Stupid Heart

Part 2 : Meeting Him

Let's start with the part when I met him...

I was all geared up and ready for my first day in High School. I came pretty early. I tried changing my hair a little bit but I just let it down, in the end, to give off a somewhat a more mature vibe. It's as new as it gets for me when compared to my elementary days where I would always tie my hair up into a pony, and pigtails and sometimes into braids. Moreover, I did weigh a lot when I was in grade 6 so I decided to shed off a few pounds which would be enough for everyone to notice. Anyway, I gleefully went up a flight of stairs towards my classroom. I heard that there  would be several new students today and I hoped to have a vacant chair in the back.

Finally, I arrived at the door. Hello high school. I let go a deep breath and opened the door. I looked around and saw that only few were present today which means I get to pick the seat that I want. Cool!. I walked past some rows and picked the sit at the middle of the last row. After taking my seat I scanned the room to look for familiar faces and I found one, Julia who is my best friend since grade 5. She energetically waved her hands at me while smiling when our eyes met. I waved back and signaled her to seat on the chair beside mine. Without second thoughts, she grabbed her things and brisk walked towards the chair. Gosh, I missed her so much.

We chattered away ofcourse. I was opened the conversation with " Hi Juls.. how are you??.. OMG you look good in your high school uniform but you still look like an elementary kid. Are you sure you're already in High School?"  

She hit me in the head a bit harder than necessary if I may say so and responded " Haha very funny". she said so in a sarcastic tone. "and you look like you've lost weight! but that uniform don't look good on you though."

We both laughed aloud which caught the attention of everyone else in the room. Embarrassed, we both lowered our heads down as a form while I surveyed the crowd and one student caught our eye. It was. Kean. I was completely shocked. I just couldn't believe my eyes. He became more attractive than what I remember. It was like I was in a trance. Puberty did a good job on him. he seemed taller too and those eyes. Gosh those smiling eyes with that cute smile and that mysterious vibe.. 

"Louise! hey Louise!" Juls snapped her fingers infront of my eyes and made me face her. "are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"O-oh Juls. Yes, I'm fine." I answered shyly. I thought to myself "What was I doing? what was I thinking ?". When I finally regained my composure, I motioned for Juls to be move nearer and whispered "Juls, look at your back later but don't be too obvious. There's an attractive guy". Juls laughed at me and smirked. She sighed and tried to be inconspicuous as she shifted the way she was sitting so that she would be facing Kean's direction.

"Wait Louise... Who is he?" She replied bewildered but can't get her eyes off him. " and he's pretty attractive." she added.

"Oh right!" I said slapping my palm on my head " You don't know him. Actually he was my classmate from grades 2-4. He was one of my closest male friends. Well, it can't be helped because we were seatmates but we got along pretty well until grade 4. And I even vaguely remember of him teasing me during those years.  I swear that back then he wasn't that attractive though he has a decent face." I explained. "His name is Kean Cruz"

"Awww how cute.. childhood friends. Why won't you say hi?" she teased while finally facing me again. She was obviously amused with my reaction.

"What?! you high?! how can I do that?!" I replied with eyes wide open "after grade 4, we didn't have any contact" I remarked like it was completely obvious. "He'll probably think that I'm weird" duh~ I rolled my eyes.

"Oh don't you roll you're eyes on me." Julie said while pointing her forefinger at me like a mother lecturing her child. "Speaking of which.." Julie was cute in mid-sentence while looking being me. I was confused so I tried to look but Julie quickly caught my face with both of her hands and made me face her. "Don't you dare look yet but maybe you know that guy." She whispered and let go of my head. "you know the drill, don't be too obvious".

I looked for a second. A guy was sitting alone at the corner with headphones one. I didn't take a good look but he is a crush material but I don't recognize him at all. I told her while facing her direction "Nope. sorry." 

"oh" she replied sounding somewhat disappointed and looked down.

"uh-oh. You like him don't you" I grinned while looking at her as she desperately tried to cover her blushing face.

"Maybe." Julie answered while squinting her eyes. "Oh shit!" Julie frantically looked at me. "Louise look Kean's looking this way." She said "He's now sitting on the seat two rows in front of you. Exactly in front of you." she emphasized by making her eyes bigger and nudged me to face that direction but I hesitated so I tried to act like I didn't know and looked at the ceiling. "Is there something on my face?" I asked Julie.

"Not a spec of dust" she answered. "Go look at him. I know you want to." She teased and nudged me again to look at Kean's direction.

Finally, I no longer held myself back and I looked at Kean's direction. Half of me was hoping that she was just playing a prank and the other half braced myself with what I might see. My breath was taken away. He really was looking. He was definitely looking.  When I caught his eyes, he smiled and I felt my heart skip a bit. It was probably the most charming smile I had ever seen. His eyes glistened from the limited sunlight that peered from the window curtain. It was magical. He giggled a little showing his gorgeous smile. His laughter were like music. My pulse rate grew faster, I felt my temperature rising, and my cheeks burn as my eyes locked into his while I smiled back him.

Right then, I knew, He was no longer the kid I knew when we were in elementary nor the seatmate I once did crazy stuff with. I realized it was only the beginning. Things won't be the same anymore (at least for me).