Chapter 1
Aiden was a quiet guy who had a lot to offer a girl. He was sweet, but he kept to himself. No one ever knew who he truly was. This was partially because no one wanted to talk to him because of his appearance. He had snake bite piercings on his bottom lip. He had long black hair that swept across his face and amazing blue eyes. He had the perfect smile and perfect teeth. He even had dimples. Girls secretly wanted him but were always too scared to talk to him; he was sort of intimidating. No one really talked to him. Well, that is except for his two best friends, Troy and James, and some of the other kids in the school. And yes, they all looked a lot like that with the piercings and long hair. Anyway, Aiden, Troy, and James all grew up together. They had been best friends since kindergarten. I guess you could say that they were connected at the hip.
Aiden always wanted to fall in love. He had come quite close to it a couple of times, but he always ended up getting hurt in the end. He finally drew the line with his last girlfriend. After they broke up he decided that he would not go looking for the one. They would meet spontaneously and it would be love at first sight. This does seem a little bit crazy, but he thought it would work. For a while he was expecting it to happen at any given moment. So he was always on guard. He realized that if he kept expecting it then it would not happen. He had to play it cool and wait for it.
He did lots of things for a while to keep his mind busy, to take it off of what he was waiting for, what he was longing for all this time. He studied really hard while he was in school and really concentrated on his work. He took up shop class during school and for a little while after school. After school he would practice guitar and piano. He wrote his own music and he wrote poetry as well. He began to take photography and he even started to draw.
As time passed, Aiden started to grow impatient. He was tired of waiting. Tired of occupying his time with other things. Why couldn't he just finally meet the girl he has been waiting for? Why? He was growing more and more frustrated not only with time, but with himself as well. Troy and James tried to talk to him about it. They tried to convince him that she was there waiting for the perfect timing. When the time was right, they would meet. Troy always said, "You will be glad that you have waited as long as you have when you find the girl. Things happen for a reason. If you don't wait then you could meet her, but then it would be too late. You would miss out on what was supposed to be your destiny." Aiden knew that Troy was right, but he just could not help but doubt himself and his chance of ever finding his true love.
Just when Aiden thought that things could not get any worse, they did. One morning Aiden woke up and was doing his usual morning routine. Usually he hears his dad whistling or walking about the house doing something. But he did not hear anything on this particular morning. He checked downstairs and his father was not there. He went outside, but his dad was not out there either. So Aiden finally went to his dad's bedroom to see what was going on. He tapped lightly on the door. No answer. He tapped again, this time a little bit louder. Finally he just opened the door. He found nothing. He was looking around the room when he noticed a piece of paper on the bed. It was a note from his father.
"Aiden,
You know I love you son, but things just aren't right. I have never been the father that I was supposed to be for you. Ever since your mother left I have not been there like I should. I know you know how to take care of yourself. You have taken care of yourself most of your life. That is why it made it easier for me to leave. I had to get out of this place. I was going insane. It was not because of you. It was because of her. You know how much I loved your mother and how hard I took it when she left.
Son, I want you to know that I love you and I always will. I hope you understand why I had to leave. I left some money in the safe for you. I will keep sending money to you so I can help you get by. Please don't be angry with me. I needed to do this before I lost myself completely. Take care son.
Love,
Dad"
Aiden did not know what to say. He could barely understand what was going on. He read the letter through once more. No, no. How could he do this to me? How could he just leave me like this? I don't understand. No. No. No!
He needed to get out of the house as soon as possible. He felt the emotions rising inside of him. He knew the tears were about to come. He knew that he was about to explode. He grabbed his jacket and left. As soon as he reached the woods he took off running. He was crying and he was angry. He knew these woods well, but he could not quite make out where he was going exactly. He completely shut down. His mind went blank.
When Aiden had calmed down he stopped running and pulled himself together. He looked around to figure out where he was exactly. It took him a little while, but he finally knew where he was. Surprisingly, he was not that far away from his house. He stood there in the woods for a little while. Finally, he decided that he would go back to the house, get in his car, and go to school.
Troy and James had been worried about him. Usually Aiden comes over an hour before they have to be at school so that way they can get ready for what they were going to do after school. When Aiden finally showed up, he was forty-five minutes late. His friends asked him what was wrong and Aiden told them exactly what happened. Surprisingly enough, he did not cry. He didn't even feel the need or desire to cry. He just told them flat out what happened. All they could do was stare in confusion. When they finally were able to speak they told him how sorry they were. James offered for Aiden to stay with him and his family. That offer was declined. They offered to skip school with Aiden. That offer was declined as well. So they all got into the car and headed for the school.
When they got to the school, they headed to the spot where they met all of their other friends. Aiden acted completely normal. No one would have ever guessed what had just happened a couple of hours before school. No one single person. Aiden was okay with that for some reason though.
While Aiden and his friends were standing in the hall way Aiden got pushed into someone. She was a new girl; this was her first day at this school. Aiden hit her so hard that he had to catch her before her head hit the ground. His friends were all laughing. There is nothing more funny than seeing a new kid almost get their head cracked open on the first day...right. He apologized for what he did and when he asked if she was okay he could not catch his breath. It felt like someone had just kicked him in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him. His friends stopped laughing when they saw the look on his face. They thought that something was wrong with him at first. There was something wrong with him...just not the kind of wrong that they expected.
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just feel a little dizzy, that's all." She said closing her eyes for a second and then fluttering them back open.
"Good. I wouldn't know what to do if I would have hurt you."
"It isn't that big of a deal. People hurt me all the time. I'm kind of used to it by now."
"I know what you mean. So is this your first day here? I don't think I have ever seen you around before."
"Yeah, I just moved here from Colorado on Saturday. I play varsity soccer and this school came and watched me play. They said that if we moved and I came to the school I would have a full scholarship for college so, here I am."
"Yeah. Here you are. That is amazing."
"I guess. You are the only person who has actually talked to me so far. Well I better get to class. Thanks for um, saving my head and my face...umm, I'm sorry I forgot your name already."
"Actually, I never introduced myself. I'm Aiden. And saving your face was my pleasure. It would be a crime if I didn't save a face that looked like yours. What's your name?"
"Jersey."
"Okay, well maybe I will see you in one of my classes."
"Maybe." And she walked away. She was biting her lip. You could tell that she was a shy girl. From that moment on Aiden knew exactly what happened. Fate. He was glad that he waited, just like his friends told him to. He watched her walk away and when she was finally out of sight he turned to his friends. Troy and James knew too well what just happened. Aiden finally found the girl he has been waiting on for so long.
