There are opportunities in life that we allow to pass us by. We miss that chance to go for our dream. To reach for the stars. For whatever reason, we allow something to keep us from achieving what we are destined to have. That perfect job. That perfect house. Or in my case, That one. I was guaranteed to not let this be the year that I let love pass me by.
"Dane, can you bring me my purse on your way down?" My mom asked from the bottom of the stairs. I sighed.
"All that time you spend watching `Good morning America' you'd think you' d get all the things you need," I said handing her purse on my way down.
"Could there be one day where we can just wake up with a good feeling and say good morning instead of waking up and be jerks to one another?" She asked me. I scoffed.
"Of course mom," I said sarcastically. I kissed her cheek. I mean if Anna Nicole can go down seven sizes I can wake up and not despise your guts."
"Dane, I don't get you sometimes," She said hurt.
"I don't understand me either," I said as the doorbell rang. I went to open up. My best bud, Aaron Lamp here, stood there looking fine as hell. Yes, I said it and I'd say it again. HE WAS FINE AS HELL. He wore American eagle and I stood staring.
"Dude, lose the look and come on," he said bringing me out of my state. "Lauren's out in the car waiting. Hey Ms. Martinez" "Hello Aaron," mom said from the living room. I grabbed my bag and walked back to my door. I turned around.
"I'll be home at four, "I said and shut the door behind me. She sighed softly.
"Dude, that was harsh," he said as we made our way down the steps of my house. "You're tough on your mom."
"You have to live with her to understand," I said climbing into the back of his car. Julieanne looked up from her schedule.
"God, what was I thinking signing up for all these hard classes," she said as we pulled off.
"Advanced Algebra II? I barely passed basic Algebra I."
"Every year you pick classes that are too hard or too easy," Aaron said making right turn. "It's your fault."
"Gee, I wish I can just randomly choose classes but I actually want to get into a decent college unlike some people," she said and I knew an argument would soon entail.
"Guys, it's the first day back;" I said trying to play peacemaker. "Let' s try not to kill each other."
"Not when she acts like the dumb blonde she is," Aaron said making Julieanne even madder.
"This is the same guy who did freshman English twice from cheating and failing on exams," She retorted.
"How did I know they weren't the same?" He asked defensively.
"The test come in different colors, fool," She said in utter disbelief "Dane, do think I am wrong"
"I'm not in it," I said throwing my hand up, and She took a deep sigh.
"You are useless," she said diverting her attention.
Anthony Squillini stood at his car with his girlfriend, Nicole Yeager, and friend Mikey Jusino.
"You still trying out?
"We might as well seeing how we partied most of sophomore year and plus I need some more things so I can say I graduated with a bunch of activities.
Nicole whined. "I want to go to dinner tonight," she said in her spoiled voice. Nicole had a reputation as the whore of harmony. Anthony was well liked before they dated but now she took him to a whole level of popularity. She knew she can make him not go but she decided to give in.
"Fine, go to tryouts," She said with a sigh.
"Thanks babe," he said kissing her. Mikey rolled his eyes.
"Gag me now please," he said to know one in particular. Aaron had turned into the school parking lot and into his space a short distance down.
"You are such a bitch at times," Aaron said as we got out. Big mistake. She punched him in the stomach.
"And you're the bitch who just got punched by a girl," She said as he clutched his stomach. They were both so cute how they argued. I laughed at them both.
"You two would make the perfect..." I stopped in my tracks. My eyes set in on the hottest guy in my life and probably yours. He stood at about 6'1 at the most. He wore a white American Eagle shirt with a nice pair of south pole pants. I can tell he was athletic by his build as I could see what looked like a well-defined six-pack.
"The perfect what, Dane?" Aaron asked me curiously. I was struck by something. I think it was Cupid's arrow.
"I forgot," I said absent-mindedly. Julieanne looked at me curiously but followed my eyes to where I was standing.
She pointed. "Hey, isn't that..." Aaron finished her sentence for her.
"Anthony, my man," he called out. The guy looked up from what I could tell was probably his girlfriend. So my Mi Amor had a name.
"Aaron, what's up?" He said walking over to us. OH MY GOD! HE'S WALKING OVER HERE! They did a handshake I thought Only Aaron and I did. Oh well, It was okay if I had to share it with him.
"Nothing much," he replied. "Uh, you remember the beautiful Julieanne Greer right?"
"Of Course," He said hugging her. He noticed that I was staring so I quickly looked away. His girlfriend and friend walked over.
"Jules, you look good bitch," the girl said as they hugged one another. Julieanne did a sexy pose.
"Well, I try," She said with a smile. I nudged Aaron.
"Oh, This is Dane Martinez," he said introducing me.
"Sup?" He asked with a nod.
"Nothing Much," I replied softly. Julieanne silently watched me.
"And this is Anthony Squillini," Aaron continued. "And his girlfriend of 5 months, Nicole Yeager." She smiled at me.
"Are you new?" Anthony's friend asked me. Aaron shook his head.
"No, Mikey, he's been here since first grade," Aaron said. Mikey looked at me.
"Can't place him," he said not caring anymore. This wasn't unusual. I didn 't do anything major to be known and those few who knew me only knew me as that weird boy who hangs out with Aaron or Julieanne. "Anyways, I got to go get my schedule so I'll see you guys around."
"So you trying out for Varsity Basketball, A?" Aaron asked him. Anthony nodded.
"Yeah, I got to talk to you about something," he said looking at me look at him.
"I'll see you in class, Dane," he said to me. I nodded. "Julie, I'll finish our argument later."
"Anytime, Anywhere," She said with a smile. Anthony kissed Nicole good-bye
"See ya, babe," he said and with a nod to Jules and me he left with Aaron. Nicole watched him walked off.
"Gotta Love him," She said to us. "Anyways, I gotta go find Mary so we can get something arranged for a get together or something. It was nice meeting you, Dane."
"Same here," I said and She waved at Jules and headed on her way. I turned to Julieanne. "Can I ask you a question?"
"You just did," She teased. She noticed I didn't get it so she quickly added, "Go ahead."
"Do you believe in love at first sight?" I asked her. She smiled in spite of herself.
"You mean the kinda love at first sight you have for Anthony?" She asked me.
I was bewildered by her preciseness. "Wha...How did you..."
"Call it a woman's intuition," She said with a laugh. "That and all your relationships last a week or so until you point out the littlest things to break up with them about. You're an open book, Dane, my friend."
"Do you think Aaron Knows?" I asked her as we began to start walking. "I mean if you figured out then that means..."
"He'll never figure it out," She interrupted. "We are talking about the same guy who realized jelly doesn't come from a jellyfish." I laughed at that. "Now let's get back to Anthony. **********************************************************************
"I ran into Coach white yesterday while out running some errands for my mom," Anthony said as they walked towards the locker rooms. "He begged me to try and get the other's from leaving the team."
Aaron scoffed. "He better be glad he ran into you and not me," he said as took a pen out. He wrote his name on the signup sheet for tryouts. "He cost us the championship with trying to copy plays he saw on Espn."
"Not to mention I got benched for some of the shittiest reasons," Anthony said signing his name. " I don't feel guilty signing up now."
"You shouldn't have in the first place," Aaron said as they began to start walking.
" I am surprised that you are hanging with that Martinez kid, A," Anthony said.
" Dane's cool man," Aaron said. " I mean if he would start caring up social status he'd be a whole lot popular but you know that's him."
"Popular and that kid are not two things I'd put together," Anthony joked.
"Shut up," Aaron said. "He's not that bad."
"No but he makes me feel weird," Anthony thought to himself. ************************************************************************
I sat in First Period, auto mechanics with Aaron. "Explain to me why I am in this class?" I asked as we went around observing cars. "I know nothing about cars."
"That's precisely why you are taking this class," he said climbing into one of the cars. "That and I begged you to take it with me."
Mr. Turner cleared his throat. "Mr. Lamphere, when U said look and observe I never meant for you to get inside the car," He said causing Aaron to blush.
"My bad," he said as he got out the car. I decided to ask Aaron the same question the same question hoping he was as intuitive as Julieanne,
"A, do you believe in love at first sight?" I asked him as we checked under the hood of the car.
"Yeah," he said. "All those girls I banged. Love at first sight. For them, of course." He looked up at me curiously. "Who do you like?"
"Oh, no one," I lied. "So what about those Knicks?"
"Oh my god," he said jumping up. He hit his head on the hood. "Oh....It's Nicole, isn't it?"
"Wha...No," I said flustered.
"For awhile I thought you like Julieanne," he said excitedly. "But I now know you like Nicole. I saw the way you looked at her. She has the power to do that to guys. That's how she got that lucky Anthony."
I sighed. Anthony. As, he went on and on about my love interest in Nicole. I thought about Anthony. ************************************************************************
Mikey and I walked out of second period Civics class together. He was cute also. God, what are you doing to me? With Aaron it was cute how cocky and nonchalant he was. With Mikey I found his Latino heritage caliente. But the reason with Anthony was a mystery.
"Do you mind if I borrow your homework?" Mikey asked me. "I'd do it myself but you know...I don't want to."
"Sure," I said as we headed to the cafeteria. I had the same lunch with Aaron and Julieanne so I was excited. A kid with bumped into me causing my books to fall to the floor.
"Watch it," I said as I bent down to pick up my books. He picked up his also.
"Me? You bumped into me loser," he said irritably.
"Yo, give him a break....whatever your name is," Mikey said to the guy. "He's new."
"My name is Nick and I think you should apologize for bumping into me," he said to me.
"You'll get that when hell freezes over," I said smartly. He shoved me. I was about to shove him back when Mikey jumped in-between us.
"Cool it," he said to us both. "Save it till later when there are no teachers around." We glared at one another and then walked off into opposite directions. Mikey followed after me. " Wow! New guy has spunk." ************************************************************************
Aaron, Anthony, Nicole, and Julieanne all sat at the lunch table together.
"I so can't believe we have to be the ones coaching the underclassmen for dance tryouts," Nicole said stabbing her hamburger. "This sucks ass."
"Well, you're captain and I'm co-captain so we should've expected it," Julieanne said cheerfully. "It want be so bad."
"Leave it to Jules to find a positive look on everything," Aaron said and the four laughed.
"What did we miss?" Mikey asked as he sat beside Julieanne.
"Nicole's pissed that they have to coach the underclassmen," Anthony replied to his best friend.
"Sucks for you," Mikey teased her. She flicked him off.
"Bite me," She said as I flounced into my chair beside Aaron.
"What's up with you?" Anthony asked me. In my mood, I didn't notice I sat across from him.
"Oh...N-Nothhing," I managed to get out. julieanne laughed to herself at me.
"Dane here almost got into a fight with a guy in the hall who bumped into him," Mikey said selling me out.
"What?" Aaron asked surprised. " I am shocked at you, Dane, man. What happened to violence is not the answer?"
"That went out the window when the guy shoved me," I said bitterly. I had calmed down a little as I sat across from Mr. Dreamy. Nicole got bored with this topic.
"Anyways, are you boys excited about tryouts?" She asked them all.
"Hell Yeah," Anthony said accidentally knocking his plate of fries into his lap. "Shit."
"Here have mine," I said sliding my plate across the table. He looked at me curiously.
"Thanks...." He couldn't remember my name. "Dude." I smiled inside. I did want my fries but I could tell he loved fries like I did. We'd be perfect for one another if he wasn't with that bitch...Nicole. Then I had an idea.
"You know what," I said suddenly. "I am going to try out."
Mikey fell out of his chair, Aaron choked on his soda, and Anthony started choking on a fry.
"What?" They all asked in unison. They looked at me shocked.
"You? Basketball?" Nicole asked skeptical.
"Can you even play?" Anthony asked me. I looked at him mischievously.
"It's only one way to find out," I said and it was like he was challenging me. I liked it.
"I swear, Dane, you're surprising me left and right," Aaron said still in shock. I smiled at him.
"I'm just full of surprises," I said mischievously. ************************************************************************
I was in for a rude awakening. My worst enemy was seated beside me. Nick was assigned to sit beside me in third block Parenting Class. Aaron sat in the back with some girl he's flirting with. I was busy arguing with Nick when I noticed that Anthony had walked in. He walked up to Ms. Clark
"Um.. I was switched to this class," he said looking around. He spotted me. He did a nod. I smiled. Aaron did a wave to him and went back to his crush.
"Did you hear what I said?" Nick asked me. I turned back to him.
"Oh, yeah," I said to him. "You said that you are a jackass."
"You can have a seat beside this gentleman," she said pointing at me. I wanted to scream aloud but I didn't. Instead, I moved my bag off his desk.
"Sup?" He asked me.
"Nothing much," I said with a weak smile. Nick growled. He didn't like being ignored. He shoved me out my seat. That surprised me. Aaron made a move to get up but he didn't have to. I kicked Nick's chair causing him to fall out. He Jumped up like I did but Aaron grabbed me and Anthony grabbed Nick.
"Mr. Carroll and Mr. Martinez," Mrs. Clarke said looking at her chart. "What has gotten into you two?"
"He's a fucking loser," Nick Said trying to get at me. I tried to get at him but Aaron wouldn't let me.
"You will watch your mouth," She said to us. "Now you two will both be in after school detention tomorrow after school."
"That's not fair," I said to her.
"Either you take the detention or a longer vacation," She said to us. When we said nothing she told them to let us go and for us to sit down. "Now... let's talk parenting and child development. ************************************************************************
I walked towards the gym by myself. I was so pissed at Nick and how I had detention because of him. "Hey Martinez," a voice called out. I knew who it was before I turned around.
"What is it, Nick?" I asked him.
"Well, I just wanted to let you know you are still a loser," He said laughing at his joke. "And to tell you that you're a bold guy for standing up to me."
"Yeah, well, I don't see anything to be afraid of," I said and we started walking side by side. "But when I do I'll let you know."
"Funny," he said as I stopped at the locker room door. He walked towards the door leading to the parking lot. "I'll remember that when I kick your ass." I rolled my eyes and face the locker room. I can't believe I was going through with this. The things a guy has to do to get noticed around here.... ************************************************************************