thursday, october 14th

Thursday came around faster than Beth expected. Usually when you look forward to something, the waiting feels like ages, right?

Maybe this time she had just been really busy: studying, selling cassette players and organizing her record collection.

And now, she was standing outside class 205, waiting. Surprisingly, she wasn't nervous at all. Only excited. A few other students were around her, including Robin.

Beth had hoped that she would've come to talk, but Robin was having a heated conversation with some other girl -Kate, that was probably her name. Beth couldn't hear what the conversation was about, but it looked like they were arguing.

On the other side of the hallway, there was a guy leaning to a locker behind him. He had black hair. But what really caught Beth's attention, was the shirt he was wearing.

It had the cover of Blondies 1978 album, Parallel Lines, printed on it. This random guy has taste.

Beth had the exact same album at home, stacked in her cassette box.

She moved her gaze to the clock on the wall. 3 o'clock. The course should start any minute.

The door to the class opened, as Ms.Grace popped her head out.

"Lovely to see you all here!" The teacher fixed her hair, and properly opened the door. "Come on in."

Beth held to her bag and walked inside within the flow. Ms.Grace had moved all the chairs and desks to the side, leaving the floor an open space.

"Take a seat on the floor." She instructed, and all the students did so.

Hopefully this was going to be fun.

—

"Okay. We're done with the introductions." Ms.Grace smiled, glancing around the room.

"But I think you should get to know eachother just a little bit more! So. Everyone. Find a partner- and talk with them. Someone you don't know well!"

Ms.Grace clapped her hands together, and everyone started moving around.

Everyone had introduced themselves shortly. Apparently a lot of these people knew eachother from last year, but there were a few other newbies besides Beth. She looked around, knowing that she looked like a lost puppy at this point. Luckily, she noticed the guy with the Blondie t-shirt approaching her.

The boy gave Beth a wide smile, revealing a perfect set of teeth.

"Hi. I'm Josh." He reached out his hand. Josh McKenzie. The name had already sticked onto Beth's mind.

She smiled back and gently shook his hand. "Beth." Then she laughed. "I don't think we need to shake hands."

Josh shrugged. "I know. But it's polite, right?"

This dude was odd. But he was also sweet.

Josh was quick to start a conversation: "In the introductions, you said you like music. What kind of music?"

Beth was caught off guard with that question.

"Uh... i don't really know. Many kinds?"

"Well.. do you have a favorite artist?" Josh tried again.

Beth had to think for a while. "I'd say David Bowie is my favourite."

Josh smiled again. "Nice."

"Do you like Blondie?" She asked, nodding to his shirt.

Josh looked at his shirt and streched it out.

"Yeah. They're okay."

"Now guys, next person!" Ms.Grace shouted, and Josh gave Beth one last smile before moving on.

She just had a simple conversation about bands with a guy. That didn't happen very often. And bonus: Josh seemed really nice. If Cassie and Amy were here, they'd be freaking out by now.

The only problem in Josh was, well, that he was a he. And not a her. He didn't light even a little spark in Beth's head, nor did he make her stomach twist around.

And Beth felt kind of bad for him. Hopefully he didn't think of her in that way. That would save both of them from a lot of things.

Beth gazed around the room to find Robin. Now was the perfect chance to talk to her. Get to know her, actually. Try and twist her stomach into a knot.

"Hey." An unknown voice said from behind Beth, stopping her from finding Robin.

She turned around and was faced by another girl -Tammy. Tammy Thompson? Was that her last name?

"I'm Tammy." The other girl said. She had a fresh perm- and lots blue eyeshadow, that popped out of her face.

"I'm Beth. Nice to meet you." Beth raised a smile.

Tammy started going on about her love of musicals. Beth didn't mind. It wasn't like she could make up anything else to talk about.

Tammy was a popular kid, and Cassie knew her pretty well. It was weird that a girl like Tammy would like to join the drama club. Well, guess she just loved musicals that much.

Beth's attention was caught by someone else. Someone who was staring at her.

Robin. She stood a few foot away, and was shamelessly staring. Her eyes wide, and mouth slightly open, like in shock. She wasn't looking Beth in the eye.. something besides her? Or behind her?

What the hell was she looking at?

But as soon as Robin noticed Beth's confused look, she turned away. And Beth swore that she saw Robin's cheecks flush red.

Tammy had never stopped talking about Grease: she didn't notice the weird moment.

—

"Alright. So, the drama club also presents a play for the Christmas show every year."

The teacher had been going on and on about the plan for this fall: what they would do, etc. Her speech had taken at least half an hour already -and made half of the room sleepy. Well, the time was already 4, so she should end it now.

"I'm going to tell you next week, what this years' play is." She smiled.

"Be patient! See you next thursday." Ms.Grace started gathering her things.

Beth walked trough the door, next to Josh, who then gave her a little wawe-goodbye and went another way.

Robin rushed past Beth, hurrying to the other side of the school. Beth hoped that Robin would've stopped to say hi, or goodbye.

But she didn't - and Beth just settled for staring after her.

They just spent an hour in the same room - and didn't say one word to eachother.

Maybe Beth should just forget about it. She didn't have a crush, right. It was just a stupid.. girl. Robin. They talked once. Another thing to never happen.

That's it.

Just forget about her.