A Ghost of A Smile

Chapter 2: Love At First Sight

With my wish from the night before forgotten, I returned to the prison known as Burwell High School in Burwell, Nebraska. Just as usual, Jason met up with me at the front door.

"Hey Trin." He greeted me. It was always the same with him.

"Hey Jason," I sighed without looking up, "What's up?" He shrugged.

"Same." Ah, how I loved our morning conversation. A single strand of my dark red hair was tickling my cheek. I reached up and tucked it behind my ear. Jason chuckled. I looked up.

"What?"

"I was just thinking about the rut we're making." I raised one of my eyebrows, a feat I knew he was jealous of.

"Could you explain further?" I asked as we walked down the hall towards my locker.

"Every morning I walk up to you, say, 'Hey Trin.' and so on and so on. Then right when we walk in the door, the AC makes your hair fly, you push it out of your face. Don't you find it a little weird that every single action is the same every morning?" He asked.

"I find it weird that you even noticed." Well, good for him for trying to shake things up with some witty banter (as Grandma would say).

Later that day, Lori, Jason, and I were sitting at our usual table in the lunchroom. Lori decided it was a good time to start up the boyfriend conversation again.

"Just once and I will never bother you again!" She promised.

"You and I both know that isn't true." We argued back and forth for a little while before Jason finally cut us off.

"Guys, we got a new kid." He said, and nodded towards the doors that led into the lunchroom. We were at the far end of the room, so I couldn't see the new kid clearly, but it didn't matter how far away she was, I recognized Ava anywhere. That poor new kid got her as their tour guide for the day. I stood up with my empty chip bag. Lori grabbed my arm

"Trinity, don't draw her near us." Lori whispered. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm gonna throw this out before they get here. Hopefully, I can not be here when Ava comes over to flirt with Jason." I said this while slowly inching away. By the time I finished talking, I was halfway there. I turned to walk towards the trash can when I collided with someone. I almost fell backwards, but the person I ran into caught my arms and held me upright. My head whipped around to spit some rhetorical remark in his face... but i couldn't. The second I saw that face, I couldn't even speak.

His eyes were brown, with little flecks of gold in them. He had mussed, dirty blonde hair, and light pink lips. My heart started beating out of my chest, my palms got sweaty, and for the first time in years I cared about how my hair looked to someone other than myself. I'd just run into the new kid.

"Hi." He said, a little bit breathlessly. I smiled.

"Hi." He seemed to have realized he was still holding onto my arms. He let me go, and held out his hand.

"I'm Travis Ownes." He said. I took his hand. It was warm, soft, and fit perfectly with mine.

"Trinity, Trinity Lancaster." He smiled.

"Trinity, nice name." I loved the way he said my name.

"Well, I see you've met one of the school losers." Ava sneered. I cleared my throat awkwardly.

"If you'll excuse me." I mumbled. With a last smile at Travis, I started walking towards my lunch table where Lori sat in shock.

"What just happened?" She choked out. I looked over at Travis again, only to find that he was looking at me too.

"You know yesterday when I told you I'd know him when I saw him?" I asked, my eyes not leaving his perfect face.

"Yeah." She nudged me.

"That's him."

"Wait, what?" Jason asked.

"I just experienced love at first sight."