Crush

I stand by the corner and peak out into the hallway. There are so many people! 
I feel myself start to freeze up, and wonder how Vira is so confident. 
I peak back out and see him.
"Hey Rory!" I jump. "Someone's a little jumpy!" Its my friends, Elly and Arianna, and they're laughing at me.
          "What?"
          Arianna looks up from her notepad, "You're more shy than usual."
          I blush, and point around the corner. Elly and Arianna shriek with giggles.
          "Guys! Act cool-" They push me out from the corner and I'm forced to move with the crowd. 
          We walk past Kai and Conner, and my heart melts. I worked with Conner last year on a year long pottery project. Conner was really sweet, always protecting me when people teased me because of my shyness. One day, he introduced me to Kai, his exact opposite and best friend. And I admit, when I first saw Kai I was in love. Head over heals. Smitten. Totally love struck. 
          Kai and Conner are talking, well Conner's talking. Kai's kind of just standing there nodding and occasionally saying a sentence or two. Trust me, I know. I watched them from my corner long enough.
          Conner spots me. "Hey Rory!" He shouts, waving.
          I wave back. Sadly, Kai doesn't seem to notice me at first. But then he turns around, smiles shyly and blushes. I feel my cheeks growing hot too. 
          "Someone has a crush!" Elly sings quietly. 
          Arianna nudges her as we walk into literature class. 
          Arianna, Elly, and I always go back to our apartment for lunch. We're close enough, and the school allows it. And our teacher, Mrs. Wiles, wouldn't mind anyway. She's always the nicest after lunch. 
          Just as we waltz into the class room, the bell rings. Connor and Kai come in behind us. We slip into our usual three seats in the back. I HATE sitting in the front. Arianna likes to sit in the back so she can write and daydream about her stories. Not that the teachers care with her grades. I'm sure Elly would sit in the front, but she'd never let us sit without her.
          Mrs. Wiles stands in front of the class and begins to talk about today's lesson. She's tiny and pixie like. Her golden hair shines and her bright blue eyes twinkle and sparkle. She constantly rubs her swollen stomach, she's pregnant with her first child. Mrs. Wiles, and her class, inspire so many of my drawings. 
           "Rory," I stiffen. Even though Mrs. Wiles is the only teacher who won't call me Arurora, I still don't like being called on. "Who wrote the poem, To A Young Girl? We will be talking about this poet today in class."
           "Um..." I should know this one! I feel myself begin to blush. 
           Mrs. Wiles gives me her sad, disappointed look after a minute. I hate when she gives me that look. It always makes me feel so guilty!
           "Elly?" Mrs. Wiles moves on. 
           "William Butler Yeats," She replies almost automatically. Not only is Elly the muse of music and dance, she also rocks at poetry. Figures. So does Arianna. I'm the odd one in our little threesome. 
           Mrs. Wiles gives me the 'look' again, and I shrink even lower in my seat. Conner turns around and gives me a thumbs up and an encouraging smile before turning back to the board. Kai keeps turning around and looking at us. Elly looks at me and gives me a huge smile that most definitely means, He's looking at you! He's so into you! 
           As if reading Elly's mind, Arianna whispers, "He's not looking at Rory. He's looking at you, Elly."
           I'm not sure whose more surprised, me or Elly.
           "Me!?" She gasps. "Kai has a crush on me?" 
           "Yup," Arianna replies, not looking up. "And Connor has a crush on Rory." She slides her note book over the desks and Elly and I lean over it. 
           It says: Connor —> Rory —> Kai —> Elly —> Connor
           "I don't like Connor!" Elly hisses.  
           "I know, but if you did, it would be a love circle!"
           "How do you know?" Elly demands.
           "Because I write and read about this stuff all the— pRory?" Arianna asks. "Are you okay?"
           "Girls?" Mrs. Wiles is standing over us. "What's going on back here?"
           "Rory looks sick, doesn't she Mrs. Wiles?" Arianna is always on top of things. 
           "Yeah," Elly chimes in. "You look a little pale."
           "You do Rory," Mrs. Wiles says. "Are you feeling alright?"
           I'm actually feeling like I'm going to faint and my heart feels like its been ripped into shreds. Everyone in the whole room is staring at me in silence. My shyness has never been this bad before. But I don't want to make a scene. That would be even worse. 
            "I feel fine, Mrs. Wiles," I lie. "Thanks for looking out for me though." 
            Mrs. Wiles nods and walks back to the front of the room. The class turns around. Connor gives me a worried look and I can only reply with a weak smile. He turns around unsurely. He keeps looking over his shoulder at me. 
            Arianna slide her notebook across the desks again. This time it says: We'll talk after class. Sheet fort?
            Elly nods. I just slide it back and glance at Arianna. I hope she gets the message. 

            As soon as my classes are over for the day, I race back to our apartment. I don't even wait for Arianna and Elly. 
            I get there and slam the door behind me. Then I run into the dining room and dive into our sheet fort. Sir Geoffrey Von Fuzzems is sleeping on his pillow in the corner. I think back to the day when I first showed Connor our apartment. He had come over to work on our pottery project.
             
            We walked into the room and I shyly said, "This is our apartment. I mean, not you and me, Elly, Arianna, and me."
            Connor laughed. "Wow! This place is great!" He spotted the sheet fort in the corner. "Is that a sheet fort?!"
            "Uh… No. I mean, it is but we don't use it as a fort. Well we do, but… Never mind."
            "Can we go in it?" He asked. 
            "Well, uh, no offense, but uh... There's this... Rule we made that no one but the three of us can go into the sheet tent. Uh, no offense."
            "No, it's fine. Gotta respect the rules. Speaking of the three of you, where are the other two?"
            "They should be in the living room. I'll get them." I started walking towards the door when my shoe got stuck on a pillow and I fell on my face. My shoe flung off my foot and hit Connor in the face. I gasped. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry! Are you alright? Do you need ice or something?"
             Connor laughed. "I'm fine, but now I know what a sidewalk feels like when people play jump rope on it." He picked up my shoe and kneeled on one knee. "For you, my lady." He slipped the shoe back on and kissed my hand. I turned the same color as my hair. Connor stood up. "Now let's get cracking on this pottery project, shall we? We only have until the end of the year to complete it!"
      
              I smile at the memory and wonder if Connor has had a crush on me for such a long time. Maybe. The day we were partnered up, some jerk said, "Hey Connor, I see you're paired with the muse of mutes!" The guy got punched in the face.
              I feel tears welling up in my eyes. It's all wrong. I'm supposed to be crushing, not being crushed on. Kai is supposed to be the crush, not just a good friend. And Connor's supposed to be the good friend, not crushing. 
               "Rory?" Elly peaks her head into the fort. "Can we come in?" 
               It's too late to ask. Arianna is already in her corner, scribbling in her notebook.
               "If you want, I can hang out with Connor some. And maybe I'll really like him. And Kai will see that I'm taken and move onto you..." Elly trailed off. 
               "Not gonna work," Arianna called out, not looking up. "He's way too head over heels to be stopped, Elly."
               "Arianna! You're not helping!"
               "Guys, it's fine. I'm fine. "
               "No you're not," Arianna says, crawling over. "You feel like your heart is torn in two and you don't know what to do with your life now."
               I blink. That's all true.
               "Well you know what," Elly hugs me. "You're going to have a fabulous life no matter who you end up with. And Connor's really sweet. I think Kai is a little too quiet for a rebellious, loud girl like you!" 
               We exploade into fits of giggles and I think to myself, You know what? Things might just turn out alright after all!