It took a lifetime, but finally, seventh hour came. Lilyon, Trena, and I all had AP English for our last hour. Mrs. Jackson, the English teacher practically spent every day in the media center. Today happened to be one of those days. Lilyon and Trena sat at the computers, Trena looking up information for the research paper, and Lilyon was begging her to help her get through the firewall so she could go on Facebook. Derek was sitting about three computers down from them, which is why I was sitting on the other side of the room immersed in a drawing.
At first I hadn’t planned on going this deeply into it. At first I had drawn a simple eye. Then, I’d drawn sharp features around it, but that was only just half of it. On the other side of the face, I’d drawn another, identical eye. Then, I drew softer features around that eye. I hadn’t realized that I’d drawn the two sides of Derek that I have seen. On the first side, was the Derek I knew today. On the other side, was the Derek from my dream(memory?).
I had been working hard all day to stay out of Derek’s sight. There were just too many things that could go wrong. What would I say, ‘Hi, I’m Brook Welch you know me because I broke into your house a few days ago. I had a dream that we knew each other when we were younger so we probably do.’? Yeah right, I’d sound like I was crazy. He’d probably call the cops. So far, the closest I’d gotten to him was in math when he had stared at me, which was a pretty big accomplishment since he had every class with me.
“Brook,” a familiar voice came close to my chair.
As an instinct, I snapped my notebook shut. I looked up and caught sight of Dr. Pontary coming towards me. I groaned inwardly.
“Hello Brook, you know me. I took care of your ankle.” he said jerking his head towards my crutches.
I forced my face to light up as if I was remembering him. “Oh yes, I remember you now!” I said, as if I hadn’t known who he was when I saw him. And then, as if I didn’t know I asked, “So what are you doing here?” in my sweetest voice possible.
“Oh, I just came to pick up my son, Derek. Maybe you know him. He’s sitting over there by the computers.”
Seeing no other option, I shook my head. Hopefully he wasn’t really one of those hands on parents who stepped into there kids personal lives.
“Oh, well you’ll have to meet him.”
Another time, another time, another time, I chanted in my head.
“Derek, Derek, come over here.” Dr. Pontary called.
I sat up a little straighter and put on a sweeter face. Maybe they’d just leave. No such luck.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Derek was suddenly standing right next to his father, behind my chair.
“We have a meeting with the principle, but first, I wanted you to meet one of my latest patients. Her name is Brook Welch.”
Fuck, I thought. What I said was, “Hi,” I adjusted my shades, put my blue streak of hair behind my ear and shook his hand.
“Hey,” he said. Once again was the spike in my heartbeat.
My mind wandered back to another ‘Hey,” and another scenario. And as an odd look crept over his face, a cloud of worry formed inside of me. What would I do if he recognized me? Would he think I was a stalker, a burglar, a pervert? Oh, God, I thought.
Dr. Pontary turned to Derek. “We should be off.” he said.
Derek nodded at his dad then turned to me. “I’ll see you around.” he said awkwardly.
They turned and left. As soon as they were gone, I let out a huge breath. I was also ambushed.
“What was that about?” Lilyon said as she came around me and sat on the table.
“Derek’s dad is the doctor who took care of my ankle. He recognized me and introduced us.” I spoke as calmly as possible and tried to calm my racing heart.
“Yikes, a parental introduction is not good for future relationships.” She said scandalously.
“For the second time today, I do not like Derek.” I tried to convince them as much as me.
“Okay,” Lilyon said, obviously not convinced, which was probably because I wasn’t either.
“So what are you drawing?” Trena asked.
I was grateful for the change of subject but I knew it wouldn’t help my point so I said, “Nothing,” and shut my notebook.
“Oh come on,” Lilyon smiled mischievously. She grabbed for the notebook.
Instinctively, I lunged away from her, out of the chair. Shit. It didn’t even take a second for me to land on the ground. The carpet did nothing to cushion my fall. Even though it was only a foot from the chair to the ground but it could have been the drop from Derek’s bedroom window for all the difference it made.
I tried to contain my scream and it came out as a strained sort of squeak. Despite my efforts, my squeal carried throughout the library and a crowd started to form.
A concerned Mrs. Jackson rushed over. “Are you alright dear? Do you want the guys to help you to the office?”
I glared at her. “I’ve got it.” I motioned for Lilyon to give me my crutches. When I was on my feet, I brushed myself off and gave everyone a pointed look. Soon enough, they dispersed.
Then, I turned back to Lilyon who had my notebook open. OH GOD.
