There she goes again. Her long curtain of auburn hair was pulled back, and even then the

tips of her hair barely went past her waist. Her baggy black hoodie shrouded the curves I longed

to wrap my arms around. I didn’t understand the feelings I had for Lucy Carmichael, but I knew I

wanted her. Why did I need her so badly? Of all of the girls in school, why would I choose her?

My friend Dan nudged me, pulling me back to reality.


“What’re you staring at?” he sneered.



“Nothing,” I said, pushing him away.


Dan laughed, “You’re right. That Lexi chick is nothing special. Not even close to being in

our league.”


“Her name is Lucy,” I snapped.


“Whatever. It doesn’t matter.”


I shrugged, not even bothering to tell him he was wrong. It didn’t matter to me if she was

below me in the social food chain. She still took my breath away.



`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````



Why does he keep staring at me? Every time I pass by Cole Gye, his deep, chocolate

brown eyes always seem to follow me, taking in every detail of my profile. When I look back,

however, he pretends not to notice me. He just laughs and talks with his friends, twirling the

football his coach gave him after he scored the winning touchdown. Most girls would find him

amazing, but not me. He always wore the same old Drew Brees jersey, which showed off his

toned arms and chest. His shaggy blonde hair was constantly getting in his eyes, and for some

reason, I longed to be the one to brush it away. My friend Alice snapped her fingers under my nose, making me jump.



“Earth to Lucy. What are you looking at?” she asked impatiently.


“Nothing,” I said quickly.


She raised a dark eyebrow, her black makeup making her eyes look huge.


“Cole is a muscle-bound freak with a big ego. He’s not worth the attention you give him.”


“If you say so,” I sighed.


I would have been wasting my breath if I argued. I didn’t care what he was like. Cole had

stolen my heart.







`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````





I can’t stand how she passes me by like I don’t exist. Her indifference hurts more than

getting tackled by an entire football team. If she would just look back at me once, I found myself

thinking, I would go and talk to her. I didn’t notice how her stormy gray eyes were boring into

mine until Dan pointed it out.


“Beep beep! Geek alert!” he shouted at her.


Lucy blushed and glared at him. If I was right, a tear slid down her cheek.


“Dude, stop it! Leave her alone!” I yelled at him.


“No! Why should I? She’s a freak and needs to know that no one likes her,” he argued.


It took all of my willpower not to hit him. Didn’t he realize that we were the ones that

everyone hated? He was too wrapped up in his own little world to notice the dirty looks we were

given, but I wasn’t. I was beginning to see everything now.


“There is someone who likes her, Dan,” I blurted out.


“Oh yeah?” he laughed, “Who?”


“Me,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear.




`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````



I could feel Cole’s eyes on me as I passed by him with Alice. This time, when I looked

back, his beautiful brown eyes found my gray ones. I was going to go up to talk to him, but his

stupid friend had shouted “Geek alert” for the entire school to hear. As Alice tried to lead me past

their laughing crowd, a few tears slid down my face.



“You see? Cole and his friends are jerks. Just ignore them.”


I looked back at Cole, and saw how he was yelling at his friend. Was he sticking up for me?


“You’re wrong, Alice. Cole’s not a jerk. Look.”


She just brushed my words aside, as if they didn’t matter. She was stuck in the belief that

everyone outside our group of friends was a bad person, but my eyes were opening.


“He’s just like everyone else, Lucy. Everyone hates them,” she spat.


“Not everyone hates them. I know someone who doesn’t,” I said heatedly.


“Who would be stupid enough to like him?” she scoffed.


“Me,” I snapped, just as the hall went quiet.




`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````


“You what?” Dan squeaked, looking at me with contempt.


“I like her. A lot. She’s a great person, and you’re too thick-headed to see that,” I snarled,

pushing past him to walk towards her.


“If you walk over there, I swear to God we won’t be friends anymore,” Dan growled.


I shrugged. “Oh well. ‘Bye, now.”


I went over to her and smiled. She looked amazed as I brushed a tear away from her face.


“Hi, Lucy. I’m Cole. Would you go out with me?”




````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````


“You like him? Why? He’s selfish, quick to judge, and cruel,” she sputtered.


I looked her in the eye. “No. You are.”



I brushed past her to get over to Cole.


“If you go over there, I will never speak to you again,” Alice threatened.


“Have a nice life, then,” I called.


Cole came over and smiled at me. I must have been crying, because I felt his warm hand

brush a tear away from my face.


“Hi, Lucy. I’m Cole. Would you go out with me?” he said cheerfully.


I grinned. “Of course.”




`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````



She pulled me in for a kiss and the crowd around us gasped. We broke apart and smiled at

each other. I looked over at Dan and saw that he looked dumb-founded and angry. She looked

back at some Goth girl in the crowd, who looked like she had swallowed a lemon.



“Your friend looks mad,” she giggled.


“He’s not my friend. Your friend looks mad, too.”


“She’s not my friend.”


“Then I guess we’re all we have,” I laughed.


I gripped her hand and kissed it. She smiled at me and brushed my hair out of my eyes.


“That’s all we need.”