Without You (gxg)

Part 2- High School

Her eyes were small, slightly almond shaped and a color I hadn't even seen before- a dark blue, like an ocean under the moonlight mixed with flecks of gray. She had hair to her shoulders that was straight and a very dark blonde with some spots that were sun-kissed from the sun. She had smaller features- smaller eyes, small nose, thinner lips. She had on a blue and what plaid shirt over what looked to be a black t-shirt and frayed jean shorts on. I don't know what it was about this girl- but I was drawn to her like I hadn't been toward anyone else in my life.
And so I waited for role call to learn her name. I needed to know who she was- I hadn't seen her before around school. I would've noticed her if I did. When Mr. Hill called out "Harley Edwin?" I raised my hand and said, "Here." and I could've sworn I saw her glance my way.
Finally toward the end of the alphabet, he called out "Noelle Thompson?"
And I heard a quiet "Here." from where she was sitting.
Noelle. Noelle Thompson. That was a pretty name.
I couldn't stop thinking about her all day. And I didn't know why. I would try to focus on something else- like my boyfriend- but she would just pop up in my mind again.
At the end of the day before I drove home, Carter came up to my car to say goodbye to me.
"Want to hangout tonight?" he asked me.
"How about tomorrow? I am really tired from the first day." I said, looking up at him.
"Okay." he grinned at me, showing his dimples. He leaned down and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "I will text you later."
I got in the car and started driving.
"Do you actually think you're going to break up with Carter?" Priya asked me.
"I don't know." I said, "He is really sweet. I just don't feel that strongly toward him."
"I feel like that's how it's been with the guys you've dated. You seem to like them, but one doesn't seem to have truly caught your eye yet." Priya observed.
"I agree. I know that person will come along though." I said, and then Noelle popped into my head again. Why did I feel this instant spark when I saw her that I didn't even feel for my boyfriend of almost 6 months?
"You deserve it, Har." Priya grinned at me.
"So do you." I said to Priya and then I asked, "Hey. Do you know of anyone named Noelle Thompson?"
"I don't think so." Priya said, "Why do you ask?"
"It was some girl in my English class. I just thought it was odd that we would have someone new senior year." I said. That was a slight lie.
"It is, but you never know someone's life." Priya said.
I dropped Priya off and then drove home. Once again that night I barely slept. My mind always feels clouded- and tonight it was clouded as to why I kept on thinking about Noelle. This girl who I had never spoken to. Had only seen today for 55 minutes. I kept trying to re-direct my brain toward Carter but it didn't work.
I had gym class with Carter my whole junior year and had no idea that he even liked me. Carter was definitely considered more "popular". He was good looking- tall and thin but muscular with chestnut brown hair and olive toned skin. He had nice green eyes as well.
Me on the other hand- I'm more quiet. I don't talk to a lot of people in my grade at school. I tend to just stick by Priya. I had spoken to Carter a few times throughout the year, but it took me by complete surprise when he came up to me at the end of class toward the end of the year and asked me on a date. I was so taken aback. At first I thought it was some kind of prank- but it wasn't. Carter and I wound up getting ice cream and walking around Main Street of town, and then I went back to his house. I had a great time with him, and he made me laugh. We then went to junior prom together. All summer I spent time with Carter- and I always had fun with him and felt like I could talk to him. But I was realizing that I didn't have this passion for him that I felt like I should have.
The first two weeks of school went by- and every day I just wanted to see Noelle in English class. By looking at her, she seemed to be more of a tomboy. The only time I really heard her talk was when she came to school one day wearing an Adidas hat- and Mr. Hill told her to take it off. She just said, "Sorry, will do."
I wanted to find an excuse to talk to her so bad. But each time I would prepare myself to go up and talk to her, I would just chicken out. I was going to ask her if I could copy down some of the notes I missed one day- but I didn't do it. I was going to ask her where she got her shoes another day- but I didn't do it. And it was truly fucking with my head as to why I just couldn't go up and talk to her. Why was it like a crush that I was nervous to interact with?
On Friday of the second week of school, I finally got my chance. Mr. Hill announced that he was going to be splitting us into pairs for our first project. We had fo do a PowerPoint presentation on a book of our choice out of a list of them. In my head I thought that maybe I could finally have my chance to talk to Noelle. If we could choose partners, I decided I was going to walk right up to her and ask her to be my partner.
"We have an even number of students, there are twenty of you. And you're all almost adults now, so I trust that you can choose your own partners." Mr. Hill said.
My heart started beating fast.
"So partner up with someone, and sit next to them for the rest of class so you can choose your book to do your project on." Mr. Hill said.
And everyone started getting up. My eyes were laser focused on Noelle. I saw her get up slowly from her chair. She had on skinny jeans with rips and a green t-shirt. She was thin, but I could tell from her arms that she worked out as well and had some muscle.
Go. Ask her to be your partner.
I took a deep breath and made my way over to her. Until I was standing in front of her. She was looking at me.
"Hi." I said.
"Um, hey." she said back, still looking at me.
"Want to be partners?" I asked her, looking up. She was a couple inches taller than me.
"Sure." she said- to my relief. "I hope you're good at projects like this. I'm not."
I sat down in the desk next to her and she motioned for me to pull it closer.
"I'd say I'm okay with English." I said.
"Okay, cool." Noelle nodded.
Mr. Hill then passed around the list of the books we could choose from.
I glanced over it and turned to Noelle. "What are you thinking?"
"I honestly have only heard of one of these books." Noelle looked at me.
"Okay. Which one?"
"Catcher in the Rye." Noelle said, "But I haven't read it."
"Good thing for you, I have. I could easily just do the PowerPoint for us."
"No, I'd feel bad making you do it all by yourself. Let me help." Noelle insisted.
"We can either do the project at the school library or at one of our houses. I see it's due in a week." I said, looking over the assignment directions.
"I'd rather not be at school for a second longer than needed." Noelle said, "Want to come over to my house one day next week?"
I felt my stomach get butterflies. Her house?
"Sure. That sounds great." I said.
Why the hell was I feeling this way?