Affair Of The Heart

Chapter 1

Salina

"You are a disappointment in this family."

"All you ever do is start shit up."

"Please, Sandra. Don't destroy the rest of our family."

"What if we asked someone to adopt you? Huh? Would you like that?"

"Ah, shit." I mutter after my pen falls on the ground and rolls away, a little bit too far from where I am able to reach. I'm sitting in the cafeteria re-writing my class schedule. My original one had the punch-holes torn off from my binder being too full of papers.

And I barely started this school year.

"Hey, dude." I called out to my friend Rose. What even is he doing? Is he just staring at the open wide cafeteria?

He looked at me as if saying 'what?' mentally.

"Could you reach my pen? It fell on the floor, it's under where you're sitting." I asked politely.

Rose looked under to search for my purple Faber Castel 0.5 ballpen, but to no avail.

"What? Where is it?" I frantically asked.
I know it's just a regular ballpen, but I love my pens, papers, highlighters, sticky notes, markers, and papers. No matter how cheap they may be.

"It's not there." He calmly stated.

"What? But I saw it roll in your direction. Check again, please?" Rose looks frustrated with me, but nevertheless searches again. He probably was searching for two to five minutes. I move to look under the table to see that my ballpen is farther than I had expected.

Ah, come on. I just need to re-write this schedule.

Rose tries reaching for my pen, the only problem is that when he reaches for it, he accidentally pushes the pen farther away from him. It was closer to another person, it was the new kid in the tenth grade, I believe. What was his name again? Oh, nevermind. Now, you may be wondering, why not just reach the pen myself? Right? I would do that, but I'm too lazy. Yes, lazy.

Having enough of wasting me and my friend's time, I wave my hand to catch the new guy's attention.

"Hey, um, excuse me?" He stared at me blankly.

Um, okaaaay.

I gulped although I managed to speak. "Hi... Uh..."
What in the name of St. Patrick's day is this guy's name again? I think I heard it before but what the hell was it? I rattled my brain searching for an answer.

Come on, Salina, don't embarrass yourself. Think!

Within a split second, I asked. "What's your name?"

Well, that was a great conversation starter.

He says nothing as he stares at me. I unconsciously stare back. After feeling the awkward tension get thicker by the second, I was saved by a familiar voice.

"Hey, Salina!" a voice greeted.

I whip my head in the direction of the voice. "Oh, hey, Garrett." I greeted them in return.

Garrett Martinez is one of the close friends I have that's in senior year. We started being friends 3 years ago through a mutual friend of ours, Jeremy Jackson.

"Hey, S." Jeremy nods in my direction while I nod back.

"Oh, wait! Hey, before you go, what's this guy's name?" I point at the new guy who is still staring at me.

Does he even blink? What the fuck is he doing? What is going on in his head right now?

"Oh, wait!" I suddenly said. "Maybe I know his name already. Just... just give me a clue on what his name is." I cheerfully said as if trying to remember the name of an important character in a movie.

Garrett paused to think. "Uh... Matrix." He said unsurely.

"Matrix?" I asked confusedly. "Oh! Is it Neo?" I look at Garrett waiting for an answer, sadly he already left.

How long was I thinking for?

I face Neo, who still stares at me like I'm a puzzle he needs to solve.

What is up with him?

"Hi, Neo! Nice to meet you! Could you reach my pen please? It's right under your seat." I say in haste.

What? At least he knows to hurry up. So I can finally cross one thing off of my To-Do List.

Neo continues to stare for a few seconds that I didn't notice him reaching down to pick up my pen. As soon as he gave me my pen, I practically snatched it out of his hand and gave it a smooch.

Oh, how I kissed--I mean, missed you.

A light chuckle interrupts my reunion with my pen. I look up to see that Neo was watching me the whole time.

I mean my gorgeousness needs some appreciation-

My cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "I--I mean... thank you, Neo." I smile, trying to wash away the tinge of red on my cheeks. He nods in reply before standing up to grab his things and leave.

Huh. That was...odd. Alright then.

After I finished writing my To-Do list, I stood up to grab my things. I glanced at Rose, "I'm going home now, you coming with?" I asked. We usually went home together especially since my house and his are close to each other.

He nods his head as he stands up from the bench clumsily. I stifled a laugh when he shot me a glare. Don't laugh Salina, I repeat do not laugh.

I said bye to the remaining people I knew there then hurriedly rushed to the front gates of the school to catch up with Rose. This became a habit of ours, waiting for each other at the end of our school hours to go home together. A simple thing like this makes me happy. At least I'm not going home alone.

My thoughts are interrupted by a loud sound that seemed to come from something far away.

"SALINA MOVE!"