Vans is staring at the window from inside the classroom. All he hears is the droning of his teacher and the loud Thud! Thud! of rain drops hitting the window. As he watches, he sees the water as tears, trickling down slowly on the glass. Well, guess God must be crying, he thinks sarcastically.

“Vans Jameson, are you paying attention?” Mrs. Jones is giving him a cold glare – a scowl he’s been all too familiar with. “It’s the first day of school, Jameson. Let’s get to a good start, shall we?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The words are rushed out of his mouth as he glowers at the floor, hearing a few snickering in the air.

Great, Vans thinks. About 180 days left of school!

Suddenly, there’s a knock on the door.

“Oh, look who got here,” Mrs. Jones says. “Someone’s late for the first day of school.” She goes over and opens the door.

Vans perks up as he sees a girl walk through. Long black hair, wide brown eyes, long legs…
“Man, you okay?” His friend, Gio stares at him, raising an eyebrow.
“Uh,” Vans mutters. “Yeah.” He realized his eyes had been glued to the new girl and he’d been holding his breath as she walked past.
Man, she was pretty. No, beautiful in fact! Was she here last year? Vans quirks his eyebrow at Gio and he does the same as he smiles.

“Try talking to her,” Gio whispers.
“No way!” he hisses.
The girl suddenly looks at them, frowning, and Vans quickly turns away. Then, slowly he turns around and says a quick “Hi” to her.

“It’s been weeks since the first day of school,” Gio says as he walks to lunch with Vans. “And you still haven’t asked Susan out yet.”

“How do I know she likes me, man?” Vans is staring at her from across the hall as she stands with her friends.
“Come on,” Gio says. “Look at all the signs. She definitely likes you. Man, you know I wouldn’t be telling you this if I wasn’t being honest. ‘Cause you know you’re not the most attractive…”

Vans punches him in the arm. “Shut up. Ok, I’ll do it.” He takes a deep breath as Gio laughs. Ok – here goes nothing. Vans goes for a smooth walk as he strolls to Susan.

“Hey,” he says to her awkwardly.

“Hey, Vans!” She hugs him. “This is my best friend,” she replies to a boy that asked her “Who is that?!"

“So, uh, are you doing anything Saturday?”

“No,” she giggles. “Are you…asking me out?”
“No,” he said. “Well, yeah…maybe.” He stands there, shuffling his feet.
Susan laughs. “Oh, this is my boyfriend.”

Vans gapes at the boy who was standing next to her, who is now giving Vans an icy stare. “My bad,” he mumbles pathetically.

“What happened?” Gio says as he’s trying to hide his smirk. “Didn’t go well?”
“No,” Vans said. “Your stupid love at first sight was accurate for someone else but not for ME!”