Brand New Day - Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

It’s been a week since my first day and things haven’t changed. My classes are alright. I hate calculus (I don’t know why I took it; I guess I felt that I should). But I am in a humanities class which is great and we are learning about Greek theater (which is my favorite subject, well pretty much anything dealing with theater is my favorite subject). I still haven’t said a proper word to The Guy (which I learned his name, it is Robert Mason). And during lunch I sit with Lydia and her very lively group of friends. Pretty much all they do is gossip (of course).
The bell rang. Lunch time.
I sat down next to Lydia with my tray that only had a salad on it. Being a vegetarian in a school where almost every meal is filled with meat is a bit difficult.
“So Sara, have you seen any guys you may like?” Lydia just had to know everything. I figured I might as well tell her, so I might get some advice about Robert, since Lydia “runs the school,” she would know him.
“Well there’s this guy in my Contemporary Issues class.”
“Ooh, what is his name?” She was very excited.
“Uh,” I hesitated, what if he was extremely popular and they laughed at me or what if one of them was dating him. Uh “just say his name,” (another internal war).
“…his name is Robert Mason.”
Everyone at the table gasped.
Crap.
“You like Robert?” Lydia sounded confused and horrified.
“Uh…I …well…I just thought he was kind of cute. I don’t really know him and I haven’t ever talked to him, although he did ask me to borrow a pen.” I was rambling. I was scared of what they might be thinking. “Why is something wrong with liking him?” I questioned. I had to know.
“Well Robert, doesn’t talk to anyone, he keeps to himself and he is well… sort of a nerd, no one talks to him. I can’t believe you think he is cute.” Lydia sounded disgusted when she said that last sentence.
What? People here think he is a nerd.
“What?”I sounded shocked. “You guys don’t like him because he keeps to himself?”
“Well just look at him,” Lydia said and everyone at the table glanced at him, sitting alone at a table in the corner of the cafeteria.
“See just look at him,” one of the other girls stated.
I saw nothing wrong, just a gorgeous guy sitting by himself.
“And he shops at thrift stores and vintage shops,” another girl said.
“Ewww!” They all chimed in together.
Uh, this really will be a long year. I should either find new people to hang out with or just talk to the guy.
After the conversation at lunch, Lydia and her group just looked at me confusedly, like I had grown a third eye on my face, but they tried to act like nothing had been said.

The next day was my contemporary issues class. All night I had been psyching myself up to talk to Robert and today I would have a chance. I walked in; there he was at his normal seat (of course).
“All right everyone pair up, we are doing a partner project today,” Mrs. Rhine announced.
Here was my chance, “okay Sara you can do this,” I thought.
“Uh…R…Robert,” I managed to get out. He looked up at me with those big brown eyes and my heart fluttered a bit. “Do you want to be my partner?” I can’t believe I asked him. Phew!
He looked at me a bit confused, “sure,” he said, not very enthused.
Crap, he probably thinks I am a loser and doesn’t want to talk to me. Mrs. Rhine passed out the assignments and Robert and I began without speaking. I somehow needed to get him to talk, if he wasn’t going to.
Then I noticed a book on his desk, why hadn’t I noticed any of his books before? Oh right, I had been trying to avoid looking at him. The book was “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hossieni. That is one of my favorite books and he is reading it. Oh my gosh, here is my chance, just say something.

Thirty minutes passed and neither of us said a word. What was the point of having partners if we weren’t going to work together? The whole time I had been fighting with myself and my weak self was winning. “Just do it,” I thought again.

Ten minutes later, both of us were almost done with the paper.

Five minutes later, we were done and already handed in our work. We only had twenty minutes left of class and still no real dialogue between us.

Ten minutes later and ten minutes left of class.
“Uh…s…so you’re reading ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns?’” I managed, finally the strong side won.
“Yep,” he kept his eyes on the book.
“D…Do you like it, I read it a while ago and loved it,” wow, I said another sentence, maybe I am not as weak as I thought.
“It’s alright,” he said, still not looking at me.
Geez what is with this guy, can’t he say more than two words. Well he did when he asked about a pen, but still why can’t he converse with me.
“Have you read his other book ‘The Kite Runner,’” it was the only thing I could think of.
“Yeah it was alright.”
He managed to say four words to me. I think I am getting somewhere. Then the bell rang.
Crap.