Chapter Five - Euphoria

Monica invites Sebastian to go on a walk with her after school until it is interrupted by Damien.

Five... four... three... two... one...

"Ring!" the school bell chimed as everyone in the ISS classroom got up and walked over to the cell phone basket. I stayed back and waited for Monica to walk to the front.

"Eeeeeeeek!" she screeched joyfully as she squeezed my hand. "I never imagined this day would come! I could've sworn I saw you this morning, and then my friends were looking at me like I was psycho and--"

"Whoa, relax!" By listening to what she said I figured this must've been the girl Abel was referring to earlier during English class. As we picked our cell phones up from the basket, we began traversing through the maze of hallways to the exit when something finally hit me; Monica? In suspension?

"What exactly did you do to get in there?" I asked her as we continued walking in sync. "He said, 'Nice to have you back Momo.' Are you a regular rule breaker or something?"

She let out a loud laugh that blended in with the rest of the conversations people were having at their lockers. "Notice anything about me?"

I took this time to observe her. I looked up and down. She wore a pink cardigan with a flower print skirt and some flats that looked quite expensive. Her long blonde hair framed her face well and the scent that she gave off was something I had never experienced before. She was just perfection. My head tilted involuntarily as I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I guess I must have seen slightly creepy though as she kept checking out the corner of her eye to see if I had stopped looking. Getting a hold of myself, I nervously turned to face forward. "N-no, I don't notice anything."

"I'm surprised since you looked at me for like an hour!" she exclaimed teasingly. "Look," she said waving her skirt around. "It's too short. School dress code doesn't allow skirts like these."

I let out a sigh of disbelief. "What! It doesn't even look that short!"

"Yeah, well that's what I say every time I get written up for it."

We continued to talk as we headed out the door of the school to the parking lot. I looked around at everyone's little cliques and posses that would probably regularly meet everyday after school for the rest of the year, and remembered the group I had back at my old school. Monica could probably tell I was deep in thought about something that wasn't making me very happy as she kept tapping on my shoulder to get my attention. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"No, nothing is--" I stopped mid-sentence. I could clearly see Damien far in the distance in his own group, chatting it up with what seemed to be another blonde girl and some other guys, one of them standing out to me as it was Abel. All of the feelings I had in the morning came rushing back. I began to tug on Monica toward the opposite direction, telling her, "Let's go this way."

"Huh? But the parking lot is this way," she tried to remind me, confused of my intentions. It was too late though. Damien seemed to spot me, as his eyebrows raised quite a bit when he looked in the direction me and Monica were standing.

"Come on, let's just go!" I shouted as I watched Damien pat his buddies on the back and leave the group, walking toward me and Monica. As much as I tried to pull Monica with me, she kept trying to pull the other way.

"Seb! Are you stupid? It's this way! Sebastian!"

She continued to try to pull me the other way until I felt her let go. Without looking, I reached back to grab her once again, and continued walking the other way. However, I knew something didn't feel right. I felt like I was being pulled a lot harder than before. I turned to look again, and it was Damien. My face turned red, heat radiated from inside of me, and I immediately let go. I stood there in the middle of the campus grounds, shocked at what had just happened.

"Monica... can I borrow Seb for a while?"

Monica stood behind Damien, strands of hair spread all over her face. She blew them out, and I could see how frustrated she was. However, she tried to remain calm. "Yeah, sure," she said between breaths. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said walking away.

There he was, in all his glory. The cliques and posses began to fizzle out, and there was only a couple of people around now. The sun was blazing, and it was evident as sweat streamed down the side of Damien's face. "Phew," he said smiling, his eyes squinting as he looked at me. "Do you ever give up?"

I gazed into his eyes, facing him for a couple of seconds. A small laugh escaped me, which caused him to laugh, and then I began laughing harder, and then he started laughing more. Our laughter bounced back and forth between us for a moment, and then I realized I had forgotten about everything that happened today.