What Happens in High School

Bob’s POV

I was really glad about how the day turned out. When I was on my way to meet Ray to go home I noticed some guy being a dick to Max. I told him to step off and if he ever talked to her again, it would be his last time talking at all. I walked with her to find Ray but when he was nowhere to be found we decided to walk home instead. I’m not sure how but somewhere in between us leaving school and us getting to my house I grew a pair. We made small talk while we were walking but nothing spectacular. When we were in front of my house I asked if she wanted to come in and hang out for a while and by god’s almighty grace she said yes.

We hung out in my room for a little before going downstairs into the garage. We messed around on the drums for a while and just continued to enjoy each other’s company; well, I don’t know about Max but I was definitely enjoying her company. Eventually though she had to go watch her brother so I walked her out. As we stood on my front porch I had the almost uncontrollable urge to kiss her; almost uncontrollable. I waved as she left knowing it was way too soon to pull anything like that.

I went back up into my room and pulled out my homework. I sat at my desk to see if it was worth the bother of trying to get anything done. I was having some trouble concentrating; I just couldn’t get Max off my mind. It was almost no use. I spent 20 minutes on the first question of my math homework alone and probably didn’t even get it right. I bull-shitted some answers to fill up the rest of the page. Mr. Weaver, my math teacher, only ever checked to see if the homework was done and it’s not like he didn’t already know I sucked at math. I put it away and finished the rest of my homework which was just an English vocab sheet and some reading in my chemistry textbook. After a painfully distraction filled two hours later, I was finally done. I was exhausted by the time I finished. I headed upstairs and took a shower before heading to sleep.

I lay in bed still thinking of Max. I’d only known her for two weeks and already I couldn’t get her off my mind. By now she had me hooked, thinking about her nonstop. What was I going to do? I was glad that we’d finally become comfortable around each other but how would I take it further? I wanted to be more than just her friend, but is that what she wanted?
…

In school things still seemed alright with Max, if not better than they had been. We talked in between classes and during lunch with little to no awkwardness between us. I was really liking our new relationship, now if it could only be the kind I was looking for. We all made plans for practice at my house when school ended. Max would come like she always did but this time I wasn’t so nervous.

After school we all met by Gerard and Ray’s cars and headed over to my house. Frank and Mikey went with Gerard and Max came along with me and Ray. We got to my house, we jammed, Max listened. After we played a song Max would tell us what she thought about it. Usually her comments were all positive except for every once in a while when she would say something like, “Gerard would sound a lot better if he didn’t smoke.” or “You know Frank, Aunt Laura is going to be really upset when she finds out you’ve broken your arm or something going crazy on stage like that.” They’d shrug off her half joked comments and move on to another song. Ten songs and one hour later we decided to call it a day.

I asked if the guys and Max wanted to stay and hang out for a bit. All of the guys agreed but Max had to watch her brother again. We said goodbye to her and packed up the rest of the equipment. We all stayed in the garage and just chilled for a while, talking about dude stuff.

I learned that Gerard was dating some girl named Barbara and Frank was hooked on Jamia from his history class. Ray claimed that if he had a girlfriend he would suck at guitar and henceforth refrained from dating and Mikey, being the almost painfully shy kid he was, just never asked anyone out. The conversation eventually came down to me and my relationship past. “You got someone, Bob?” Gerard asked. I didn’t have anyone but I definitely wanted a certain someone, but I wasn’t going to tell the guys that. She was one of their best friends, not mention Frank’s cousin, and I didn’t want them going and telling her anything.

“No, I never really dated much.” I said trying to keep the focus on me light and not get to in depth. It was true though, I wasn’t much for dating. I generally liked to stay in and play drums instead, but that’s not to say I’d never had girlfriends before. “No one?” Ray accusingly questioned. “Not even, oh I don’t know, Max?” I nearly choked on my water as he said this. Why would he think I liked Max? I mean, I did but how would he know? “Uh...” I tried to defend myself but froze up. Thankfully Mikey cut in with, “Yeah she’s always looking at you and giggling around you. I’d say she’s got a thing for you, but don’t bother asking, she’ll never tell.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. They thought Max had a thing for me. Try the other way around. There was just no way Max could like me, I mean come on. She could probably have any guy she wanted; why would she pick me?

“What? No,” I replied to everyone collectively. “Max is just a friend, she doesn’t think of me that way.”

“I don’t know man, I’ve seen it too. She gets like, mental around you; you know how girls get around that special someone.” Gerard said a little jokingly while still remaining serious about what he’d said. Could it be true? Did Max really feel something? I didn’t want to get my hopes up so I tried to push the thought out of my head, but since it was already there I couldn’t help it. I wouldn’t tell the guys, but hearing this made me a little hopeful. Maybe I’d get my shot with Max after all.

“Whatever, I’m not going to say anything.” I told the guys to relieve their suspicions. And I wasn’t lying. I didn’t want to talk to Max about it, no one ever wanted to have that conversation. Even though they all seemed adamant on the idea that Max and I could be something, I tried not to let it influence my actions too much. The guys all left at around 5 and I headed upstairs to finally start my homework. I still really didn’t want to do it so I took a shower to prolong my procrastination. When I got out I watched some cartoons, had some dinner, and put on some pajamas. Now it was really getting late and I figured I would have to do my homework eventually, might as well get it done before midnight.

When the clock struck midnight I put away my work even though it wasn’t all done. I really didn’t care about not doing my Spanish homework, I was tired and I wanted to go to bed. Ten points if you can guess what, or rather who, I thought about before closing my eyes and falling asleep.
…

The rest of the days in the week went on like most days typically did. Class was boring, lunch was the only block I actually looked forward to and Max and I continued to slowly pick up steam. We still weren’t super close but could easily make conversation with each other, even if it was just the two of us. It only seemed to be getting better and I wasn’t going to argue with that.

Friday finally rolled around and tomorrow we’d have rehearsal but tonight I had a fuck load of homework and all I wanted to do was get it done, play some drums and catch up on some sleep. And that’s exactly what I did. When I got home on Friday afternoon I did my homework right away knowing that if I procrastinated for even a minute it would never get done. It took me three hours but I finally finished all of it. I went downstairs and played drums for what only felt like 20 minutes but in reality was two hours. I was exhausted by the time I came upstairs, drumming can sometimes do that to a person. I took a shower and then went straight to bed awaiting band practice the next day. I’d see Max again tomorrow and I kind of couldn’t wait. Just fifteen more hours, Bob.
…

Since things had been going so well and I really enjoyed hanging out with Max, I decided to step it up. I worked up every ounce of courage I could muster and pulled out my notebook. In it she along with all the other guys had written down their phone numbers. I picked up my phone and thought about what I was doing for a moment then before I overthought it I dialed and pressed send. I heard the phone ring a few times before she came on the other line, “Hello?” she said and I froze for a second. I didn’t know what I was thinking, and I really hadn’t planned out anything to say. Before I kept her waiting too long I came out and said, “Uh, hi Max. It’s Bob, I don’t know if you had plans already but I was wondering if you wanted to come over and hang out again?” It came out smoother than I thought but I still sounded like a terrified idiot.

“Yeah that sounds great. Uh, give me like ten minutes?”

“Of course, see you then.”

“Alright. Bye, Bob.” I can’t believe she said yes. She actually wanted to hang out with me, without everyone else. I cleaned up my room a little recalling how messy it had been the last time she was here. I stacked CD cases and straightened papers on my desk. I attempted to make my bed but in reality all I did was smooth out the blankets. I heard a knock at the door and someone running down the hall. My little sister Jessie had answered the door and I heard her yell up to me, “Bobby! A girl is here!” I hated when she called me Bobby, especially in front of people I knew, let alone Max.

I went downstairs to greet her and properly introduce her to Jessie. They shook hands and said ‘hello’ then I took Max back up to my room. We sat down where we had the last time she was over and didn’t really know what to say for a while. Suddenly she stood and walked over to my CD shelf next to my bed. “What do you got?” she said as she pulled out a small stack. I didn’t really care, they weren’t really organized to begin with. She started to look through them offering friendly commentary on the bands I listened to. “Yeah, they’re one of my favorite bands, but I would never have taken you for a Rise Against type of girl.” I said as she proclaimed her love for them. “I’ve heard that, I guess I don’t really come off as the alternative type.” She said handing me the CD to slide into the radio.

She sat next to me on my bed, only inches between us. We let the music play and fill the room as she leaned back onto her elbows taking in the sound. I followed her lead and leaned back onto my bed as well and listened to the music. We stayed this way for a while looking at the ceiling as the songs played. We made small conversation generally based around the music or the songs. When the album finished I put in another random one without looking at the case. I liked talking music with her and I wanted to keep the conversation going. I didn’t really look at what I put in but soon came on the really old song, ‘I’ll Be Seeing You.’ It was on a CD from some jazz camp I’d gone to a few years ago. I didn’t even know why I still had it. “Oh, I love this song.” She said as Billie Holiday started to sing.

“I’ll be seeing you, in all the old familiar places…” Max sang along and her voice was just as beautiful as Billie’s. “Have you ever seen The Notebook?” she asked seemingly randomly until I remembered that this song was in the movie. “No, why?” I lied.

“Well there’s this scene where they dance to this song.” She said as she stood up and held out her hand. Did she want me to dance with her? Here in my bedroom? I slowly took her hand and stood up with her. She looked at me uneasily for a moment then put her arms around my neck. I’d never slow danced before but I knew that you were supposed to hold the girl’s waist. I gently put my hands on her hips and we started stepping in time with the music. I really wasn’t much of a dancer, especially when it came to slow dancing. I tried my best to lead like I’d heard the guy was supposed to do.

The song played on and we stayed there with each other. “I’ll be looking at the moon, but I’ll be seeing you.” As the song came to an end Max picked up her head and looked into my eyes. I knew this was the moment I had been waiting for. Now I was sure that she felt the same way. I closed my eyes and leaned down to meet her as she tipped her head up to me. I was so fucking close but right before it happened, RING!!

Fuck, I thought as I lifted my gaze up. I looked at Max with an apologetic look. “It’s okay, get it.” She let her hands drop as she walked over and stood by my desk. I turned off the music and answered the phone. “Yeah Frank?”

“Dude, you coming? We’re all here.” I looked over at the clock which read 2:09. I hadn’t realized that much time had passed since Max had come over. “Yeah I’ll be right down.” I closed my phone and Max and I went down into the garage. The guys seemed a little shocked to see that we’d come down together but also seemed to quickly get over it. They had already set up their respective equipment and I already had the drums together. “I’d really love to stay, but unfortunately the dentist calls. Thanks for having me over Bob.” Max gave us all one last wave before leaving. I didn’t want to see her go, especially after what almost just happened.

Notes