Reject Candy

I walked over to the table we usually sat at for breakfast and sat down. I put the huge box of chocolate down in front of me.

Tyler sat next to me. "Can I eat one?" he asked as he reached to open the heart-shaped box of confections.

I pulled it away. "No," I said. "We've got to wait on everyone."

"Look, let me just look at them," he begged, pulling it back and opening the box.

Well, of course I coundn't just sit there once he opened them and I saw how good they looked.

"Let's just eat them," I said. "I don't care."

Everyone did. They were quite good.

Now, you might be wondering why I brought a box of candy to school and I let everyone have some. Well, I'll just tell you, then:

I had gone to Wal-Mart and bought the biggest box of Valentine's Day chocolate I could find. I went home and wrote "Reject Candy" on the front of it with a Sharpie Marker. I brought it to school and shared it with the "rejects." In other words, I gave it to all of the people who didn't have a lover.

As everyone was reaping the benefits of my fantastic idea, I watched John talk to Tyler at the other side of the table. I rarely said anything during breakfast; I just wasn't much of a morning person. But even after Aaron had told me that John didn't like me, I had been surprised at how... well, everything had remained exactly the same between me and John. He hadn't treated me any differently.

I looked down at my breakfast tray.

I had been a bit more quiet during lunch for the first few days after me and Aaron's conversation, but eventually I nearly completely forgot what he had told me at all and we were all talking normally again. Maybe... maybe Aaron hadn't meant to say "actually." Perhaps it had been a mistake...

It was just odd, I decided.

I looked up at John once again. He noticed me and gave me a small smile.

Kind of a nice odd, though.