Perspective

Jamie's Perspective.

Jamie Porterfield’s P.O.V:

         I still couldn’t remember where my locker was.

          It wasn’t very smart of me, because there were only three floors to this school and none of them were very large. However, the second and the third floor looked exactly the same, so sometimes I’d be on the second floor thinking it was the third and looking for my locker. Other times, I would be trying to open the locker next to mine and thinking I had the wrong combo until an angry, red-headed girl would come up and push me out of the way. Both instances led me to feel like an idiot.

          It was a good excuse though, to get Cora to lead me around and show me where everything was. It had been a shock to me that she had a boyfriend, but I could get past that. I mean, Cora and I could be friends. I think I could live with that.

          She was currently leading me to our History class, and she was talking to me about how great it was. I had never heard anyone call a History class “great” before in my life, and I was hoping she was right.

          I knew I had this class with my sister Allie, who I had seen briefly in the hallway before Tech Design. She had probably got in a lot of trouble with my Mom for missing the bus on first day, and I hoped it meant that she didn’t get to pick dinner tonight. It was always lasagna when she picked it, and I hated lasagna due to a bad camp experience when I was twelve.

          I entered the classroom, praying for there to be empty spot beside Cora. As she went to take her seat, I realized there was not. Cora grinned at me and pointed to a spot behind her that must be unoccupied. I quickly went to sit down.

          “How was your last class?” She smiled at me, and I tried to keep my heart rate from quickening. I think I did a fairly good job.

          “It was alright. I’m not really interested in Tech Design, but it was the only class besides Vocals with an empty spot.”

          “Not a singer?” She titled her head, still smiling.

          “Definitely not.” I told her, and from the corner of my eye, I noticed my sister walk in. But she wasn’t alone, she was with Cameron.

          Cora turned too, to see what I was staring at, I guess. I watched as Cameron left my sister, and walked over and sat beside Cora. Allie stood at the front of the class, looking confused, until she finally sat at an empty desk on the far side.

          “Cora, you have to help me,” Cameron said, sounding slightly frantic. “We just did this acid and base thing in science and I didn’t have a clue what was going on. My unit test is this Friday. Can you help me study Thursday?”

          “Well, did you learn neutralization reactions too or just how to test for acids and bases?”

          “Huh?”

          “Never mind. Sure, I’ll help you on Thursday. My house?” Cora gave Cameron one of her amazing smiles and I instantly felt the slightest pang of jealousy. I tried to push it away, with no luck.

          “Okay. I’ll come over around six.” Cameron stated, just as a short, tan man stepped up to the middle of the class and began prattling on about last night’s homework. I assumed he was the teacher.

          He came around to do what I figured was a homework check, and I was surprised when Cora blushed and sheepishly admitted she hadn’t finished hers. She had come off as an obsessed-with-grades kind of girl, but maybe there was a lot I had yet to understand. Cameron simply shrugged when the teacher stared at his blank page, and then he looked at me.

          “Hi,” I smiled.

          “Hi.” The teacher said in response and then moved on to the next student.

          I felt kind of confused, but dismissed the feeling as Cameron turned to me.

          “Are you coming to lacrosse practice tonight?”

          “Not sure.” I replied, watching Cora as she laughed at something the boy next to her was saying. Why couldn’t I make her laugh like that?

          “It’s not really a very good team. If you were triple A before, the games would just be horrible to you.” Cameron went on.

          “I’m not really that good,” I said, out of modesty. A part of me believed Cameron was right.

          “Well, I’m sure you’re better than all the guys on our team. And, it would be great for the team if you joined, but I don’t wanna be selfish. I really don’t think you’d like it.”

          “I’ll consider it,” I said to him, but I was only half-listening. My eyes were on Cora. Did she ever go to the games?

          “Cora,” I asked, and she spun around to look at me. “Tell me, are the lacrosse games exciting?”

          She shrugged, but smiled. “I don’t really pay attention. But there was this one that was pretty cool, when Landon got into a fight with that guy from North Bay.”

          Cameron grinned. “That was hilarious.”

          That answered my question; Cora obviously frequented the lacrosse games. Maybe joining the team wouldn’t be such a bad thing then?

          “I think I’ll join. What time is the practice?”

          Cameron stared at me for a moment, and then spoke. “It’s after school at four. But are you sure?” He looked kind of… worried.

          “Yeah, I’m sure.” I replied, just as the teacher started speaking.

          “It seems that most of you did not finish your summary notes up to number seventeen, so they must be done up to twenty-eight tomorrow or else you get study hall. For the two new students in the class, my name is Mr. Vargas, and I appreciate it when students do their homework. I’m going to give you twenty minutes to finish those summary notes, and then we’ll be watching a video about the Avro Arrow.” He clasped his hands together and headed off to his desk. I looked around, confused and unsure of what to do, until I noticed Mr. Vargas beckoning me over.

          I headed over to his desk, and I noticed Allie had come to. I smirked at her and she glared back. Mr. Vargas explained what had been going on in the class and handed us pages we would need to catch up. He also said he wouldn’t expect us to be up to number twenty-eight tomorrow.

          I went back to my desk after, watching Cora and Cameron as they talked and laughed right in front of me. I was trying to accept Cora as just my friend, but it was so hard. I wanted to be what Cameron was to her, and I had just met her today. I had never felt that way about anyone before, not even anything close.

          I opened the textbook Mr. Vargas had given me, trying to concentrate on summary note number one, the Baby Boom. But it was so hard with all the thoughts coursing through my head.

          I tried to forget about Cora, and to forget about the fact that she was someone else’s. I mean, Cameron was nice… sort-of. He’d seemed mean at first but then had randomly chosen to befriend me in gym class, which was slightly strange. I had a feeling he didn’t befriend me out of congeniality, but out of some ulterior motive. I mean, I had laid it on a little thick with Cora in front him that morning.

          I tried to push these thoughts away as I moved on to summary note number two, but I kept hearing Cora’s laughter or seeing her smile out of the corner of my eye, and it would distract me each time. It was at that moment that I realized how much she captivated me, and that I wasn’t about to let a girl who intrigued me that much to not be mine. It might be a near impossible task, to get her to want me in the strange way I wanted her, but I was willing to try anything.