Captivated

1.

I have always felt like I do not belong anywhere. I suppose it was because I didn't have friends in high school or elementary school. Kids were mean, and the high schoolers were even meaner. They constantly make fun of me because of my eyes or my hair. You pick. I can assure you they did it.

I was not a nerd, but I did like school, and I did like to learn new things. Although that was not the whole me, I did not have to bury my head into books because I could simply remember many things the teachers said, but because of my attendance and grades, I earned the "school nerd award."

I can tell you that four years of high school were hell for me, and I wanted nothing more than to leave for college and forget about the people who "destroyed" my notion of high school. Don't get me wrong, I was hoping to have friends in high school or even score myself a boyfriend because I was never that shy to not talk with someone. The problem was that nobody wanted to talk to me. So I guess I was the problem.

Moving on, I finished high school with straight A's, and I was preparing to start my new life on the campus of Ohio State University. I was from California but wanted to go as far as possible. It was not because of my family members or parents; I just wanted a fresh start.

My parents have been happily married for many years that I can't even count. Our family consists of my mom, my dad, my older who plays football for Dallas Cowboys, then me, my younger brother, who plays baseball, and lastly, my little sister, that currently does not want to do any sport; she just wants to play with Barbie's. As you can see, I did not inherit the sports side because I very much like to read books and sketch new things on my notepad.

So I think now it is time to introduce myself. My name is Nova Brown; I am eighteen and have chocolate brown hair. The thing about my appearance is that I have heterochromia. Heterochromia is not a disease nor a defect; I just have one eye utterly different from the other one. One is brown, and the other is in a grey shade; in the light, it seems like it is a light blue. I inherited it from my dad, even though he has blue eyes with little brown aspects there. My mom always said that it makes me unique, but nobody ever thought that, and that is one of many things why I did not have any friends cause they thought I was a freak.

I hope to make friends in college because sometimes I feel so lonely I cannot even describe that.

Stop with the loneliness Nova.

But I am lonely.

But you won't be forever.

Just when I was about to have an argument with my consciousness, Ivy, my little sister, came running into my room and started unpacking all the clothes I had spent hours putting up in the suitcases.

"Hey Ivy, what are you doing?" I asked her with calmness in my voice because I knew it would be hard for her to understand why I am leaving for some time.

"You can't go; I am going to unpack all of these suitcases, hide your clothes, and you will not leave me!" was the response I was given even though it was muffled because my clothes were on her head now.

"Come here." I motioned to her, and she sat on my lap. "I am not leaving you, understand? I am just going to school a little far from here, but I will be back. Don't you worry. I will visit you as much as I can, okay?" I stroked her cheek.

"Yeah, okay. I am just gonna miss you so much; you're the only one who can play Barbie just how I want to, you know..." she sniffles, and my heart breaks.

"You know what? Next time I come home, I will bring you one of the special Barbies, okay? And you can always come to visit me with mom and dad, even for a weekend." I gently wiped her tears. "And I'm gonna miss you too, Bubba."

After our little conversation and a little more tears on both sides, Ivy helped me pack the clothes back into the suitcases and then grabbed my little bag because she wanted to help me carry them but didn't have the strength for it. Her words, not mine.

That's when my younger brother Kayden came to the rescue. And you can easily imagine what happened when the suitcases hit the ground downstairs. My mom came running to me with tears in her eyes, telling me how proud she was and how she was going to miss me. That also happened with my dad and Kayden. Our relationship was great even when he was younger than me by two years. Unfortunately, my older brother Nathan couldn't come because of the football camp. So after a big family hug, we decided to leave for the airport.

Don't get me wrong, at first, I was determined to take my car with me to school and make my way to Ohio on my own, but it was more than thirty-five hours behind the steering wheel, and I was not ready for that. Maybe in my second year.

The airport was busy as usual; I said goodbye to everyone once again and made my way into the airport hall and then to my gate. I bought myself a bottle of water and some snacks, then sat down and pulled out my book. I had around an hour to spare before the plane's scheduled departure. So I buried my head into the romantic life of the two main characters. After a while, I felt like someone was staring at me, but when I looked up, I didn't see anyone.

I had to hallucinate or something.

Nova, Nova, Nova... you were just hoping that some handsome airport boy would be the one to look at you.

Oh, shush, I did not think that, so stop.

You so did.

I said shush.

After some time, I made my way down to the plane and sat in my seat. I was happy to have a window seat because sometimes I feel uneasy on planes, and looking out the windows always helped me. But when I was looking out the windows, again I felt that someone was watching me. I didn't have the energy to look for someone, so I just stayed in my seat and did not even turn around to look at people coming through the plane doors.

As we took off, I was happy. A fresh start, here I come.