“Tyler Emmin, can you educate the class on the history of the Civil War?” The question had caught Tyler “T” Emmin off guard. Once again he had been caught staring at the brunette beauty Crystal Vaine, but this time it was by a teacher.
He blushed as the class laughed at him. “I’m sorry, sir.”
Mr. Mora, the history teacher, rolled his eyes. “Once again lost in the clouds and all you have to say is sorry. Next time, you’re going to have a talk with me after class. Now pay attention.”
Not that there ever was a talk, he just said that to try and get his students to pay attention, nobody ever had to talk with him after class unless they did something other than stare at beautiful women.
T listened to Mr. Mora drone on some more about Gettysburg before he began to space out again. He had a dream the other night, a dream about Crystal and him together in a relationship and it was beautiful. Of course in real life she probably didn’t even know T existed. Not very many people noticed him. T was shorter than the average sixteen year-old and didn’t fit in with the cliques in the high school. Even some outsiders treated him as an outsider. He did have a few important friends, one being his best friend since childhood: Tara Jenkins.
After class T walked to the cafeteria where he’d meet up with Tara and the Kents: Frank and Rachel. They all knew about his crush on Crystal.
As she sat at the dinner table, Rachel asked. “So, T, have you asked Crystal out yet?”
T blushed and shook his head. “No.”
Tara looked accusingly at T. “I still don’t get why you like her. She’s just a rich preppy girl, not even your type.”
T shrugged. “She’s pretty?”
Tara smacked her own forehead with the palm of her hand. “Right, because that means anything.”
T frowned. She didn’t have to be so rude about it. “I talked with her once.”
Tara began fixing her hair. “Yeah, I know. ‘She was really nice’. Of course you couldn’t say anything back to her, so it’s more like she talked to you not with you.”
Rachel smacked the table lightly. “Hey, you don’t have to be so mean about it. Yeah, he’s head over heels over her and there’s no real reason for it, but you don’t have to be so mean.”
Tara just glared at Rachel for a while. They began to stare each other down for a while until Rachel blinked.
Rachel then laughed. “You beat me every time.”
T then stood up. His heart pounded in his chest. “I’m going to ask her out.”
Frank glanced up at T. “Are you sure, dude? You look like you’re going to have a heart attack. I’m pretty sure the embarrassment might kill you.”
T quickly nodded. “Yeah. I got this. I’m sick and tired of losing chances to ask her out. She’s right over there, I’m right here, and I’m going over there to ask her.”
T took one step after the other each one seemed to take longer than the last. He tried to keep his breathing calm and his heart from pounding its way out of his chest. He felt the blood rush up to his head and he knew that some people were staring at him. Somehow he made it to the table that Crystal was sitting at although she was talking with her friends. T then tapped her shoulder and when she turned to him he lost his breath.
Crystal looked at him expectantly. “Yes?”
T then exhaled. “WouldyouliketogowithmetoRene’sDinerfordinner? Tonight?”
She blinked, then smiled after a little while. “No thank you, I’m not really interested in you. I don’t think it would work out anyways.”
T was shocked by the calm denial she performed. The cold denial. All those feelings washed away except the embarrassment and that hit him so hard he passed out.
When he came to Tara was sitting next to his bed in the nurse’s office. She smiled when she noticed him wake up. “Well, that could have been worse.”
T looked at her weird. “How so?”
Tara hugged him. “You could’ve passed out before getting denied by Crystal. By the way, real graceful way to ask her out.”
T blushed but he hugged her back. “Shut up.”
Tara looked him in the eyes with her vibrant green eyes. “You are OK, right?”
T’s heart skipped a beat. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“Good.”
He looked down for a moment and then looked Tara back in the eyes. “Uh, Tara? How would you like to have dinner with me at Rene’s Diner tonight?”
She nearly tackled him. “I’d love to.”
