Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 193(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 193(@200wpm)___ 154(@250wpm)___ 129(@300wpm)
As my eyes move back up to her face, she turns her head and looks at me. I feel my pulse speed up as our eyes connect and we stare at one another. Her big blue eyes are doe-like. So perfect and round with thick, black lashes around them. Her cheeks are pink and her lips are rosy, and I have the incredible urge to kiss them. I’ve never felt this kind of attraction to anyone before, and it takes me by surprise.
She looks away nervously, and I realize I’ve been staring at her like a creep for a solid minute. I feel bad that I made her nervous, and I want to make it right.
Sitting up in my chair, I lean towards her, and whisper as quietly as I can. “Hey.”
She looks at me and then looks up at the teacher. My eyes glance in Mr. Cole’s direction, but he’s in his own world, giving a lecture about King Lear and the importance of Shakespeare. He’s not so much as spoken ten words to me in the past six months, and I doubt he’s going to start now.
Seeing that the teacher doesn’t notice anything, she looks over at me in confusion.
“You okay?” I say, looking down at her knee. I don’t want to go full stalker on her and tell her I saw her on the side of the road, but I have this overwhelming desire to make sure she’s all right.
She reaches down with one hand, covering the tear in her tights, and nods at me. After a silent moment, I see her pull out a notebook and pen. She opens them up and starts to take notes. I lean back in my seat, clearly dismissed, but I keep my eyes on her. I watch every movement of her small fingers and the way she holds her pen. She’s left-handed, and for some reason I like that. Occasionally she pushes a strand of hair away from her face, and I look on with fascination.
I want to ask her questions, which is weird, because normally I avoid talking to anyone. It’s not that I’m not interested in things, I can just usually find them out for myself. Small talk with assholes in the locker room who compare the girls they fucked, or girls who try to get with me because of what I can provide for them, don’t interest me. And yet for some reason, this girl has my attention. She seems like she needs someone to watch out for her, and I’m starting to take a personal interest in that.
Before I know it, the bell rings, and I realize I’ve been staring at her the whole time. I sit up and move closer to her, intending to ask her a question, when I’m nearly hit in the face by a cheerleading uniform.
“Hi, Ren. Looking good today. Want to sneak off campus with me for lunch? I was thinking of hitting Joe’s for a burger,” Kristen says, leaning down towards me.
“No thanks.” I stand up and grab my backpack, trying to move around her.
“You sure? We could take the afternoon off and you can take a spin behind my new Mercedes. My dad got it for me for my eighteenth birthday last week. I’m legal now.” She winks at me, but it does nothing to make me want to go with her. Besides not wanting her, that car is impractical in this kind of weather.
“No.” I grit out wanting Kristen to get lost. The blonde stands up and grabs her coat, and I don't know how much more time I have. “Hey, I’m Ren.”
Her big blue eyes meet mine for a second, and then she looks down.
“Lily.” The one word is spoken so softly and sweetly I almost don’t hear it.
“Yeah, this is Lily Parker. The new girl. Must really suck starting a new school halfway through the year,” Kristen says and elbows her like they’re best friends. “Want to walk with us to her next class, Ren? We can drop her off and you can walk me to Spanish.”
I want to say no, because I don’t want to go with Kristen, but I do want to talk to Lily. She looks at Kristen and then up to me before looking away quickly. She’s silent, so I nod, and Kristen bounces on her feet.
“Sweet. Let’s get out of here.”
I walk out beside Lily and see her pull out a piece of paper. I see it’s a class schedule and I try to read it as we walk. Kristen is talking, but I don’t pay attention to what she’s saying, I just keep watching Lily for even the smallest movements.
I reach to Lily and hold my hand out and wait for her to give me her schedule. She hesitates for a second and then hands it to me. I see we’ve both got Advanced Calculus next. After that we’ve got lunch, then Physics, and a free last period. I smile at her and hand it back, wondering how I got so fucking lucky.