Waking up from a very short sleep, I start groaning not wanting to get up. My alarm goes off and it’s loud enough that I grab it and toss it to the other side of the room. I snatch my glasses and get up to change. It’s my first day of senior year and I just wanted to get it over with. I hate going to school. I slam the door open and head downstairs.

“Good morning grumpy. Eat before leaving and hurry up because you’re going to be late. i woke you up an hour ago.” My mom rolled her eyes while talking to me. She woke me up an hour ago? Strange.

“You woke me up an hour ago?” I add.

“I did but you fell asleep again. Now hurry up and eat your damn food.” Damn okay.

“Wow mom” I sarcastically say.

“Don’t worry honey, I know you’ll make some friends. I know you don’t really socialize that much but maybe this year, try to. It’s your last year of high school Ben. Please try to enjoy it before it ends and don’t make stupid choices like me and your father did.” She laughs.

“But mom you guys had me during high-“ I didn’t even get to finish my sentence before I got the joke that she made. “Very funny mom.”

I roll my eyes and quickly eat before running out the door for school. I plugged in my headphones to my phone and started listening to music. My mom was right though, I hate socializing. I have friends but not that much, maybe like 1 or 2. 3 at most. I wasn’t looking forward to go to school.

I wouldn’t call her my friend because we don’t like each other but her name is Emma. She’s the most popular girl in school but I don’t like her, no, I despise her. I don’t think she likes me either. She always gets on my nerves and we fight a lot, not physically of course. She’s so annoying and basically is friends with everyone in school.

She’s everything i’m not. I don’t like socializing but she talks to everyone.

“Hey there Ben! How was your summer? Do anything fun?” I hear a voice in the side of my ear. It was Carmen, my best friend. He smiles and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

“I didn’t do anything during the summer Carmen. It was boring. All I did was go to the gym every morning.. that’s it.”

“Damn dude! You ripped?” Carmen asks. What does “ripped” even mean? Does it mean abs or something? What’s he talking about?

“I guess..?” I’m so confused, i’m not used to what people say these days.

“Maybe you might actually get some hot game this year dude!” Carmen pleaded. “Hot game?” what the hell is he talking about? I stare at him like I have no idea what he’s talking about.

“Dude.. okay what I mean is, since you got the hot àss body now, you might acutally score yourself a girlfriend this year!” Oh that makes so much sense now. WAIT, A GIRLFRIEND?

“A girlfriend? I don’t think that any girl would actually be interested in me.” Now i’ve done it, i’m doubting myself again.

Before Carmen could really answer me, the bell rings.

“See ya later Ben..” Yeah okay i think i made him start questioning stuff about me again. I wave at him and we head our own ways to class. As soon as i step into class, I see her, Emma. I stare at her blankly, frozen.

“Are ya gonna keep staring at me like a freak or are ya gonna sit your àss down?” Emma laughs. She’s so shallow, it annoys me so much.

“Choke on a dîck and die.” I try taking back to her. I keep staring at her, waiting for a reaction out of her but nothing. How embarrassing. I’ve embarrassed myself again.

“I bet you don’t even know how to give head!” She yells out. She really thought she did something again. How does she know?

“How do you know, huh? You wanna bet that?” I smirk at her. Judging by the reaction she made, i’ve caught her off guard. She looked away, i could tell she got flustered.

As funny as it was, class began. Since it was just the first day of school, I thought that I could just sleep through class since we aren’t going to be doing anything. I set my head down and I try sleeping through class. Magically, I did end up falling asleep until the bell rang. That’s when I woke up and went to go to my next class.

I never thought that school would be THIS boring. Sadly, my school doesn’t give half days so it’s a full day every day. I can never get a break from this hellhole.

—————————

Lunch hits in and as i’m walking in the cafeteria, the whole room is filled with people. Down to the little freshman shíts to the seniors.

“Dude, Ben! Come here man!” Carmen yells out. We sit together every day but this year it’s different. There are more people there than usual. Did he already make new friends? Whatever, it’s not like I care about that anyway.

I go and sit down next to Carmen and he introduces me to the other people at the table. I didn’t say anything, I stayed quiet. I don’t trust them… should I? Maybe they are good people, but what if they’re not?

“Ben? You okay man?” Carmen reaches his hand and sets it on my shoulder. He makes it like he’s really concerned for me.

“What? Yeah, sorry I zoned out..” I lie. I’m silently judging the other people at the table. I roll my eyes and lay my head on my hand to act like i’m bored. 10 minutes pass and all they are talking about are girl and stupid guy shît like that.

I pat Carmen on the shoulder and tell him that i’m going to the gym. He doesn’t listen to me so I just leave him there. I head to the gym and what a surprise. I see Emma there with her friends. I’m about to leave but then she starts talking..

“Stalking me now eh?” She hops down from one of the bleachers and starts walking towards me.

“Oh please, don’t try to flatter yourself. You’re the last person I would want to even see.” I cross my arms and look away from her.

“Oh really?” She seductively says while holding my arms that are crossed. She leans in closer towards me and whisperes in my ear.

“Well, I don’t think of it that way. I personally like stalkers..” She leaned in even closer to me and smirked. It seemed like she was trying to kiss me or something but I knew she was just messing with me like always.

I shake away her hands from my arms and I back up. She frowned.

“Quit trying to mess with me Emma!” I finally say. She doesn’t say anything back, she just smirks before taking off. As she’s walking away, i could feel a sudden chill go down my spine really quickly. Weird..

—————————

Still thinking about what happened at the gym with Emma, I couldn’t keep my mind straight. I kept zoning out every class until the end of the day. I’ll admit that she did catch me off guard at the gym but I really had no idea what the hell happened there. It happened so fast...

I slap my face to get my mind off of it, then the bell rings. Finally it was the end of the day and I could leave.

“Yo Ben!” Emma shouts. God what does she want now?

“Leave me alone Emma, I’m not in the mood.” I reply. I’m really not. I’m trying to get her out of my head and her talking to me is not helping.

“Bad mood eh? And when did that ever stop me from messing with ya?” She smirks again. What’s her with smirking? It’s like the only thing she does now. I ignore her and grab my things. I start walking out the door but she pulls me back in and closes the door. She stands in front of the door so that I wouldn’t leave.

“Emma seriously? Move out of the way! I want to go home already.”

“No chance stalker.”

“Emma!”

She stares into my eyes, not making a single facial expression and walks closer to me.

“Emma?”

“Emma?”

Every time she's around, my heart races like it's running a marathon, and I can't help but feel a little flustered. When our eyes meet, it's like we're the only two people in the world. I break away from her gaze, and suddenly words escape me. I can't maintain that intense connection. What on earth is she up to? I mean, weren't we supposed to be on opposite sides?

“Emma..” I softly utter her name again, but still, she doesn't respond. She's just there, casting her gaze upon me. Without giving it much thought, I gently slide next to her and, surprisingly, I manage to make it to the door. That's the moment I decide to run. I find myself sprinting until I've left the school building far behind. I don't stop, I keep running, all the way home.

As soon as I reached home, I gently opened the door and carefully closed it behind me. I let out a deep sigh just before my mom appeared.

“Honey? Why are you out of breath, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine mom.. just tired,” Before taking another breath, I respond to her, then gently make my way to my room. I close the door behind me and let myself sink into the comfort of my bed. Reaching out, I softly pick up my pillow and press it against my face.

“Hon?” My mother parks herself on my bed beside me, liberating the pillow from my face. I haul myself into a sitting position and just stare at her. Not a single word would dare escape my lips, it was too mortifying.

“Ben, what happened? You seem a little.. frustrated?”

“I’m not frustrated mom, I’m blushing.” I cover my face and snatch the pillow back, squeezing it.

“Blushing? Wait wh- oh I see, is this about Emma? What did she do now to make you all.. flustered?”

“It’s not only what she does. it’s also what she says! I have no idea what’s going on anymore.” I stutter, covering my face. I can just feel my mom smirking. She slightly smiles, pats my shoulder, and leaves my room. That was very helpful.

For the rest of the day, I couldn’t get my mind straight. All I could think about was what happened in the classroom. CURSE HER BEAUTY.

Finally, it was night, I couldn’t even sleep. I start tossing and turning until I fell out of my bed. Then all of a sudden I hear someone laughing. I get up and I see her. Emma. What the actual fûck was she doing here?

“Emma? What the hell? How do you know where I- never mind. Why are you here?” I have no idea what to say right now.

“Don’t worry about that right now Ben.” She smiles at me, so bright, so.. soft. What in the world is going on? The way she’s looking at me, it makes me feel so nervous.. and that excites me. I’ve never felt like this before.

She slowly starts making her way towards me, but I back up just until I fall, sitting back down, on my bed. I have nowhere else to go. She cornered me. She leans in and touches my cheek with her soft and hold hand which gave me chills. She starts leaning in even closer, oh god. Are we- is this- is she going to kiss me? She grabs the back of my scalp and she starts spreading her fingers through my hair. It looked like she was about to kiss me but then she stopped and whispered in my ear.

“Wake up,” she said, in a very soft voice.

That’s when I knew. My alarm went off, and I nearly yelled. It was all a dream. I, Ben.. just had a dream about my enemy, Emma.

I change my clothes, I didn’t care about what I was wearing to school anymore. Now I just pick out the first thing I see in my closet. I wore a tight àss black shirt with sweatpants. I don’t care anymore. I rub my eyes as I walk down and grab my backpack.

“Ben? Where are you going?” My mom stopped me.

“School. I’ll get breakfast on the way, you don’t have to waste your time making it for me anymore. Go do something else, like go out. You never have fun any more mom. Why don’t you go out today? Enjoy yourself.” I leave and shut the door behind me. Shît, I forgot my glasses. Oh well, I’ll try to get through the day. I’ll ask Carmen if he has an extra pair. I have two pairs. I gave Carmen one of them just in case. Maybe he has it. Hopefully.

“Yo! What’s up Be- HOLY SHÎT DUDE..” Carmen squeezed my arm.

“Dude, don’t do that..”

“Woah! You look extra hot man! You aren’t even wearing your glasses!” He yelled.

“Are you hiding a spare in your secret stash, or are we playing hide and seek with them?”

“No chance, bro! I'm not handing it over. Miraculously, you're on the verge of escaping the singles' club! What stirred the winds of change? Weren't you the unofficial brand ambassador of plaid shirts and jeans combo?”

“Indeed, I've chosen to stop. I no longer concern myself with my attire. I simply select the first thing I see. Is there a problem with that?”

“Dude.. you have abs! And you’re wearing a TIGHT shirt! All the girls LOVE guys that wear tight shirts, especially when they have abs!” He starts grinning at me. Then he pushed me inside the school building. I could already feel everyone’s eyes locking on me. Everyone’s starring.

Isn't it true that some girls are drawn to guys who wear glasses? However, sometimes I wonder... I may not exactly be the type of guy that a girl would typically fall for. I see myself as rather ordinary, and it feels like I haven't experienced genuine fun yet. Perhaps I'm not designed to be the kind of guy a girl would fall for.

Stepping into the school structure, with a sense of skepticism, I make my way into the classroom at a brisk pace. As all gazes turned my way, I felt a sudden surge of discomfort. I was unsure if I should express my feelings or pretend to be unbothered by sitting down. Would speaking up make things better? Or would maintaining silence serve me well? Perhaps I'm just indulging in a bit of healthy paranoia.

Casting my eyes around the room, I tried to spot Emma. But it seemed she was nowhere to be found. Could it be that she didn't come in today?

The instructor gracefully steps in, gently urging everyone to find a seat and settle into quietness. This hush stirred within me a disquieting unease, mingling with a simmering irritation. Yet, she was still nowhere to be seen, where could she be?

In the middle of the lecture, my leg starts to quiver intensely before abruptly halting. I become motionless.

“Benjamin Velez, it appears you are receiving a phone call. Would you please consider stepping outside the classroom to attend to it?” Mr. Uttum phrases.

A phone call? Who on earth would be interested in calling me? Perhaps it's some sort of joke.

“Hello?” I nervously answer.

“Ben?” The whisper echoes through the phone. Instantly, I recognized precisely who it was.