The Girl I Loved Once

Chapter 8

I could feel myself gradually getting more and more nervous as I pulled into school. The bus pulled in, and I anxiously waited as people trickled out of the bus until I saw Lara Jean. "Hey!" I shouted. Lara Jean walked over. "Are you seriously taking the bus every day?"
"My care is being fixed, remember? My accident?" I sighed. She could have asked me for a ride, I thought to myself. Lara Jean jolted as I grabbed her hand. And just like that, we walk to school. Hand in hand. With the entire student body watching.

By the time we get to the hall we're still holding hands, and even more people are looking. I see Emily Nussbamn do a double take and grab Gen. That makes me happy, knowing that Gen is getting exceedingly jealous.

My hands easily got sweaty in the hot September air, so standing around, walking, and talking to people with sweaty hands was torture.

"Your hands are really sweaty." Lara Jean whispered through clenched teeth. "No your hands are." I replied, also through clenched teeth. Gens hands always got super sweaty, so you'd think I'd be used to it by now, but no. It's still slimy and sticky and wet.

We arrive at Lara Jean's locker when we finally drop hands. I discreetly wipe my hands along my shorts, and I see Lara Jean do the same. I see people  I know walking down the hallway, so I decided that it was the perfect time to lean in for kiss.

Just for show.

Only instead of kissing, we rammed our heads into each others. "Ow!" We both yelped. I saw people snickering. I glare at her. "Well don't just sneak up on me like that!" She yelled. I glare even harder. "Lower your voice, dummy!" I say through clenched teeth. "Don't call me a dummy, you dummy." She retorts. I sigh, and we both see Genevieve walking down the hallway. I'm about to say something to her when she yells "Gotta go!" And bolts down in the other direction. "Wait!" I yell, but she's long gone.

. . . . . . .

Later that day, I'm on my way to Trig when Ms. Davenport, the head of the schools Drama department, stops me in the hallway. "Mr. Kavinsky, may I speak to you for a moment?" I stop in my tracks, I know what she's going to say. "Yeah, of course what's up?"

"Have you given any more thought to the school musical yet?" I freeze. I knew this was coming, yet I still got nervous. "Mr. Kavinsky," she continues on, "you did such a wonderful job in Sound of Music at that big theatre! Broadway dot com was raving about you and-" I cut her off mid sentence. "Hey, no one knows about that here so I don't really like to talk about it." I say. "Ah." She said as she nodded knowingly. "Peter, don't repress your talent. I know how you feel about your sports and your reputation, but a career in the arts is nothing to be ashamed about!" She continued on. "I just want you to at least consider coming to Footloose callbacks. We'll practically be giving you Ren!" I smile at that. Seventh grade me would have killed to do that, last year, while I was dating Gen, I would have said no. Gen hated musicals, and she never let me do them. I'm about to giver her a vague I'll think about it when it hit me: I could say yes. Gens opinions didn't matter anymore. I say without thinking: "Ms. Davenport, I'll be at callbacks tomorrow." She smiles at me a grand smile. "Wonderful, Peter! Swing by my office after school and I'll give you the script. Start learning Rens' lines!" She smiled as I walked away. It felt good to be able to say yes to that.

I go to her office after school, and I see the script and score on her desk with a post-it not on it that read

Peter,
See you Wednesday at 3 in the auditorium.
Ms D.

I grab the script, shove it in my backpack, and walk out of school happy.