The Safety Pin Affair

f i v e - are you always this stubborn?

you say your faith is shaken
you may be m i s t a k e n . . .

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The bell for my last class of the day rang, telling us all that school was finally over. I didn't think Thursday could take so long to come to an end, but today it did.

I packed up my things and swung my bag over my shoulder as I practically flew out of the classroom. I'm sort of in a hurry to get home because I don't have Gracie today, so I can relax and not worry about any responsibilities for a little bit. Even though I love that kid, she tires me out like nobody else.

Maneuvering my way down the halls past all the freshman rushing to get to their last class, I came to a stop at my locker and popped it open. I put away my things and grabbed whatever I needed, turning to shove my folders in my bag. And as I did that, I happened to see Michael walking down the hall in my direction.

His eyes met mine and he gave me a friendly nod, smiling as he did so. I returned the favor, and that's when I realized he was walking with Josh. I just sort of gave him a half smile and went about my business.

It's been awhile since I last talked to him and I'm guessing his outburst of him asking for me to go out with him at Rick's house after our Beatles discussion was simply because he was drunk. I think he did have quite a lot to drink that night, so that might be why he was acting so weird. Who knows though – maybe he does really want to go out with me.

In that case, he'll be waiting a long, long time.

A few seconds later as I'm getting ready to leave my locker, I heard approaching footsteps until a tall presence appeared beside me. I sighed and turned to them with a blank look.

Josh.

"Hi," he smirked, leaning against the row of lockers.

Is it bad to say that his brown eyes are twinkling right now?

Shut up, Vic.

"Hi," I said with a hint of confusion in my voice. I shut my locker slowly and knit my eyebrows together. "Can I help you?"

Like I said, we haven't talked in a few weeks and this hardly ever happens – meaning him going out of his way to speak to me – so something must be important if he's doing this.

"Yeah, you can," he nodded. His eyes searched mine and his smirk widened a bit, as he continued to stare at me for a few silent seconds.

I'm about to pry more into it until he asked me something. Or more like told me.

"Come to my wrestling match tomorrow."

Right. It's October now so that means wrestling season has started here at Ridgeway High. And of course, Josh happens to be one of the top wrestlers in the area.

Why he's asking me to come to a match, I have no idea. I couldn't give a fuck about wrestling, honestly.

"And why would I care about wrestling?" I crossed my arms and looked at him curiously.

He chuckled, the corners of his eyes crinkling in an oddly cute way. "Are you always this stubborn?" He asked.

I laughed and shook my head a bit at his comment. He's right though, I can't deny that.