Dear Maria

Chapter Two

Alex's POV

I anxiously tapped my foot through all of my classes, waiting for seventh period to come around. I kept my eye on the clock, only looking elsewhere when I was scolded.

I jumped when the bell rang, and had to slow myself down on the way to French. I'd finally figured out what I was going to say to Maria.

When I got there, Maria was already in her seat, going over last night's homework. It's amazing that she got it done, considering her last performance was at two in the morning. I stayed all evening. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, but I got a lot of weird looks from old men.

I stared at her for a second. She looked beautiful today, not unlike everyday, but particularly today. I opened my mouth to say something, but nerves forced it shut as I forgot all that I had planned to say.

Then she knocked her pen off her table. It rolled over to my feet. I smiled slightly and picked it up before walking over to her.

"Uh...Maria?" I said softly.

She jumped. Her eyes went wide, and only narrowed slightly when she saw me. "Y-yeah?" She stuttered in the most amazing voice.

"You, uh, dropped your pen," I said as I held it out to her.

"Oh... Thanks, Alex."

"You know who I am?" I asked, surprised.

"Well, you are Mr. Popular, how could I not know?" She blushed. "The real question that should be asked is, you know who I am?"

"Well, yeah, I, uh. I don't know, actually," I stumbled over my words. I could feel my face turning red. "The teacher said your name a few times when I was actually paying attention."

She nodded her head slightly.

"I had a question to ask you, and I forgot what it was," I laughed. "I meant to ask yesterday, but you left before I could catch you."

"Oh, I was in a rush to get to work. I was late anyway so it was stupid of me to hurry," she said, grimacing slightly.

"Oh cool, where do you work?"

She tensed up. "At... a place," she blurted. I raised an eyebrow. "It's pretty small, you've probably never heard of it."

"Well what do you do?" I pressed, trying to see if she would admit to it.

She sucked in a deep breath. "I am an entertainer. I perform at a bar."

"What do you perform? Do you sing? Do you dance? Do you-"

The damned bell rang.

"Mister Gaskarth, go to your seat," the teacher scolded. "You can chat after class is dismissed."

I bowed my head. "Yes, sir," I said before trudging to my seat. I sat down in between Rian and Jack. I hardly knew them, but Jack wore a New Found Glory shirt once, and Rian was constantly drumming out beats with his fingers.

Jack started to hum, and I was about to tell him to shove a sock in it when I recognized the song.

"Is that Blink?" I whispered to him.

He looked at me, shocked. "Uh, yeah."

"All The Small Things, right?" He nodded. "Dude, I love that song!"

"I didn't take you for a Blink kinda guy," he admitted.

"What about Blink?" Rian butted in.

"Gaskarth over here apparently likes Blink-182," Jack whispered excitedly.