Bella Notte (3 page)

I took out my green
pen and wrote, “Yeah, but she's the best teacher we got. She
really loves her work.” I added a little smiley face.

“
So, what
class do you have next?” I noticed his question marks curved
slightly more than the rest of his writing.

“
I have Gym.
Ugh!” I made a disgusted face as I wrote this, and I could see
him watching me out the corner of my eye.

“
Don't like
gym I take it? I'll keep a note to not take you to do gym-like stuff
when we go out. I have History.” He added a little swirly eyed
smiley after that.

Man, does he have
some gall. I can't believe that he's already making plans to take me
places. Not that I wouldn't say yes or anything, but jeeze!

“
History is
back upstairs, diagonal from where English was this morning. Ms.
Henderson is a divorcée, and can get really distracted from
her lectures. She's pretty plain, and the room should be similar to
Mr. Fitzgerald's. Just try not to fall asleep, she really hates that.
That's my best advice.” I wrote this note back with a plain
expression, just in case he was watching me again- and was waiting
for a reaction from his little comment about taking me out.

He frowned slightly
at my reply. “So, I don't even get a maybe to going out with
me?” the next note said. I guess he didn't want to give me
anything to talk about except a direct answer.

I sighed. “Maybe,”
was all I wrote, and I drew a little winking smiley face.

That seemed to be
enough for him though because he took the note folded it a couple of
times and then stuck it in his back pocket. I watched him out with my
side vision and I could see him smiling as he stared blankly in Mrs.
Roberts' direction.

I wonder what he
is planning?

I sat through the
last fifteen minutes of class not really paying any attention to what
was going on, I was merely lost in my own thoughts.

When the bell rang,
a group of the most popular kids in our school approached the table.
Kelly was their 'leader' these days, but she was generally pushed
along by her second in command, Julia. Whereas Kelly was a cute
little blonde that fit the ideal of what a cheerleader should look
like, Julia was a brunette that was average height – and
average in general. But it wasn't her appearance that got Julia her
spotbehind Kelly, it was her attitude- she put the
mean
element
in the group.

Kelly came to the
table and stopped, keeping her usual distance from me, and she smiled
at Mike.

“
Hello,
Michael. We were wondering if you would like to join us during this
little break, and lunch? I am sure that Emma has other things to do
and wouldn't mind letting you get to experience all of our little
high school.” She smiled her perfect white teeth at him and I
fought back the urge not to vomit on myself.

Stupid bimbo!
Evil snake!

“
I'm sorry,
but Em here has already accepted my lunch date. So, unfortunately, I
will have to turn down your very sweet offer.” He smiled back
at her, but his eyes burned a little more brightly and his teeth
looked like they could be full of venom, waiting to strike.

“
Perhaps
tomorrow you will be able to join us then?” She pressed on
still, this time she added a little eyelash fluttering.

I could feel my eyes
turn into slits and the anger rise inside me. I pulled my hands into
my lap and clenched my fists shut tight – digging my nails into
my palms.

“
No, I am
afraid that is quite impossible. You see, Em and I will be spending
all of my available lunches and breaks together. You'll have to make
do without me, but you guys have a great day.” He smiled again,
but it was visibly strained. This made it perfectly clear that he was
done with this conversation.

“
Now, Em, what
were you going to show me during break?” He turned his back to
the perfect blonde and winked at me.

“
Well, I need
to go to the store before my next class, and I know you haven't met
everyone, and I figured that as long as we were quick about it, we
could go.” My smile was a little too smug, and I knew that
something would eventually bite me for this, but I didn't care. I was
enjoying watching Kelly and her troop of snobs being snuffed.

We gathered up our
things, Mike even took my shoulder bag and slung it over him. It was
a perfect show, but somehow it felt more important than a mere show.
It felt right, and that made me nervous.
What
are you doing? You don't even know him, and why would anyone want to
turn down that perfect tramp?

It was hard for me
to trust my instincts and enjoy his company, and my brain kept
shouting the fact at me.

As we walked along
the shop room toward the other class level buildings, I was starting
to get really nervous. I knew I should be putting this off until
lunch or after school, and now I didn't want to make him late as
well, but I wanted to be alone with him.

“
So, why
didn't you tell the blonde that I was just 'b.s.ing', and that you
had no intention of going anywhere with me?” His question
caught me off guard but his eyes settled my balance almost as
quickly.

“
I've never
liked Kelly, and I certainly don't think that busting her perfect
damn bubble every so often is a bad thing. Besides, I didn't
particularly like the way she was looking at you, like you were a
piece of meat.” My face turned beet red and I was glad that the
wind had caught my hair and blown it in my face. The black curtain
made perfect cover and gave me just enough time to get my face closer
to its normal shade.
Could
you be so obvious! That's almost as bad as that blonde tramp ... no
it's worse because you aren't normally like this!

“
It seemed to
me that she didn't particularly enjoy your company and being that I
wanted to be around you, the invitation was a no go.” He
finished with a huge smile on his face.

By the time we got
around the student buildings and into the student parking lot, we
hadn't said much else. But, as soon as I got near that bike again, I
instantly knew that it belonged to him. I walked over to my beast and
threw the books in the back seat. I always hated carrying around
extra books for no reason.

“
Nice
wrangler. It's a '94 right? Wow, did you do all the custom work or
did you have someone else do it?” His questions flew at me one
after the other, but his face was lit up like a child at Christmas.

“
Thanks. I got
it used, but had it fixed up out of town. I wanted too much
special
work
to get it done in town. Do you know a lot about cars?” I was
curious about him, and he seemed less reserved right now.

“
Yup. Fixing
things up is my hobby, probably why I have auto shop here ... but it
isn't until sixth period. God, your machine is a beaut. Must've cost
a small fortune, but hey, if it's worth it then go for it. That's
what my dad always says. Anyways, yeah, I fixed up my bike too, but I
did it myself.” He bragged a moment and his speech was quick.

“
Beaut? Who
says 'beaut' any more?” I tried hard not to giggle.

“
Well, I do. I
know I talk like a snob sometimes. Most of my slang comes from my
visits with visiting family. Home school seriously sucked.” He
told me.

The bell rang.
“Damn, we better get to class. We can go to the store later, if
you really want to go with me?” I said as I grabbed both my
messenger bag and my gym pack.
God,
I hate gym.

“
Yes, I still
want to go with you. You're not going to get rid of me that easy. Oh,
I have Math after History, what about you?” he asked as we
walked back toward the buildings.

“
I have math
as well. I'll meet you outside the class. See ya.” I waved
briefly as I ran over to the gym.

Gym was nothing out
of the ordinary. We didn't have to change today because it was the
first day. I thought it was odd because we had the same gym coach
every year, so nothing really changed. But hey, if I get a day
without having to put on ugly polyester shorts and a shirt with our
school logo on it, I was happy. But I did wish that I didn't have to
sit on that stupid high gloss wood floor while Mr. Williams talked
about what the proper techniques for bouncing a basketball were,
apparently that was the first form of torture- basketball.

The period didn't
seem to last as long as the other two did. Perhaps it was because I
wasn't watching the clock and was thinking over what had happened
with Michael in the morning instead, or maybe it was merely because
we didn't have to suffer through any form of torture today.

The bell rang and I
was up before the rest of the class. I rushed over to the senior
building and slowed my pace.
Don't
want to seem too eager.

By the time I got up
the stairs my body made the choice of not running, but not exactly
walking either, to get up to room 2B with Mrs. Rogers.

He was waiting for
me when I got to the door. He smiled as I got closer to him.

“
I'm glad that
we have another class together. I was thinking about how it seems
that this is our last class together for the day. Kind of a bummer,
but hey, at least I get to spend lunch with you.” His eyes
sparkled as though they had a secret they were keeping from everyone.
I greatly enjoyed looking into those deep eyes.

“
Yeah, I have
History and Art after lunch … and it would seem that you have
Gym and Auto Shop. Two classes that I don't think I would do well
in.” I shrugged at him as we entered yet another white room.

We took our seats
next to each other on the left side of the room, the last two chairs
available together. The room was set up so that there was an aisle
down the middle and the left side of the room faced the right side.
Mrs. Rogers would walk down the middle while she lectured, but
basically everything that she had to say was written on the multiple
chalk boards around the room. Since our seats were separate little
desks, like this morning, it was harder for us to talk to each other.
But that didn't seem to stop Mike.

“
Let's go to
town for lunch. Shake head for yes or cross eyes for no,” the
little piece of paper said in bright blue ink.

What if I didn't
know how to cross my eyes? Perhaps he was counting on that?

I shook my head once
and smiled. It was intoxicating being around him, he was so much fun,
and he was about as cocky as I was.

This class was like
every other class today and all we did was stare aimlessly at Mrs.
Rogers as she prattled on about her love for math and what she
expected from each one of us. It was quite boring, and I almost fell
asleep. Well, let's say I was asleep until Mike flicked a paper clip
at me and it hit me on the nose.
The
little beast!

After my nap the
class sort of disappeared in a small war of throwing things back and
forth, until the bell rang.

“
You butt!
That could have really hurt, or you could've put my eye out!” I
said as I stuck my tongue out and grabbed my bag.

“
I have great
aim, and the only concern you should have had was for it going in
your mouth as the drool came out,” he responded, sticking his
pierced tongue out in defiance.

Oh no, I wasn't
drooling! Please tell me I wasn't drooling!
I
reached up and wiped my mouth.

“
Chill out, I
was only playing. I didn't see any drool.” He smiled as he
noticed that his words had affected me.

We walked out the
door, down the stairs, and pushed the evil dungeon door open. We
walked faster than earlier to make sure that we would make it to town
to get food without being late.

“
Your beast or
mine?” he asked with a wicked grin that showed off his perfect
smile.

“
Got an extra
helmet?” I asked in doubt.

“
Of course I
do, and it's black with green flames on it!” He knew he had me
there.

I tossed my bag in
my Jeep and grabbed the helmet. I shoved it on my head and pulled my
long black hair into a pony tail.
No
use giving anyone whiplash with my hair.

He was on the sleek
bike and waiting. I clamored on behind him, and wrapped my arms
around his waist. I took a deep breath and inhaled some of his
cologne- spicy, yet minty. I enjoyed it.