Part 5 - Meanwhile, At The Front Of The Class...

‘Well, is he?’ I asked Hill.
‘God Anna, chill… yeah, he so is.’ She replied.
What does it mean? He wrote that letter, it says he doesn’t like me, but then he’s checking me out, has been for the past month, every time I see him. God, nothing’s going to happen anyway, I really should just concentrate on, uh, quadratic equations.
‘You can’t tell anyone, Hill.’
‘As if I would, it’s boring. Like, really, really boring. Everyone knows what happened, and no-one cares. Except for you two. You shoulda hooked up, broked up and got over it like last term.’ She sounds as tired as she looks, I don’t think she’s been getting enough sleep.
‘But he doesn’t like me… he wrote it.’ I’m not sure, even as I say it.
‘like that matters, you’ve seen the way he looks at you.’ But, just because he’s looking at me, doesn’t mean… what does it mean anyway? Then Mr. Elliot rocks up and interrupts the conversation-

‘How’s it going here girls?’
‘Uh, fine sir, I think we’ve got this now, it’s not that hard. It looks like Katie wants your help though.’ That’s not all she wants by the look of it. One too few buttons done up by any measure of respectability.
‘Okay then, but keep it down girls, and keep working.’
‘sure thing, sir,’ Hill says cheerily. Not a hint of sarcasm showing, I don’t know how she does it.

Really, this is the last thing I need right now. Just one more week of relatively easy class to pull through, and then I’m off to Fraser Island while everyone’s stuck going to all the third rate Olympic events. Like they’re really interested in Handball or Lacrosse. All this stress, if it’s been like this for year 11, the HSC might be too much. Really need to chill out, like Hill said. It’s not like I’m the only one in the world to have a crush though.

‘well, what about Jase then?’ I ask her.
‘what about him?’ she says, all innocent like, as thought she doesn’t check him out every chance she gets. I just stare her down, until she breaks down.
‘god, fine… I don’t even know him, not really anyway. He’s not in any of my classes, I just think he’s cute. Well, hot.’ shocking me again, always blatant.
‘It doesn’t matter anyway,’ she went on, ‘boys are so stupid.’
She’s right, they are though. They still sit together like even being next to a girl would transmit a near-fatal dose of cooties. They still play ball games, handball and cricket mostly. And Hill drags the whole group of us down to the oval so we can check ‘em out when they play. Or so they can check her out, I’ve never been sure about that. And always, he’d be there, eyes on me more than the ball.

I just want this class to be over, so I don’t have to think about it.