Wednesdays

Wednesdays
He wasn't supposed to notice me.
I was finally starting to accept the fact that I wasn't popular and probably never would be. I had friends, sure, but I wasn't one of those people who were invited to upperclassmen parties or never spent a moment without a boyfriend. I was just Marissa—the girl who was good at Spanish, played the flute, and danced ballet. I had my talents, and I had my weaknesses, but nothing was ever so special that I became known for it. Until that day when everything changed.
It was a Wednesday, my least favorite day of the entire week. The day when you're smack in the middle, so you're not refreshed like on Mondays or high off of the promise of the weekend on Fridays. You're just there trying to make it until Thursday, counting each second until your finally let out of school. Anyways, that Wednesday I had Spanish as my first class and, as usual, I was running late. My mom and little sister were never able to get up in time thanks to the hour commute we had to make each morning to get to school. By the time I finally got to school it was already 9:00—and my class started at 8:30. I was just about to walk in the door when I noticed that my bag was a lot lighter than usual. Oh no. I dashed back down the stairs towards my locker. How could I have forgotten my Spanish book?
Even though I was in a rush to get back to class, I still slowed down when I reached the rose bush right outside the building my locker was in. Today the gentle pink rosebuds were closed, still hiding from slightly nippy weather of fall.
The problem with being a freshman is that you always wind up with the leftovers of things. In dance, I was put in the back line even though I was better than a lot of the upperclassmen because of seniority. Freshmen have their lunch scheduled way after the seniors (we have to wait until 12:30!), and usually by then all of the food that's edible is gone. And my current problem—freshmen were always given bottom lockers. As I scrambled to get my combination (which, I'd like to mention, took me at least 10 tries) and snatched my Spanish book that was placed in the very back end of my locker, I didn't even notice that someone had opened the locker above me. So when I stood up I only had one second and then—SMACK! Everything went black.
ϖ
The next thing I remember was being in the Heath Center. The lights were dimmed, and I was lying on my back on a cot in one of the side rooms. I looked overhead, where color paintings had been taped onto the ceiling. I had a feeling they were made by Kindergarteners: their handwriting displayed some still developing motor skills, the spelling was a little off-- and the suns had smiles and sunglasses. I felt myself smile a little, and then a sharp pain on my head. Owww. I put my hand on my head. I pulled back as I felt the sudden chill of a bag of ice on my hand, and then everything started flashing back. Oh my gosh. I thought to myself. I glanced up at the clock. 9:45. As if completely missing Spanish wasn't bad enough, I was already 15 minutes late for my Algebra exam. I really hate Wednesdays. I quickly got my stuff together, which was luckily on the floor right next to my cot, and started towards the door.
"Oh! Marissa, you're awake. Good, good. How are you feeling?" The Nurse got up from her seat at her desk, where she had been typing something into to her dinosaur looking PC computer.
"I'm fine. I just need to get to my math test."
"Good, good. Tyler said you hit the locker pretty hard."
"Can I have a note please?" I lightly touched my forehead, confirming the fact that it was still in a lot of pain.
"Of course." She grabbed one of those fake flower-pens from the vase on her desk and started writing on a piece of folder paper. Can she write any slower? I felt like she was double-checking to make sure all her "I"s and "T"s were perfectly crossed and dotted—that's how slow she was going.
When she finally passed me the note I ran out the door. I hadn't gotten two feet out the door when I heard a deep voice to my left.
"Hey!"
His body was the first thing I noticed, perfectly toned and a dark tan that I have always been something that attracts me to a guy. As I moved up his body I noticed his tall stature. He had good posture and nice shoulders, and I could almost see his abs popping through his baggy shirt. And then, just when it seemed like it couldn't get any better, it did. His blue green eyes, gentle and kind, popped against his warm tan. I could see the outline of his dimples, even though he wasn't smiling, and his messy dark brown hair fell in the perfectly places, framing his face. I recognized him. Tyler Martins. The beautiful, smart, and athletic Tyler Martins. The one all the girls swooned over. The one who was talking to me.
"Hello?" I saw his eyebrows start to rise and I snapped back into reality.
"Oh. H-h-hi." I felt my cheeks start to redden and I started walking forward, staring at the ground.
"Hey! Wait up!" I looked back and saw him jogging to catch up with me. "Hey. Are you okay? You took a pretty hard hit."
My cheeks flushed again, but I swallowed the nervous feeling down. I had been embarrassed enough for one day. "Not exactly how I would have wanted to start my Wednesday, but hey, it could have been worse." My stomach fluttered as I saw Tyler smile.
"You have class now?"
I glanced at my neon watch. "Math exam." I wrinkled my face. "But I'm already pretty late so I guess there's no point in going. What about you?"
"Yeah, I have Physics right now." He motioned to the classroom behind us. "Actually I should be getting back. We're learning Water Particle Duality today." I had no clue what that was, but nodded anyways.
"Well I guess I'll see you later then." I said, turning and slowly walking away.
"Wait!" I smirked and turned again, raising my eyebrows. "I never caught your name."
"I'm Marissa."
"Tyler. I guess I'll see you around then?"
I smiled and started turning. "As long as you promise not to hit me with your locker anymore." I looked up at him and we made eye contact, holding it a little bit longer than people who were just friends would before quickly looking away. The butterflies in my stomach fluttered.
He laughed a little. "Bye Marissa."
"Bye Tyler." As I turned I couldn't help but smile. I turned around and walked past the rose bushes. I warm ray of light had fallen on them, and the buds were slowly opening up.

ϖ
Skip to next Wednesday. Of course, I was running late again, and, of course, I didn't have my Spanish book. It was like déjà vu of the week before. I ran over to my locker and started scrambling the combination when I heard him.
"Forgot something again?" I looked up and saw Tyler, dressed in a Purple Hurley T-shirt with jean shorts and a pair of black vans. His dimple was showing through his half smile.
"How you'd know?" I rolled my eyes.
"Lucky guess." He held out a package. "Here."
I cocked my head. "… What is it?" I pulled out a twist donut. Odd. Was he physic or something? I squinted my eyes at him. "Wait. This is weird."
He looked genuinely confused. "What? I felt bad about last week. And my parent's own a bakery…"
My eyes widened. "Martin Bakery?! I love that place!"
Tyler nodded. "That's them."
That Wednesday was the start of a tacit routine between Tyler and I. I would come late for Spanish, and even when I didn't have to get my Spanish book, I would still run over to my locker where he'd be waiting. Tyler would usually bring me a donut and something for himself, and we'd sit against the lockers and talk. We'd talk about anything and everything. I learned that he was a junior this year. He had 2 brothers— Troy and Matt. His parents wanted him to take over the family business, but Tyler wanted to be an artist. He loved Claude Kelly, peaches, and blue, and hated tomatoes. He learned things about me too, and not just that I loved playing the flute. We eventually talked about deeper things. He learned about my old "friend" who stole my boyfriend at the beginning of high school, something I never talked to anyone about because it hurt so badly. We never missed a Wednesday—from the one Wednesday in September, we always met in front of the lockers, and eventually I'd be there every morning, waiting for him. Time passed by faster than I ever would have thought, and before I knew it, I was falling for him. And I thought he was too, until that Wednesday.
Ω
The first bad sign was how distracted he was the Wednesday before. When I got there, Tyler was sitting there, brown bag of pastries clutched in one hand just as always. The only problem was that he didn't even see me walk up. And when we started talking, the conversation was uncomfortably tense, until everything just snapped.
We had been sitting together for a while, but our conversation had unusually come to a halt. I sighed and glanced over at the rose bush. The school sprinkler system had been broken for a few days, and the rose bush was taking the most impact. The once bright green leaves were slowly but surely fading their way to brown, and rosebuds and petals littered the ground instead of adding a pop of color to the plant. The silence between us was deafening.
"I hate Valentine's Day." I blurted. I thought this would be the good way to break the silence. But I was wrong. "And you know the worst part? This year it falls on a Wednesday. Of course." Sighing, I picked off a piece of donut.
"It's worse for us guys." Tyler snapped. His eyes quickly darted away. "You girls get all worked up, expecting us to put in all the work to make it great, and then you're disappointed when nothing happens."
"I never said I was expecting anything."
"Good because nothing is going to happen."
My throat started to close. Why would he say something like that to me? He knew that I never really had anything involving boys work out for me. I was about to leave, but he beat me to it.
He never even said goodbye.

It was Valentine's Day, and I was at my locker. As I looked out past the building I saw couples hand in hand, holding colorful flower bouquets or cute teddy bears that sang. Sighing, I glanced at my watch, clutching my Spanish book in my other hand. I had been there for 15 minutes already, but Tyler was a no show. I should have known. My mind drifted back to the Wednesday before. I cried so much that night. How stupid was I to think that he actually might have felt something for me? To think that maybe he could still look at my broken, imperfect self but still find a way to love me.
Stupid Freshmen.
I looked over at the rose bush, the only slightly comforting element in this world that made me feel like I was the only one without someone who cared about me. Physical Plant had finally gotten around to fixing that system, and the roses were thriving. As if on cue, the flowers were in full bloom just in time for the lovers' holiday, the petals swirling around on each other, creating a beautiful intricate design that ended in a swirl in the center.
Tyler and I reached the swirl. I thought to myself. It was over. I didn't know why or how, but Tyler and I weren't the same anymore. I turned around to leave.
"Marissa."
He came from behind me, with a single red rose in his hand. He looked nervous, but thrilled at the same time. Even still, he had the now familiar wax paper bag in his other hand, and I could make out the twisted shape of the donut.
"I know you hate Wednesdays," he told me, "But I couldn't wait." Tyler got on one knee. "Will you be my girlfriend?"
Wednesdays are my favorite now. Makana


I wanted to write this story because I'm just like the main character. I hate Wednesdays and I love flowers. ☺