It was Thursday morning and I was both excited and nervous. I hadn’t been on a date in quite some time, and not with a person who was arguably one of the prettiest girls in school. I was still confused with Claire’s interest in me, I was what one would probably call a loser, I had no friends. Not that I wanted any mind, but that kind of fit’s the definition perfectly.

It had been two days since I went to her house to apologize for being a massive jerk earlier that day at the lake, and I’m just happy that she even forgave me for that. The fact she asked me to take her out was just the frosting on the cake.

I was still sore over the new’s of the loss of my parent’s, but I was no longer being reduced to an angry mess and the tears had dried up as well.

I wasn’t particularly sure if Claire had told Amy about our plan’s, but Amy hadn’t asked about it and she likely would if she had known. There was no reason for me to tell her either in that case, I mean she hadn’t asked so I didn't have to tell her right?

Besides, perhaps Claire didn’t want anyone to know, so I wasn’t going to go against her wishes when I was the lucky one.

Amy called out to me just as I finished checking myself in the mirror for what must have been the twentieth time.

“Clay, you wanting a lift?” Amy drove to school, she had saved up over the last summer and with some help from her father purchased a standard but nifty looking four-wheel drive. I wasn’t too sure what brand it was, but it seemed quite expensive.

Whilst the walk to school wasn’t terribly long, now that winter was here and the frosty air was swirling in full force, that walk could extend into a chilling marathon.

“Please,” I call out in response. “Be down in just a minute.”

With one last glance at myself in the mirror, a final check, I slung my backpack on my shoulder and dashed down the stairs.

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Sometime later we found ourselves pulling up in the school parking lot. Just as I was about to get out of the car and say my farewell, Amy tugged my arm.

“Don’t fuck up today, Clay. Claire really likes you,” she said simply before giving a goodbye and clambering out of her side of the car and walking towards the crowd of student’s shuffling about the school entrance.

I just stood there after that. So she did know, after all, I guess Claire had told her to keep it quiet. I shrugged and headed after her towards the school entrance. As I walked through the main door and began to walk towards my locker, I was barreled into and crushed in a familiar grip.

“Cooper!” A loud voice boomed.

That’s right you guessed it, it was Ben.

“You good, buddy?” He asked he seemed to have concern written across his face.

It was the first time I’d seen him since the lake, as I decided to take off the Wednesday to try and sort stuff out in my head, to make sense of things. It helped a lot.

“I’m alright. Yourself?” The big dude was a nice enough guy, so I gave him a courteous response.

“Yeah, great here brother. Listen, give Claire a good time, alright? She has had a rough time in the past with dating and stuff. Just..just be good to her, even if you aren’t interested. Please?” He asked.

He truly was a nice guy, but I must admit I did wonder why he seemed so invested in the situation. Was he just a friend, or perhaps he was also interested in the quiet and pretty girl. I couldn’t really blame the dude, but still, undue jealousy filled my chest.

“I got it. I’ll see you around.”

I left before he could say anything else and walked through the bustling hallway. I glanced at the time on my phone as I walked, there was still a few minutes before classes started. I decided to drop off my books and bag in my locker.I also realized that I needed to start thinking of excuses for not completing the aluminum can project for Mr.Tanner. Tanner was known for his attitude of not giving a shit about why work was not completed, so I doubted that he would care, or excuse the news of the death of my parents as a valid reason. Especially as that had happened on the last day that the project was due.

I arrived at my locker and slung my thing’s inside, keeping only the books required for the next few classes. I saw her then, at her locker. Claire looked fantastic today, and I don’t want to be arrogant but I was sure it was my benefit. I observed as she received several appreciative glances from the passersby, both boys, and girls.

I wondered whether I should head over and greet her. I decided I should, so I swung shut my locker and began walking over.

“Hey,” I said, giving her a gentle tap on her shoulder.

She jumped in surprise, which I thought was rather cute, and span around.

“Oh, Hey,” she replied, smiling at me.

“So, I’ll see you at 3? Should I meet you here, or?” I asked.

Despite arranging a date, as of yet nothing had really been planned, so I used the opportunity to get the required details.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll wait by the locker, come pick me up and we’ll head out. I’m looking forward to it.”

Not as much as I am, I thought. The feeling was strange, especially for someone who had been emotionally distant to everyone for several years.

“Me too.” I smile. “I’ll see you later. Gotta get to class before Tanner chews me out.”

She laughed at that, which made me feel good, and I swiveled around heading to Tanner’s class for an hour of boredom.

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“Ah, glad you could join us Mr.Cooper. I’ll see you here at 3 pm on the dot for your detention.”

Ahh shit. There was no point arguing, it would just extend my detention time, so I simply sat down at my desk and zoned out as the class began.

I was annoyed for sure. Why today of all day’s? The one day I happened to have plan’s, I also happened to get detention. I inwardly groaned again. I’d better go see Claire at lunch and tell her. Perhaps she’d even wait around for the hour, but I didn’t hedge my hopes.

I remained in a state of stale lethargy for the remainder of the class, and throughout the next as the world seemingly moved at half the normal speed. I groaned again as the class ended, and walked towards the next class where another 40 minutes of boredom awaited.

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As the bell signaled the start of lunch, I grabbed my belongings and hurried into the corridor. It was always a good idea to rush at the start of lunch, so as to not be affected by the terrible congestion that quickly filled the halls. I stopped briefly at my locker, once again dropping off my stuff before I started heading down the now packed corridor for the lunch hall. Seriously though, the school could really do with some investment in traffic coordination. Signal light’s could go along way.

I was still apprehensive and undecided about how I was going to broach the subject of detention with Claire. I considered just simply texting her, but that could be misconstrued as disinterest. After some thought, I had decided it was probably best to just be a man about it, tell the truth and hope she would take it well. It wasn’t exactly my fault, and it was only an hour after all. I hoped she would understand, no I knew she would. But I still felt bad about the situation.

I entered the lunch room, studying and searching for a single fae amongst many. Standing back, one could clearly see the various cliques that operated within the school premises.

The greasers, the type with the leather jackets and the slicked hair taken straight from the ’60s, sat clustered around a few tables in the far right corner. Opposite to them, occupying the far left corner, the “nerds” sat. These kids weren’t necessarily nerds or geeks, but that was the label placed upon them by the culture present within the school. The other half of the room was less segregated into groups, consisting of the stereotypical jocks and cool kids along with the normal typical student body.

I still find it hilarious, ridiculous too, that labels such as greasers, jocks and nerds still perforated the school environment. I mean we are an evolving culture, right? Lines of segregation have evolved from racial issues to increasingly focusing on the differences between one another, what they look like, what they think and who they associated with.

As I scanned the faces, I found my target.

Claire was seated at a table towards the center of the lunch hall with a few of her friends. I didn’t know any of those who sat with her particularly well, none had attended the lake gathering a few days prior, so I assumed they were some other grouping within the school’s social system.

I strode over to her, she was facing the opposite direction so I decided to have a little fun. I gave her two gentle pokes into her abdomen from the side, causing her to jump slightly. She turned around to see me, the smiling culprit.

“Clay! You made me jump!”

I take an open seat beside her, ignoring the looks and questioning glances of her friends. I guess she hadn’t told them about our little date.

“Hey. So err... About later… thing is Mr.Tanner’s giving me a detention for an hour. I could skip if you wanted but..” It was true, I could skip the detention and probably would if she wanted it, but I’d rather get it over and done with.

“Detention until 4? That’s fine, I’ve got some books I need to pick up from the library anyway. Come pick me up there when you're done.” She replied.

“Yeah, till 4. I’ll see you after that then. Catch you later.” I responded before rising from the table and walking off to where I sat for lunch, amidst an increasing buzz of whispered questions behind me.