He felt confused, baffled as to the meaning of the note. It was first period, English, and not the most exciting of days. Outside the window, a forever gray sky was masked with heavy rain clouds, ready to spill over without warning at any second.

The girl who sat behind him tapped him on the shoulder, immediately causing him to turn around and look at her. She smiled, dimples revealing themselves, and handed him a note. It was signed in cursive, marked by the name he knew all too well, the name of his female best friend of five years who, sorry to say, sat behind him three seats.

He flipped open the note, the crinkling of paper barely heard underneath the continuous talking by the teacher, and read four words that would haunt him for the rest of the day.

We need to talk.

Talk about what, he thought, glancing over his shoulder to see if he could catch the gaze of his best friend. But her head was down, buried in her textbook.

He racked his brain, trying to see if he could decipher the meaning behind the note but nothing came to mind. The minutes crawled along, leaving him to his thoughts. Maybe she wanted to ask him about a class. No, that wouldn’t be “note-worthy”. A new crush perhaps? No, that’s nothing to announce. Maybe he had done something wrong and she wanted them to stop being best friends.

Worry took his features, his brow furrowing, and his lips dropping to form a frown. The class bell rang loudly, its resonance breaking him from his troubled trance. Everyone around him was already packed and out the door, including her. She vanished before he could get the chance to talk to her.

With a heavy sigh, he packed his things and went on his way.

His second hour, Algebra II, was the bane of his existence but the simple four letters of that note soon became his bane themselves. He couldn’t focus on his factoring knowing that she was in a different classroom across the school waiting to speak with him about something.

Classes ended faster than he realized for he was too absorbed in figuring out reason behind the message when he rushed out of his assigned rooms. With hopes of catching her before the tardy bell rang, he unfortunately failed for she was nowhere to be in sight – clearly taking different routes he was unaware of.

Lunch came and he sat at their usual table, not surprised when she didn’t show up.

We need to talk, we need to talk, was all that rattled through his severely confused brain. It had to be something big if she had been purposefully avoiding him of all people. Did a relative die? Does she have to move? His mind shuffled through all the possibilities but he still felt bewildered, left in the dark. Even the sandwich his mother had packed him for lunch seemed to ridicule him as he struggled to identify its contents.

His next class was Biology with still no sign of his best friend. Fear overtook him and he couldn’t control himself. He let out a deafening scream.

“AHHHHHH! What do you want from me!?”

The students spun around in shock to stare at him. His teacher, appearing to be the most flabbergasted, dropped the heavy textbook she was carrying. He looked around, astonished by his own outburst, and laughed nervously.

Detention.
He sighed as he stared at the clock. How could he let one simple, harmless note cause him to disrupt his class and get detention? He was finally able to leave but stopped before the door. He dug into his pocket and pulled out the note that had taunted him all day. With a growl, he crumpled up the loose-leaf and tossed it at the trashcan. Without waiting to see if it made it in the garbage, he stormed out of the door and out the school building, but stopped in his tracks when he made it outside.

She was waiting for him.

She was sitting on the steps in front of the school and immediately stood up when she realized he had stepped out.

He gasped and let out a small greeting, “Hi…”

She smiled at him and repeated his word, “Hi.”

Anxiety took him again and in his speechlessness, he coughed. He forced the words to his mouth. “So you needed to talk to me?”

She didn’t speak and nodded, taking a step towards him.

“So what did you –,” but his words were cut off when she leaned forward and kissed him.

She pulled away, as quickly and she had leaned in, leaving him with widened eyes and a mouth ajar, and raced down the stairs towards home.

He didn’t go after her, too shocked to even move, but he smiled as she was no longer visible in the cloudy distance.

“I’m glad we had this talk.”