The Election Connection

First Days: A Noah Bonus Story

The noise of the cafeteria is almost unbearable, but not as unbearable as the silence that follows when one of the lunch monitors calls my name. I've only just entered the room when she gestures for me to follow her to the front of the cafeteria, and I begrudgingly comply.
"Attention, Sixth Graders!" she says. "We have a new student joining us today! His name is Noah, make sure he feels welcome!"
Everyone's eyes are on me, but what else did I expect? When you're the new kid in a new school, on the very first day, everyone stares.
"Go find somewhere to sit," she whispers to me, giving me a slight nudge.
I look around the room, at the tables full of people, and that's when I see him. He has soft hazel eyes and slightly messy dark cinnamon hair. I can feel my heart start to beat faster, and I get a tingly feeling in my stomach. I'm about to walk over to his table when someone calls to me.
"Hey, Noah," a tall kid wearing a Giants jersey says to me. "I noticed you were wearing a Lakers jersey. Come sit with me and my friends. We love sports too! I'm Greg, by the way!"
I follow Greg to his table, my lunch bag in hand. But even as I sit down and begin to eat, I can't stop the butterflies in my stomach that flutter every time I look over at the boy with the hazel eyes. So when recess comes and the boy approaches me, I begin to sweat buckets. The butterflies in my stomach have turned to bees, and they won't stop buzzing.
"Hi! Nice to meet you, Noah, my name's Beck, and-" he says, but I stupidly cut him off.
"Uhh, sorry, I've got to go..." I say as I rush away.
I run to the big willow tree that sits in the corner of the school grounds and I sit down against the roots. What am I even doing here? I'm in a town I don't know, surrounded by people who I've never met, and I just ran away from the cutest boy ever. I just wish I could go home. But I can't, so I stand up and give myself a pep talk. Maybe I don't know these people, yet, and maybe one day this town will feel like home. Beck, on the other hand... I think I've wasted my chance. He and I? Will never happen.
~~~~
Four Years Later...

The noise in the classroom is almost unbearable. Everyone is trying to talk to me, all at once. They're all saying some variation of the same thing: good luck at the football game next week. But through all the noise, I hear one quiet whisper.
"Hope you lose the game."
I look around, trying to figure out who said that, but then I see him. Beck Murphy. And of course, he was the one who said it. The one boy who still makes me nervous, all these years later.
"Attention Class!" Mrs. Bodér calls. "Before we begin our scheduled learning, I'd like to assign seats. When I call your name, please sit at the desk I'm pointing to."
She cycles through the class, row by row. She eventually calls Beck, and when he walks past me on his way to the desk, I can't help but notice the little tuft of hair that sticks out the wrong way on his head. My hand itches to fix it, but I hold myself back. Mrs. Bodér keeps calling names, so I zone out until I hear mine. When she calls my name, I don't register the desk until I'm halfway there. I'm sitting right next to Beck. Every possibility runs through my head as I make my way to the desk. I hate that he makes me this nervous. I don't even realize what I've said until it's too late.
"Hope you lose your trivia tournament."
But Beck seems to be amused, as he smirks a little, and turns away. My racing heart slows down a little bit, and a thought occurs to me. There's a fine line between love and hate, right? So if I act like I hate him, maybe I can stop myself from falling in love. And maybe, just maybe, I can be around him without running away, because God knows that if there's one thing in life that scares me, it's my impossible feelings for Beck Murphy.