Opening Up

When I sat down with Kerrigan, the first thing I noticed about her was that she couldn't keep her fingers out of her hair. It didn't really bother me that much, but she seemed as if she was uncomfortable by just sitting in the same room as me. It made me wonder if she had ever had a decent conversation with a boy before. Or maybe just been around a boy in general.

"I'm going to start the interview now," I said, clicking open my pen and pressing the ballpoint tip against the lined stripe at the top of my notebook. Smiling at her (even though she wasn't even looking at me in the first place), I started with, "so what did you enjoy the most about school?"

"I guess," she began, words slow and cautious as if I'd hurt her if I said the wrong thing, "the library. It's quiet there. And I can generally find something nice to read."

"Definitely. This school totally has a better selection than my old one," I agree with a grin, jotting down a couple notes about her comment. When I glanced back up at her, she looked surprised.

"Are you a new student?"

"Well, uh, I guess I am." I sheepishly rub the back of my neck. "My brothers all run track here and are really invested in sports, but I only started coming here a couple months ago."

"But... you seem so... popular." Her fingers tangled themselves even more in her hair and her eyes fell off of me into her lap.

"Not really. It's all my brothers." I shrug, not really minding the commentary or the shock. "People just flock to me when they really wanna get to know them."

"I-I see then." I chew on the inside of my cheek staring at her. I knew that if I asked anyone if they knew a girl named Kerrigan Shannon, they wouldn't have a clue that she even existed.

"Kerrigan," I ask, "why did you agree to do this interview?" Kerrigan's eyes shot up to me in a momentary jolt of surprise before shifting away and staring miles deep into the wall behind me.

"I just..." She seemed reluctant to answer, so I reached out to her and took her hand reassuringly. I expect the started flinch from her, but I don't think that she'd relax so easily shortly after. "I'm graduating this year and then I'll go to college. I got into Brown, you see." She brushes some hair out of her face and exhales deeply. "I won't be just a seventeen year old senior anymore. I'll be an eighteen year old freshman in college. An adult. So it's about time that I let go of all of my nervous habits and, you know, speak up."

"That's really brave," I find myself admitting. Kerrigan's cheeks heat up and she tucks her head lower.

"Th-Thanks," she stutters shyly and I can't help but to find it really cute. Then, "what's your name?"

"Avery. Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier. I'm kinda a jerk." I laugh at myself and she laughs with me. Her laugh is pretty adorable. I give her a lopsided smile when the laughing subsides. "Hey, Kerrigan, when we're all done with the yearbook interview, do you, maybe, wanna hang out sometime?"

"Seriously?" She looks shocked and her face fills with pink. Fiddling with her thumbs and gnawing her bottom lip, she fought with herself before settling on, "I'd like that a lot."

"Great." I keep my relieved sigh to myself.

©SelfTitled, 2017