It was just another day for Salvador, and the time between school starting and 3rd period felt like several eternities for Salvador. It was time for math, his worst subject. He sat down in his normal spot: front row, two seats from the left, and pulled out his notebook. The girl who always say next to him sat down too: Sertia. He recalled that this was the same girl who he had offered emotional support to one night, so assumed that they were acquainted enough to whisper cheeky remarks under his breath to her whilst the teacher talked. Sertia chuckled at the boy's jokes, and began to feel like they could easily become very good friends.
Not but fifteen minutes into the class, the teacher, Ms. Vicesma told them that they could work amongst themselves on their homework. Seizing this opportunity to have someone else do the work, Salvador turned to Sertia and asked for her help.
"Alright man you've gotta help me out here, how do you do this?"
She looked at him for a moment, wondering why this boy was being so forward and friendly. She decided to shrug it off and consider him an introvert. Ah, what the heck? She thought. If he wants to be my friend, then I might as well let him.
"Alright well first, you're gonna do this..."
And so began Sertia and Salvador's face-to-face friendship, and it didn't take Salvador too long to see what kind of girl she was. Sertia was one of those girls that posts everything on her story. She'd post bad pictures of whoever she's with, she'd post anything the teacher said or did that was humorous, and she'd post 11:11's. Unfortunately for Salvador, 11:11 happened during math class, so he was always the subject of the bad pictures and videos she took to post online.
One day after school, Salvador was sitting in his room when he came across her story. It was a picture of himself with a dog filter form that day's 11:11. He swiped up, and jokingly typed,
"ooh, who's the cutie 😩👌"
Almost immediately, she replied,
"oh he's just my other friend Salvador, and he's soooo hot 👌👌👌"
There was a short gap between messages.
"what do you mean? WAIT ARE YOU THE SAME SALVADOR?"
"why yes, yes I am. Why, did you not know that?"
"no I thought you were his friend pulling his leg lmao, I had no idea"
"wow I cannot believe you didn't realize. What you just thought too Salvador's were at school and you were conveniently friends with them?"
And so they bid each other good luck on homework, and a good night's sleep.
The next day when they sat down for math, the energy between Salvador and Sertia was a tad bit different. Know that she knew that he was the same Salvador who had comforted her, she was a lot warmer and at ease with him. She made jokes back at him, and he was the one chuckling and stifling laughter. They quickly became friends, and soon, they were talking all day and texting all night.
"Y'know Salvador, sometimes I miss my ex boyfriend."
"oh now don't say that, we don't think like that here, it'll hurt'cha too much."
"that's real sweet too say, but I really do miss him."
"well have you considered that maybe it's not him you miss? I mean, what if it's just the experience of having a boyfriend that you miss."
"well maybe. I mean, we did kiss a lot and stuff."
"see? Maybe you just miss that kinda thing."
"maybe. Hey Salvador, have you ever had a girlfriend?"
"pff, look at me, of course I haven't, I'm unattractive as all hell."
"hey don't say that! You're plenty attractive, and smart, and funny!"
"oh don't kid me now, look at me; I'm out of shape, I'm ugly, I'm stupid compared to the others in our class. You're lucky, you're gorgeous: nice body, good height, pretty face. You've got everything a boy our age would ask for."
"hey now don't flatter me. And you're not ugly, or dumb, or out of shape. Any girl would be lucky to have you."
"hey now don't talk about my body, you haven't seen it."
"that doesn't matter, anyone would still want you..."
After she said that, there was a long pause in their conversation. They were sitting in a small courtyard lined by bungalows, with. Row of four low-hanging trees in the center that created a nice, even canopy. The trees provided shade, almost like a roof, only letting a few beams of sunlight through to light up the courtyard. It was Autumn, so the leaves were brilliant shades of yellow, red, orange, and brown, and were leaving the trees in such a way that allowed for more light to shine through, so that the trees and the sun's golden rays complimented each other and culminated into a gorgeous haven; the perfect image of fall in all it's romantic potential. Sertia turned to Salvador, and asked him,
"do you ever wish you had a girlfriend, Salvador?"
"well of course I do, every day. I mean, what fourteen-year-old doesn't?"
"hm... What would you do with her?"
"I mean, how far would you go with her?"
"I dunno, depends who, depends where, depends on a lot of things, actually..."
"ok Salvador, say it was me, right here, in this courtyard, how far would you go?"
"um... right now? I don't know, how far would you go?"
She laughed to herself, lowered her face, and gazed up at him.
"as far as you'd want me to."
Salvador sat there, flustered for a second, but determined to keep his cool.
"well I'm sure we'd have to set boundaries. I mean, I'd definitely make our, but nothing further than over-the-clothes"
"well that's respectable, glad to see you're such a feminist."
"hey man I was just raised to be a nice guy."
"maybe that's why you're still single."
"I'm sure a lot of girls would appreciate my attitude towards this kinda thing."
"I agree. I, for one, find it quite refreshing, Salvador."
They held one another gaze for half a minute, until Salvador turned away from her.
"I think we've gotten to know each other quite a lot better over the past oh I don't know, 20 minutes? But I don't know if you're just teasing me to be mean or if you just really want someone to take you up in his arms and kiss you, and touch you, so that you can fill that gap that your ex left in you when he left "
"ouch, way to turn the tables."
"look, you're gorgeous, Sertia, don't get me wrong, but I don't want to feel like I'd be taking advantage of you in your grief, now walk me to the bus, I've got homework to do."
"oh how noble of you, Salvador. I'll remember this. Now let's go."
"promise me you won't try to get with anyone else before your dad gets here?"
"alright alright, I'll be a good little girl."
"good, I don't want to see you hurt yourself."
She gave him a warm, tender smile as he got on the bus, like a 50's housewife would give her husband when he left for work in the morning. Salvador thought about that smile all the way home, and that night, laying in his bed, he couldn't help but wonder every detail of her beauty. Maybe her feelings are real, he thought to himself, slowly before drifting off into a dream in which she was his 50's housewife, smiling to him as he left for work.
