When we collided he’d reached out, attempting to prevent me from falling. His hand still lingered in the air for a few seconds before he realized I was ignoring the gesture, eventually withdrawing it. “Well, anyway, I’m sorry again. Forgive me.”
His courtesy took me by surprise. I nodded once and then started down the hall again, remembering that I was trying to find Antonio before it was time to go to class. Leslie and I climbed the stairs casually recapping the incident that had just passed. When we reached the second floor, I spotted Antonio. His back was to me, as he stood facing his locker switching out his books for his next class.
“Hey,” I said in a low voice being careful not to startle him.
He spun around to meet my gaze. “Hey.”
We hugged and my mind immediately shifted to thoughts of my father disapproving of me getting ‘too close’ to boys…as he would say. When I pulled away slightly, Antonio already knew why. He was no stranger to my father’s views on me dating, so he eased his grip and let me back away without complaining. I wasn’t this self-conscious when it was just the two of us, but in public I was always cautious.
“Did you finish your assignment?” I asked, trying to get both our minds off the awkward exchange.
“Yeah, it’s done.” He laughed a little to himself. “But I don’t think I did all that well.”
“That’s what happens when you put things off until the last minute,” I joked. He smiled back and stared into my eyes briefly before leaning down to kiss me. This time I was a little more at ease. The hallway cleared out considerably which meant that we had fewer spectators now.
“I think that’s our cue,” he stated, acknowledging the warning bell that had just sounded.
“Yeah, I guess it is,” I replied, trying to mask the disappointment in my voice. “I’ll see you in a little while then.”
“I’ll meet you at your locker after school,” he said just before turning to head back toward the stairs. I turned to find Leslie waiting about ten lockers away trying to give us privacy. Hopefully she didn’t notice the surprised look on my face when our eyes met; I’d honestly forgotten that she was with me.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Yeah, we’d better hurry. Ms. Jamison’s gonna trip if we get to her class late…….again.” We both smiled and quickened our pace.
Upon reaching the door to our class, I was again reminded that many of the kids decided to leave early today. There were only thirteen of us. I could see the frustration in Ms. Jamison’s face as she marked us present in her attendance book.
It was never a good idea to upset Ms. Jamison. She always found some way to return the favor and I had the feeling that today would be no different. The rest of us were about to pay the price for the other students ditching her class. There was nothing to do but sit and brace myself for whatever she had in mind. I slumped down in my chair and rested my head on the back of my seat, closing my eyes as I recapped my plans for the next day. There was still so much to do before the dance.
The door to the classroom unlatched, and I heard another student enter, but didn’t open my eyes to observe. The next second the tardy bell rang and Ms. Jamison promptly shut the door again to lock out anyone who tried to sneak in late. I sat up straight in my chair and absentmindedly leaned to the left side of my desk where I’d placed my backpack on the floor. My fingers grazed the binding of my textbook and I gripped it. As I came back up, prepared to flip to page 96 like Ms. Jamison instructed, I bumped heads with the student seated next to me who was apparently bending down to reach into their backpack at the precise time that I was coming back up. The stinging pain that shot through my head wasn’t soothed at all when I reached up and placed my hand on top of it. When I looked up, it was Anthony again; or AJ or whatever people called him.