our ride <3

Mr. Graves spoke over my thoughts as my brain raced. I keep glancing at Jenny. I can’t stop myself. The feeling my entire body holds within when I look at her is astonishing. It’s as if my emotions are.. blurred. A light buzzing feeling inside my heart. Oh, no. She’s looking at me.

“Hey, do you get any of this? Math is my worst subject.” Jenny whispered. I looked at her and smiled a bit. “I’m not too good at math either, sorry.” I whispered back disappointingly. Jenny looked up at the board and down at her notebook, looking back at me. “We could study together! Then we’d be the best, huh?” This girl is gonna kill me. My heart could never take that. “Sure.” Why in the world would you say that, idiot.

Jenny scribbled down something on her notebook and ripped it off, handing it to me. “Here’s my address. Oh, well, we could just walk home together, if your parents are cool with that.” She said and looked back at the board as she pretended to listen. “I ride my bike to school every day, so I don’t know if I could walk with you.” I said quietly, secretly hoping she had a bike too. “I could ride your bike and you can chill on the back. It’d be better that way since you’re so tiny.” Jenny said and kicked my foot. I could immediately feel my face fill with red. “I’m not that short, you’re just too tall.” I said and kicked her foot back.

Jenny squinted her eyes and laughed quietly. “I’ll prove you wrong after class. What’s your schedule, anyway?” I pulled out my schedule as quickly and quietly as possible. Since it’s first period, it’s math right now. Next is.. band. When did I sign up for band? I probably should’ve read this all the way through when I first got it.

“Well, I have band next. I’ve never been in band before.” Jenny had a shocked face and pulled out her schedule, shoving it in my face. Her second period was band. “I’ve been in a band for a long time, so I got you. I play toms.”

“Ms. Jones and Ms. Feyer. I will move you if you talk while I’m talking again.” Mr. Graves stated. We both sat back in our seats and wrote down the notes on the board. After a bit, the bell rang. I stood up and began to pack my notebook into my bag. I felt a pat on my shoulder and I looked up. She’s at least a foot taller than me.. well then. I slowly brushed her hand off of my shoulder and tugged on her sleeve as I began to walk out the door. She followed behind, letting me hold onto her sleeve. She giggled quietly. “See, you’re so short. You’re probably not even the average height, Robby.” I spun my head around and stared at her smiling down at me. Robby..? Nobody’s ever called me that, surprisingly. That’s so nice of her.

I turned my head back around and smiled to myself, looking down at my schedule to find the room. Jenny walked in front of me and grabbed my schedule. “Hey! I needed that!” I exclaimed with embarrassment. “Oh, shush. You don’t know where you’re goin’, and I do. I should lead.” She said as she grabbed my hand and led me down the hallway we just passed. She’s holding my hand. Oh, dear. What should I do? Do I let her hold it or is that too friendly? What’s considered friendly or more? I have no idea. I guess I’ll just think this is her way of being friendly. Wait, is she being friendly? Is she interested in me? Is she lesbian? She definitely doesn’t look straight, but maybe she’s just a tomboy. No, no, my gaydar is sending me signals.

We approached two doors and opened one of them, walking through. I immediately don’t wanna be in here. Why is Trevor taking band? This is going to be so embarrassing if he talks to me. “Hey, Jenny, um, someone I don’t really like is in here so would you be fine if I just go to the bathroom for a bit?” I said embarrassed. She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, who? Have they bothered you or something?” She said with a concerned tone. “Something like that, we just never really got along.”

“Alright, lemme come with you then.” She said as she put our stuff down in two chairs. My heart felt a little fuzzy. “Okay, thank you.” I said and smiled gently. I held my hands in front of me as we walked out the door and to the bathroom. A couple of girls were in a stall and I saw smoke rising above it. Are they smoking? At school? Have some respect.

“You smoke?” Jenny said quietly. I whipped my head around at her. “Oh, god no. I don’t wanna get cancer.” Jenny looked at me and laughed. “Oh, really? Alright, you do you.” Wait, does she? She’s making it seem like she does. I can feel the self-respect leaving my body.

Wait, no. Keep it. Keep to my standards. I’m not going to drop them for some... girl.. a gorgeous one... No! No. “Would you wanna try?” Jenny said, about to open her backpack. Fuck. "Could we later? I don't want to be caught on the first day of school." I said, feeling a bit uneasy. "You don't wanna, don't you?" She said, "Nothing wrong with that. You ain't less cool just because you don't wanna do something bad." She said while smiling. That made me feel much better, but if I were to, it wouldn't be to be cool. I'll always try something once. Wait. Does she think I'm cool?

"How long do you wanna stay in here?" Jenny asked while sitting down against the wall. It felt unnatural to be hovering over her like this, so I quickly sat down next to her. "Just for a little while. I don't like that guy." I hope she doesn't ask. Even though my gaydar tells me otherwise, I don't wanna risk that she's straight. She'll end up bullying me too.

We sat in silence and I looked around, tapping my fingers together. Well, this is awkward. I think I'd rather be harassed than this.

"You like anyone?" Jenny asked, interrupting my thoughts. Oh, no. She asks all the wrong questions. "Not at the moment, I think." Why did I say I think...

"You think? C'mon, there's gotta be someone." She said, now looking at me. I looked at her and stuttered quietly a bit. Her elbow is touching just below my shoulder. "No?" She asked. "Well, there is someone I think is pretty cute." I don't have to say their name, or especially that it's a girl. "Yeah? Is it someone in our math?" She said, getting more curious. "May?be." I replied. She raised both of her eyebrows and began to laugh a little. Wrinkles appeared on her cheeks as she smiled. "I didn't see you making googly eyes at anyone. Eww, wait, is it our teacher? Or that cute girl that sits in front of us?" Cute girl?! Oh, my, she IS gay, isn't she? Mode switch.

"I didn't see a cute girl in front of us. Wait, ew, no, not the teacher. Yuck." We both laughed and Jenny stood up. "You know what? Fuck this school," She said, "Wanna go to my house? You're chill as fuck." Skipping school with her? Oh, man, I'm really bending my rules here. "That sounds fun. You're.. chill as well." She stared at me and began to laugh. "That did NOT fit you at all! You're so formal, it's cute." She exclaimed and pulled me up to get our things.

Am I really gonna skip the whole day? Well- You know what, who cares. My father sure doesn't. This is my first chance to make a real friend. I'm not passing it up for things I don't even need. We walked out of the bathroom and back into the band room. The instructor had her back turned so we quickly grabbed our things and ran out.

We made it out the front doors and to my bike. "So.. you know how to ride a bike, right?" I asked out of curiosity. "Nope," Are you serious? "Get on anyway. I'm a quick learner." She said confidently as she sat on the edge of the seat. I got on behind her and pressed against her back. She's so warm. She started to peddle, beginning to lose balance already. Maybe if we fall she'll land on top of me. Oooo..

She stopped immediately, nearly sending me off the bike. "Sorry, I, uh, could you teach me?" She said. Oh, man. "I mean, I could try. I don't really know how to explain it well," I said as I was getting off the bike. "You just have to balance and peddle. We should probably hurry up before a staff member sees us." I said, getting anxious.

"Alright, if you're that worried, I'll just wing it, bro." Jenny said, getting back on the bike and smacking the remaining part of the seat behind her. I could feel my face growing into a worrisome expression, but I got on anyway. "Hold onto my waist, just in case. Hah, that rhymed." Oh, my. She wants me to hold her waist? It's just for the ride. Only for the ride.

I slid my hands around her waist and scooted up the seat. She began to peddle and wobbled quite a bit, then suddenly fixed herself and peddled quickly. "You weren't kidding about being a quick learner, huh?!" I yelled in her ear as the wind blew through our hair. "Yeah! This is awesome!" She yelled as we went down the road. I laid my head on her back and looked at the sun shining through the trees. I love living in a small town like this, there's so much wilderness.

I looked up at her and saw her eyes reflecting every bit of ray from the sun. Her eyes reminded me of nature, all the trees, and beautiful leaves. She was grinning from ear to ear as she peddled up the hill. We turned a corner and there it was. The sun shined directly onto us. We went down another hill, but this one was steeper. She stopped peddling and let us roll down the hill. She yelled for joy as we reached the end of the hill. I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

We turned left and rolled up to a two-story, taupe-colored vintage house. "Is this your house?" I said excitingly as we got off my bike. "Yup, old thing's falling apart. It's a bit of a mess inside, so beware." She said as she was walking backward and hit her head on the roof above the door. I giggled as she rubbed her head, getting onto me about laughing. We walked inside and two dogs jumped onto me. One was a small chihuahua and the other was a corgi. I've never seen either of these in real life. They're so cute, though!

I bent down on my knee and started petting the dogs. "What's their names?" I asked curiously. "The corgi is Buster, and the chihuahua is Frankie." She said and started petting Buster. "Those are the most basic but cute names I've ever heard for any dogs!" I said and laughed. "At least I didn't name one Buddy." She said and walked to her kitchen. I stood up and looked around. "Are your parents home?" I asked. "I only live with my mom, but she's at work." She said as she threw her backpack onto the couch from the island in the kitchen. We're home alone. Oooh, is this too early to be thinking about that when I just met her? It feels like we've known each other for much longer. "Do you want some avocado?" She asked as she opened a bag of them. "Of course! Avocado is my favorite." It really is. Especially with salt. She smiled and cut one open, scooping the avocado out and removing the seed. She salted it and squeezed a little bit of lemon juice with it. I've never had it with lemon juice. She handed the small plate to me and urged me to try it. We both then ate off of the little plate. She eats so violently, it's kinda funny. She's like a feral dog who hasn't eaten in days. On the other hand, I eat too politely. I even make sure my mouth barely moves while I eat.

She suddenly started laughing at me. "What are you thinking about? You always look like you're so lost in thought." She said while standing over me, continuing to shove avocado in her mouth. Uhh... Uhhh...

"Boobs."

"Same." HUH?! "You like boobs?!" I asked her frantically. "Woah, woah, calm down. Of course I do." She calmly said and continued eating the second to last piece of avocado. I stood there in shock and put the last piece of avocado in my mouth, then accidentally chewed it like her. I have no time to be polite. She likes titties. I like titties. I like her titties.

"Wait, you got a problem with that?" She said as her tone changed. "No, no! I love titties!" She busted out laughing and patted my back while laughing. She then kept laughing as she put the plate in the sink and led me upstairs. She calmed down as she opened her door and jumped onto her bed, opening a small box. Her room smells like pot. If she's been high this entire time, that explains a lot. "You wanna get high with me?" She isn't already high? "If you don't wanna, that's cool, but I'm gonna." Oh, Jesus, she isn't. She's a weirdo. It's cute, though. "I mean, since we're at home and won't get in trouble, sure." She grabbed a pre-rolled joint out of her small box and lit the end of it with her lighter. She handed it to me and I stared at it. Oh, man, this'll be fun.