The last week of summer passed rather quickly, filled with much sleeping and eating, a last minute photo shoot by the lake with Analise, and zero percent rainfall. Only once was my sleep interrupted by the recurring dream that thirsted for my attention.
After breakfast, I was ready for school- well, physically anyway. Mentally, not so much.
“Mom?” I called, not knowing where she was in the house. “I’m leaving.” She emerged from the hallway with bright eyes and a wholehearted smile.
“Oh, honey. Have a great first day.” She gave me warm hug. Mom hugs are always the best, because they are always sincere, and their meaning could never falter. I hugged her back.
“I’ll see you afterschool. Tell dad I said bye, okay?.” She pulled back, still holding my shoulders.
“I will honey, drive safe.” I stepped outside and was greeted by the cool August air. I got in my Corolla and cranked the engine. I backed out of the driveway and began my journey to school. Laid out in front of me was my junior year of high school, supposedly the hardest year at Chamberlain High.
After a five minute commute, I was there. I carefully scanned the parking lot for an easy space close to homeroom, and landed my eyes on a perfect spot two rows away. Cars and students were everywhere, scrambling to find their first class, or meeting up with old friends they hadn’t seen for weeks. A car jutted out in front of me, nearly scraping my headlight. I slammed on the breaks, pressing my whole body suddenly back into the seat. Jeez. Pay attention people. After taking a few calming breaths, I proceeded to my destination with much stopping and starting, and a few more near misses with both students and cars.
And then it hit me. From the side I was shoved by an enormous bulk of steel. I let out a shriek and then stared blankly at my steering wheel with my mouth gaping wide open. You have got to be kidding me. After a few brief moments of shock, I heard a taping on the window. There was a boy standing there with a face full of remorse. I opened my door and stepped out, still not looking him in the eye. He spoke first. “I am so, so incredibly sorry. I didn’t even see you there. I promise I’ll help pay for the-“
“No, no It’s okay. I wasn’t really,” I glanced up at his face for the first time. “…paying attention.” I continued to stare, eyes wide and mouth agape, studying his features. It was if I had seen them many times before. Or was it only once? The same piercing eyes, the same soft skin and darkened hair, the same everything; only older and more mature perhaps. They reminded me exactly of… My longing gaze was broken by the sound of his voice.
“Gosh I am so, so sorry, I’m kind of new around here, and I didn’t really know where I was going.” He signaled to the side of my car. There was a significant dent in its right back door.
“Oh my,” I gasped as I saw the damage for the first time. “Well maybe we can-“ The first bell rang. We both turned towards the school building, “meet afterschool about it?” Good solution. We both had to get to class.
“Sounds good. I’ll see you later then.” He smiled a crooked smile and then turned back to his car. I stared at him all the way. I tried to be discreet, but I don’t think that was very possible. I couldn’t help recognize those identical eyes… But it couldn’t be, that was impossible. Its been six years, I would have seen him by now if he was still here.
It wasn’t until the second bell rang that I began to think straight again. I was already late to first period- U.S. History. I absolutely hated walking in front of the entire class to find a seat, especially on the first day. I hated standing up in front of people in general. My stomach turned a full summersault inside of me. My pace slowed as I thought about my grand entrance that was only a few steps away. I took a deep breath and laid my hand gently on the doorknob. Come on Aeryn, it will be over in a couple seconds, no big deal. I turned the knob and opened the door rather slowly, as If that would help ease my entrance.
“Well good morning Miss Rivers, nice of you to join us.”
“Morning Mr. Garcia.” I found a seat on the far wall and sat down as nonchalantly as I could. Mr. Garcia was a pleasurable person, he always kept an apple on his desk and a pair of glasses in his shirt pocket- though I had never actually seen him use them. My eyes scanned the classroom for people I knew. Though I tried to ignore it, there was that hope looming in the back of my head that the boy would be in this class too. But as my eyes made a full circle around the room, I discovered no trace of him. One person I did recognize, however, was my neighbor Hunter. Sitting three rows away from me, he sat doodling on a folder, paying no attention to Mr. Garcia’s first-day-of-school talk. We had been neighbors nearly our entire lives, and our parents were old friends. We’d taken baths together, and we used to spend the night at each other’s houses all the time. That is until we turned six and he started realizing that I had cooties. He was basically my brother, and I was his little sister. We loved each other, and I felt safe with him.
After History, I walked to Spanish; which was quite a trek across the building. On the way, I kept my eyes peeled for him, hoping that somehow our paths would cross. After a while I started to think that the incident in the parking lot was just a dream, and that I would walk outside to find my car perfectly undamaged. My thoughts were proven wrong though when I walked into Spanish class.
There he was, sitting in all his brilliance. I stopped in the doorway, not knowing what I should do. Should I take the seat by him? Or would that be too obvious. The only other option was in the back corner, or in the very front and center. Awful choices, but I settled for the one next to him. After a few beckoning words from the teacher, everyone fell silent. Annalise was in this class. She flashed me a smile and mouthed “Meet me in the hall after this,” pointing towards the door. I gave her a thumbs up as my sign of agreement. I couldn’t help but admire her for her quirky glasses that only she could wear and still look impeccably adorable. Her long, soft ringlets of strawberry blonde hair were excessively curly today, spiraling to a point at the ends where they swept over her desk. She carried her camera- her most prized possession- over her shoulder with a bohemian looking strap, complete with a sporadic arrangement of buttons. This was my best friend: unique and astoundingly beautiful, without even trying- which made her even lovelier. At this point I had completely tuned out the teacher, who was explaining something about bathroom rules before I zoned out. My focus was back on the living dream sitting diagonally across from me. Every time I looked his way, my heartbeat quickened. It was inevitable. I tried desperately not to stare for an enormously massive amount of time, but it was utterly impossible for my eyes to leave. I was in shock that this was reality, and not another dream. My mind couldn’t accept that I wouldn’t wake up, drenched in sweat, in a matter of minutes. I thought about pinching myself, but I knew I was being ridiculous. This wasn’t a dream.
The rest of the class I spent in an endless agony. I said nothing to him, and he said nothing to me. Not a word was passed between us. After class I watched him hurry out the doors without so much as a glance behind to go on with his day. And not a word would be said until we met afterschool over the issue of our cars.
“Aeryn, wait up!” I heard Annalise call from a ways down the hall. I stopped and turned at the sound of my name. She laughed, “I thought you were gonna wait. Didn’t you understand my message?” Oops. I’d forgotten all about that.
“Oh, gosh, sorry.” I shot her an apologetic look. But I knew she really didn’t mind my forgetfulness. She had a new look on her face. “What?” I asked, playing innocent. An inquisitive smile was spread across her lips. I knew what was coming.
“I saw you staring at that new guy in class.” Was it that obvious? I panicked for half a second. Annalise was possibly the most observant person I knew, maybe nobody else had noticed.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She tilted her head to the side, squinting her eyes; seeing right through me.
“Have you talked to him yet?” There was no point in arguing with her.
“Kind of… he hit my car this morning.” Her eyes widened.
“He hit your car?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry about it. Were meeting afterschool to figure it all out.” She was raising her eyebrows in shock. The bell rang for class to start. “Crud, were late.” She quickly shot me a ‘this conversation isn’t over’ look and headed to her class.
The rest of the day passed as a blur. I saw him twice more: once briefly during lunch, and then in chemistry class where I sat again in awful, silent torment for an hour. Then eighth period came, the last period of the day. My skin was crawling with anxiety as I waited for the final bell to ring and signal my freedom. I stared at the clock, as if I could somehow speed up the movement of its slender hands. I couldn’t decide whether I even should talk to him yet. After all, what was I supposed to say? I know he didn’t recognize me the way I thought I recognized him. Even if he did remember that day, he wouldn’t remember me. Because that day, I wasn’t me. I was— My thoughts were cut short by the sound of the school bell. Class was dismissed, school was over, and he was waiting.
I arrived beside our cars after a grueling walk of both anxiety and longing. We had been forced to park at the far side of the lot due to the incident this morning. I made a personal note to get there an extra fifteen minutes early to prevent this parking situation from ever occurring again. I looked around; he wasn’t here yet. I checked the weather forecast on my phone, simply out of nervous habit. No rain. It hadn’t rained here in weeks, so I was a little jittery. The sky did have to open up sooner or later. I looked around again to see if he was in sight, scanning the rows of parked cars and the remaining clumps of students still standing around to chat. What if he didn’t come? I probably freaked him out with my staring act. Good job Aeryn. I mentally slapped myself. But he had to come, right? How else was he going to get home? I continued debating with myself until I felt a presence behind me.
“Hey,” I could feel him fighting a smile. I whipped around, trying to act as casual as possible.
“Oh hey,” I gave him a quick smile, “I was beginning to wonder if you would show.”
He chuckled, and I was staring again. Stop it! I quickly snapped myself out of the daze.
“Lets have a look,” he said as he walked past me to the backside of my car. “ Ooh man, that’s a pretty big dent.” He traced his hands over the indentation made by his car. I didn’t know what I should do. All of my being wanted nothing more than to stand right there with him all day, but then again this one tiny, almost nonexistent part of me was gravitating towards my car so it could speed away as fast as possible. I stood confused.
“Hello..?” I was snapped back into reality by the waving of his hand in front of my face. He chuckled slightly.
“Oh, gosh I’m sorry.” Mental slap number fifty. “Uh, I actually think I’m just going to go home. Don’t worry about this, really.”
“No, I really think I should-“
“Don’t worry.” I cut him off. “Still works like a charm. See?” I put the key in the ignition and turned hard. To my relief, the engine sputtered to life.
His expression was unconvinced. But nevertheless, he humored me.
“Well, alright. If you say so.” He began to back away, allowing me to close my door, but then leaned in close. “My name’s Mason, by the way, Mason Miller.” he murmured through my open window. I looked straight into his eyes where the pools of blue-green and silver were swimming as he spoke.
“Aeryn.” I muttered, still studying his gaze.
“Glad to meet you, Aeryn.”
And with a nod, I drove off, my heart beating out of my chest and my hands gripping the steering wheel instead of my hair.