literature

Reflection -Tess's PoV

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The sun bore down heavy streams of light through the scattered clouds unto the area in front of the movie theaters. The glass sliding doors of the mall across the large walkway reflected bright squares of light on the crowds of people sheltered under the metal covers over the box office. Tess squinted, trying to spot a dark-haired head among the crowd in front of the theater. Her father had told her to wait as he had slipped off among the swarm, probably to grab the tickets.
For now, it wasn’t raining but Tess had no doubt it would soon be. The weather in Texas was so different from her previous residence. Humidity seemed to be the key point in the lives of the people here and even though back home she would dance outside in the rain, too much of a good thing isn’t well…good.
Tess started to scan the line in front of the box office and her eyes lit up. A black-haired head! She continued to watch further, trying to decide on if it was her father or not. It wasn’t but the amber eyes belonging to him were staring straight back at her. For some reason he seemed familiar like she already knew him. Her light eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. Was he really that familiar that even he felt the connection to? Quietly she watched, as he seemed to shock himself into reality and look away into the crowd.
“Tess!” a heavy voice called from the mess. Her head snapped around in the direction of the voice. Her father stood near a row of bushes in the center of the wide walkway. Smiling brightly she half skipped, half ran towards him. “You ready?” he asked eagerly, his kid-like smile bristling underneath his mustache.
“Yeah” she grinned and followed him into the river of bodies heading into the theater. Absently she looked behind her towards the line in front of the box office but the black-haired guy no longer stood there.

Monday was long and boring; a repetitive cycle of answering the same questions over and over. Yes, it was hot where she lived. No, she didn’t watch football. Her favorite color was blue. However, she was tempted to change it to red and give the reason that it was because it reminded her of blood. With a sigh, Tess entered her third period classroom, Economics. The teacher looked strict and had a gleam in his eye that reminded her of her past dentist, who turn out to be a pedophile several months ago. The bell rung loudly from the intercom, signaling the start of class. Tess waited quietly at the front of the classroom as the teacher wobbled his way up next to her.
Instantly their eyes locked on each other. His dark amber hues entranced her mind. How? Why? She gazed at him with curiosity. Was he stalking her or something? Suddenly he chuckled and she followed his gaze to the front of her black T-shirt that read, “Did you eat a bowl of stupid for breakfast?” Softly she tilted her head back upwards and smiled at him childishly.
“Class,” the deep baritone of the Economics teacher began, “this is Tess Halvard. She’s from Scottsdale, Arizona.” When he placed his chubby hands on the broad part of her back, Tess glared at him and stalked away. There were plenty of seats empty in the classroom but she was determined to sit next to the black-haired guy from the movie theater. He was attractive but somehow she got the feeling he didn’t really think so. Unfortunately, during the work period she couldn’t get the people around her to shut up with all the questions. Constantly, Tess casted her eyes across the room and observed the black-haired guy in her peripheral vision. Luckily, he didn’t seem to notice even though he was watching her just as intently. Frustrated, Tess began to tap of the end of her pencil against her desk. She was wishing this period to be over so that she could be free and talk to the guy next to her. Yet when the bell rung, he had packed his stuff and left. Sadly, Tess watched him go.

To make the day worse, Tess was scheduled with the last lunch of the day. No doubt, all the good food would be taken. However, some higher power felt that she should have a break and she arrived at D-lunch with the early rush. Much to her dismay, the choice of menu today was chicken fried steak, her absolute least favorite lunchroom delicacy. If she had wanted steak, she would have gotten steak. If she had wanted chicken, she would have gotten chicken. There would be no circumstance that she would want both tastes forced together like two opposite magnets. Reluctantly she picked the meal up anyways, reminding herself that at least she got to eat mashed potatoes, her favorite food.
Now that the school year had been well on its way for several weeks, all the groups that made up the student body of D-lunch were already settled on claiming their territories. This was bad news for Tess. An empty spot among the tables was almost impossible to spot. Figuring that she didn’t have any friends here at this school anyway, she sat down at the first spot she found. Not the wisest decision she made for she later realized she sat in their territory. In the past, the ‘in-crowd’ at her school never got along with her. She didn’t find this too much of a bad thing since all they seemed to talk about was sports and banging the other gender.
As if sensing an escape from this prison, she looked up quickly. Coming towards her like a knight in shinning armor was the guy from the movies. Wishfully she begged for him to sit next to her. Tess unconsciously shifted her weight away from the spot next to her. Maybe he’d take the hint. It seemed he hadn’t noticed that he had stopped in mid step as he gazed at her. Tess’s face lit up but just as quickly dimmed. He kept on walking and looked away as if he had seen nothing interesting. Her body slumped and she turned around poke at her chicken fried steak.
The rest of lunch dragged on and on for Tess. At one point, she growled at the girl across from her to stop whining about being fat when it was clear that all Tess would have to do was poke her hard enough and she’d snap in two like a twig. When the cheerleader fangirl squad refused to be silent, Tess removed herself from the table and stalked off towards the library for the end of lunch.

Bummed out by the lack of interest from the dark amber-eyed boy, Tess lost track of time and made it inside her Web Mastering room just in time for the bell. The teacher Mrs. Emerison seemed kind enough as she told her she could sit wherever she felt like. Tess knew exactly where she was going to be. Off along the wall, the tall dark-haired guy was turning on his computer and reclining in his chair. Swiftly she dumped her backpack at a desk and pulled out the chair on the left side of him. He WILL talk to me, she thought. He WILL apologize for being so rude!
As he sat up in his chair, Tess shifted her eyes onto his. He wasn’t going to say anything at all she decided quickly and without a word, she whisked around to face her monitor screen. Tess groaned. Her computer wasn’t turning on at all. Pushing her chair away, she moved underneath the table and searched around for any disconnected cords. A moment later, she resurfaced from beneath the computer table with her fiery hair disheveled. With an annoyed look on her face, Tess attempted to level down her hair. When she sat back in her chair, she noticed the boy staring at her with a stupid smile on his face. Did he find it funny? Her embarrassment? Tess‘s eyes narrowed at him and snorted.
“That computer doesn’t work,” spoke a husky voice.
She stopped in mid press of the power button and time froze. Despair settled on her shoulders and she slumped forward. He must think she was stupid and silly. Why was she sitting next to him in the first place? Didn’t she want to make him suffer or something along those lines? With a heavy sigh she settled her head down gently in front of the keyboard but her relaxation didn’t last long as the bell rung and the class somewhat came to order.
“Tess, hunny, that computer is broken,” Mrs. Emerson’s voice came from behind.
“I know,” she whispered solemnly and slowly rose from her seat.
“Here, why don’t you use this.“ Tess followed Mrs. Emerison to her desk and turned around to place a sleek new black laptop into her hands. “We should be switching over to these in a few weeks. Do you mind if you’re the guinie pig for the school’s experiment?“
“No! Not at all!“ Tess exclaimed with renewed happiness. She had something the guy didn’t! Happily, she returned to her seat and set up the laptop in front of the broken computer’s screen. She sat smug in her seat with her legs folded over each other Indian style as she sat up straight. The guy was staring at her now. Her deep blue eyes smoldered to match the satisfaction etched across her face when the guy next to her held a look of complete surprise.
He smiled timidly and spoke kindly, “You’re so lucky.”
Tess laughed to hide her confusion. Why did he seem so nice? She pondered silently at the computer, trying to figure out what her earlier aggression was slowly withering away the longer she sat next to him.
“Dan.”
“What?” Her face scrunched up.
“My name is Dan,” he laughed lightly. Tess’s mouth created an O shape before she eyed him and turned back around. For a few minutes, she typed trying to ignore the constant stare from Dan. Every now and then, she flipped through pages that Mrs. Emerson gave her. Her pale hands danced elegantly across the keyboard as each sprawl of HTML created line after line on the lap top screen. With a sigh, the guy collapsed backwards in his chair, linking his fingers together behind my head.
It was almost too quiet for her to hear but under the mass of sound from 30 people typing at once, she heard him whisper, “I’m sorry.” Their bodies were suddenly facing each other and their eyes were searching each other’s souls. Finally, Tess broke away and gently pushed the screen of the lap top half way down.
“I’m Tess,” she said to her laptop.
“I know,” he replied blandly. One of her eyebrows rose upon her light face and her mouth drew across her face in a small tight line. The only sign that she might have been breathing was the occasional flare of her nose. “Soooo….” he dragged on, his shoes suddenly attracting his attention. “Would you like to sit at my table tomorrow? I mean you don’t have to. I know I probably don’t deserve your company after-“
Her laugh was like a range of happy little notes singing together. “I’ll think about it,” she mused. Tess was surprised with herself. So easily she had forgiven him. So easily did she mend the wound that he himself created when he had left her alone with the crazy preppies at lunch. Maybe she too should try to make amends as he was doing. Who knows, maybe she’d find out he was interesting.
“Dan?” Tess asked wearily, wondering if the next question was worth asking.
“Yes?”
A smile crept along her face, maybe now was not the time. “Never mind.”
This is Tess's point of view of my story, Reflection. Did this for Creative Writing~

Dan's Point of View => [link]
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