Until There Was You

The bad boy

"Mara. Do you need a ride home from practice tonight?"
"Yeah, that would be great. Thanks Sarah."

I sat chatting with the squad about all things random. I couldn't help but smile to myself. This was my new norm. Cheer practice, football parties, dances, friends, and once again being part of the 'in crowd.' I hadn't really crossed paths much with Steven after that night. Maybe a few more times in the hall at most. He would say hi and I would reciprocate but that was about it. My friends were rather surprised after I told them what happened and that I really just wasn't feeling it, especially given how hot he was. Luckily, my brother and Steven weren't that close to begin with. More acquaintances, so I didn't have to worry about him being at the house. How awkward would that be? It also worked in my favor that he was a Senior. Made the awkwardness drag on for a much shorter period of time.
"I"ll be right back," I said as I got up from the table.
I walked up to the window to turn in my lunch tray. As I turned to walk back to my table, looking down at my feet as usual, I bumped into an auburn-haired kid I had never seen before.
"Sorry," I said biting my lower lip nervously. I tucked lose piece of hair behind my ear, flashed a quick smile, then headed back to my seat. Ugh. So embarrassing.
"Yeah, so I think we just need to run it a few more times and we'll get it. The timing is just off because the music is so fast."
I sat back down next to Sarah who was discussing our half-time routine for the game on Friday. As I started to chime in on the conversation I felt the table move a bit followed by a tap on my shoulder.
"Hi."
I turned to see a guy with spiked, yet disheveled looking, brown hair, an eye-brow piercing, baggie jeans with a wallet chain, and a tie-dye Grateful Dead t-shirt on, smiling at me.
"Um. Hi," I said perplexed. I had never seen this kid before either.
"Do you see my friend over there?," he motioned to the table slightly caddy-corner behind him.
I actually laughed a bit.
"Which one exactly?," I asked sarcastically. "There are several."
"Right," he chuckled, "The one with the plaid shirt and brown-hair sitting at the end."
"Um, yeah."
"He thinks your hot. He wants to know if he can come over and say hi?"
I looked at him, my expression contorting a bit.
"I'm sorry what?"
"He thinks you're hot and wants to come over and say hi," he repeated.
I stared at him. What in the actual hell?
"I'm Boe by the way," he said holding out his hand.
I looked back at Sarah who could barely contain her smirk. The rest of the girls had similar expressions of curiosity on their faces. I hesitantly shook his hand. He seemed nice. A bit odd, but nice. I looked back over at the table. He was talking to another guy. Sure, He was kind of cute. He appeared to be more like a refined version of the skater boy genre. I definitely hadn't seen him at any of the typical social or sporting events.
"Yes, she thinks he's hot and would love for him to come over and say hi."
I shot an astonished look at Sarah.
"Sarah!"
Before I could rebuke Sarah's insane response, Boe got up from the table.
"Cool," he beamed and proceeded to walk back over to his friends.
"What the hell Sarah!," I said trying to burn a hole through her with my glare.
Sarah looked more than entertained by the situation. Then, the table moved again.
"Hey."
There he was, straddling the bench right next me.  He was not the typical guy I found myself attracted to. He had auburn-colored hair and hazel eyes. He was fairly tall, pale, and thin. His clothes were a bit baggy but he still appeared pretty put together. He was actually pretty cute up close.
"I'm James."
James.  A solid, hot guy name. Wonder why I hadn't seen him around before? We really aren't that big of a school. I would have thought we'd have crossed paths before now.
"Mara," I responded confidently.
"Mara," he repeated. I kind of liked the way he said my name. "I've seen you around. Cheerleader, right?"
"Yeah." What does that matter, I thought to myself.
"These your friends?"
"Uh, yeah. This is Sarah and that's Ashley, Hallie, Megan, and Morgan."
"What's going on," he nodded towards them.
The girls smiled back more than happy to participate in this embarrassing interaction.
"Well, I just wanted to come over and introduce myself. Maybe I will see you at the game Friday?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure."
"Cool. I'll see you around."
He got up and headed out of the lunch room. The guys from his table got up and exited shortly after, Boe giving me a sly grin as he walked out.
"Holy shit, Mara," Sarah exclaimed. "Who was that?"
"I have no idea! I literally just ran into him when I was putting my tray away. I've never seen him before. That was weird though, right? Like, who just comes over like that?"
Someone with some serious self-confidence thats for sure. He was almost mysterious in a way. As I asked around the next few days, no one really seemed to know much about him. This just made him that much more attractive. I needed to find out.