When it Happens

Chapter 1

SEPTEMBER 6th 1993

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4th period US History is when he came.

I was droning out to Ms. Campbell give us a lecture on how we needed to bring our notebook to class every day as I stared out the window. I was counting down the hours until dismissal from this hell hole, picturing myself tanning poolside when I got home when a tall boy with sandy blond, almost brown, golden hair walked in. He handed a note to her at the board, and my ears perked up when she said: "Go ahead and take a seat at the desk behind Miss Ralph over there."

Ms. Campbell ordered her students to sit alphabetically, so he must've had the last name that started with an R. Even when someone with a last name that started with K or something like that had a schedule change a week into school, everyone behind that had to pick up their things and scoot to the next desk. It was so undeniably extra.

But my, was this boy gorgeous.

His golden hair sat on top of his head in a flop. Not too messy, not too cleaned up. It was short in the back but kept a little longer in the front. I could see his piercing green eyes from my seat in the back. We made slight eye contact, and that's when I realized I must have been staring and looked down. 

"But, before you go, why don't you tell us a little about yourself," She said and she moved out of the way so he could have his moment at the front.

His eyes pondered around the room, taking in the number of kids in the classroom. He gave a smirk and started. "My name is Nathaniel, but all of my friends call me Nate. I was born in Seattle, and I've lived in places like LA, Houston, Orlando, and Chicago. My dad's job causes us to move around the country."

"What does your father do?" Ms. Campell asks, and that causes me to take my eyes off of his green ones. I scanned the students in this classroom, and all the girls had their eyes glued on him. As for the guys, their attentions were merely on their notepads. I couldn't help but relate to the girls. He was breathtaking.

"He's the CEO of some mega oil company. Texaco."

"And how'd you end up in our small town of Walden, Massachusetts?"

Nate shifts to lean on his left side. "I don't know, to be quite honest. My parents just told my brother, sister and me to pack up. Guess he got relocated. Next thing I knew I was driving to Massachusetts."

"Well, we're glad to have you at St. Agnes!" Ms. Campbell exclaims, and the whole class erupted in those polite, half-assed claps.

"Glad to be here," he said with a bit of sarcasm, but nevertheless smiles and walks to his seat. I couldn't blame him. The only fun thing to do in our town was to maybe hit up a house party that someone was throwing that weekend. The closest city was Boston, but it was still an hour and a half drive away. We couldn't just simply drive up there for the night.

As for the little pony show Campbell put him through: how embarrassing. I couldn't imagine being a new kid, having to give a summary of your life story in front of a class of 25 kids. I was tranced out of my thoughts as I saw him walk towards me, with his hands slightly in his front pockets, the edges of his muscles showing through his white Oxford. He shot a slight smirk at me as we made eye contact and I gave a nervous one back.

Christ. Stay calm, Vivian.

I felt a sudden urge to go pee at that moment which I thanked God for; I need more time to plan my responses if we talked. Ms. Campbell gave me a quick nod towards the door, and I fast-walked out the room, but not before nearly face planting from tripping over Wendy Marshall's gigantic bag.

How awful that would be if he noticed! He'd think I'm a total accident-prone slob!

When I walked into the girls' bathroom, I could hear whispers from inside, and when I walked in more, it was coming from a certain stall.