Time After Time

Part 13

The entire day at school, I felt nervous and weak as everyone's eyes were on me. People whisper in the hallway, things like, "Who's she? How'd she end up with Corey?". They weren't said in a mean way, nor a nice way, but the fact that I have so much attention on me makes my blood rush from my head. I'm not used to this.

"Lux, calm down. You wanted this year to be different, remember?" Lucy reminds me as we put our books away in our lockers.

"Yeah." I answer, anticipating a speech that will help my nerves.

"So, you've got different! You have Corey." Lucy chuckles in disbelief which makes me blush as the previous night's events flash through my mind. "I say, take advantage of the spotlight. Show all those rich fuckers and the poor dorks that popular can be down to earth."

I nod my head in agreement as we walk together towards the lunch room. "You're right. I got this. I got this." I repeat, trying to convince myself.

We enter the cafeteria as Alicia watches me with a disgusted face among her posse of bratty monkeys. I happily walk past her, ignoring her expression, and towards the lunch line. I look around the room for Corey but see no sign of him. After we get our lunches, Lucy and I walk to sit with our friends Samantha, Brian, and Jinger.

"Hello, Miss Popular." Brian grins as he sips his milk carton.

"Or should we say Mrs. Haim?" Samantha jokes as everyone laughs.

"Yes, hello, I will answer to either." I say in a proper princess voice.

"I still can't believe you guys are dating." Jinger gasps, munching on her homemade pb & j sandwich.

"I can't either...I still feel like this is all a dream. Like I'll wake up and it'll be the first day of school all over again." I smile to myself and wonder where Corey is.

"For your sake, I hope it isn't a dream." Brian says. "Cause I've heard you talk non-stop about that guy since we were 14."

I giggle, remembering my freshman self when I saw Corey for the first time. It was 1985 and I was incredibly shy. My only friend was Lucy and even she was timid back then too. We were wandering around the halls with our faces buried in our schedules, trying to find our classes. We were just scared and excited 14 year old girls, naive to what these next 4 years would bring us. Suddenly, being a total idiot, I walked right into the door of an open locker. The blue metal clanked and rang as I rubbed my forehead. Lucy wrapped her arm around me as I embarrassingly hoped no one saw me. I looked over to see a boy, Corey, slowly walk by. I was shocked for a moment and completely forgotten that a bruise was most likely forming on my face. I remember seeing him quietly whisper to his friend as he glanced at me, "Is she okay?". I was completely heart eyes for him ever since that moment. Except, he never looked at me again until this year. This one's for you Freshman Lux.

Samantha bursts into a hysterical laughter which awakes me from my flashback. The whole table is in a fit of giggles as Brian sticks a piece of bologna on his face with holes for the eyes and mouth. Jinger turns to me and asks, "So are you guys, like, boyfriend girlfriend yet?"

I ponder on the question for a while until I decide that Corey would be the kind of guy to ask before just assuming. "No." I smile. "Not yet." I sit and snack on my apple sticks until I suddenly feel a familiar strong hang on my shoulder.

"Hey babe." I hear Corey quietly say to me. He straightens up and looks at the table, giving a small wave, "Hello, everyone."

"Hey." I grin, feeling my heart speed up. I notice the look on his face is full of worry. "What's wrong?"

Corey gives a forced smile before quietly whispering in my ear, "Okay, I have to go right now. I did something and I gotta go." He paused for a moment and I noticed my table of friends awkwardly and silently eating as they tried to act casual. "Uhm- so do you wanna come with me? I mean, I understand if you don't wanna miss class. But if you want to, then we gotta go now."

I confusingly look at him and wonder what he means. His face floods with urgency and I understand how important the situation is. I nod my head to him which causes a bright smile to form on his face. I turn to the table as I stand up and get my bag. "Bye guys."

"Kiss!" Lucy demands with a pouty face. I lean and peck her cheek as she does mine and then quickly walk away as Corey grabs my hand into his.

We both scurry out the cafeteria doors and across the courtyard. He stays silent the whole time and I start thinking of who I can get notes from in the classes that I miss. We appear at his car and he quickly opens my door and runs around to slide into the driver's seat. Once we are out of the school zone, I turn to Corey and ask, "So what's going on?" I raise an eyebrow as I notice his worried look fade away and his smirk appear.

He smiles to himself for a while, as though he's trying to hide a laugh. "Well," he begins, stroking his chin. "I uh- kind of got revenge."

"Elaborate!" I demand in a laugh, eager to find out what's going on.

"Okay, well yesterday at school, I opened my locker and all of my books were gone."

My mouth drops. "What?"

"Yeah, and I knew, I just knew Jacob did it, ya know?" Corey turns into Dunkin Donuts and parks before continuing. "He gives me these looks in the hallway and- and I knew it was him. And the whole day, all of my teachers were pissed at me because I couldn't do any work. So, before we went out last night, I bought a stink bomb." Corey grins in approval of his actions as I gasp in a laugh.

"Really?"

"Yes! So, just before lunch, I broke into his locker and stuck it in." Corey smiles looking out the window and back at me. "I didn't think the smell would spread all the way down the hallway, I thought it'd just stick around his locker." He runs his fingers through his dark hair as I listen in anticipation. "I start walking towards the cafeteria until everyone in the hall starts freaking out like, 'oh my god what's that smell, ew.'" I giggle at his spot on imitation as he chuckles and lays his hand on my knee. "So I get kind of nervous but I try to just act casual. Then, I look down the hall to see Principal Highland calling for me, 'Young man, young man! Come here!' So I freaked out and ran to you." Corey laughs and I giggle in shock.

"Well, you're a bad ass." I smile.

"Is that what you like?" Corey asks, his winning smirk making my heart thud loudly against my chest.

"I like you."

Corey suddenly leans in, his lips meeting mine as his hands run through my hair. I clasp my hand around the back of his neck as his tongue dances around my mouth. We slowly stop and look at each other. I shyly look away and smile to myself but Corey's eyes don't move from me. He takes his hand out and tilts my chin up with his finger.
"Excuse my language." He laughs as I shrug. Curse words never bother me, Lucy is equivalent to an Irish sailor. "But, I really, like, really fucking like you, Lux. You make me crazy." He slowly speaks and I hang on to each word.

"Hm, really?" I smile, a sudden burst of confidence running through me. "Well, I'm happy we're on the same page. Let's get some coffee." I smile and step out of the car as Corey follows behind me, singing.

"Pretty woman, walking down the street. Pretty woman, the kind I like to meet."