Bad Blood

The Heartbeat

I flop my food onto the table. Annie looks up at me with her mouth full of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. There is a bit of jelly on the end of her lip but I will tell her when she is done eating. Leon sits next to her and he has cold pizza. They both have better food then I do. I have a cafeteria cheeseburger. It tastes like frogs legs. I mean.... not that I know what frog legs taste like. Jullian went to the restroom to wash his hands. Leon asks,"Hey Aysel. You okay?" I look down at him and my vision is blurry at first but it focuses. I nod and take a seat. Annie, still chewing food, raises her hand to her mouth and speaks behind her hand,"You are pretty... uh ya know... erm. You do tend to pass out a lot." I shake my head and say,"No guys I'm really fine." Annie swallows her food and squints at me. I point to the side of my mouth to tell her that there is jelly there. Her eyes widen and she touches her mouth. I direct her,"No wrong side. Now up. No no not that far. Okay left. Oops I meant my left. Yea yea... NO! Oh my goodness Annie. Okay a little more to the-" Leon interrupts me by reaching over and grabbing Annie's shoulders. She seems absolutely horrified at this. He moves his hand to wipe away the jelly. Once he is done Annie faces me and looks at her lap. I giggle and take note how red both of their faces are. Leon would help anyone if they had jelly on them, he is sweet like that. I would dismiss this as nothing. Annie gets up and says,"Aysel would you please follow me." I shove my burger into some napkins and we walk over to the trash. I managed to shove most of the burger into my mouth and throw out the rest. Annie and I leave the cafeteria and we head down to the bathrooms. As Annie passes the boy bathroom the door slams open and almost hits my head. The door closes and Jullian is there. He smiles at me and says,"You look like a squirrel! You might want to swallow that food or else you will choke." I nod and run to Annie. I swallow all the food by the time we are alone in the girl bathroom. She takes a few deep breaths and then something strange happens. I hear a beating noise. Is this my heart? Or is this Annie's? How can I hear this? Annie then says,"There is something I was going to tell you last night. But you where kinda busy making out with Jullian." The beating speeds up and I realize it's Annie's because my heart is still slow. I snap back,"I have known him for one day! I'm just being friendly! So should you!!" She says,"Then you sit next to Leon in class and I will sit next to Jullian." My eyes widen as I put two and two together. "DO YOU LIKE JULLIAN?!" She face palms herself and sighs. She rubs her eyebrows a few times and she says,"Come on we are gonna be late for class." I yell,"YOU LIKE JULLIAN!!!" She rolls her eyes and says,"No I do not." I snap back,"Then why did you bring me to the bathroom?!" She sighs and drags me to class. Leon is already sitting at the desk and when I sit next to him he smiles. I give a small wave and he says,"So did you wanna switch with Annie so you could sit next to an awesome dude like myself?" I reply,"Ha! In your dreams!" He laughs and he asks,"Hey do you remember that one Friday night sleepover when we watched Gremlins and you told me that they where my real family?" I laugh and say,"Of course! I remember when I burn people!" We laugh and Annie turns around. She says,"I couldn't help but hear about Friday night sleepover! This Friday night it's at Aysel's place right? And is Jullian coming?" I answer her questions with,"Yes and how about you ask him if he is coming to sleep with us on Friday." She rolls her eyes and turns around. During class Jullian and Annie talk but halfway through they stop. All during class Leon and I where throwing  small pieces of paper at Jullian's neck. He would look back at us and throw some back at us. After class we go out into the hall way and Leon and Jullian go off together somewhere. Annie looks at me and I smile. As we walk to our next class she asks,"Do... do you wanna sit by Jullian in this class?" I stop and say in a bothersome tone,"Only if you don't want to sit next to him." We continue walking down the hall. After all our classes Jullian heads down to his house and Leon goes to his basketball practice. Annie and I go down to my house not speaking because we are running as fast as we can. Well... she is panting but this is a jog for me. When we finally get home and flop onto my bed it's almost 4:00. Annie suddenly blows up into conversation,"GAHH I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE I NEED TO TELL YOU!!!" I give all my attention to her as she continues,"Your right about something. I think... erm... maybe I.... MAYBE I like someone. I dunno for sure tho. I-" she probably would have continue if I hadn't screamed. I tried so hard to not scream but I did. "WHO IS IT WHO IS IT WHO IS IT WHOISITWHOISIT GAHHHHXKHGCKUSHDCKUHSEKJCHSDKUVGKJGDCFFCFCGVBNBJKSJULLIANDKCUHSKCBKJZANDKJSNDCKHBSDJHAYSELJHDSCBKHSDBCKJSDBAREKSJDBKDSJBCOTPKJDSCBKJSDBCKJ!!!!!!!!" She laughs and says,"I'm not going to tell you until I am absolutely positive. This is the only secret I am keeping from you and it was tearing me apart with guilt." And then I remember. She trusts me but I don't trust her with my secret. And suddenly I can hear how fast her heart beats. I can smell my mom's perfume from outside and the car just pulled up. I jump up and run down the stairs. Annie gets up and I yell at her,"Stay here this will only take a second!" I must talk to my mom why I'm starting to hear things that I usually couldn't and why I can smell her from far away.