Imperfect

For a contest I'm entering.

Nyla eyed Ryan from behind the edge of her book. Their English class was having “reading time,” and instead of reading the assigned book, Nyla was taking the opportunity to sneak glances at Ryan Cartelle, the most attractive person she’d ever seen. Ryan sat two seats ahead of Nyla, in the next row over, and was engrossed in the book. Nyla loved people who liked to read.

Feeling eyes on her, Nyla turned to see Jimmy Richardson looking at her, eyebrow raised. “Cartelle, huh?” he whispered, winking. “Nice choice.”

Nyla rolled her eyes. Sometimes she really regretted her decision to make Jimmy her best friend. “Who said anything about Ry-” Jimmy’s eyebrow crept up till it was hidden by his brown hair, and Nyla hurried to correct herself. “Cartelle.”

“You just did.” Jimmy pointed out, grinning. “Come on, Reed, Cartelle’s cute. And I’ve seen you looking.”

“I was reading!” Nyla hissed, earning a glare from the kid next to her.

Jimmy snorted in disbelief. “No you weren’t. You’ve been on the same page for about three minutes now.” He leaned forward conspiratorially. “I can set something up for you. My lab partner, Richie Anderson, he’s Cartelle’s cousin. I talk to him and get you a date.”

Nyla’s eyes widened, “No!” she exclaimed, perhaps a little too loudly. The kid glared harder, and she whispered “Sorry,” before turning back to Jimmy. “No, Jimmy. Cartelle doesn't even know me! I doubt Ryan even knows my name.”

“Suit yourself,” Jimmy muttered, turning his blue eyes back to the book in his hands. “If you wanna give up your dream, go ahead. I won’t stop you.”

Nyla glared at Jimmy before turning back around. She tried to read, and got through almost a full paragraph before her eyes were drawn back to Ryan Cartelle’s black hair. She sighed a little, and the kid next to her shot a look of pure evilness, which Nyla ignored.

~~~~~

The bell rang, releasing the students to their next class. Nyla stood hurriedly, packing up her notebooks. As Jimmy walked out, he waggled his eyebrows at her, pointing surreptitiously (not) at Ryan. Nyla shook her head violently, mouthing the word ‘No!’ at him until he shrugged at left the room.

Ryan gave Nyla a confused look. “What’s up with Jim?” he asked Nyla quietly.

Nyla scoffed. “He’s a clueless idiot, that’s what.” she said, following Ryan out of the room. She reached down and laced her fingers with Ryan’s, smiling.

Ryan laughed. “He still hasn't figured it out?”

“Nope.” Nyla stopped in front of her next class. “He offered to set us up.”

Ryan shook his head. “He has no powers of observation.” he said. “Bye, Nyl.” he said, leaning forward and giving Nyla a chaste kiss on the lips. “See you after school.”

Nyla watched her boyfriend walk away. Shaking her head, she went into class.

Author's Note

This is actually a new thing for me. I'm proud of this new thing.