Standing Out

The focus of the class was the ear, its anatomy, function. Nick found he was more enthralled by the spectral Mr. Wexler, his delivery suited his creepy appearance and made the class fascinating. He glanced surreptitiously toward Asha a few times, only to find her and her redheaded companion looking back at him. He also kept tabs on Scott and wondered whether or not they might actually chuck knuckles at the end of the day. He kind of hoped so, though doubted it.

At the end of day when the bell rang, he looked over to see if Scott was lingering, but both he and Tank were already out the door.

“Figures,” he mused, grinning.

“Hi Tom,” Asha cooed playfully, looking at Nick’s workstation mate, mischievous smile on her face as she appeared in front of the desk.

“Asha,” Tom replied, turned away, cheeks burning.

Nick looked at Asha and frowned as Tom hastily grabbed his books and darted away. What was that about?

“Nick,” she said, “I don’t know what arrangements you made with your dad, but if you need a lift back to the house, you can catch a ride with Carissa, TJ, and me,” she offered, pointing at the two girls standing near the door out of the classroom, recognizing TJ and the other red haired girl.

Looking over, he made a face, “I don’t know,” he said, “I think I’ll just walk.”

Asha shrugged indifferently, “Just offering,” she said, turning away.

He couldn’t help himself, eyes drifting down to check out her bum as she sauntered back toward her friends. A perfect teardrop.

Gathering up his books and materials, he exited the class and made his way to his locker and put away his books.

He spied Tom further down the hall, looking back in his direction.

“Hey, Nick,” Tom said, grinning as he walked up.

“Why did you bolt when Asha appeared?” he asked. “You have history or something?”

Tom shrugged and shook his head.

Nick nodded slowly. The answer was simple, she was beautiful and she knew how to use it. Nick himself had felt it when he first saw her, like something special and out of reach. You felt like she could see every flaw you possessed and you were unworthy of her.

“How do you know Asha?” Tom asked softly.

Nick chuckled, “I guess she’s my stepsister, my dad, her mom, you know,” he answered.

Tom whistled, “Brutal,” he said, shaking his head from side to side, a grim expression on his face.

“Brutal?” Nick asked, “Why brutal?”

“Living under the same roof with one of the, if not the hottest girl in school. No wonder Scott is being a total dick,” he replied.

“Scott?”

“He’s been chasing after Asha for a while,” Tom stated, “but she, you know, not that I would, I, well as far as I heard, she didn’t go out with him or anything.”

“I’m not sure he even knows about my connection to her, it seems to me he was pretty much a douche right from the get go,” Nick replied, shrugging.

“You should maybe steer clear of that guy,” Tom warned, shaking his head. “He is trouble with a capital T.”

Nick made a dismissive noise with his lips, “He’s more bark than bite.”

“He’s the school’s ace pitcher and there’s serious talk he could bring a state championship here, plus, there’s more talk he could possibly make it in the majors, so in these here parts he’s a pretty big deal. It might not necessarily be him personally that comes at you, but one of his cronies, you know, one of those guys he hangs out with who will try and mess you up,” Tom explained.

Nick snorted, scrunching up his face in disdain.

“No offense,” Tom hastily interjected, thinking perhaps he had given some affront, “You’re a pretty big guy who looks like he could probably handle himself in a jam and all,” he clarified.

“I’m not worried about Scott, he has no heart,” Nick said, frowning.

“I didn’t imply you were scared of him or concerned he could hurt you or anything, just more like letting you know he might make a more concerted effort to get at you is all,” he added, offering a conciliatory smile.

Nodding, “It’s alright,” Nick said, clapping the reedy youth on the shoulder. “I got what you meant.”

“Just a bit of an FYI about your chemistry partner Hester. She is probably the smartest person here in the school, but she possesses the emotional instability of a five year old. The last time someone picked on her, a guy Ricky, she created some kind of nonlethal superglue bomb and planted it in his locker. He opened it and ‘blam’, shit coated him, like from head to toe. No one could prove it, but pretty much everyone knew it was her. That was someone she who taunted her. You, it appears she really took a shine to you so just a heads up, so who knows what that might do to her thought processes,” he informed with a chuckle, making an explosion noise with his mouth and miming it with his hands.

“She seems harmless enough, but as for the heads up, duly noted,” Nick answered.

They continued on in silence a little further, before Tom spoke again, “So you an X-Box or PlayStation guy,” he asked, “or PC?”

Nick shook his head, “Honestly, I’m not really much of a gamer,” he replied, leaving school grounds and taking the pedestrian walkway over the Pacific Coast Highway.

“Oh,” Tom said, disappointed. “Not even like Boom Beach on your phone or something?”

“Sorry,” Nick replied, shrugging his shoulders. “You?”

“X-Box mostly, COD and stuff,” he answered.

“I can’t get over how absolutely big this place is,” Nick murmured. “It just goes on and on.”

Nodding, Tom continued to walk beside Nick, “Must be a pretty big culture shock moving from Minnesota to here?” he commented.

“Yep,” he replied. “There are a whole lot of differences between there and here,” he added, ruminating.

“I myself wouldn’t know, I’ve lived here my whole life,” Tom responded.

Nick smiled and nodded. He got the feeling Tom wasn’t a terribly bad guy, just someone on the fringe who someone finally paid some attention to and it made him feel connected. Nick could relate somewhat.

“Do you live close to the school?” Tom asked.

Nick provided the address, which happened to be fairly near to where Tom lived. Tom talked incessantly, and Nick’s mind drifted back to Asha, well not just her, but also the two other stunning girls, TJ and the redhead he presumed was the one Asha called Carissa. He chuckled to himself, even back in Minnesota, the hot girls seemed to run in packs and LA was apparently no different, other than just maybe the sheer number of hotties. He also found the memory of his interaction with the strange girl Hester coming back into his mind as Tom babbled away. She was such an odd girl. The way she looked at him. Maybe Scott and Tom were both right, did she have a crush on him? He envisioned the locker exploding on that kid and it made him smile. Tom parted from Nick at Nick’s new home, stating he lived only a couple blocks further on. Watching the other boy leave, Nick walked up the drive, reflective on the day that had been.