Always play hard to get . . .

 . . . when you don’t stand a chance with a girl. You still won’t get the girl, but at least you won’t look desperate. Anyway, that was my philosophy, and I was sticking to it. Alana who? I had a lot of practice playing hard-to-get with girls who weren’t interested in me.

The second day of school I arrived before anyone else, including the teacher. Turns out the yoga mat placement assignments were permanent. When Alana and Penelope settled on either side of me, they giggled and I wondered whether two days of giggling at the sight of me was enough to solidify it as a daily ritual. To Alana, I was polite, formal, slightly reserved. To Penelope I was attentive, interested, chatty. Although Alana was the acknowledged advanced yoga student, it was to Penelope I turned for questions and encouragement. I’m sure Alana wasn’t aware of any of these subtleties.

Penelope was easy enough to be around. I didn’t have to strain my brain for witticisms or deep thoughts. Conversation with her was usually one-sided and followed a fairly predictable pattern.

“Oh my God that was the [insert one: ‘cutest,’ ‘most embarrassing,’ ‘most messed up’] thing ever. Ha ha ha [infuse with soulless monotone]. Literally. You know what I mean? Ha ha ha. Like. Totally. I mean. Can you believe it? [shake head with disbelief] Ha ha ha.”

And so on. I admit I was still attracted to her despite the mind-numbing conversation. Who was I to be picky? And she smelled as good as Alana.

After class, it was enough for me to walk with Gus Ligety, and I didn’t try to catch up with Alana. When Gus spotted her ahead of us, I warned him off by letting him know she had a boyfriend. Of course, Gus knew who Bryce was. He filled in the last name for me as well as the talk around campus. Bryce was back-up quarterback for the football team the past year and was all but promised the same position for his senior year. Then the coach replaced him with a promising and talented sophomore, bumping Bryce down to third string. Bryce picked up his pride and quit the team which had everyone buzzing. Who would walk away from the varsity football team? Especially during their senior year.

So maybe that was the rebellious side of Bryce which appealed to Alana. And maybe being rejected in that way allowed Bryce to see beyond Alana’s neck tattoo and her messy hair, barriers I initially hoped would make her attractive only to a guy like me.