"Stop following me!"

I screamed in frustration, my voice almost echoing in the empty hallway. I used to be so quiet and shy, but this guy really knew how to rile me up, he was like an itch I couldn't scratch and it was driving me crazy.

I slammed my locker shut, barely missing my own fingers, and stalked off fuming.

Josh had been following me around everywhere, even though he was no longer new, not technically. He sat next to me in all the classes we had together, in the cafeteria, and in the bus too, even though he had his own car. It was getting a bit suffocating, and I was getting bad attention.

Rumours were already flying around that we were dating. I mean, come on! He's only been at the school for a week only, people should give me more credit. And I was really getting tired of the hateful looks I was getting from some of the girls, if they wanted him, they could have him, I couldn't care less!

Right?...

No. I wasn't going to let myself get on the Josh train. No!

"But I can't. You're supposed to be showing me around remember?"

I could imagine him smirking and I almost turned around and smacked that smirk off his smug face, but I kept my temper in check and continued speed-walking down the thankfully empty corridor. I was blushing so hard my neck was also hot. It was a huge blessing my olive skin hid most of my flushed skin colour.

"You've been here for a week now, I don't need to 'show you around', you can get to your classes on your own, now please, leave me alone."

Why was my class the last on this awfully long corridor? Why couldn't it have been the first?!

He kept up easily, his long legs matching my stride. At times like that, I actually hated people taller than me. I especially hated obnoxious tall people and their annoying smirks.

"You know we have English together right?"

"Thank you Captain Obvious"

I got in class and slammed the door shut, making a beeline for my empty seat, and slumping down in it, hoping that the ground would open up and save me from the curious eyes of my class mates.

Josh walked in a few seconds later, sauntering in like he owned the place and seating himself right next to me, much to the annoyance of Miss Summers, the English teacher.

"Nice of you both to grace us with your presence. Jamie, good to see you're as cheerful as you've been last week, and Josh, why don't you just keep your feet on your desk, or would you rather have a foot stool? Now if you don't mind, I've got a class to teach. Open your books to page 104 everyone."

I scowled and brought out the book from my bag, trying to shield my face with my hair and flipping my book open to the right page, deeply exhaling, and willing all my anger away.

A folded piece of paper landed on my desk, and without opening it, I knew who it was from.

"Woke up on the wrong side of the bed again? That scowl does not look good on you. P. S. I think you're being a bit hard on Josh, he just wants to be friends. - Tory, whom you owe."

Really now? I owe her??

I picked up my pen and quickly wrote

"I did NOT wake up on the wrong side of the bed. And this is NOT a scowl, it's my 'I'm trying not to murder Josh' look. And as for Josh, do NOT get me started on him. P. S. You're still not forgiven for abandoning me with him. Good friends do NOT bail on each other. - Jamie, who doesn't owe you."

I threw the paper backwards onto Tory's desk, and tried to concentrate on the lesson, but it was hard to do that with Josh tapping his pen on his desk. I was seconds away from ripping the pen out of his hand and throwing it away when another note landed on my desk.

"Woah, so much emphasis on the word 'not', calm down tiger. Really though, Josh is just trying to get your attention, and no, don't you dare rip out that pen from his hand, I know you're thinking it. And stop thinking too much. -Tory, whom you do owe for getting you a new friend".

I was about to reply when Miss Summers suddenly looked up at me.

"Jamie, do you have something to share with the class?"

I opened my mouth to say no, when Josh cut in.

"Actually, she was just explaining Gerunds to me"

He had this straight face on, even I couldn't have proved that he was lying so Mr Summers gave us one last withering look and went back to her lesson.

"You didn't have to do that" I whispered.

He picked up his pen and continued tapping his desk with it, apparently he heard me, because a few seconds later, he replied,

"But I did".

I kept expecting him to make some comment about how boring the class was, or to tease me about something.

But he said nothing...

And to be honest, that kind of depressed me. It felt good you know, to finally be noticed as a person, and not just Tory's best friend. To be seen as Jamie, not just the quiet girl who was always following Tory around, nose stuck in some book. And I kind of missed the attention.

I tried to start a conversation, but I wasn't so good with that, it was more of Tory's forte and for once, I was actually jealous of her.

Minutes went by and then seconds, and finally it was the end of the class. Three more classes to go...

"Hey Tory, you mind helping me out with this, I just need to borrow you for a second, oh, hi Jamie, hi Josh. Didn't see you guys there. I hope you don't mind but I really need Tory, pretty please!"

Sadie walked in with a huge box, it was amazing really that she could see where she was going. She dropped it on the teacher's table and pulled Tory out of the class, not waiting for an answer and leaving Josh and I alone.

It was the longest 2 minutes of my life, I could hear the clock ticking. I couldn't take the silence any more, so I cleared my throat and said

"So..."

He didn't even look my way, it was like he couldn't hear me or something, and it just got me angry.

"What's your problem?!" I hissed

He finally looked at me and it was the kind of look that just stops you in your tracks, his eyes were so cold.

"What's MY problem? You asked me to leave you alone remember?"

I looked away then, and I said, so quietly even I could barely hear myself

"I didn't really mean that"

He picked up his bag, walking out of the class seconds before the bell rang.

My last class was Art, the only Josh-free class I had. And as I walked upstairs to it, to be honest, I can't tell you how I felt about that, part of me wanted to go after him and make things right, and another part of me wanted to hate him so much it actually hurt.

I walked into the bright and roomy art class and went straight towards my usual spot by the window, then wore my smock, picked up a brush and started painting randomly, not really concentrating on what I was doing.

The art teacher Miss Evans was really cool, most times we just painted whatever we wanted, she was a firm believer that art was something fun, and not something forceful, so we usually had a stress-free time.

I painted a black background or wad it just dark? Something greyish-white, wings maybe? Short black hair...

I painted the shoulders, thin with just the right amount of muscles, then the arms, in front, probably folded across the chest, hidden from view, and those tall and lean legs with that almost proud stance.

Allie who was trying to paint a fist peeked at my work and her jaw dropped, I hadn't really painted anything remotely human in a while, I usually just painted a bowl of fruits or something like that.

"Wow, that looks amazing Jamie, I haven't seen you paint like that since...forever! What do you think Sam? It looks really good right?"

A red haired boy with freckles, and paint on one cheek looked over at my canvas and did a double take.

"Oh wow, I'd say that looks a lot like someone I've seen around here, but I can't put my finger on who it is..."

"It's Josh! See how the hair sort of curls around the back of his neck? And that stance, it's him I tell you!"

Allie squealed, I was half expecting her to start jumping up and down in glee.

And then it hit me, was I really painting Josh? Now why would I want to do that?! It was his back view, but it was pretty obvious it was him. I could feel my cheeks heating up, so I did what I usually do best, I hid behind my hair.

I have to admit though, I was kind of irritated that Allie noticed all those things about him. But then I caught myself, of course she'd notice, even I noticed.

And Josh and I weren't dating, I wasn't so sure we were even friends at that moment.

Josh with wings? Who would have thought that would have been possible to paint...

I put in the finishing touches and handed over my painting, even though I almost changed my mind and made a charcoal drawing of a bowl of fruits.

Not only did I waste time trying to decide what to hand over, I also had to wash my paint stained hands and brushes, so I was the last student out of the class.

I went by my locker to drop a few books and pick up some, tidying up the locker a bit in the process. Unlike some lockers mine was relatively plain and empty. I kept a couple of books in it, a pack of chewing gum for emergencies, a small mirror, and one tiny picture of Tory and I on its door. I straightened the books and shut the locker, locking it in the process.

Then picked up my mostly empty but still heavy bag and headed out, planning to wait for Tory outside. The bag's straps kept digging into my shoulders but I ignored it and marched on like I always did, telling myself for about the millionth time that I was going to get a lighter bag before the week ended.

I pushed the double doors open and kind of skipped down the stairs, running smack into some unfortunate boy with black hair.

He looked at me and said in a bored tone

"I'd say you actually liked running into me, but I know well enough that you don't".

I straightened myself and took a step back, and just as he was turning around said,

"Wait! I'm sorry... can we just..."

He stopped but didn't turn back

"Yes Jamie? Can we just what?"

My heart was pounding, not coz I was scared he'd tease me or anything, but I was scared of...expressing myself. Is there a name for that? The fear of self-expression? Because that fear is real, and I still get it from time to time. To me, self-expression was like bearing your soul to others, letting people know how I felt or what I thought about things terrified me. But I did it, I took a deep breath, kept my eyes on the ground and sort of whispered

"I'm sorry I overreacted, I'm just not used to having friends other than Tory, I mean we're friends right? I don't know. I... I was just wondering if...if we could start over."

It was quiet for a few seconds, me waiting to hear what he'd say, my heart beating so fast it felt like it was trying to escape from my chest. And then finally, he turned around and looked at me with a semblance of warmth and said,

"Fine, let's start over, I'm Josh Grey, sort of new here, and you are?"

Feeling extremely ridiculous, I blurted out,

"I'm Jamie Hawkins, definitely not new"

I tried to hide behind my hair, I could feel myself blushing, for some reason, I was feeling really shy.

"Nice to meet you Jamie, do you always blush so much?". Josh was trying so hard not to laugh, the jerk. At least he tried to hold it in.

"Nice to meet you too" I rolled my eyes, giving up on hiding, it was too late any way, my face was already red, and I was pretty sure I'd just look more ridiculous trying to hide it.

He held out his hand and motioned for my book bag, and I thought about declining but the bag was so heavy, and it's straps were digging into my shoulders. So I hesitated for a few seconds and handed it over.

"Thank you"

He picked it up and slung it over his shoulders like it weighed nothing.

"No problem."

We walked on in companionable silence, down the rest of the stairs and out into the parking lot.

"So I was wondering if you'd like to come to school with me tomorrow? You know, like in my car..."

He smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his I was beginning to notice.

"Um sure, but I'll have to tell Tory to come without me tomorrow".

She'll probably come with her own car, it still beats me how she chose to ride the bus with me when she already had a car...

"Awesome, I'll come pick you up by 8 so we'd be here before school starts."

"Ok, that sounds good"

We exchanged numbers and he handed my bag back to me just as the bus pulled in. And I got in, sitting at my usual spot right next to the window.

He was still standing there when the bus left, and so was the smile on my face.

*********

Hola! ^_^

How you people?!

I'm going to try and keep this as brief as possible too. What's the point of adding an author's note you say, I say it's because I want to 💁💁

Also because it's my chance to rant and throw in some surprises (sometimes) 😋

Haha, it took a lot of writing and rewriting but I've finally got this chapter down (or so I think).

I'm actually starting to think it's not such a good idea writing this story. For one thing, I totally suck at writing dialogues. I just don't know how to put in some...emotion. So it ends up being kind of flat x_x.

And I've never tried writing something that's not paranormal so you may find the story a bit, ehem, amateur.

I sincerely apologize for the somewhat late post, I'll try to post faster next time. X_x

Today's song is... *drum roll people!*

Tennis court by Lorde!

Don't ask me why it's the song of the day, it just is. 😶

Anyway, what do you think about Jamie? Not so shy now right? She's growing up! *tear*

I guess every girl likes being noticed once in a while. BY THE RIGHT PERSON. No one likes a stalker. 😶

And hey, are there any Teen wolf fans here? I don't know why but I really don't like Malia, probably coz she's getting too close to Stiles, I'm still Team Stydia 😭😭:'(. And what IS happening on Teen wolf?? I honestly don't understand what happened on the last episode.

Anyway, please VCaF (Vote, Comment and/or Follow) it'll make Zara very happy. Happy Zara= faster uploads. Pretty reasonable right? Also, you can vote on each chapter you like. Yes, that's possible 😬😋

I'm dedicating this chapter to @mayreeam for being such an amazing friend, I really don't know what I'd do without her, she's like the sun on a cloudy day.

Adios, hasta luego

And no, I don't really speak spanish.

XoXo- Zara