Awehhh....Charlie!!

“Him, him, him. He’s all I think about, and now. Now…I think he might like Jody,” I cried, suppressing sobs.

“Come on, Danni, you have no proof she likes him. You’ve asked, remember, and her answer was…?” Latoya trailed off, letting me finish the equation.

“No. but-,”

“Exactly: no. as in, no way they would make a good couple. They’re friends, nothing more, Danni.”

“Something more than I am with him,” I grumbled unintelligibly. Latoya ignored the comment and decided to let me get it all off my chest. I guess it was obviously bothering me. A lot. “Well, before I liked him, Jody was going to detention and she beamed at him and I was like, ‘Who’s he?’ and she was like, ‘Charlie. He’s in my class.’ But I didn’t care who he was and kept on saying how she should go out with him and how good they would be together. Later, at Jazz class, she told me how he looked at her and smiled and how-before she could return the warm gesture-the teacher had told them off. Then, when I walked past his class to do my normal staring routine [please, don’t judge me! I’m not really a freak-just with all things concerning Charlie, I tend to be.] I thought he was looking at me, but I realized he was staring straight ahead. Weird. Then, at Jazz, Jodes informed me that her new desk position is facing him. But Delilah is inbetween them, so if she tilts her head, she’ll see him. But Delilah was absent and he was staring at her. Like in detention. Another time, I remember us deciding to use random boys in our class that we don’t like to practice flirting on and she was like, ‘I’ll use Charlie,’ and when I asked why, she said he was the only guy who didn’t make her gag with the view of his face. And when I asked her which of Charlie’s friends she thought was the hottest, she said Charlie himself. Or Derek, but mostly Charlie.”

I suddenly noticed Latoya looked uncomfortable.

“That can’t be true,” she mumbled the words, not looking up to my face.

An old memory filled with mistrust and doubt filled my mind.

I arrived at school late and immediately parked my bag at the wrong classroom-Jody’s. It was a good habit that enabled me to go back to her classroom after I’d been chased away by either her peers or teachers. When I arrived, Jody looked like she’d been about to tell Sally something, but stopped as soon as I arrived, and gave me a weird look. One of relief.

“So, I-,” that’s as much as I heard before she switched her direction of conversation. “Oh, hi, Danielle!” Danielle? What was this, a formal gathering? It’s not so much she called me “Danielle” (it was my name, after all) it’s the way she said it. Like I was a lifeline. Like riding a dolphin to shore, when you knew it was bringing you toward enemy’s land. Perhaps you should just drown, instead of enduring the torture they’ll put you through; then when you give, the torture you’ll put your country through, the danger…

She looked misplaced, somehow, and dithered a bit with her hands, then decided to look for Latoya. Charlie came and said hello with that smile o’ his, and Jody gave me an odd look, as if I had no rights, like I was a maggot, then treated Charlie to one that said he was an ant, and she was an anteater. I saw her and Latoya chatting, and noticed the latter get a look of complete surprise and concern, then glance in my direction. Later on, she looked like she was going to say something, but thought better of it, biting her tongue.

It was the line about the anteaters that really got my attention.

He was an ant, and she was an anteater.

That line scared me. Anteaters need ants to survive. They love eating ants, as if they’re really yummy. They go together like crackers and cheese.