Chapter 1: Maria’s POV

“And Maria Gabriel is our class president-again- this year,” the teacher announced, following a round of applause from the class.

I stood up and walked up the room. There were whispers and some scoffs. Some didn’t even care. These are normal reactions people would get, and so I’d gotten used to it. I stopped at the front of the board, facing the room full of people. “Thank you,” I began, fidgeting at first, but I regained my composure. “As class president, I promise I’ll help out as much as I can in your problems and concerns. I hope I will do well this year.” I received another round of applause from my classmates as I walked back to my seat. Class resumed.

The bell rang at the teacher’s last words. Everyone shoved their books in their backpacks and rushed out of the room. I was the only left besides my teacher, who was preparing for her next class. I finally packed up and headed for lunch.

I searched around an found an empty spot in the corner of the library. Perfect, I thought. I sighed and unwrapped the tin foil of my sandwich. I pulled out some textbooks and readings to begin my work.

“LOOK OUT!” I looked up and a tennis ball coming at me collided at my stomach. I yelped and fell out of my chair, landing on the ground. My glasses had been knocked out of my face, flying somewhere out of my reach.
“Oh, I’m so dead,” a blurred vision of a guy cursed. Another guy was beside him, punching his shoulder .

“You idiot,” the second guy hissed. “You hit the Prez.”

“I’ll be facing double death now,” the first guy muttered.

“What the hell is going on here?”

A new voice entered my ears; I turned to the direction of the voice.Somewhat, I knew who he was.

Jackson White; tall, lean, handsome, and many other positive traits that girls describe him. He is the captain of the lacrosse team. He’s in the school billboards all the time as the champion along with his team.

“What the…” Jackson looked at the scene and coincidentally locked his blue eyes with me. “Maria Gabriel?” He offered his hand to me.

I took and I was on my feet again. “Jackson White.” I greeted. I dusted my skirt and I looked around.

“Looking for these?” Jackson held up my rectangular glasses. I nodded as he handed them to me. I pushed them onto the bridge of my nose. I blinked and regained my clear vision. Three clear faces were staring at me as I pulled myself together.  I cleared my throat. “Thanks for associating me.”

“No problem, Prez,” Jackson grinned his charming smile the girls would swoon over for. “Sorry for interrupting….” He looked over my shoulder to see extra large textbooks. He raised an eyebrow.

“Its okay,” I reassured, “I just began anyway, so I’m not bothered.”

Jackson regained his composure as he faced me again. “Oh, I see.”

There was a moment of awkward silence; the two guys shifted uncomfortably as Jackson and I stopped speaking.

Jackson cleared his throat. “Well then. I would like to treat you for lunch as an apology.”

I cocked my head to the side. “I have lunch, and you don’t have to owe me anything.”

“That’s too bad. I wanted to treat you.”

I smiled a little; “Rain check?”

“Deal.” He waved as he slung his arms over the two guys’ shoulders, leading them out from the library. I watched them go as I slowly walked back to my seat. The boys were slapping their backs and teasing each other playfully with laughs. It was a wonderful sight to see friendship. The friendship  I’m not able to have.