The One That Got Away.

Chapter 2: The Day I'll Never Forget

Now in case you didn't know, I lived in a small town in Washington. So it was no wonder that it wasn't easy for me to make friends. You know, being the weird kid and all. So you could probably imagine that I was pretty shocked when he talked to me for the first time.

It all started one day, back in 3rd grade. I was sitting in the back of the class just minding my own business as usual, when the teacher told us she had an announcement. 

"Okay listen up class, we have a new student coming in later today. His name is Eric and he's from California. Now I know that it's the middle of the year so it's going to take him a while to adjust. Please do your best and make him feel comfortable here. You may go back to reading."

I didn't really pay attention considering there's a new kid at least once a month. 

You would think that for someone so young that I would have a lot of friends. But I didn't. Believe it or not, no matter how young, nobody wanted to be my friend. 

I didn't expect that I would ever make a friend. Because to me, every kid was the same. All judgmental and didn't want anything to do with me. I know it's sad, but I got used to it. 

Everyday I used to wake up happy. And I would always tell myself that today would be different. Today I was going to make a friend. But everyday that I didn't make a friend, I would always wake up less happy. And soon, it just got to the point where I would start to tell myself that I was never going to make a friend. That nobody would ever like me. And I learned to accept it. 

Now let's go back to the day that we were getting a new student. It was almost the end of the day, and the last two hours of the day the whole entire class always read. I always enjoyed reading. Because I felt like that even though the characters weren't real, they accepted me for who I am and they always wanted to be my friend. I loved escaping into a different world. But the days I finished my book, were always really sad.

"Okay class I need your attention once again. This is Eric Riley, and he will be with us for the rest of the year. Please treat him your absolute best. Thank you."

Eric had dark brown hair that stopped just above his eyebrows. He was really tall. Well, taller than me anyway. He had the prettiest green eyes that you could ever see. And he had a smile that could brighten your day in a heartbeat.

After that my teacher turned to Eric and said something to him, and then tapped her chin looking confused. A moment later her face lit up and the teacher pointed at me, and then slightly pushed Eric in my direction. 

"Hi Avery, there's no other seats in the classroom so I'm going to place Eric next to you for the year. I hope that's alright." The teacher said with a smile. I just nodded and turned back to my book.

I thought for a slight second that because someone was sitting next to me, that I might actually make a friend. But I then remembered that no one will ever want to be my friend. 

Even though Eric and I sat next to each other, we never said a word to each other. We would simply just nod to each other and get on with our day. This went on for months. Until one day. And little did I know that this day would change my life forever. And it was the day I actually met him. Got to know him. 

I always had to walk home from school because my family lived too far from the school. Yes I know that I should take a bus if it was so far, but no bus had a route that extended to my house. I didn't mind the walk home. It was peaceful, and quiet. One day when I was walking home I decided to stop by the library, because the book I was currently reading was almost finished.  The library was just ac-crossed the street from the school, so I would only be adding about 5 minutes to my normal route.