Right as I open the door I see a girl running bolting me and notice it was Ally as she launches at me and even though I kind of expected this reaction from her, it still takes me by surprise. Her arms wrap around me and pull me into an embrace. I returned the hug, but I’m forced to pry her off me as she stays attached to me for way too long. Ever since the incident she’s been texting me nonstop which I found annoying at first, but ended up being very grateful for. I got a lot of different messages from kids that never talked to me, but the only people that I didn’t just reply with “thanks” were Ally, Nina, and Jay.

“Are you ok,” she says as she plops herself on the desk next to me.

“I’m fine, I just hope I can have a normal school day,” I say to her, but also partially to myself. Although the murmurs and shifts of eyes around me say that things aren’t gonna run as smoothly as I hoped.

“Ok, you know I’m here if you need anything, do you want to come over today,” Ally asks. I look at her in surprise. Ally hates having people over due to her living situation. Ally is lower class and lives with her mother, but honestly she might as well live alone. Her mother is never there as she chooses to make money through prostitution, leading to conflicts with Ally and guys her mom brings over perdioically. Her apartment doesn’t have much space, but I enjoy going over there to just be alone with her and talk about whatever is on our minds. Her room is also heavily decorated and a huge contrast to the apartment itself. It always pleases me to see the difference, see how Ally is taking her situation and solving it her own way. She might be an airhead at times, but she’s also a fighter.

“No, it’s fine Ally and thank you, I’m always here for you too,” I reply.

She gives me a smile and stays unordinary silent as the class begins. The teacher clears her throat and starts class as normal, but about ten minutes into the class she starts showing us different statistics. She moves through a lot of them fairly quickly until she starts describing one with the title “Police Brutality towards African-americans compared to other races”. I see her eyes flash towards me as she tries to spark a discussion asking questions like “Is this Statistic true” and “Why is this prominent in our culture”. I can feel my stomach churn as I put my head down, burying my face in my arms.

The discussion doesn’t get completely out of control, but I hear Duncan, one of those people who think their a class clown even though no one else does, make a few remarks about how black people are more aggressive leading to police having to be more brutal. Ally makes a remark back at him about how racial stigma is still in society and that’s the real reason the police brutality rate is so high. They argue for a bit, but Ally swiftly shuts him down. Ally is an amazing debater that not many people can actually win an argument with. I even find myself losing a lot of arguments with her when it’s a topic I’m not super passionate about.

The class continues on with the brutality rate discussion and all I can do is sit at my desk hoping it stops. I’m know their trying to be understanding, but the one thing I really want is for people to stop making me the center of their discussions. However, the class does eventually come to an end.

“Thanks for taking it to Duncan, Ally.”

She smiles at me and gives me another hug before running to her second period class. Normally I would follow suit and speed walk to my class, but this is the first time I would see Nina in person after the whole predicament at her house. I slowly drag myself across the hallways, dreading the meet up. Some students walk up to me to tell me how messed up my situation is, which I would hate normally but since their stalling my encounter with Nina, I respond to them more enthusiastically.

In the end I make it to my second period class. I stare at the closed door, the bell has rung so now if I enter I’ll bring even more attention to myself. While I stand there, blanky gazing, I hear hurried footsteps to my right. I face the sound and see Ms.Carter as usual, running to class. When she reaches me she drops her belongings and clasp her arms around my torso.

“I saw the video, Levi I’m so sorry that happened to you,” she says while still holding me.

“It’s fine, I’m honestly over it. I just want to move on,” I say. She looked into my eyes for a few seconds, discerning if there was a lie in the statement.

“Ok well I actually have something really cool I was going to show to the class today. Don’t worry it isn’t about your situation.” She gives me a knowing look and enters the door and out of my two options of continuing standing outside or growing some balls and heading towards my problems, I choose the latter.

While Ms.Carter says sorry to the class about her late arrival, I slip in and take my usual seat next to Nina and Jay. Jay and I stretch out our hands and greet with our handshake.

“You ok,” Jay says.

“More ok than your haircut,” I replied, trying to lighten the mood. It seem to work for Jay as he laughs and shakes his head, Nina has no reaction.

“The ladies love my hair, isn’t that right Nina.” Nina stares at him and gives an exaggerated eye roll.

“Your hair looks like a sad willow tree,” she squeaks out. Jay and I snicker, all of Nina’s insults are so random and with her slight accent, it makes them even more hilarious.

“Hey Nina, I’m sorry about everything,” I say to her, using the laughter to build up my confidence a bit. She turns at me and moves her head back and forth furiously.

“I’m the one that should be sorry, we took a risk and got punished...honestly though, it was worth it spending time with you,” Nina says as she scoots her seat closer towards me until we’re shoulder to shoulder.

“Yeah, even the police part,” I say. Her face gets red.

“That’s not what I meant, but my parents says we could hang out more. They kind of looked into you and realize how stupid they were being,” she says with a smile. “They want you over for dinner anytime you're available.”

“Woah, what is happening here. Did Levi finally admit he’s been major crushing on you,” Jay interrupts. Normally I would stare daggers into him, but ever since that incident I don’t want to be scared of anything anymore. When the police were throwing me around, I couldn’t do anything, I was weak. My mom had to put herself in danger just to come help me, I don’t want something like that to ever happen again.

“Yeah maybe I did.” I raise my arms over Nina’s shoulder and tuck her into my side, I can feel her body shaking faintly, but it stopped after a few seconds past.

“Dang, did that police officer beat actual courage into you.” The whole table chuckles as Ms.Carter shushes at us.

Ms.Carter goes on and teaches the class. The big “surprise” she was talking about was a video of her college roommate and her recreating a Game of Thrones parody about the skeletal system. Even though it was kind of cringy, it’s always enjoyable glimpsing into the past of teachers. The group didn’t have much time to talk as Ms.Carter was going over notes particularly fast today, the bell rang and we all rose up.

“Maybe you can come over today, you know if you want,” Nina asks me as we move towards the door.

“That actually sounds like a great idea, do you want me to pick you up,” I reply.

Nina nods and a big grin appears on her face. She then skips towards her class like she normally does. I watch her back going up and down as she makes her way down the hall, I haven’t seen her skip like that in a while. Then out of nowhere, I feel a soft punch at my rib cage.

“Ow, what the hell.” I whip around to try to lock eyes with my assaulter and see Jay with a sad smirk on his face.

“When were you gonna tell me you two were a thing,” he says with a unexpecting hint of anger in his voice.

“We aren’t a thing, but we had gotten really close. Sorry with the whole incident and everything that happened I forgot to tell you,” I say. His expression instantly shifts to regret.

“My bad...fuck, I’m sorry again about what happened,” he says. I tell him no worries and salute him while I rush towards my 3rd period class, which is all the way across the school. Was I imagining the frustration in his voice? Jay never gets angry, so why would he react like that towards something this dumb? I ponder the thoughts as I duck and weave pass the crowd of students, hoping to not be tardy to two classes in a row.

*

The school day ends and it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Rumors spread chaoticly throughout this school so I was worried, but everyone seemed to sympathize with me. Fluorescence Key is a very diverse school, so the actions that the police did were shunned by almost everyone. Honestly, after the second period school was better than usual.

In a happy mood, I stroll into our school office and make my way to my dad’s room, a smile extinguishing the raised suspicions of the staff. When I reach my dad’s door I pull out my phone and text Nina.

We still down for afterschool? I wait a moment and sure enough she texts back.

Yeah of course, I’ll be outside in a bit.

Relief rushes through me and I confidently open the door. I make sure to softly close the door behind me. My dad’s head shot up, then went back to the paperwork he was filling out.

“What did I say about knocking, what if I’m talking to another student and they want their privacy,” he says.

“My bad,” I reply.

“Anyway, how was school. Are you ok,” he says as he scanned me from top to bottom.

“Yeah I’m fine, people were nice. I came here to say I would be having dinner with Nina’s family afterschool today.”

He lets out a small chuckle and rolls his eyes.

“What’s with that reaction,” I say.

“Oh nice joke, you know your mom’s driving to her prayer retreat today. She wants us all to be together throughout the day,” he says.

I furrow my brow and take out my phone. Sure enough it reads that the date is March 15th, mom’s prayer retreat day. How could I have forgotten? My dad seems to sense my distress.

“You actually forgot? That’s not like you, you must really like this Nina girl, but you know the rules, no exceptions.”

A slight annoyance builds inside me, but I hold my tongue before it gets expressed into something awful. I can just go to Nina’s another day, it’s not that big of a deal. I nod my head, say bye to my dad, and head towards my car. I spot Nina standing by it with her phone out. I unlock my car door, the sound makes her turn her head towards me and she gives off a huge smile that look perfect with her freckles. A part of my heart shatters as I sadly look at her. She senses my sad looks and shoves her fingers at my face, rearranging my malleable face to from a smile.

“What’s wrong, don’t tell your nervous. Their really sorry, I promise nothing like last time will happen again,” Nina says in a sing song voice. I find myself pulling her body close to mine as I grasp it tightly.

“I can’t go today, a family situation came up.” I don’t have the bravery to look at her face as the words spill from my mouth. I feel the movement of her body as she buries herself deeper into me, not even trying to push away.

“We can do it soon though right? Or does your family not like me.” Her voice cracks. I gently push her away from me and take her in. I’ve had crushes in the past, but I never went for them. This is my first time liking someone and them showing signs of having the same feelings as I do. You could say this was my first love and everything about her seemed perfect.

“Of course not, my mom is going away on this retreat and we always spend the whole day together so her last day away from us can be with the whole family. I know it sounds made up and kind of dumb, but it’s true,” I say.

“That sounds so nice, but don’t worry I believe you.”

I release my grip on her body and out of nowhere she jumps onto me, her soft lips meet my skin and she releases. My hand instinctively shoots up and touches the spot where her lips were placed. It takes a moment for me to be released from my shock.

“I can still drive you home,” I say as my heart thumps harder and harder, driving itself into my chest.

“I was expecting that, you weren’t just gonna leave me stranded,” she says.

“Maybe I would of,” I reply.

She puffs out her cheeks as she enters my car door.