A Change of Scenery

Chapter 2: Meet the Girl

In every hour there are 60 minutes. In every minute there are 60 seconds. In every second there are 1,000 milliseconds, and in 857 of those milliseconds, the human heart beats once, leading me to question my humanity when my heart stopped beating for 5 seconds(approximately 6 heartbeats). I started to question logic, reason, science, God, my own understandings, and life itself on how such a perfect being could exist in this universe, and better yet how am I the only one noticing this? Every other individual in class continued in their meaningless activities, ignoring perfection as if it were something ordinary or routine to them. "Miss Valentine, you're late." The teacher stated as she wrote today's date on the chalkboard. "I'm sorry ma'm, it's just I live far away and...." "I'm aware of your living conditions, Mia." The teacher responded and smiled. "Relax, here have a seat next to our new student." She said and pointed to the desk next to me.
I was still thinking about my heartbeat, it's not normal, what the hell is going on here? I looked up and froze. Two glossy brown eyes met mine with a sniper's precision, fuck, my heart did that thing again, now I'm really starting to get worried. I took a minute to examine this specimen with great care, the few seconds it took for her to get to her seat felt like hours to me and I couldn't help but to observe her every movement, I was relatively intrigued at this newfound creature. She had long, silken hair like a brunette Rapunzel, her skin naturally tanned to perfection, she was small yet had a perfect figure that fit her manner of existence completely, and the aroma that she gave off as she sat next to me smelled like if joy itself had manifested into a gaseous state and invaded my nostrils with the hope that I would succumb to it. I was too caught up in my examination that I forgot to pay attention to the class and the teacher looked at me with disregard, saying "Mr. Barnaby, we get it, she's pretty, now if you may please divert your eyes off her and back into this chalkboard, you may actually ace this class." Everyone giggled, including myself, after all, I'm always up for a good laugh.
Then, out of nowhere, Mia glanced over at me for 10 seconds total. "Shit, she looked at me!!! Christ, what do I do now?" I thought to myself as my breath stiffened. I've never in my life been a shy person, in fact I don't mean to brag much but I have the balls to do what many other people won't, it's a gift and a curse. However, Mia Valentine was the exception. I have never felt the need to breathe increase in my being to the point where I felt I would implode into myself, creating a black hole that would tear reality asunder until I met this individual. I tried to greet her through class and introduce myself but no words, not even a whisper came out. I felt like a mime held at gunpoint trying to talk his way out of it.
Class was over and as I packed my things, she walked by slowly, as if to get me to notice her, a feat she had already accomplished the minute she came out of her mother's womb, and smiled at me. A smile like the crescent moon of the night mixed with the warmth of a kindling fireplace. She walked out the door and I felt myself gasp. I walked outside and saw Dianne waiting for me enthusiastically. She was wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt and a Pink Floyd necklace to match with it, countless bracelets, red pants, black and white converse, and surprisingly well painted black nails. "How'd it go newbie, make any new friends in there, please tell me you at least paid attention." She exclaimed.
"I don't know, I think I'm coming down with something, must be that new flu that's going around."
"What are the symptoms you've experienced so far?" She asked in a curious, tantalizing way. "Dizziness, sweating, trouble breathing, shaking, high blood pressure, muteness, and this weird ass thing where my heart skips 6 beats." Dianne looked me dead in the eye, and a huge grin paved her face as she pointed to the far end of the hallway. "Is that the cause of your "disease"?" I looked over at what she was pointing at. Mia Valentine, smiling and talking to her friends in a carefree matter, like nothing else around her mattered except for her fun. I was entranced, however that was short-lived when I felt a blow to the back of my neck. "Snap out of it newbs, what you're experiencing is lovesickness." Dianne laughed as she put her arm around me. "I don't think I have my shots for that yet." I said as I looked at Mia get in her mom's car and leave. "Lovesickness huh?" I thought to myself as I pulled out my songbook and started writing:
Lovesick
V1
I'm getting colder and I'm sickly pale
It's kinda hard for me to inhale right now
I've taken medicine, it's not working
Another week or so and this'll bring me down
Oh when I look at you, my heart just skips a beat
And when you're getting close, my lungs refuse to breathe
I try to speak but my lips are stuck in place
Into a stupid smile that's glued onto my face
[Chorus]
Cause I'm lovesick
The symptoms are starting to show
Someone call me a doctor
Cause I think I'm ready to blow
Yes I'm lovesick
I'm gonna collapse on the ground
This is an emergency
And I'm hospital bound
V2
I think I'm gonna need CPR
As they carry me into the ER
The paramedics are yelling CLEAR!!!
The rush of it all is bursting me to tears
Cause when I think of you, it tears up my insides
And when we kissed, baby I swear I almost died
The only hope for me is if I start to pray
I'll fall into a coma if you go away
AV
And the Doc recommends a single dose of you
But I can't have it cause I know that I'll misuse
Babe, I can't handle all these feelings in my blood
Oh well, I don't care, I'll let my system flood
With an overdose of love, love, love, love

I smiled and put my pen down. "Until tomorrow, Miss Valentine." I thought to myself as my mom drove up. "Let's go Colton, I'm late." I said goodbye to Dianne and got in the car, hoping for tomorrow to come soon.