Seraphina

Chapter Four-Benjamin

I tried my hardest not to stare at Sera, but it was hard. Her light grey eyes seemed to speak to me, call to me somehow. Whenever I would look up, I found her looking at me. I decided to turn my attention to Trish. It was easy to stare at her, knowing she would never stare back at me.

As we made our way out of the cafeteria, I looked at Trish and wondered how I could be suddenly into another girl. What was I saying. Sera would never be into a guy like me and neither would Trish. I was destined to be alone. The hermit. The last few classes seemed to fly by and Sera seemed to be adjusting well. I wondered if she noticed when I would trip over something every other class. I'm sure she did notice. It was hard not to notice a bumbling tall nerd. 

"So, how was your first day," I asked her as I walked her to her locker. I found myself feeling more confident to talk to her now that the school day had ended. 

"Not as bad as I thought it would be." She said, opening up her locker. 

I knew I could have said more but I didn't know what else to say so I just said, "Well see you tomorrow."

"Yeah see you tomorrow and thank you for showing me around."

"It was no problem." I looked down at my shoes again and quickly walked away, hoping I wouldn't trip again. Luckily I didn't.

When I got home, I decided I would play a bit of Final Fantasy before diving into homework. I knew if my mom caught me playing video games before homework, she would kill me, but seeing as she didn't get home until late, I knew I would be fine. Plus I always completed my homework and got a good grade for it. 

The next day at school, I thought it would be easier to talk to Sera but I found it just as hard. Everett did most of the talking at lunch and I found out that she was a bookworm that loved the classics like Bronte, Austen, Thackeray, Dickens, and Orwell. She was going to actually major in English Literature. She would have joined the creative writing and book club it had not been too late join. 

I found in Public Speaking, she was a natural at speaking, much more so than I was. Her voice was so melodic, so sweet that it almost made me forget about Trish's voice. I also noted if she didn't wear glasses or overalls, she probably would have been even more alluring than she already was. It was hard to look at her and not think of thoughts I shouldn't have been thinking of. But then at night, my thoughts would lead me right back to Trish in my dreams. 

There she was sitting in the cafeteria all alone waiting for someone. For me. And then I would wake up before I could speak to her. 

I promised myself that today I would speak to Sera more in the cafeteria. I needed to get out of la la land. Trish was never going to happen. Neither was Sera ever going to happen, but at least I could actually talk to her and she wouldn't look at me like I was a freak.

As we sat down at the table, I asked her, "So Sera, what's your favorite color?"

What's your favorite color? Out of all the things I could have asked her that was the dumbest thing I could come up with. Everett gave me a look like dude you really just asked her that.

"It's emerald." Like my eyes. I popped myself mentally. There was no way she liked the color because of my eyes. 

"What's yours?" She asked back.

"I can't decide between blue or red." 

"Mines is definitely blue," Everett chimed in. 

"What's your favorite band?" I asked her. Now that was a better question. 

"Linkin Park."

My eyes lit up. 

"Wow same." 

"Favorite song?" Everett asked both of us. 

"Breaking the habit," we said at the same time.

We smiled at each other. 

"Seems like there's a love connection going on here." Everett smirked. 

I instantly turned red in the face and so did she. It was weird to see her blushing. She seemed so confident most of the time unlike me. 

"Do you have a date to the prom, Sera?" A guy I knew to be Matthew Bennett suddenly came up to her and said out of nowhere. He was also a senior and not as scrawny or nerdy as me but he certainly wasn't in the popular crowd. Of course Sera wasn't in the popular crowd but she sure could have been with her looks. Maybe he thought he might've had a chance because she was sitting with us...the dweebs. 

She looked just as caught off guard as I did. We had all the same classes so why didn't I see this coming? I had seen Matthew talk to her in Mr. Liberty's class yesterday, but this was only her third day here. Like damn it, give her a chance to breathe. 

"Um, I don't but I'm not going to the prom."

Relief seemed to come over me for some reason. 

"Oh, why not?" He persisted. 

"Because dances aren't my thing." She said simply.

"Oh. Well I just thought I'd ask." He said and turned to leave. 

"Dances really aren't your thing?" Everett asked her.

"Nope."

This made me instantly feel sad. I knew I wouldn't have probably had a chance with her anyways, but now I would never know. 

That night for the first time, it wasn't Trish that I saw but Sera sitting in the cafeteria all alone.