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Most people thought Simon Kelleher was scum, a loser. And I choose to believe them, being a new student here beginning my junior year. I did though have a class with him, we shared English class, and he fascinated me. I just couldn’t fathom how it could all be true, he didn't look dangerous, the complete opposite actually.
It’s October by the time I talk to him for the first time. Our English teacher gives us a project, find a partner, and pick a book from the list presented to us and then by the end of semester we present a project together. I’m watching everyone form into pairs, that's the crappy thing about being new, no one knows you yet, so no one picks you.
But a tap on my desk alerts me to him, it’s Simon. And for a second I don’t know what to say, so I dumbly stare a second too long.
“Hi.” Is what I muster out.
“Hi, I don’t think we've properly met yet, my name is Simon. You're new here right?” He’s smiling at me, and for a moment I can’t imagine how someone so pretty could be so hated.
“Yeah, I just moved here in July, my name is Y/N” He’s still smiling when he puts his hand out for a shake, and I extend mine to meet him. His hand is warm, and his shake is firm.
“Well it’s nice to meet you Y/N, so would you happen to want to be my partner for this? I think we might just be the only two people who don’t have one.” A look around the room confirms it, everyone else is already at their desks and tables chatting away.
“Yeah, that sounds good.” I say back to him, but really what choice do I have now?
“Perfect.” He sits down next to me, and brings his chair a little closer. “So, what book do you think we should cover?” He’s close, so much so I can clearly see how blue his eyes are. So I look away and back at the sheet in front of us.
“Well, I’ve read some of these already. What about you, if we can pinpoint what we both have and haven’t read that could help us find one.” He reads the sheet over again.
“I haven’t read even half of these, not much of a reader. Are you?” I look back at him and nod.
“Yeah I am, I like reading. It’s a good escape, you said you haven’t read half of these. Well which ones have you?”
“Uh, Catcher in the Rye and Frankenstein. That’s it.” He looks a little sheepish about this confession, I smile at him.
“That’s okay, if you ask me we should do The Scarlet Letter. It’s a timeless book, and I’ve always wanted to read it, so this is the perfect chance.” He nods along and we take the sheet, write both our names on it, the book we picked, and he goes to take it to the teachers desk. I watch the teacher take it and look at it, before looking right back at him with a raised brow.
I pay it little mind, and he’s back sitting next to me in seconds.I notice for the first time his hands, more like the rings that adorn his fingers, as he taps his fingers on the table.
“What lunch do you have?” He asks, and it draws me away from my thoughts of his fingers.
“Uh, I have lunch fifth period, why?” He just nods.
“No reason, that’s when I have lunch too. I just don’t think I’ve seen you in the cafeteria.” I flush a little.
“Yeah, it’s kinda embarrassing. I sit all the way in the corner, the worst thing about new schools is not having any friends right away.” He nods.
“If you want you could sit with me and my friend.” I can’t help the little smile that forms.
“That would be lovely, thank you Simon.” He smiles at me, and I feel the fluttering feeling in my stomach, and promptly ignore it. The bell rings and I wave bye to him and head towards my next class.
Fourth period feels like it takes hours, when finally free of math class I bound towards the cafeteria. And while waiting in line it strikes me, Simon never told me where he sat. Was he playing some trick on me? With my tray in hand I scan the room and cannot see him, so I make my way to my usual lonely seat, away from everyone else.
That’s when I see a girl sitting there, and I freeze in my tracks. She’s blonde, with some colored streaks. I take a deep breath and decided to sit, maybe she won’t be that bad? She looks up from her phone when she hears my tray on the table.
“Hi.” I say, and immediately feel stupid. I avert my eyes to my tray.
“Hi, I’m Janae.” Her voice is kind, when I look back up she's smiling.
“I’m Y/N, nice to meet you.”
“Oh, your Simon’s partner.” She says and points at me.
“Yeah, in English class. You know him?” She laughs.
“Yeah, I’m his best friend. He was telling me about you last period. Anyway, how are you liking Bayview.?” I don’t know how to answer when she drops something like that. Simon had been talking about me? So I just shrug, as I go to open my mouth to answer her question Simon himself comes and sits down next to me, giving me a jump.
“I know I’m late, but I ran into someone I had to talk to.” He’s grinning at Janae and she just rolls her eyes at him shaking her head. He looks at me “So, what have I missed?”
“I was just asking our new friend how she's liking our school.” This time he laughs, and then both of them are looking at me.
“I don’t know, it’s been okay, It’s only been a month.” I shrug again, and neither of them seem satisfied with my answer. “I mean, I don’t have any friends. And classes are okay, this school is definitely grander than my last one.”
“Yeah it’s because of all the higher class parents dumping money into sports. It keeps all of our athletes very well taken care of.” Janae practically spits out. I nod, it makes sense, from what I’ve seen the school absolutely cherishes their football team. I’ve seen one of them, a blonde boy with dimples, always smiling and laughing with others all around him.
“Don’t all schools though? I mean cmon this is America, football is practically the new religion, in my old school they doted on the hockey team more.” They both chuckle.
“So where are you from then?” It’s Simon this time asking.
“Wisconsin, hence why hockey was the hot thing. We deal with winter so damn long we make the best out of the ice.” They nod.
“You're a long way from home then here, why such a big move?” Janae asks “Or if you don’t wanna say that's cool, no pressure.”
“No, it’s all good. My brother works out here, and over the summer he proposed to me living with him here. And I agreed, so yeah.” I feel awkward now, it’s only a fraction of the reason why I’m with my brother here. But they don’t need to know all that, right now at least. “Can I ask you guys something?”
They both look at me and nod. “I’m trying to wrap my head around why everyone I guess dislikes you Simon. I mean, it just doesn’t seem to make sense to me.” Simon just laughs.
“They don’t dislike me, they hate me. And you can say that, but they hate me because I expose people. All the fake, popular, nice kids and secretly horrid. And I let the world know that.” He looks proud of himself, and I feel conflicted. “I’m doing a service, really.”
I stare into his eyes for a second, they're so pretty, and I’m reminded of nature. How things so beautiful in nature are the most dangerous.
“Okay.” Is all I say back to him, and the rest of lunch goes smoothly. I watch Janae and Simon jest with each other, It goes by way too quickly and when the bell rings I feel dread. I finally made friends and my time with them is cut short.
Janae waves to us as she goes to her next class, Simon stops me as I go towards mine.
“What are you doing after school?” He almost seems nervous.
“Nothing, I’m gonna go home and do my homework. It’ll be so riveting.” He laughs.
“Do you want to go get the book instead? We can start reading it now, and then be ahead on the project.” I smile at him and agree.
“Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll meet you in the library then?” He shakes his head.
“No, I was thinking we could get new copies. So if that’s okay we can meet in the cafeteria after school?” I nod again, then I’m off scurrying to my class just in time.
The entire rest of the day I’m thinking about Simon, mostly how I’ll be alone with him. I feel worried at the thought, what if he was a secret creep? I have pepper spray, and while I’ve never used it, my brother also taught me how to and how to defend myself.
So I find myself in the cafeteria waiting for him, ten minutes after school let out I saw him walking in, and with a wave I got up and met him by the doors. I follow him to the parking lot, and his car is nice, a blue bug.
“Have you lived here your whole life?” I’m trying to make conversation, anything to break the tension.
“Yeah, my mom is the Mayor actually. She’s been in the politics of this place since before I was born.” It makes some sense now, the nice car, how his clothes were always nice, always new looking.
“What’s that like? Like I mean my brother is a cop, and that’s already weird. His hours are so weird, I’m practically living by myself.” I laugh, and he looks over at me once were at a stoplight.
“It’s whatever, she's always busy. Always some dinner or party she needs to attend, always trying to make everything perfect.” He shrugs and we're moving again.
“I can’t imagine that, perfect all the time, literally no one is perfect.” I scoff it out, and he laughs this time.
“I would have to agree.” We're at a bookstore now, I’d seen it every now and again while driving in town. “Well, here we are.” He announces.
“Here we are.” I say back with a grin, in the store we both try to locate the book. Simon finds it first, and comes over to me with two copies.
“Found them, the last two they had.”
“Great!” I grab the one copy and turn it over, I look at the price and decide I should have enough on me for the purchase. I dig into my bag looking for the cash my brother had given me while waiting in line with Simon.
“Everything okay?” He’s attempting to look over my shoulder, to possibly see what I’m rummaging for.
“Uh, yeah, just looking for my cash.”
“You don’t need to pay for yours.” My face must convey my pure confusion, because he chuckles at me. “Trust me, two books isn’t a big deal, I’ve got you on this, partner.”
His teasing tone gives me a flush I can feel resting on my cheeks. I reluctantly hand him the book back and watch him pay for them both.
“I can pay you back, it’s really not a problem Simon.” I feel guilty about it, he doesn’t seem at all bothered by it.
“It’s seriously not a problem. Trust me.” He pats me on the shoulder as walks out the door as I follow.
“Only if you're certain, okay? Cause I'll pay you back.” He laughs again as we reach his car, he leans his elbows on the car's hood and looks at me. “What?” I huff out.
“You worry too much, that’s all.” Then he’s getting into the car, I feel a little defensive as I get into the passenger seat.
“I don’t worry that much” I bawk at him, he raises his brows at me with the same little smile “Really, it’s not that I’m worrying, it's just rude. To like have someone buy something for you, and I literally just formally met you today.”
“Sure, if you say so.” He says back as he starts the car. “So what now then? I can drop you off at your place, unless you're gonna worry about that too.” He’s laying the teasing on thick, and I can’t help the laugh that comes out.
“Yeah, I’m gonna totally agonize over your gas mileage tonight in bed. It’ll have me up all night.” I turn my head to him, and he’s just looking at me. I can’t read the look on his face, he looks like he’s trying to make a decision.
“I think we’ll be fast friends Y/N.” He starts driving then, after of course I give him my address. The drive home is lighter than the drive to the bookstore, they chat about some things here and there. I find out he enjoys playing online games, and that the site he runs with Janae is called About That. I tell him some things in return, some of my favorite books, how me and my brother live with our two cats, and also that neither me or my brother talk to our parents. He seems intrigued by the last one.
“You don’t talk to them at all?” His voice is lighter when he asks.
“No, we don’t. It’s kinda personal, ya know. It’s our choice.” I smile back at him, I notice we're getting close to my apartment and in minutes he’s parked the car outside the front door of the building.
“Home sweet home.” He says to me, I laugh.
“Okay, well. Thanks for the book, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow in class.” I unbuckle my seat belt, but he takes my copy of the book from my hands. “What?” I ask, worried maybe he’d changed his mind.
“Just wanna do something quick.” I watch him open the book, grab a pen from his bag and scribble something down on the book's first page. Once he’s done he hands it back to me. “It’s my number, and since we’re partners we should communicate about the project.”
“Yeah, we probably should.” I agree, and then I’m out of the car in the building. My whole body feels light as I enter the apartment. I pull my phone out after feeding the cats and type his number in and shoot him a text. He replies in a couple minutes.
‘I hope you know I’m putting you in my phone as ‘worrisome girl.’ I laugh at it.
‘Uh huh, what should I put you in as then?’
‘I’ll leave that entirely up to you.’ I just smile down at my phone and decided to start reading.