Counting Crows

Jessica sank down to her knees below the old birch tree.  Tears streamed down her face as she thought of the mistake she had made.  Why had she trusted Lily with such a secret?  It had been years since they had walked out of that elementary school that she used to teased her at.  She had appolagised, multiple times.  She thought that she had been forgiven, that they were friends.  But of course, once again, Lily just had to have her revenge.  

she had had a crush on him for years.  She only told her closest friends about him, and just yesterday, she had decided to tell Lily.  

Of course, the next day she gets to school and feels like everyone's watching her.  It seemed like everywhere she went, whispers followed close behind.  About halfway through the day, she finally snapped and went up to a bunch of gossiping girls, asking why people were talking about her.  They said back, "Didn't you hear?  Lily told the entire school that you like James."  

Those girls might as well have slapped her in the face.  She spent the rest of the day pretending not to notice the whispers and stares.  Lily had tried to talk to her multiple times, but she just walked away, without saying a word, holding back tears.  

The school day was over now.  As soon as the bell had rang, Jessica had bolted out of the school.  She ran faster than she ever had, all the way to her tree by the library.  She now kneeled underneath bare branches, sobbing.  The emotions that she had been holding back and hiding all day all came pouring out at once.  She took off her backpack and threw it on the ground as she turned and put her back to the trunk.  she curled up in a ball and sat the crying, and wishing she had just stopped this.  But she had trusted Lily, and now she paid the price.  It had just been luck that she had been able to avoid James all day.  

She didn't know how long she had been there, but eventually, Jessica lifted her head.  To her surprise, she found a single crow sitting in front of her.  "One for sorrow," she whispered. The crow ducked its head down, as if nodding, then flew away.  She watched it flutter across the street, into a tree.  

She sat there for a while, watching it sit in the tall maple across the street, calling out to it's friends.  Eventually, her view was disturbed by the city bus stopping in front of it.  The bus pulled away, revealing a single person.  

He had a bright red backpack slung over his shoulder.  "Oh no," she said quietly, recognizing him.  She started to reach for her bag, but it was to late, James had spotted her.  

"Don't freak out," she muttered to herself.  She took a deep breath and focused on keeping her face in the same, emotionless mask she always had to wear to hide emotion.  "Uh, hey," he said, walking up to her.  "Hi," she said, trying hard not to sound like she had been crying for the past hour.  Had it been an hour?  She glanced at her watch.  Yep, it had been about an hour.  They stood there awkwardly for a moment, trying to figure out what to say.  Jessica was a little surprised, considering she had never seen James struggle to speak.  

Her eyes wandered, searching for something to talk about.  Two black silhouettes caught her eye.  She squinted at them, then bit back a laugh as she realized that they were crows.  Two for mirth, yeah right.  Like that was going to happen.  "Um, so what are you doing here?" she asked.  He shrugged, "meeting with my brother, Tony."  She nodded and picked at a pebble with her shoe.  She wished she was anywhere but here, with him.  "So what are you doing here?" he asked.  She kicked the pebble as hard as she could, "trying to forget about today, avoiding talking to people, the usual."  

Surprisingly, he laughed.  That laugh was one of the sweetest sounds she'd ever heard, and shined a little light on her, allowing her to smile down at the ground for a second, until the weight of the day crashed down on her once again.  

They were silent for a few moments more, until James spoke up, "uh, there's been a rumor going around that you like me?  I don't know..." Jessica hesitated, should she tell him or lie?  He seemed almost like he wanted it not to be true, and would happy to believe the simplest lie.  But there was also Lily to consider, and also the fact that she didn't want to lie to him.  She sighed, "yeah, I like you."  

She looked down, not wanting to meet his eyes, once again searching for anything else to look at.  Once again she found the crows, who'd multiplied from two to eight.  She looked away from them once again, silently scolding herself for being stupid enough to even want to believe in the silly superstition.  

What would she even wish for, for James not to hate her?  Or maybe for him to like her back?  Why was she even considering it?  They were just a bunch of stupid birds, they didn't mean anything.  

She silently glanced up, wishing he'd just say what was on his mind.  She started to leave, thinking she'd embarrassed herself enough, when he suddenly grabbed her hand, "I like you to."  

Jessica froze, unable to wrap her mind around what was happening.  She'd fantasized about what it would be like if he liked her, but she'd always push those thoughts away, knowing they were stupid and would never come true.  

In the corner of her eye she saw one final crow fly over to the tree, leaving ten perched in it's branches.  She shook her head, counting again.  She knew what it meant, but didn't know what to think.  She took a deep breath, and decided that whatever happened next, superstition or no superstition, she'd let it unfold the way it wanted. 

And that was her first kiss.