He looks good, doesn't he darling??

• Deborah Romero
• Short Story
• 2004

Real copy

She watched them walk across the quad. Damn it! They looked so good together. If only he really knew her…then he would dump her and she would have a chance, even if it only was a small one. She had liked this guy since Year 4 and now in Year 10 she still hadn’t got a chance. Well she had, but then she came along. She the popular one, the pretty one, the one that everyone liked, everyone loved. Well at least someone hated…no, loathed her.
“Andariel”, someone shouted across the quad.
I turned around, my train of thoughts broken.
“Yes?” I called out. I didn’t know who it was and class was going to start soon. I picked up my bag and folder.
“How are you?” the same voice called out panting slightly.
I looked around. OH NO! Not him. Please anything but him. He ran towards me. I turned my back on him and started walking. Where? I didn’t know but I just wanted to get away from him! He was so annoying.
“So…” he mumbled nearly running to catch up with me.
I spun around
“What?” I answered back rather rudely.
He flinched “Nothing…”
I turned around and started walking again. Damn it! He was good at making me feel guilty. Or maybe it was just me.
“Sorry, I’m just in a bad mood,” I said huffily
“Why?” a trace of concern in his voice. “Is it them?” he said nodding toward the couple I’d just been watching.
“NO!! Nothing is wrong. It’s none of your business, okay! Gosh why are you such a stickybeak anyway?”
“I was just trying to help you. I’m really sorry if I upset you”
Even though you may think I was to busy biting his head off, I still noticed the change in his voice when he mentioned them. His voice sounded…gruff, jealous even angry. I found that a bit strange.
I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. He was medium height, just a couple of centimetres taller than me with a medium build. He had brown-blonde hair which was always out of place, a small nose, large blue-green eyes and medium lips. I know what you all want to know. Was he hot or cute or whatever you want to call it? Well no…not really…well he was a bit cute BUT he was annoying and I had my heart set on someone else. Someone who was sweet, cute…
BRINGGGGG…The bell rang. Back to class.
“So…what do you have next?” he asked tentatively.
I could tell he was being really careful.
“Let me check. Oh no!!...not double maths in D8.” I gasped “I haven’t done my homework, I am so busted!”
“Don’t worry. You'll be fine. You’re really smart.”
“Oh as if you’d know.”
“No you are.”

“Whatever.” I headed towards D8 dreading the wrath that awaited me. (Don’t ask. I had been studying Shakespeare in English.) Oh no! Mrs Oaks awaited me in that classroom. That horrible classroom that had the smell of textbooks and calculators and that disgusting perfume she always wore. The thought alone made me feel sick and…
“So I guess I’ll be seeing you around” he called out.
“Yeah whatever” I answered.
What did he mean by ‘seeing you around’? I wasn’t in any of his classes. Oh wait… except Geography, but that was fine because I never sat near him and stuff. Phew… I got scared there for a second.
“Hey Adie! Did you do your maths homework?” called out a voice
I turned around, recognising the voice immediately “No…, Ellen I am so stuffed”
“Oops. Well neither did I” Ellen answered.
“Me neither” laughed Victoria as she walked up.
We all laughed out loud.
“Great coincidence.” I giggled.
* * *
The day passed really slowly but finally I could go home. As I walked to the station I looked for Ellen. She had to tell me what I had missed out at
school yesterday.
You see, I had to go to my brother’s graduation and I got to miss out on a whole day of school. It had its good sides but it also has its bad sides like missing out on all the work you did that day and stuff. It was really annoying having to catch up.
Finally I found her.
“Ellen what did we do yesterday?”
“Ummmm let me think. Well we had English, maths, science, history and… oh yeah geography”
“Well…what did we do?”
“Ummm…well…you see”
“Ellen,” I said, my voice stern, “what happened?” I knew Ellen wasn’t the type that was able to resist my ‘steel voice’. Right now I had used that point to my advantage.
“Well you see… we were in Geography and we got a new assignment and we had to do it in pairs and before I could say anything that weird dude that stalks you…David…that’s it…he immediately goes up to the teacher and says that he’ll be your partner, and then Victoria and I tried to protest but the teacher said that we should stop being annoying and leave it be, so now he’s your partner.” She finished all in one breath.
She looked at my face. I knew it was easy to read. I had a lot of feelings all in one. I was annoyed, angry and disappointed but I told myself it couldn’t be that bad…could it?

* * *
First period, geography. I walked in with Ellen by my side. There he was sitting in the most annoying fashion straight in front of me.
“Hi” he called out “How are you?”
Ellen gave him one of her stares. The type that’s only used for the most awful scum on earth. It was kind of a mix between a cold and a disgusted stare.
Then the teacher entered.
“Students, listen up. Today you will be working on your assignment. So please sit with your partner and get started immediately”
Ellen looked at me with pity in her eyes. “I’m so sorry”
“Don’t worry. It’s fine. I’ll live.”
“I hope you do”
I picked up my bag and folder and walked over towards him, dreading the time I would have to spend with him. As I approached he smiled up at me. I didn’t smile back.
“Hey…what’s up with your friend? She looked pretty angry.”
I looked at him, disbelief on my face. Was he really that dub or was he just being naïve.
“Don’t worry about it”
“Okay then. I guess we better get started”
“So what are we even doing?”
“Well, you see, what we have to do is…”
I drifted into my own thoughts. Gosh this was so boring and I wasn’t even paying attention. I would probably have to do this with him some other time. How dreadful. I rested my head on the table. I looked over at Ellen and Victoria. They were laughing and talking loudly. They seemed to be having a good time. Well at least they were having fun while I was stuck with this boring, old fella who was yakking on about something.
“Andariel…are you even listening? Hey wake up! I’m not that boring am I?
Someone was shaking me. I opened my eyes slowly. Startled, I realized that I had actually fallen asleep. Wow! I must have been really bored or just really tired.
The bell rang.
“Oh damn! We haven’t done anything. Hey…listen, Andariel come over to my place tonight and we’ll do the assignment then okay?
“Yeah, whatever.” He passed me a slip of paper.
“Here’s my number and address. What do you say you come over at about…5pm? Is that alright?”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“Okies see you then.”
“Yeah, whatever.” As you could already guess I was tired, bored out of my brains and sleepy. This was going to be a good day. Not

* * *
Where the hell does this guy live I asked myself. It was freezing cold and I was lost. I only had a short time left. It was 4:55. Five minutes left to find this guys house. Suddenly my phone rang. I jumbled around throught my back pack trying to find it. Aha! Got it! I answered.
“Hello?”
“Hi, is that you Andariel?”
“Yeah, who is this?”
“It’s me David. Where are you?”
“Hey! How do you have my number?”
“I got it of that Ellis or Ella girl”
I gritted my teeth. “It’s Ellen, Ellen okay? Ellen.
“Yeh whatever. Where are you?”
I gritted them again. This guy was so rude! At this rate I’d soon have no more teeth left to grit.
“I’m at the corner of Wyrallah and Botany Street”
“Oh, I live on Wyrallah Street, number 21”
“Okay see ya soon” I hung up.
Damn it. I couldn’t stand this guy. I kept on walking, hoping that at least his house had central heating because if he didn’t I’d be so annoyed. Okay, on Wyrallah Street. Now where’s number 21?
I walked some more and finally reached it. Before entering any house, I always like to examine it and this is what I did just then. Okay it was a big house, two storeys high with a nice front garden which was well-kept (probably gardeners). Overall it wasn’t a bad house. I looked around me before walking in. This street was unusually quite for 5pm. Wasn’t that peak hour or was it 6pm? Anyway’s I opened the gate and walked up the path. Upon reaching the door I noticed that all the lights were off in the house. How strange.
I rang the door bell. No answer. I knocked the door and as I did it swung open slightly. It was unlocked. I opened it all the way but didn’t walk in.
I stuck my head in. “Hello?” I called out, panic rising up in my throat, “Anyone there?”
“In here” a muffled voice called out.
Relief flooded my body. Phew! For a second there, I thought something was wrong.
“Where are you?”
“The door on the right”
I started walking towards the closed door.
“Oh…okay. For a second I was worried. All the lights were off and the door was open and I thought something might have been wrong” I turned the handle of the door and opened it. The room was dark.
“Ummm where’s the light switch?” Suddenly the room was flooded with light but nobody was there. I was getting nervous. What the hell was going on??
“Where are you??” I called out, desperate to hear an answer. Unfortunately the one I got wasn’t the answer I wanted.
“Here darling, right behind you.” said a husky strangely familiar voice.
I turned around slowly fearing the worst and I got it.
There was my crush, my sweet, innocent, cute crush standing with a dripping knife in one hand. My eyes made their way to the floor. A head covered with messy brown-blonde hair. A head with blue-green eyes staring blankly straight at me. Body that was all too familiar. Eyes that I knew all to well. David.
“He looks good doesn’t he? Doesn’t he darling?”