Restricted Love

Meet Andrew and I

"I hope you all have been working on your papers. You got until next week," Ms. Roberts said, scanning her classroom. Nobody seemed to really give a care. Girls leaned back against their chairs, unfolding notes slowly and secretly as if the teacher couldn't see, even though we all knew she did. Boys were either slumped forward, face down on the desks, sleeping, or just tapping away with their pens like they were a drummer in a band. I sat straight up, arms on my desk nicely, grasping the ends of my sweater sleeves with my fingers. My hand shot up into the air. "Ms! I, uh, have to go take a piss!"

Ms. Roberts glared at me, crossing her arms over her chest. "Do you have a potty problem or something? This is the 3rd time this week you've asked." She checked her watch. "Same time, too!" Without another word, I leaped out of my seat, grabbing my backpack and running out the class and into the hallways. I'm so fucking late. Andrew probably is wondering what's taking so long.

Right when I turned the corner, BAM! Something I slammed into knocked me off my feet and I was then sprawled on my back. "You need to watch where you're going!" A voice said impatiently. So, I didn't bump into something, it was a someone. Standing to my feet, I looked up at Andrew Valentine. At first, he looked quite annoyed, but then that expression faded and his lips formed into a smile. "Hey, Aiden."

"I don't feel like running since I nearly landed on my ass!" I muttered between breaths as Andrew dragged me along behind him. He was on the track team, I wasn't. I was more of a basketball kind of guy and running for long periods of time? Not my thing. An ache was already starting to grow in my side and I badly wanted to slow down. Where were we even going?

My gazed flickered left and right, up and down. We were in some sort of forest? Nothing very familar to me. Then I finally got enough guts to ask him where we were headed when we started to walk. One thing I noticed, he still held my hand, and my face turned hot. No, I wasn't blushing. Guys don't blush. "There's this place I found yesterday," he said, panting lightly. "It's really beautiful, like something you'd only see in a fairy tale. A little ways deep into this forest, stay on the path, then you see a tree with an X." With perfect timing, I spotted a tree with an X carved into it. "And you take a right, off path and into the wilderness, keep walking straight ahead...and you got it..."