High school crush

Who: Dylan and May
When: 6th period English
Where: MSHS

May looked forward to English. Not that she was going to run up and down the hall and shout it at the top of her lungs. She merely kept to her normal routine and quietly walked into the room, sitting herself down in one of the chairs and wondering if maybe Dylan would sit down next to her today. Maybe. A girl could dream couldn't she? She took her materials out for the class and got her notebook out, lightly tapping the eraser end of her pencil against the paper. One hand reached up to twirl a loose strand of straight black hair around her finger, every so often letting her eyes trail towards the door.

Dylan always took his time to get to English class but this time he was really late. He didn't care but it was the last class of the day, he should make an effort. The nightmares had kept him up all night so he'd grabbed maybe two or three hours at most, he wasn't sure. He did know it showed on his face, plenty of people had commented on how tired he looked. Maybe he'd get more tonight but then again, he didn't hold his breath.

By the time Dylan made it to English, the class had already started and there was only one seat left. He mumbled an apology and something about getting lost, glad he was still new enough that the teacher only glared but didn't say anything. He flicked the hair out of his eyes as he looked around for a seat, maybe one closer to his brother who always helped him find a way around his dyslexia but there was only one next to some boy he didn't know and... May! He gave her a small smile and wriggled into his seat. He didn't know her that well but they were both friends of Aaron so that was cool but she was also Heather's best friend and Dylan got the impression that the latter didn't like him very much.

He turned around in his seat to shoot Nate a glare for not saving him a spot but at least he still had somebody familiar close by. He turned back around and began to pull out his notebook. He didn't actually plan to work so he took out a coloured pencil instead and began to sketch across the page.

Oh god... he's actually here and he's sitting next to me she thought to herself but she gave him a smile. At least for half a second before tilting her face in the opposite direction and bit her bottom lip. Once she'd recovered and thought that her face was safe from the blush, she turned back towards him. The teacher was busy with a student up at the front of the room so she figured she could get a few seconds of conversation in. She didn't want him to think that she didn't like him. But she didn't really know if she wanted him to think that she did either. Conversation was okay, right?

"You were late." she said softly. Her voice a bit tiny, just like the rest of her. She smiled though. "Skipper." she teased.

Dylan sat up a little at the voice and it took him a second to realise it was just May. He slumped back down in his seat and shot a glance at the teacher. Luckily they weren't likely to get caught so he dropped his pencil and shoved his table a little closer to May. "Yeah, I know. I couldn't find the classroom." Which wasn't true, he hadn't wanted to find the classroom but he just shrugged and gave her a smile. "Did I miss anything good?"

Oh... he moved closer... oh god... Stop it and breathe you loser. Total loser. He's just a boy but... he smells so good. Damn it, May. "No. Not really." she told him with a little shake of her head. The movement of dark strands sent the scent of her jasmine shampoo through the air. She tilted her head once more to look at him again. "Are you sure you couldn't find it, or were you purposely misplacing the room?" she teased in a hushed little murmur.

Dylan gave her a cheeky grin back and shook the hair out of his eyes. He could smell something like flowers, though he didn't know which, and looked at May for a moment. Nah, it couldn't be from her... Just to be sure, he propped himself up onto one elbow and leaned a little closer. Yeah, it was definitely her. He turned in his seat to look at her and decided if the teacher said anything, he would say that she was helping him. It might work, though he kind of doubted it. He grinned at her though and shrugged. "You caught me but English is my worst subject so... i never want to turn up. What about you?" He studied her for a moment then shook his head again. "Nah, you're too nice to skip but what would you do if you could?"

May smiled a little when he leaned closer and then he turned to fully look at her. God he's so cute. For a moment her brain had her not even realizing he'd said anything, thankfully she'd at least caught enough of it to know what he was talking about. "I like English." she smiled, giving a little shrug. "And I'm not that nice." Okay, so maybe she was, but she didn't want him to think she was a complete loser. "I don't know what I'd do though." she murmured, tucking her hair behind her ear again so she could see him better without looking too much like she wanted to see him. "What about you? What would you be doing if you weren't here?"

Dylan thought about it for a moment then shrugged and stole another glance at the still-busy teacher. "I don't know, I skipped yesterday with Aaron but here? I'd probably just call my dad and ask him to pick me up. Normally I'd ask my brother..." Dylan pointed back to his brother's desk and leaned closer so his arm was in May's line of sight instead of his own. He sat back again and shrugged. "Nate drives, I don't but he's in this class too so yeah, I'd get my dad or walk or something. I don't know what I'd do when I escaped though. Probably get something to eat or, I don't know, watch a movie. Can't skate in snow anyway."

And he was leaning closer to her again. She took a little breath, taking in his scent and listening as he spoke about his brother and leaving and snow and his father and driving. Each word intently grasped before she spoke again. Big almond shaped eyes found his and she smiled. "You skate?" she asked. A nifty little tidbit of information to lock away in her 'things to know about Dylan' vault.

Dylan's cheeks went a little brighter and he ducked his head, hair flopping down over his eyes. "A little," he admitted modestly. The truth was he could and when he had been home in California, he did it often. He spent most of his time at the local skate park and had even been there the day his mother had died. He had been skating when she died. He shivered a little as the thought occurred to him but then pushed it away quickly. He flicked his hair out of the way and looked back up at her. "Yeah, sometimes but I don't know. Can't around here, too much snow and ice and stuff and my board is back home anyway so... What about you, what do you do for fun?"

She could picture him skateboarding. He had that skater flair to him. That cute skater flair, but she kept that thought down and smiled, shrugging a little. "Well... I cheer, I'm in drama, I hang out with Heather and Aaron and you..." she grinned a little at that part. "And... I dance." she said almost as an afterthought.

"Yeah but we don't count..." Dylan started to say something about how friends were just a granted thing, everyone hung out with them but then she added something he didn't already know. He grinned and reached out to punch her lightly and playfully in her shoulder. "There you go! See, that's something. What sort of dancing do you do? Wait, nah, lemme guess." He leaned back, one hand under his chin and pretended to study her critically. He didn't know much about dancing at all so his guesses were just stabs in the dark, the only kinds he really knew of. "Ballet, maybe or tap? You don't look the type to do that huge dress, prance around the room one, whatever that's called."

She smiled a little when he got it right off. "Is it really that easy to guess that I'm a ballet dancer?" she asked. Her dark eyes met his then and the smile visibly grew. He so touched me. Well, punched me. But softly! Ah. Touched me. God you're such a girl.

"'Cause it's really the only one I know. Like, can name. I know of others but without dramatic hand gestures and I don't know, lame descriptions, I can't explain them." Dylan shrugged. He looked up in time to see the teacher finishing with one of her students and cast them a warning glare. He turned back in his seat to at least pretend as if he was paying attention but the moment the teacher looked away again, he rested his head in the palm of his hand and turned to look at May. "So," he whispered. "What's it like? You dress up in tights and those poofy skirts and twirl, right?"

"Not always." she told him, glancing down at the book before her and then back up at him. "Tights sometimes. Leotards... they kinda look like bathing-suits, those go over the tights. Not everyone wears the tutus. I think I look kinda funny in them. And it's not all twirling. There are jumps and lots of different things really." She bit her lip and looked down at her book again. "Don't think you're super interested in tights and spinning." she grinned.

Dylan grinned back but his mind was on her in a leotard. He couldn't help it! His cheeks went bright and he turned to stare down at his book, hoping that she couldn't spot it. He picked his pen up and started sketching out a person in mid-pirouette. It was barely more than a couple of lines but he added a tutu and a couple of extra lines for motion. He was actually a better artist than the small picture let on but it was something to distract him and make him look like he was working. Plus it gave him an excuse to hide his blush. "Um, not for me but, you know, Aaron might like it or something." He flicked his hair out of his eyes, gave her a grin then looked back down at his notebook again and began to add a stage to his picture. "So how long you been doing that for?"

"An eternity." she smiled. "Since I was about two." she added on. "So yeah, a long, long time." She glanced over at him and couldn't help but be curious at the slightly more pink tone across his cheeks. Is he blushing? No. Maybe he's just hot. Well... like temperature hot, of course he's hot-hot. "What are you doodling?" she asked him, straightening her posture a bit to peer over at his little drawing.

"That's crazy," Dylan murmured. He hadn't been doing anything since he was two! Well, he'd been drawing but that was a hobby and he didn't count it. Ballet needed lessons, training, performances. All a drawing needed was a bit of paper and practice. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her moving but he ignored it to finish one of the curtains at the side of the stage. When he looked up, he caught her watching and even though she'd had plenty of time to see what he was working on, he still covered it with his forearm. "Nothing," he said quickly. His cheeks went a little brighter and he dropped his head again, letting his hair flopping over his face. "Nothing, just, I don't know. Lines. It's nothing."

Okay, he totally was blushing. And he was drawing something. Something that looked a lot like a ballerina. "It's not nothing." she told him, sinking back down in her seat. "Shy about your drawings?" she questioned the boy. She didn't see any reason for him to be. It wasn't a bad drawing. Not a Picasso or anything, but definitely better than she could have done.

Dylan was being silly and he knew it. It wasn't his best work though and it made him nervous to show girls, anyone, what he was drawing. Especially if it was them. He had a whole notebook of pictures at home, though most of the ones that had come since he'd moved were a lot darker and related to his mother's dead or other monsters he imagined. It was just habit that he didn't show anybody these days. Maybe this couldn't hurt though, there was nothing dangerous about it. He sucked in a breath of air and moved the notebook across the space between their desks. "Um, just this. It's nothing, see? Just... trying to make myself look like I'm working."

May reached out to take the notebook before he had a chance to jerk it away. She pulled it to her desk and let her eyes wander over the lines he'd made across the paper. She wondered for a moment if it was just a random ballerina, but she couldn't help but think that maybe he'd drawn her. "Is that... supposed to be me?" she asked him, eyes lifting to catch his, though she didn't give him the notebook back.

Dylan tried to reach out for the notebook but she had tugged it away before he could catch it. He didn't like this. He tried to lean across for it but without standing up, without causing too much attention to himself, it didn't work. He sat back in his seat with a sigh and tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling. "I don't know, maybe. It's just a random person but you were talking about it so... I don't know, yeah. I guess." He paused then looked across to May again. "Sorry, it sucks. Can I have it back now?"

"It doesn't suck." she said with a smile as her head tilted enough to look at him. "I like it. Even if that makes me sound egotistical. It's pretty. Or 'cool' or whatever you want me to call it that doesn't sound too girly and hurt your ego or something. But I do like it. Really." she promised. She reluctantly gave it back after a moment's contemplation at asking if she could keep the picture. She decided against it and sat it on his desk.

Dylan was glad when she handed it back and he pulled the notebook back towards himself but she was being so sweet about the whole thing. He frowned as he paused for a moment then grabbed his ruler and used it to carefully rip the page out. It was slow work because he was trying not to be too loud. He hated the idea of the whole class turning to look at him and the teacher would figure out all too quickly that he was passing notes. When it was finally out, he scribbled, "To May, sell this when I'm famous, Dylan Alden" across the bottom and folded the paper over. He glanced to the front of the room and when the teacher's eyes weren't on him, he slid it across to her desk.

She caught sight of the paper just as it reached the corner of her desk and she smiled, opening it, cautious eye cast towards the teacher for a moment, then reading the note. Carefully she folded it back up and tucked it into the back of her book and tried hard to look like she didn't want to squeal. Once she was sure her face looked normal, she looked over at him and waited for the teacher to turn around towards the board. "Thank you." she whispered.

Dylan tried hard not to look at May. He felt like maybe he was being weird, drawing lame little pictures of people and handing them to the actual person it was of. At least she seemed to like it and if she didn't, she was being polite about it. He shrugged at what she said but did turn and smile at her. "No problem," he whispered back. He glanced up at the clock above the teacher's head. "Um...What class do you have next? I've got gym with Aaron."

"I've got study hall." she told him with a little smile. "Gym with Aaron must be interesting." She knew he was quite the character and would have loved to be in that class. Maybe a little more because Dylan was in it than Aaron, but he didn't have to know that now did he?

"It's okay, we mostly just sit around and glare at that one guy who always picks on Aaron." Dylan shrugged. Class was almost over and he was a little eager to get to gym. At least Aaron wouldn't flirt with him and even if he did, it was harmless and his brother wasn't around to see it. He glanced back at Nate and even though he couldn't be sure, he thought maybe his brother had been watching him to try and see what he was up to. He turned back to May and shrugged. "Anyway, um...Yeah, Im' glad you like the picture."

She smiled at him and nodded. "I'm glad you gave it to me before I could ask for it." she said before she could stop herself. "I mean... if you hadn't of given it to me I might have asked for it." she said, her cheeks turning red as she reached down to grab her bag and put her things away in it. You're so dumb! I can't believe you said that!

It took Dylan a moment to understand just what May was trying to tell him and by the time he did, the bell had rang. He packed up his things quickly and dropped them into his bag but he stayed seated until most of the other students had filed out first. He stood up then and grabbed May's wrist. "Um... Look, I don't get most of this stuff. I kind of suck at English and as long as you don't tell Heather or Aaron cause they'll just laugh..." He paused and took a breath. "Can you study with me sometime? And, like, help me or whatever, I don't know."

May looked down at his fingers clasped around her wrist. Then brown eyes made a slow path upwards to meet his. She nodded at first because she couldn't seem to find her voice. "Sure." she told him with a nod. "Of course. And I won't tell." Of course I won't tell! You and me alone and studying?! Hells yes. "Um... well, here..." she told him, reaching into her bag and grabbing her notebook and a pink pen. She scrawled out 'Mei-Ling' at first then scratched through it and wrote 'May' and her cell number. "Just in case you don't have it." she told him. "Call me... or text or whatever. We'll set up something."

Dylan nodded quickly and took the paper she handed to him. He folded it over then reopened it and looked at the name. "You're not a May," he stated. Although it was quiet, it was still full of surprise. Sure, he knew she was Asian but he hadn't thought about her as having any sort of other name. He liked it though, it wasn't as simple as her nickname and he liked to pretend their other friends didn't know it. Stupid, maybe, but he didn't care. He looked back up and grinned. "I'll call you for sure. Thanks. Um...I'll see you around."

She smiled and shook her head. "Well it's kinda like May. Just a 'Ling' on the end. See you later Dylan." she told him. Ahhhhh! He's got my number. OMG! the little voice in her head squealed. The smile widened into a full blown grin by the time she moved her bag onto her shoulder a little better and headed for the door. "Our secret." she promised and gave him a little wink and a wave. Then she was out the door and down the hall.