in a low voice as he pulled back the chair and sat as far away from me as possible. Well technically he sat across from me.

  “Wow using me already huh?” I said playfully.

  He didn’t answer as he sat his book bag on the floor. To my surprise he took out his laptop and his charger and plugged it in. His white Mac had a giant skull laptop skin on it. I watched him as he settled in, staying in his little corner, making sure nothing of his touched mine. I shook my head and smiled. He took out his headphones and placed them on. Believe me when I say, I wasn’t surprised. He plugged it into his laptop and I could tell the exact moment when he zoned me out. I had two options. I could be an annoying pest again or I could sit quietly and leave him alone. I opted for the latter option seeing as I could use this as an opportunity to really look at him.

  First thing that got my attention was that Andy’s lips were pink. I mean really pink, like he woke up in the morning and put on lipstick or something. But they also looked soft…soft and kissable. I giggled inwardly. My mind had a tendency to wander to the more sexual parts of life. I looked at his lips again. They weren’t thin but they definitely weren’t full either. Nope not at all like Nico’s lips. Andy had a strong face, nice jawline. His jawline became more prominent when he clenched his jaws together. My cousin used to do that a lot, but it was worse because then he started grinding his teeth. He mostly did that out of nervousness. Did that mean as Andy was sitting here on his laptop, ignoring me and clenching his jaws together that he was nervous?...Interesting. I looked up at his eyes and once again was startled. I mean, I’ve already ranted on and off about the beauty of his eyes but wow, it never got old. The blue was stunning. Andy looked up and met my ga
ze briefly before averting his eyes back to his laptop.

  Okay so I hadn’t given this kid enough credit. He was cute. Different, but cute. I could totally hook him up with somebody. Yeah hook him up with somebody. That is so genius! While I was getting help in English, I could do him a favor and get him a girlfriend. I smiled, satisfied at my conclusions. Now what type of girl would he go for? Blonde? Brunette? Redhead? Or one of those girls with blue, purple and orange hair? Well that’s not that bad. Haley’s hair is gorgeous on her. Wait does he like punk girls? Or Emos…what the hell is emo? Maybe he just likes normal little quite country girls. I sighed. This would be a little challenging, but hey, I love a challenge. Speaking of challenge.

  “So do you want to be my partner for the media project Dr. Mauzzio assigned?” I asked putting a stick of gum in my mouth. When he didn’t answer I looked up. Of course he’s attention was on nothing but the laptop.

  “Andy.” I said in a normal voice to see if he really couldn’t hear. He didn’t so much as move a muscle. “Andy.” I said a little louder as I tapped the table.