Spencer's Face (Buckeye Hawks) (2 page)

“Holy shit.” I said to Zane.
I hated it that he’d been through that. I knew exactly how he felt. Terri had
ridiculed me relentlessly early last year when I’d gotten a bad perm. She
actually looked at me in shock, then started laughing hysterically, in front of
lots of people. I was mortified. Of course everyone turned around to see what
she was laughing at. I wanted to check out of school and go home, but I
couldn’t call my mom. She’d given me the perm. Needless to say that was the
last home perm my mom has ever given me. I now paid a lot of money to have Summer,
a hairdresser, do it for me.

“He didn’t deserve that. He’s
a really nice guy.” Zane said.

“I can tell. Do you know what
class he has next?”

“English.” Zane answered me. “AP
English with Mr. Grossman.”

“Cool. I have shorthand. It’s
right next to English.” I said. I was scheming. I could run into him
accidentally and chat with him alone. I don’t know why exactly, but I really
wanted to get to know Spencer.

“I can see the wheels
turning.” Zane teased me as he rubbed the top of my head. It was his way of
playing around with me.

I waited for History to be
over, then walked toward my shorthand class as fast as I could. It was right
next to AP English. I waited by the door, hoping that Spencer would come by. I
kept walking back and forth, so I could be facing him when he walked toward
English. Finally he walked up to the door. He barely looked my way, then
dropped his head as if hiding his face again.

I tapped him on the shoulder
as I passed him. He looked up immediately to see who had tapped him.

“Hi, Spencer.” I said to him
cheerfully as I continued walking next to him.

He gave me a look, then
walked into his classroom.

Okay. That was a little odd.
He didn’t even say hi. Was he too shy to even say hi? That made me more
determined to become friends with him. I could be stubborn when I had to be.

After my shorthand class was
over, I walked out of the classroom and toward English. Spencer was headed my
way. He looked at me suspiciously, as if I might attack him or something. I had
no clue what was up with him. I smiled at him.

“Hi, Spencer.” I said to him.

He didn’t say anything. He
kept on walking the way he was headed. Was he ignoring me? Or was it the
shyness? I wasn’t sure.

“Funny that I’ve run into you
three times today. I didn’t even know who you were yesterday.” I persevered and
turned around to follow him. I sped up until I was walking beside him. I’d get
him to talk to me at least.

He nodded. No words.

Okay, this was going to be
harder than I thought. But I wasn’t giving up just yet.

“What class do you have
next?” I asked, trying to get him to at least speak to me. I mean, he had to
answer questions. Didn’t he?

“AP History.” He answered,
but not too enthusiastically.

Great. At least he answered a
question. It was a start. “I had that first period. Let me tell you Coach Snideman
is in a bad mood. He must have had another fight with his wife. Don’t screw
around in class today, or he’ll give you one of his famous pop quizzes. The
ones that are really hard to even pass.” I tried to joke with him.

He stopped and turned toward
me. His face grew stern. I looked around behind me as I stood facing him, wondering
what in the heck or who upset him. No one was behind me. Uh-oh!

“Listen. I don’t know what
your game is.” He started, angrily. “But I’m not even remotely interested.”

Damn. That was harsh. I was
stunned for a second. “Oh.” I finally managed to spit out. I didn’t think about
the possibility that he wasn’t interested in me. I don’t know why I assumed
that he would be. Maybe I was an egotistical bitch. I had to save face now. “That’s
rude. I was being friendly. If you didn’t want to be friends, you could have
just said so.” I said to him as I turned and walked away. I could feel tears
warming my eyes. I needed to disappear quickly.

Why was he being so harsh
with me? I mean, a simple no thank you would have sufficed. I didn’t even ask
him for anything. I just warned him about Coach Snideman’s bad mood. I reviewed
everything in my head. I was nice. Wasn’t I? Why was he being mean to me? Just
then I walked into Zane who was walking my way. I looked up at him.

“How did it go with Spencer?”
he asked me, teasing me.

“He hates me.” I said, then
started crying. I bolted for the bathroom. I couldn’t be seen in public crying.
I had to hide. I’d never cried at school before. Never. I didn’t want to be branded
as one of those girls that cried all the time. I wiped my face, making myself
presentable again.

I walked out of the bathroom
to run into Zane again. He’d been waiting for me the entire time. We were both
going to be late to class. Chemistry was not the class to be late to, either.
Darn it! We’d both get an unexcused tardy for this one.

“What’s going on? Why would
you think he hates you?” He asked me as he hugged me close.

“He said he wasn’t interested,
even remotely.” I told him as I held my breath to hold the tears in.

“He said that?” He asked in
disbelief. “Maybe you misunderstood something.”

“He said exactly that. And,
he was mean too. I don’t think any guy has ever been that mean to me before.” I
was almost tattling on him like one of my little sisters.

“I’ll talk to him.” he said
firmly.

“No. Don’t talk to him. I
don’t want you in the middle of it. He doesn’t like me, so it’s not going to do
any good.” I said. I didn’t want to look like a baby in front of him.

“No one is going to talk to
my best friend like that. He can’t be mean to you.” He said to me.

Damn, I was crushed.
Yesterday I thought that maybe the prettiest girl in school actually wanted to
be friends with me. This morning, she acted like she wanted to be friends, or
at least include me in her group of friends. I wasn’t an idiot. I knew someone
like Taylor Hope could never actually be interested in me as a boyfriend. There’s
no way in hell that she could be interested. She was a pretty cheerleader, and
I was a guy with…well let’s face it…I was a guy with a deformed face. I’ve had
this big purple birthmark since birth.

People’s initial reaction
over the years told me everything I needed to know. Most people pretended they
weren’t looking. Those were the nice people. Some people made a face, showing
sympathy or pity. Some people were mean, making faces like they thought I
should stay home, or wear a bag over my head. From time to time, a few people
were really mean saying awful things. I’ve had to toughen up over the years.

On my first day of school
here, I ran into Taylor and Jose, the guy she was dating at the time. She
didn’t even look my way, but I saw her. She was so pretty and had such a great
personality. I couldn’t believe she was dating someone like Jose. He was a
jerk. Talk about a mismatch.

An hour ago, she was laughing
and talking to me, pretending she wanted to be friends. I couldn’t believe it.
I’d always thought she was a nice girl. Apparently not. That fact crushed me
even more. She was one of the girls that I sort of had up on a pedestal. Did
she think I was stupid? I was tired of being the butt of everyone’s joke here
at Buckeye. I have a birthmark. Damn, people. Look at it, then get over it.

After History, I met up with Zane
in the hallway. We always did lunch together. Out of nowhere, he slammed me up
against the bank of lockers in anger. He’d never done that before. We’d been
friends since I started school here last year. Now he was acting like he wanted
to hit me. Big mistake dude. I was sure I could take him down with one punch. I
waited against the lockers for an explanation, as he took a deep breath.

“What the hell, dude?” I
asked him angrily when he didn’t explain himself quickly enough.

“Don’t you ever talk to
Taylor like that again!” he yelled to my face, even though his face was still
really close to mine.

“How did you know about
that?” I asked him, confused. Did she tell him already? It happened less than
an hour ago. I’d told her off basically. I wasn’t going to put up with that
shit any longer. Girls were really mean at this school for some reason. They
weren’t this way in my old school in California. I wished so badly that I was
still there. At least the girls talked to me there.

“What the hell’s wrong with
you? When someone like Taylor shows an interest in you, you don’t act like an asshole
to her. You thank your lucky stars that she even looked your way.” He warned me
angrily, then let me away from the lockers.

“Chill out, dude. She’s not
interested in me. I know you still like her, but she’s messing with me, just
like those other girls. Pretending she’s interested, so she can report back to her
girlfriends what a loser I am.” I tried to explain the facts to him. When I
first started school here last year, two girls acted like they wanted to be
friends with me. Ellen and Abigail. When I started being friendly, they both
started laughing and ran off to their friends, still laughing. I walked away. I
knew Taylor was messing with me. I hated to tell Zane that the girl he’s been
in love with for years was the type of girl who would do that though.

“Taylor doesn’t play those
games. Do you think I’d like her, if she did? I’d never like someone like Ellen
or Vicky. Taylor actually likes you. Don’t ask me why.” He said firmly. He was
still so mad at me that he could barely speak.

Was he serious? There’s no
way she could actually like me. Not like that anyway. I hoped he was right, but
he couldn’t be right. It wasn’t even in the realm of possibility.

“Are you messing with me? That’s
not true. And, even if it was, I couldn’t move in on her. You’re in love with
her.” I told him.

 “It’s true. She told me that
she liked you. You made her cry, dude. And, Taylor never cries, not at school
anyway.” He said again firmly.

“I’ll apologize. But I can’t
possibly go there with you feeling that way about her, Zane. We’re friends.
Friends don’t do that to each other.” I told him. I couldn’t do that to a
friend.

“She and I are never going to
get together. You need to go for it. And, you damn sure better apologize to her
even if you don’t have the balls to go for it.”  He warned me.

Damn. Could he be right? I
couldn’t believe that someone like Taylor could like me. Over the years, no
girl has ever liked me. Not that I knew about anyway. I’d had several girls in
California who were friends, that I thought might develop into something, but
it never did. I wasn’t sure if that was my fault or theirs though. I’d never
gotten the nerve to ask a girl out before.

I’d better find her and
apologize at least. I’d take it from there. Damn, I hope I didn’t screw this
up. I was still having trouble digesting the fact that she liked me. I mean, if
I had my choice of girls at this school, I’d pick her. Taylor could have any
guy she wanted probably. Why would she choose me? Was she blind? Couldn’t she
see my birthmark? Everyone else at this school sure could.

At lunch with my best friend,
Sandy, I whined about my run-in with Spencer. I was still reeling from that
pain and shock. Sandy wanted to go have a talk with him. She was always really
protective of me. She stood by me when I got a bad perm last year. She stood
behind me when I ripped my pants at school. She was a true best friend, always
there when I needed her.

I walked toward my Office
Management class. On the way there, I spotted Spencer in the hallway in front
of me. I stopped, then turned around to go the other way. I could make the big
circle to class. I had time. And, I didn’t want to face him. I was too
embarrassed to look in his eyes again after what he said to me this morning. I
really didn’t want a repeat episode.

I felt someone pull on my
arm. I turned around to see Spencer grabbing my arm. He pulled me to the side
of the hallway, pulling me away from the other people in the hallway. “Can I
talk to you for a second?” he asked.