Taking a Chance

I’m a high school student. My friends tell me that I need to be more outgoing, but who wants that? Honestly, I'd rather just hang out with them. We’ve all been friends since we were really young since we grew up together. I don’t have time for other people, I already have my job, school work, friends, and family and I don’t need anyone else. At school, people fear me and I like it like that. People would never mess with me since I beat up the biggest guy in school. I’m content with the way I live.

The class phone rang and Mrs. J answered it. She was only on the phone for a brief moment then she hung up. 

“Drew they need you in the office. Bring your stuff in case,” Mrs. J told me. I grabbed my stuff and got up as the sound of oo’s and oh’s roared in the class. I looked back at everyone with the ‘scary’ face that I normally give them and silence fell. I don’t know how that works so well. My friends are constantly telling me I have an RBF...I mean I do...but still. I got to the office and there was a guy I’ve never seen before. He was very attractive. His hair was brown and curly but tamed. His eyes were hazel and he was tall. 

“Ah Drew, there you are. This is Joshua,” Mr. Corban said. 

“Hey,” Joshua said as he waved. 

“Hi,” I responded. 

“You are to guide him around the school and take him to his classes. You both have very similar schedules so it shouldn’t be hard,” Mr. Corban explained.

“Okay,” I sighed. 

“Oh, he’s also new to town so I’m going to need you to show him around,” He continued.

“I have volleyball and work after school so that’s not gonna work,” I said.

“Well then make it work. You still owe me, remember?”

“Fine, I’ll make it work,” I said walking towards the door. Joshua walked next to me. He probably has to slow down from his normal pace since my legs are shorter. 

“Ya know when they said that Drew was gonna show me around, I didn’t think Drew would be a girl,” Joshua stated.

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” I said sounding exhausted from it. “Do you have plans after school?” 

“No,” he told me. 

“Good, because you’re gonna have to come with me. I don’t want to get in trouble again,” I said.

“Uhm...okay,” he said, stretching out his words. I took him around the school and then lunch came. My friends came up to us and started to talk to him.

“Who is this nice piece of man?” Zachary asked in a girl's voice as he put his hand on his bicep. Zach’s not gay he just loves flirting with guys. He thinks it’s funny. 

“I know. I want some,” Lucus said. Now him, he’s gay. But he just likes complementing hot guys. 

“Uhm...Joshua,” Joshua said and stood uncomfortably. 

“All right guys stop acting stupid. You’re gonna scare the new kid,” Jordan said. He’s like the dad of the group. He knows when to have fun and gives everyone comfort and good pep-talks. “Hi, I’m Jordan.” Jordan put out his hand and Joshua shook it. “I think you’ll have fun with this group.”

“Where’s Will?” I asked.

“He should be around,” Zachary said.

“We are losing precious lunchtime,” Lucus said. 

“Guys!” we all turned to the back of the lunchroom to see Will waving and walking towards us. “Hey, sorry I’m late again.” We all looked at him like he was insane. We walked out of the cafeteria to go get lunch. 

We got back to school and it was back to me guiding. I think he had a fun time with us though. He’s actually kind of cool and funny and honest and hot and- wait…what am I doing? Stop it. He’s not funny and he’s not hot as hell. 

“What’s your next class?” I asked.

“I have theatre next,” Joshua responded. 

“Okay. So do I so that’s perfect,” I said as we started for the theatre. We worked on the lines for the play we are going to do: The Crucible. 

After school ended we went to my volleyball practice. After that, we went to my job. When I finally got everything done it was 3:30 pm. 

“So what were you hoping to see?” I asked as we got in my car.

“Oh, you don’t have to give me a tour. I won’t say anything,” Joshua said putting his seatbelt on.

“I honestly don’t mind. Just let me kn-” I was cut off by my phone ringing. It’s my mom. “Sorry I have to take this.” He nodded and then I answered.

“Hola Mommy,” I said as I started the car. “Hold on let me put you on speaker.” I put the phone on speaker then set it down next to me. “You’re on speaker and I have a friend in the car.”

“Okay, pero can tú pick up your brother?” My mom asked in her Spanish accent.

“Si, pero didn’t school end a little while ago?” I asked.

“Si, I’m running late. I have to work another shift tonight,” she said. My mom always has to take extra shifts but lately, she’s been doing it a lot more.

“Okay. What time will you be home?” I asked.

“Later, so can you make sure your bother eats?” she asked.

“Si. I’m driving so I got to go, pero te quiero.”

“Okay. Yo también te quiero.” And with that, she hung up.

“Okay, I guess we’re going to elementary school,” I said pulling out of the store parking lot. “Just warning you, my brother and I can get a little loud.”

“It’s fine. I live with basically my whole family tree so I grew up with loud,” he said with a chuckle. He’s cute when he laughs. No, he’s not. Quit it. 

We got to my little brother’s school and went inside. I signed him out and all that and we waited on the bench. 

“What time do you have to be home?” I asked as I turned to look at him.

“My curfew is 10:00 pm on school nights,” he said. 

“Okay, so do you want to go anywhere before then? I can just ask Churro to feed the kid,”

“Churro?” He asked.

“My older brother,” I explained.

“Why do you call him Churro? Isn’t that a dessert?” he asked.

“Yeah. When he was little he loved Churros. So now, we all call him Churro.” He smiled at me. It’s such a pretty smile. No, stop it. 

“What’s his real name then?” he asked squinting his eyes.

“Jayden,” I said with no hesitation. 

“Hey, sis,” my little brother said as he came into the front office. 

“What’s up kid,” I said back.

“Who this?” the kid asked as we walked out of the school.

“This is a friend from school. I’m showing him around since he just moved here,” I explained.

“Hi, I’m Joshua. Nice to meet you,” Joshua said.

“Hi, I’m David,” the kid responded. We all got in the car and I drove to my house. My house isn’t big or fancy, but it’s still home. I left the kid with Churro and Joshua and I left. 

“We can go to the park,” I suggested.

“Sure,” he said. I drove to the park and on the way, I pointed out some stores, cafes, etc. I parked and we started walking around. We talked for a little while and I found out all sorts of cool stuff about him. He’s super smart and funny and hot. No. Not at all. He’s not any of those. We stopped and sat on the bench near the lake. He looked at me. It didn’t feel like a look. It felt like the look. The look of I really like you and I want to kiss you. 

“It’s really pretty out,” I said breaking the silence.

“It sure is,” he said still looking at me. I looked back at him.

“What the hell?” I said chuckling. “Why?”

“Why what?” That smirk on his face completely faded.

“What you just said. It was super cheesy.” 

“It sure is?” he said repeating his statement as a question.

“Yeah. Believe it or not, I’ve seen romcoms. The guy looks lovingly at the girl,” I said dramatically. “She says ‘It’s beautiful out isn’t it?’ or some shit like that,” I said changing my voice to sound like a basic white bitch. “Then, the guy goes ‘Yeah it sure is’ still looking at the girl,” I said making my voice sounds like a douche. “Not even looking at what the girl says is pretty.” His eyebrows were raised and his mouth was open like he wanted to say something. He closed his mouth and relaxed his face. He scootched closer to me and continued to look at me. 

“You’re right,” he started. “Listen, this is gonna sound so douchey but...I don’t normally have to do much to get a girl to go out with me. I mean it’s not like I like things to be like that. At my old school girls were just there. So, I don’t really n=know how to do this.” 

“Bet you had a lot of girlfriends,” I said teasing him.

“Actually...I’ve never had a girlfriend,” he admitted. I looked at him shocked.

“Shut up. You’re fucking with me Mr. ‘I don’t have to do much to get a girl to go out with me’” I said pushing his shoulder.

“Well, I mean I went on a date once. But then she stole some of my hair,” he said smiling awkwardly at me.

“Yeah okay,” I said sarcastically. 

“I’m not even kidding. That was the scariest shit. She was insane,” he said laughing. I looked at him with the ‘yeah right’ face. “Her name was Britney.” 

“Oh yeah, she’s a crazy bitch. Are you okay?” I asked putting my hand on his shoulder. We laughed then we stopped. He looked deep into my eyes and somehow...we got closer together. What’s happening? Why? I don’t want to like him...but I do. 

“Wait,” he started. He pulled away from me. “I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“I...have superpowers,” he said. 

“Okay,” I laughed. 

“I’m not joking.” His face was completely straight. I stopped laughing. He stood up and walk forward. He turned around to face me and raised his hand. The bench shook then it came unbolted from the ground and was now in the air. It got higher as Joshua’s hand moved up. Gently he put the bench down. I got up and looked at the bench and then looked at him. 

“How the hell?” I said. 

“Yeah. I haven’t told anyone but you. I feel like I can trust you,” he said. again, we got closer and closer. Our lips touched and it felt like the butterflies finally flew out of my stomach. It felt natural. I felt right. We pulled away. His hands were on my waist and my arms were around his neck. I smiled and looked down as I did, I could feel him smiling at me. My phone vibrated so I took it out of my pocket. Joshua let go of me while I looked at the text. It was a text from Churro. It said, ‘hey where are you?’ 

“Oh, shit,” I said as I looked at the time. 6:30 pm. “Sorry I didn’t realize the time. I have to get home.” I looked up at him and he smiled.

“I can ask my mom to pick me up if you need me to,” he said getting out his phone.

“No, I’ll take you home,” I said starting to walk towards the car.

“Okay,” he smiled. We got to the car and then I just remembered something...he lifted up a bench without even touching it.

“How the hell did you do that?” I asked starting the car.

“How did I do what?” He asked.

“The whole moving the bench with your mind thing,” I said. I got out of the park and onto the road. 

“Well, I don’t know. I just figured it out yesterday,” he said.

“Yesterday?” 

“Yeah,” He answered.

“So you mean to tell me that you just found out about this and you’re lifting me up on a bench?” I started. “What if it went out of control with me on it?” 

“No, I mean I practiced lifting things up...so,” he tried to reassure me.

“Yeah okay. No more lifting me up until you get used to everything,” I said.

“Okay,” he laughed. He put the address in my GPS and I followed it to his house. His house was really big. I mean, he did say he lived with a lot of his family so I guess that makes sense. He got out of the car and turned to close the door. “You wanna go out...I don’t know...tomorrow maybe?” he asked before closing the door.

“Uh...yeah sure,” I said flustered.

“Okay, I’ll pick you up at 8:00,” he said and closed the door and started walking up the drive-way. He turned around and started walking back to my car. He opened the car door.

“Can I get your number?” he asked handing me his phone. I put my number in and gave it back. I giggled as he closed the door. 

One year later…

For a year Joshua and I have been together and he’s been working on developing his abilities. I was home by myself and heard a knock at the door. I opened the door and standing there was Joshua in a suit.

“What are you all dressed up for?” I asked smiling.

“Come on,” he said waving his hand. I put on some shoes and went outside. Luckily I had regular clothes on. He grabbed me by the waist and we ascended into the air. We landed after some time. Gently he set me down. 

“We’re in Paris. On the Eiffel Tower,” I said freaking out. 

“I know you’ve always wanted to go to Paris,” he said. I jumped up to hug him.

“Thank you so much,” I said still hugging him. All of a sudden a box of macarons materialized in his hands. He pulled out his phone and played a slow song.

“May I Have this dance?” he asked putting the macarons down and his phone in his pocket. 

“I don’t know how to dance,” I told him.

“I’ll lead.” He grabbed my waist and pulled me closer. We danced until the song ended. We sat on the edge of the beam we were standing on and ate macarons.

“Will you go to prom with me?” He asked.

“Yeah of course,” I said. “Thank you, Josh. You have made me so happy this past year. I couldn’t ask for more.” I lied my head on his shoulder and I drifted off to sleep.