Time for School Ch. 16

I reached down and grabbed her hand, prompting her to look over at me with a sorrowful smile.

"I'm really, really sorry for chasing you away like that. I was stupid back then and I couldn't see that I was losing the best friend I ever had. You meant a lot to me, too - you still do."

"Thank you," she whispered, sniffling. "I accept your apology wholeheartedly. ... I'm just glad to have you back, Anthony."

"It's good to be back, Samantha," I replied before lifting her hand up and placing a kiss upon it. She laughed and sniffled, wiping away a couple of rogue tears from her eyes. She gazed to the ceiling once more, taking a deep breath and shakily sighing. She held my hand a little tighter, both of us relaxing in silence for a moment or two.

"You're the only guy I've ever done this with," she said. "And ... you're definitely the only one that deserves it ..."

"Wow," I remarked in surprise. "Well, thank you for that honor."

She smiled and laughed, both of us gazing happily at each other after making love as two very happily reunited friends.

Samantha then glanced over at the clock.

"Oh, crap," she remarked before calmly getting up.

"What is it?" I asked as I followed her lead.

"My parents are going to be home soon, and I gotta clean up and you shouldn't be here since my parents keep telling me not to have friends over when they're gone ..."

I smiled and nodded. "All right, then," I replied before putting my bathingsuit back on.

"I'll talk to you soon."

"Yep. I'm not going anywhere."

She smiled brightly. "My thoughts exactly. See ya later."

"See ya." She stroked my arm before I left the room.

"Don't forget your towel!" she called out to me.

"Oh, right," I muttered, heading back to the couch real quick to grab the towel I'd left on the seat. I then took my leave from her place, closing the door behind me. I smiled as I gazed up at the apartment number, a number I hadn't come face-to-face with in quite some time. But it was incredible to be back.

After I got home, I headed for the bathroom to get cleaned up and changed. When I brought the towel to drop into the hamper, I realized I didn't recognize it. That's when my heart sank. I still had Samantha's towel — mine was still at her house.

"Uh-oh," I muttered.

Well, there was nothing I could do about it at that point. Going back up to Samantha's apartment while her parents were there to hand her back her own towel would've been incredibly awkward and involve a lot of explaining that I'm not sure either of us wanted to do. She was always very smart - smart enough to make up a cover story. I didn't worry about it too much and headed into the shower.

That evening, I got a rather calm buzzing sensation in my head. My extrasensory senses perked up to alert me that someone was arriving. A few seconds later, there was a gentle knock at the front door. I chuckled and hopped out of my computer chair, certain of who it was. I sensed her presence - getting a calm, relaxed vibe from her. I grabbed hold of her towel from the bathroom and headed for the door. Upon opening it, I smiled at Samantha, who greeted me with a smile back. My towel was in her hands.

"What did you tell your parents?" I asked as we calmly swapped towels.

"I told them a half-truth. A friend came over after we met up at the pool and ... stayed for a while."

"A guy friend?" I playfully asked, draping the towel over my shoulder.

"A girl friend," she replied with a grin. "I really don't need them to start getting ideas about having a guy over."

"Cause they're totally unfounded, right?"

"Right," she laughed. "... You know, it's not like I just planned from the moment I saw you that I wanted to ... do it with you. Or after the time-stop thing, or on the way up the elevator, or when we walked into my place. ... Sitting there on the couch with you was so ... pleasant. I felt like it was the good, old days all over again. I was just really happy to be with you and to talk with you like a normal, fun-loving person again. I guess I just got ... overwhelmed by it all."

"So did I," I softly said. "That, and the fact that you're really beautiful."

She laughed again. "Thanks. ... Well, guess I'll see you around soon."

"I guess you will."

She gave me an adorable grin that got me smiling as well before taking her leave. That smile was pretty much pasted on my face as I shut the door and went to put my towel away. As I sat back down in front of the computer, I reminisced for a moment about Samantha and the amazing time we had together. She was right about getting to hang out together - it felt like old times for me as well. I was glad that she hadn't changed at all. Moreover, I was glad that I was finally able to do right by her and patch things up. I realized how much that meant to her.

Being able to atone for my past transgressions fulfilled me in a way I could've never imagined. Finally getting to speak my mind, open up my innermost thoughts to the people around me. From the moment it all began with Jennifer, snowballing all the way to Ms. Adanna and now to Samantha. It felt good, to say the least.

Still, there was one more person I had to tie up loose ends with. Someone who I've had feelings for during the majority of the school year thus far. Of course I'm talking about the one who I'd had a tiny, little, microscopic, insignificant, teeny-weeny, totally-not-a-crush crush on. I never did get to talk to her seriously after Jordan and I had our heart-to-heart chat. My sixteen days of winter vacation were coming to an end - time to go back to school.

I was amazed at how surprisingly refreshing it was to get back onto school grounds. Well, that was mostly because I actually had things to look forward to again. My friends, as delightfully crazy as they are, were more than happy to see me. I was always happy to see them, too. That included, of course, Eve who greeted me with a hug and a kiss since that was the new norm. In the hallway outside of Algebra, I ran into none other than Tamara. I laughed and grinned as she approached from the other direction. She was wearing the shirt that I got for her birthday.

"Hey, you," I happily greeted her.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, sharing a friendly hug with me.

"You have great taste in fashion," I told her as we stood together.

"Thanks," she sweetly said. "I really wanted to wear this to show that, after all of the stuff that happened, I'm on Team Anthony."

"Wow," I remarked, touched by the remark, "that's really, ... wow." She giggled in amusement. "Never thought of myself being some kind of team to join, but I really appreciate it."

"I appreciate you," she said before leaning in to give me a kiss on the cheek. That was a great feeling I would never be able to get enough of. The two of us then headed into the classroom together.

"So, are we like some kind of softball team or something?" I joked, grinning happily. She laughed in response and nodded.

"If you want to be," she replied just before we parted away.

We took our seats just before the bell rang to begin class. It was time for everybody to take our their study books and get back to learning. Having plenty of time to rest my brain made me eager to get back into it.

Once the bell rang, I certainly wasn't going to get away without a visit from a certain fiery-tempered classmate. Tamara and I hugged and said our goodbye's with her planting one more kiss on my cheek. As I walked out into the hallway in a overjoyed daze, I seemed to unconsciously put my weight onto my right foot. It was enough to absorb most of the impact from Elizabeta rushing out and shoving me extra hard from the left.

"Hey!" she squealed. "Missed me? You better say 'yes' or I'll kick your ass right here."

I smirked and pretended to feign interest. "Hmm ... I guess I did ..."

"You perro," she said with a big grin before slapping my arm. I returned the physicality by putting my arm around her and holding her close to me while we walked. She squealed again and laughed in response.

"So, what was with the big shove you gave me?" I asked.

"That was for all the days I missed out on from vacation," she replied before leaning in and whispering, "and for fucking me."

"Do you regret it or something?" I asked, curious.

"Hell no. But I still have to keep you in line like the dog you are, papi."

I couldn't help but chuckle, glad to know she was the same as always.

As we passed by Spanish, my next class, I let go of her and gave her a playful slap on the butt.

"Aii!" she playfully shrieked. She turned to me with an excited grin, and a sizzling look in her jade green eyes that told me she definitely liked that. She then gave me a very 'friendly' middle finger. I laughed and waved to her. She walked away, keeping the same big grin on her face. I took a deep breath and sighed happily while heading into class.

Inside, Sarah had already taken her seat on time - pen and paper ready on her desk. That didn't surprise me, considering how much of a bright, model student she was. She was always eager to learn. I could only hope that my grades would eventually look as good as hers.

"Hey, welcome back," Sarah said.

"And to you, too," I politely replied with a smile before sitting down at my desk.

That's when I watched Jordan quickly shuffle on by me to take her seat. She looked at me with a suspicious grin before reaching into her backpack to get her materials. After I turned back around, I heard Sarah and Jordan giggle to each other behind me. I smiled and shook my head, wondering what those two were up to.

I was mildly distracted during class. Not just because of the fact that Ms. Adanna was wearing a beautiful blue tight evening dress, but because I was also trying to think of what to say to Sarah come lunchtime. Before that, let me get back to talking about Ms. Adanna for just a minute. Wow. I had no idea if she was dressed like that because she had a date later, or if she just wanted to look nice. Very nice, in fact. Maybe, though, just maybe ... she was dressed like that for me. All I knew was that she looked amazing and I was very tempted to have another time-stopped romp with her if my mind wasn't already preoccupied.

I wrote a little note to Sarah on a small piece of paper. In it, I quickly explained to her that I wanted to have a chat with her one-on-one during lunch. I casually dropped the paper over my shoulder in a way reminiscent of how I would irritate the living hell out of Jennifer. I heard her unfurl the note. I then turned my head to the side, watching her smile and nod to me. I nodded back and returned to our lesson for the day.

When lunch finally came around, I was a little nervous but so much more excited. Getting to finally confess my innermost feelings to Sarah- ... I mean, feelings? What feelings? Well, regardless, I knew it was going to be super refreshing to lay out all my cards on the table for her.

Sarah, Jordan and myself all headed out at the same time.

"So, what did ya want to chat about?" Sarah softly asked.

Jordan couldn't help butting in. "Ooh, the two of you are going to have a private chat, huh?"

"Yeah," I calmly replied. "There were some things I wanted to talk to Sarah about."

Jordan was able to tell that this chat meant a lot for me. She knew what I was going to tell her, since she already knew herself.

"How about I run on up ahead and buy us all a slice of pizza?" Jordan suggested. "That way it'll be ready for you by the time you get there and guys can chat along the way."

"Thank you," I smiled to her. "I appreciate it."

"Sounds good," Sarah concurred.

Jordan chuckled softly. "You guys take your time."

Jordan then jogged on ahead, leaving Sarah and I casually striding behind. The halls were already starting to thin out as most of the other students flew past us.

"What's up?" Sarah asked. I smirked and chuckled.

"I'm sure Jordan already filled you in on most of what I wanted to say."

A big grin slowly crept across her face. "Abo~ut?"

"Look at you, you're about to laugh!" I exclaimed, both of us bursting out with a laugh. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Okay, okay, fine," she admitted with a nod. "I mean, we are like sisters. She tells me everything and I tell her everything."

"I figured." I smiled, keeping my gaze forward. "For a while, I ... had a pretty ... minor crush on you, I would say."

"Uh-huh," she playfully replied. She knew it wasn't as minor as I'd been saying all along. "Well, I didn't need Jordan to tell me that. I already knew."

"Was I that obvious?" I asked as I looked over at her.

"Uhh, ... yes." I softly laughed in response. "But you're a sweetheart, Anthony - you really are. I'm so, so, so glad to have you as a friend. You've been great to me."

I casually led her down the opposite hallway than the one which would've taken us to the courtyard with Jordan.

"Why are we going this way?" she asked.

"Just to talk for a few more minutes. I doubt Jordan will miss us."

She laughed. "All right," she replied with some curiosity in her voice.

I led her outside, out to the area where the school buses would normal line up at the beginning and end of the day. At lunchtime, though, it was totally quiet. Peaceful, just like I could hope for.

"It's a really nice day out," I remarked, looking up at the picture-perfect blue sky and feeling the cool air gently breeze by.

"It really is. I love it when it gets like this. Reminds me of back home."

"Oh yeah? Where's home?"

"South Carolina," she replied, and I nodded. She sighed happily, gazing up at the few clouds in the sky. "Days like this remind me of when I was a little girl. 'Round this time, the leaves would be piling up and me and my friends would love to play around in them."

"I have some great memories of this time of the year, too. But, there's still plenty more to be made." She turned to me with a sweet smile that just about made my heart melt. "I'm glad you moved down here and gave me the honor of meeting you."

"That's sweet," she quietly replied. Then, I took her hand in mine. She looked at me with an incredibly curious gaze.

"Sarah," I began, preparing to spill my guts, "... you are super, super amazing and wonderfully sweet and beautiful. I mean, like, wow you're gorgeous."

She looked so incredibly touched by that. Her head tilted, grinning uncontrollably.

"Anthony, you're gonna make me blush," she shyly said. And that, right there, was the reason I found her so lovely and so wonderful. She was so real.

"Good. It'll remind me of how real and honest you are with yourself." She looked awe-struck gazing at me. "I know that you belong to someone else, but I still really like you. You are ... super warm and caring and you make me feel like I matter. Also, you're beautiful." She giggled in embarrassment. "I just wanted to emphasize that. ... You're amazing. Whoever this guy is that you're with is ... so lucky to have you and he'd better treat you like you're the best thing he's got going for him - because you deserve it. And if he doesn't see that, then he's completely dense." Then, I gave a big sigh of relief. At the same time, the tears were already welled up in her eyes. "That ... is everything I have wanted to say to you for the past four months but I could never muster up the courage to do it. Now that I have, it feels so good ... like a huge weight is off my shoulders. I know that's super cliché," she let out a shaky laugh, "but I mean it. Every word."

She sniffled, letting go of my hand to take off her glasses and wipe her eyes. "Thank you so much, Anthony. You are ... a wonderful guy. You're gonna to make some lucky girl feel like she's the queen of the flippin' world someday."

"I'm sorry for making you cry ..."

"It's okay," she softly interjected.

"... but I just really, really had to tell you all that. It was really important to me, and thank you for giving me the time to listen to me."

"Of course," she nodded in understanding.

'Time.' Ha, how I loved that word nowadays.

I let Sarah calm down and replace her glasses before I continued on.

"Well," I spoke up again with a big, eager grin. "now that I'm already airing out my secrets, there's one more that I have to tell you."

She smiled as she saw my expression. "You seem pretty excited about it."

"I am!" She laughed. "Okay, brace yourself for this. You ready?"

"Uh-huh."

I exclaimed, throwing my hands outward in a flourish, "I can freeze time!"