I sat on the swing, gripping th chains with both hands, knowing Darien was going to hurt me again today. I watched as he was walking towards me with his little smirk on his face and his friends shoving playfuly with each other behind him. Darien was like the bully, but yet the most popular boy through out grade school. All the girls thought he was cute.
Honestly, I did too. And I always wondered, and still do to this day, why he only picked on me through my years of grade school.
"Hey Kendra,"Darien said as he approached me.
I tilted my head around him, and saw his friends right behind him, crossing their arms looking right back at me with their smirks on their faces.
"Hi, Darien. What do you want?" I asked looking at him, trying to not blind myself from the sun.
Darien glanced back at his friends, and then looked at me,"you."
"I thought you hated me?" I asked.
My hands got sweaty from the heat outside, and because of how nervous I got after Darien said that.
"Haha, yeah! I do! I was just kidding,"Darien said laughing with his friends.
I sighed and kicked the bark under my feet.
"Oh, you thought I was serious at first, huh?" He asked with his laughter fading.
I looked up at him, with a tear falling down my cheeck. I quickly wiped it away, and walked right by Darien and his friends not saying a word.
"I asked you a question!" Darien yelled as I was walking off.
I stopped walking, and made fists, while turning around to face Darien who was walking towards me. He saw me turn, and stopped walking, and stared at me with a serious look.
"Yes, I thought you were! And, yes I do like you. And I want you to understand that, but no, you don't like me because your thing is to be a total jerk to me forever," I didn't want to see his face reaction so I quickly turned around and began walking away once again.
"Wait-"
"I don't wanna talk to you," I hollered. I was glad, but, also, kind of sad tomorrow was that last day so I don't have to deal with Darien.


The next morning at the bus stop, Darien sat on the curb looking at every car that drove by, not bothering to look or talk to me. I couldn't stand it when he never spoke to me, whether it was a rude or nice comment, I needed him to talk to me.
Finally after a long awkward silence, he silently said,"I hate you."
I looked up at the sky, wanting to cry, but I couldn't,"why?"I managed to say, trying to choke back the word.
"Because,"he said.
I looked back down, and saw the bus coming, and Darien standing up.


Once we got to school, I placed my back pack on the back of my chair, and walked up to Darien who was talking to a girl, well, he was more like showing off for her.
"Can I talk to you please?" I said looking at the girl, then Darien.
She walked off, and Darien didn't bother looking at me,"what do you want?"
"Why do you hate me so much?" I asked.
Darien leaned up against the wall, and looked down at his feet, then finally looked up at me,"because."
I didn't want to talk to him any more, I got sick and tired of his 'because' everytime I asked why he hated me.
So instead, I walked off, and Darien and I didn't speak to each other for the rest of the day.


6 YEARS LATER, 11th GRADE.


Walking through the halls with my best friend Carole, looking for our new classes for 11th grade was horrible. I was tired of walking through the whole high school, and I was tired of school.
The years went by quickly, and through those years, I kept thinking where Darien went, because after 5th grade no one's seen him since. I kept getting worried each day. But my most postivie thought I had about where he could be is a new school. The negative thought I had was he was dead, or he left the school and neighborhood because of me.
"Come on, will you please stop thinkin' 'bout Darien, we needa find our classes, like now," Carole said grabbing my arm.
We were one of the few people left in the halls looking for our classes, and I knew we would get questioned by a teacher or someone about how we're not in class by now.
"I'm sorry, I just um, miss him,"I admitted.
Carole stopped walking and looked directly in my eyes,"you've gotta be kiddin' me,"she said in her country accent,"that boy beat you, and hurt you all through out gradeschool. So how could you possibly miss that kid?" She asked.
I looked to the right of me down one hall and saw a boy with his mom, and the principle. I looked closer to see who the boy was, and almost smiled to the thought it could be Darien,"can you see who that guy is over there?" I asked looking back at Carole.
She looked down the hall and walked towards them acting as if she was looking for something"hey, shoudn't you two girls be in class by now?" Mr. Juss the principle asked.
The guy looked at me, and right when he did, I knew it was Darien. I could tell because of his green eyes, short brown hair, and his little smile on his face. I gripped my binder, and kind of waved at him. He smiled even bigger it seemed, and waved back.
"Sorry, I was looking for something,"Carole said looking at Mr. Juss.
"Alright, just please get to class. And anyway Darien, I will see you in a week right?"
My heart began to race, and Darien looked away from me to Mr. Juss. I was excited Darien was back, and I had a feeling he was going to be a lot nicer than before.
Carole ran up to me, and grabbed my arm again to find our first period class.
"That was Darien!" I whispered loudly.
Carole let go of me, and kind of smiled,"yeah, I know. I was gonna tell ya that, but I guess not."
I turned my head to face behind us, and saw Darien walking away with his mom. He glanced back at me, and smiled with a little wave. I smiled back, and waved a little too.
"Why don't you talk to him before he forgets about you when he gets here?"Carole told me.
"Nah, I'm gonna wait until he comes here, 'cause it'll be weird to talk to him with his mom there with him,"I said.
"Okay then,"Carole said and began to walk off.
I followed and smiled as we romed the hall ways to our class. I could not get Darien out of my head, and how he was cuter than before, and how he was actually nice and smiled at me.
"Here's our class,"Carole said stopping in front of the door.
We stood on our tippy toes to see a glance inside the class through the window of the door.
"Let's go,"I said opening the door slowly.
We walked in slowly, and looked around the room. Mr. Jumms, our teacher, looked at us, and stopped talking.
"You guys must be Kendra Beats, and Carole Dymer, right?"He smiled and held his arm out.
We nodded our heads at the same time. I looked at the students that were staring back at Carole and I.
"Have a seat please,"Mr. Jumms told us.
We walked quickly to the back corner of the room and sat in the hard, small desks. I got uncomfertable right when I sat down.
Minutes passed of sitting in class, listening to Mr. Jumms saying how it's going to be a fun first trimester for us. I rolled my eyes, and knew it was going to be boring.
So, instead of listening to more of what he had to say, I used my fingers to fluff my hair more. I had to make my hair look nicer than ever, even though Darien wasn't here yet, there could be more guys that I will like.
"Kendra, please stop playing with your hair,"Mr. Jumms told me.
The whole class turned around to face me, with my hand frozen in my hair, and me with my face heating up. I began to wonder why Mr. Jumms remembered my name.
Wouldn't you think that teachers on the first day would forget your name after five minutes?
I rolled my eyes once again, and put my hand on my binder on the desk. I really wanted to leave the class, and forget about it.
"Roll your eyes again, and you can go to the office,"Mr. Jumms said pointing at me with anger in his voice.
Some class mates looked at each other whispering, glancing back at me, or just laughed.
I was just aabout to roll my eyes again, but instead...I stood up, and began to speak.
"Mr. Jumms, you told us this was going to be a fun trimester, but it isn't!"I paused,"And, it's the first day and you're already telling me to-"
"Go to the office,"he said pointing to the door.
I did as he said, and grabbed my binder with anger because he didn't let me talk, and because I will be the only person in there, and now the teachers will think I'm the worse teenager ever;and they probably won't trust me.
While I was walking to the office, tears kept wanting to leave my eyes, but I held them back. I didn't want my make up to be smeared, and my eyes to be red for the day.
Once I got to the office, I saw Darien and his mom sitting down, talking about this school. I could barely understand them, so I walked up to the counter where the office lady sat behind it.
"Yes?"She asked.
"Umm, Mr. Jumms sent me here because I was being rude,"I said.
I glanced over at Darien who was watching his mom get up and head towards the bathroom.
"Alright, you need to fill out this paper and give it to me right when you are finished,"she said placing a clip-board on the counter.
I grabbed it, and sat near Darien could see me if he looked over. I couldn't answer the questions with out getting distracted by Darien who was flipping through a magazine.
"Please work,"the lady told me.
I looked up at her, and saw at the corner of my eye Darien was staring at me...at least I think he was...
I looked over at him, who quickly turned his head making it look like he was looking around the room.
I smiled, and looked down at the questions.

1. Please explain what happened to have you come to the office, and why did you do this?
______________________________________
______________________________________

I read down the questions, and just wanted to crumple the paper up, and throw it at the lady.
So, the first question, I put "Because".
I started laughing, and covered my mouth with my hands looking around the office wondering if anyone was looking at me.
I noticed someone was staring.
Darien.
Once we caught each others eyes, I smiled, and took my hand away from my mouth. He smiled back, and shook his head in a joking-ly way.
Darien looked down at his magazine, and then at his mom who was walking back from the bathroom.
"Darien, I need to go talk to your home room teacher, so I will be right back,"his mom told him picking her purse up.
"Um, I will show you where his teacher is,"the office lady told Darien's mom getting up from the counter/desk thing she was sitting at.
Darien watched them leave the room, and I got up to see if I would get his attention.
Aha! It worked.
When I got up to put the paper on the counter, he was looking at me.
I sat back down, and caught him staring at me...again.
"I'm sorry,"Darien said closing his magazine.
I tilted my head in confusion, and looked at him. He looked back, and got up to sit by me.
"I'm sorry for being a dick to you in grade school, and um, yeah..."Darien said when he sat next to me.
I still looked at him, and relaxed a little, but with my heart racing because he actually was talking to me.
"It's alright,"I told him, accepting his apology.
"I won't be like that anymore, I promise,"he said.
"Alright,"I said.
Darien quickly got up from the seat, and walked fastly to where his magazine was.
I looked by the door, and noticed the office lady and Darien's mom was back in the office.
"Okay Darien, time to go,"his mom said.
He nodded his head, and smiled at me, while following his mom out the office door.


As the days went by, I couldn't stop thinking about Darien and wanted to see him as soon as possible. Friends and teachers asked what's on my mind everyday, but I would never tell them. Instead I would look at them with a smile.


My heart beat against my chest and I gripped my 2 inch binder in my hand. I had a smile on my face, and I didn't know what to say once Carole asked what's up with me.
"He's here,"I smiled even bigger.
Carole smiled, and kind of rolled her eyes.
We stood over by the front doors, waiting for Darien to walk through them. Carole and I were trying to make it look like we weren't stalking him or anything, well it didn't work because I couldn't stop smiling and staring at the door. Honestly, I was seeming like a creep.
Anyway, as we stood there silently, we watched as students walked by quickly, not knowing about the new student...Darien.


TO ANYONE WHO IS READING THIS: This book is not complete, and if you would like to read more later on, please favorite it if you'd like. Thank you:)

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 22.08.2011

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