Chapter 3, Sparks of Love
Bex Pop: Sept. 19, 2023
Finally, I’m done working on this stupid clipboard thing; I’ve finally completed it. I’m hoping that this clipboard will get across my cause for people, deleting Claire’s once and for all. By people, I’m only referring to one person, I think his name is Tommy; I know Mr. Metz does the roll call at the beginning of class. He’s pretty cute with those thick rimmed glasses and his sweaters he wears, he reminds me of one of my idols in music. I put on my sports bra and exercise clothes and I start to jog to Golden Gate Park. I’m pretty sure he jogs at the same time as I do during the weekdays, I don’t know about the weekends cause I'd rather sleep in for the weekend instead of jog. I jog around the park, hoping to find him at least somewhere here in this park. Finally, I spot him! I walk to him, I tap on his shoulder and he turns to me.
“Hey! Just wondering if you wanted to sign my petition?” I tell him, in an excited voice.
I see him read it, then he finally tells me, “U-Uh… Why do you want to destroy Claire’s?”
I responded, “Well… Don’t worry about it!” After a bit of a pause, “Also by the way, is your name Tommy?”
“Yeah, it is. What’s your name? It’s Bex right?” Tommy says to me.
“Yeah It is!” I tell him, “Anyways… I’ll see you later!”
I continue with my jog, quietly chuckling after pulling off that stunt. Now I need to imagine the other ways I can tease Tommy, I can probably find ways to make him blush somehow. Anyways I continue with my jog, listening to my favorite band. I think Tommy is the kind of person to like this group; but I’ll just have to wait and see. Once I return home, I take my required shower, and change into my school uniform. I can probably mention to the girls now that I know Tommy’s name, but I’ll probably tell them in the afternoon during dinner. I pack my bag and I begin to walk to my architecture class, conversing with different students and teachers I’ve talked with in the past. Then I see Mr. Metz and I talk with him.
“Hi Mr. Metz!” I say to him.
“How are you doing Soda Pop?” He tells me.
“I’m doing pretty good, I hope you have a good day today!” I reply to him.
“See you tomorrow then Bex!” He says.
I continue to walk my way to the class, heading towards the science wing. I then find the room where the Architecture class is, Room 204 and I take a seat in one of the rows. I always loved designing structures as a kid, building houses and skyscrapers with Lego bricks, building in Minecraft in my teen years, and drawing cool building designs anywhere in between. Compared to some of the other classes in my schedule, this one is way more hands-on and we get to test stuff like the spaghetti and marshmallow tower. I start to see the other students trickle in as the clock ticks closer to the beginning of the class. Finally, the class starts; time for the lecture. I’ve watched a lot of these architecture videos in my free time, so I don’t worry that I have to focus on this lecture. So, I pull out some paper and my mechanical pencil and I attempt to draw myself. I spent a couple of minutes trying to draw my face, I got bored and moved on to something else. Just need to sit through another lecture… Hopefully this ends soon.
Bex Pop: Sept. 19 2023, Evening
I’m waiting around in the dorm’s living room, hopefully Billie and Lily get here soon. Sitting with my legs crossed, I’ve channel surfing, there’s probably a baseball game going on today. There’s nothing good on TV right now, so I guess I would just scroll on my phone endlessly. I wonder what kind of food they’re going to bring from outside, maybe Chinese or Mexican food. Finally after a few minutes of just me and my phone, I hear the keycard and the door open. I get up to greet the two.
“Hi Billie! Hi Lily!” I say, “How are you guys?”
“I’m doing well, Bex.” Lily says, “So, what should we talk about?”
I see her enter the dorm and sit by the kitchen island’s chair. I sit next to her, waiting for Billie to join us. I see her leave her backpack in her room, while walking back to the living room I see she takes off her sweater and leaves it on the couch. Billie soon joins the both of us with our meal.
“Hey Bex! Got you your favorite food.” Billie says, she pulls out the take out box; “It’s steamed rice.”
“Wow, thanks!” I reply to her, as I’m about to dig in.
“Well… Is there anything noteworthy we can talk about?” Lily tells the both of us.
“I have something.” I say, just after I swallow a bit of rice.
“Oh! What is it, Bex?” Billie replies first.
“Yeah! Tell us!” Lily follows up with.
I start to get a little nervous, we don’t often discuss crushes to each other. I start to ponder what I can say, I only know his name and nothing else, hopefully I can find his phone number next time I have AP Bio with us. I mean, I still don’t know him after all, so I’ll probably just sit next to him in that Bio class.
Finally, I gained the courage to speak, “Well, there’s this guy… And”
“Oh! You like him. That’s where this is going, right?” Billie shouts out.
“Yeah, is that why you wake up early to jog? Just for him?” Lily teases me with.
“No! It’s not that!” I yell, I’m pretty sure I’m flustered now, but I can’t see my face.
“Enough Lily!” Billie says, “So, what do you know about him?”
“Uhh…” I sit and ponder, “His name is Tommy, and he looks like a nerd.”
“Tommy Santos? I think I’ve heard of him.” Lily says.
“What do you know about him?” I tell, even though I’m sure Lily doesn’t know as much as I do.
“I know as much as you know, Bex, sorry.” Lily replies to me.
So, I think I got to learn more about Tommy, I can probably start with hanging out with him. Then hopefully I can get his phone number and later social media pages so we can chat there. Anyways, I continue to eat my dinner of steamed rice and a can of Arizona tea. It’s alright, but this time I wasn’t really feeling dumplings or chop suey unlike my friends. Pretty sure it’s the scar over my nose bridge that caused this, either way I’m pretty glad I’ve told Billie and Lily about this. They’ll support me, and I’m glad to have friends like them. Either way, I should finish my rice, so I should do that now.