Appropriate

Four

Arie

"Saw that"
Kat bumped my hip after I returned to my spot next to her.
"Shut up. A lot of us are going to be hugging him today, he was cool"
She shook her head, knowing me better than that. I could still feel the breath of his that ran down my shoulder and back, I could feel chill bumps fall that same path just thinking about it.
"I got to play in his phone today, changed his background to a picture of me. I should've left my number."
I looked back towards the end of the hall. I could barely make him out but I had spent all year staring at him, I could fill in the blanks. I could pick his voice out of a thousand, all I would need is to hear his breathy sing-song "arie" and he had my undivided attention. I forced myself to face back forward, banging on lockers, cheering with my friends, reminiscing about the 4 years we had spent here. We made it into the stairwell slowly, looking at the walls that had been plastered with students doodles in class, carvings from 2003 still in the wall. We all knew eventually that's all we would be too.
"Did you see just how many things I had in his board? I had like ten and everyone else only had a couple"
"Oh that must mean your ridiculous fantasy came true"
Chris' bored, sarcastic tone wouldn't affect me when I was still on a McBrien high. Others preferred to stir the pot, I liked to smoke it; it was nothing compared to being near him.
"Oh bite me. Not my fault you're still in love with MY ex boyfriend"
She grumbled under the breath, she thought calling me a bitch would hurt my feelings but I felt glory in it. I am a bitch, I am the bitch. The one they felt safe with but knew my wrath. We could point out more than a few fights I had in these halls and classrooms.
We made it up to the second floor, Scrivs class was directly across from the stairwell. He was standing there, teary eyed and proud of all of his kids. I gave him a side hug, I didn't want to do anything to the feeling he left on my skin. I heard Kat call my name, I could hear the shock in her voice. She pulled me towards the board my teacher had put together, at first glance I didn't see anything special. You had the usual: pictures we took with him, funny answer to quiz questions, and exceptionally good stories all with a mark of 99% until I looked to the very center of the stories. I saw my name carefully written at the top of the page, next to it was a large 100%
"No fuckin way"
My voice was partially lost in the crowd. I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture. The first 100% from Scrivs was nothing to sneeze at and it was mine.
I gave him one last high five and thanks before running down the hallway with the rest of my friends. We hollered and smashed our hands on door until they hurt. There was a bittersweet feeling when we finally made it to the last destination. The small school theatre next to the cafeteria had costumes hanging and playbills for every show a senior was in. The rest of crowd dissipated uninterested in the fine arts, losers.
"So... Dennys? Or we could go down Florence ave and hang out on the beach? I've got if anyone wants to throw in?"
Everyone but Kat agreed
"You don't have to smoke, ya'know"
She turned to me an appreciative smile. She wasn't a fan of smoking. Smoking anything. She didn't care if anyone else did but it wasn't for her.
"Then why even go? All the risks of smoking but none of the benefit"
"Chris, shut up. She doesn't have to smoke to hang, you should like an asshole"
Kat and I hopped in my car and left the rest to ride on their own. We preferred each others company over the others, we always had such an easy friendship.
"So... how was the hug from McBrien?"
I smiled, I could feel the warmth of him again
"I don't like being touched but I would let him strangle me if it meant I got to feel that again"
She made a face and chuckled, we were so different in so many ways it was weird how well we worked together.
"I hope I run into him, so I can actually like... but on him"
"You hit on him every single since the first quarter"
I had.
"Hey, babe, I need help with a question"
"Johnny, my love, would it be okay if I charged my phone"
"I'll give you a kiss if you pass me on this quiz"
"Yeah but now he can reciprocate and I know he will. I can tell he wants to sometimes, I swear he almost called me babe once. Have you ever seen how he acts when any other guys in class would get a little too close to me? Remember that weird fling I had with Jace? I swear that's why he failed him on the midterm"
Kat laughed and then I did too. We switched topics every five minutes and enjoyed each others company's on our way to Florence, not in any hurry to meet the others.