Jordan

    "Who is he?" I whispered to my friend, trying to point at a boy across the gymnasium without him noticing. Not an easy task when he hadn't looked away from me in ten minutes. We were sitting in the gym of our school, waiting for the homecoming pep rally to start. My friend Shelly turned toward me with a questioning look. "I'm trying not to point, but he's sitting like directly across from where we are, all the way on top of the bleachers. He's wearing red."
        Shelly smiled. "Beckie, they're all wearing red. That's the junior class." She followed my gaze and immediately saw who I was talking about; he was still staring at me. "Omigosh, omigosh. Beckie! That's Jordan Donnelly!" I stared at her blankly. Shelly sighed. "He's a junior, obviously. He's so dreamy. How long has he been staring at you?"
    I laughed. "You're such a girl. I don't know. I looked over there like 10 minutes ago, and he was looking over here, and he hasn't stopped looking over here. I've never seen him before. Is he new?"
    "Yeah. He just started this year. I heard he moved here from, like, Florida or something." Shelly was now staring back toward Jordan, and he promptly looked away. "God, he's so cute."
    "His face is red; how can you tell?" With him looking away however, I could actually look at him. He was standing casually, leaning back against the wall with his hands in his pockets. No one was really talking to him. I meant it about the red paint though; I couldn't make out any of his features. I was studying him so intently, that I didn't even notice him look back over at me. He smiled, and I instinctively smiled back before quickly blushing and turning away.
    "I've seen him around. He's really quiet," Shelly said. "Oh, but he's just so--"
    "Cute, yeah, I got that," I interrupted, laughing.
    Shelly smiled brightly. "He's looking at you again," she whispered.
    I caught his eye again, and this time we stared at each other for a good amount of time before I smiled and waved. He returned the gesture, and the pep rally started.
    After an hour of screaming and chanting and cheering and jumping, my ears could barely handle the sound of anyone's voice. Never mind Shelly going on about how Jordan Donnelly was still staring at me. Somehow, when the classes left the bleachers and melded onto the floor, this Jordan Donnelly had ended up next to me. The constant brushing of our hands and arms could have been blamed on the crowd, but something told me, and Shelly, that it was otherwise.
    "Omigosh, Beckie, he put himself right next to you! You guys are, like, so meant to be! You should go talk to him! He must be so shy," Shelly declared dreamily.
    "I'm not going to talk to him. That's creepy. We don't even know each other," I responded.
    "Well, you didn't know me, either, until you talked to me that day in 6th grade. So go." Shelly pointed to a spot a few yards away, where he stood against a wall. I hesitated just long enough for her to snap, "If you don't go on your own, I'll drag you over there myself."
    "You know, you're one of my closest friends and all, Shelly, but sometimes, I really want to hit you," I said frustratedly.
    She fixed her gaze on me. "Just go."
    We stared silently at each other for a few minutes before I finally gave in. I was easy to persuade. And Jordan Donnelly was incredibly cute. "I hate you," I said with a lazy grin, walking away. I turned toward Jordan, who was watching us intently. He looked away when he saw me looking at him, but when I started walking over, he turned back to me. I stopped and leaned against the wall beside him. "Hey."
    He took a breath in quickly. "Hi. You're Rebecca right?"
    "Yeah, and you're Jordan Donnelly." I smiled at him and he looked relieved by the simple action. "I think your sister is in my art class."
    His head tilted to one side. "Really? Maybe. I don't really pay attention to her classes. I've had enough of a hard time trying to pay attention to my own." He turned his lips up to a smile on one side. Very cute smile, I thought. "So I don't know if you noticed but I kinda couldn't take my eyes off of you in there," he said, nodding toward the gymnasium.
    A blush rose to my cheeks. "I noticed. That's why I came over to talk. My friend Shelly bullied me into it."
    "You had to be bullied into coming over?" he asked, his smile faltering slightly.
    "Well, I'm shy sometimes," I recovered quickly. "I wanted to, but I was nervous. Usually the guys approach the girl first."
    "I like a girl who can make the first move." I smiled and reached for his hand. I turned it palm up, took a pen out of my purse and jotted my phone number down. "And the second move, apparently."
    "Call me sometime," I said. "Maybe we can do something."
    Jordan smiled and back. "I will."
    I threw my pen back into my purse and turned away. "Talk to you later, then." He waved and I walked back over to Shelly.
    "Details! Now! Tell me every word!"
    As soon as I opened my mouth to speak, my phone started ringing. I didn't recognize the number, but answered anyway. "Hello?" I asked.
    "So, can we do something now?"
    I turned around and saw Jordan leaning back against the wall again, phone to his hear. "Yeah, I guess we can."