Matches: Why We Burned Out

prologue // wishful thinking

prologue // wishful thinking (edited!)

"If you ask me, he's creepy," Oliver mumbled to me, subtly nodding his head at the quiet boy sitting beneath the tree. He was in my art class on a Friday afternoon, but he isolated himself from the rest of the class as he sat on a small table beside the window. He had been at our school for years but nobody knew who he was; nobody even knew his name!

"Hey, don't be rude! You've never met him before," I defended the boy as I watched his hair dance in the wind from afar.

Oliver scoffed and rolled his eyes, "You've never met him and he's in your class..."

He was right—but that didn't mean that I wasn't intrigued by him at all. He was always working so hard on his artwork, and it seemed that he also spent his lunchtimes working too. I could tell by the sketchbook he was grazing the charcoal against.

Not to brag, but I had made friends with majority of the people at this school, so why did I hold myself back when it came to being friends with the quiet boy? I liked to believe that I possessed an unconditionally friendly aura, which would certainly loosen him up if he was nervous at all. I'd met a lot of people who were dealing with anxiety, and they all seemed to warm up to me (or, at least pretend to).

"Maybe I'll meet him now," I replied as I raised a daring eyebrow. Oliver chuckled.

"Go for it," he challenged, clearly lacking any faith in me whatsoever.

With a final bite into my sandwich, I stood up from the bench we were seated on and strutted over to where this mysterious boy planted himself. He used his legs as some sort of easel for his sketchbook, upon which was a very pretty outline of a girl. I sat beside him and waited for him to acknowledge my presence.

He only glanced up to look at me for a second.

"Hello," I greeted politely, a welcoming smile on my lips.

For another brief moment, his eyes rose to meet mine. I hadn't ever had the privilege to see his eyes up close, and on this occasion I was very lucky. They confused me; blue, green and grey all at the same time. It reminded me of a nebula – that's how stars are born.

"Hello."

There was a small fluttering feeling in my chest as I heard his voice for the first time. It was a very gentle hum, but deep. Boy, his voice was deep.

"We're in the same art class; art with Miss Simmons," I reminded him, just in case he didn't notice. However he just stared down at the sketchbook in his big hands emptily. I pressed my lips together awkwardly as I thought of what to say next. "You don't talk much, huh."

"I was hoping that if I didn't say anything, you'd go away," he mumbled cynically, almost finding amusement in his own bitterness. I didn't know whether to laugh or to be offended. Wow.

After a few seconds of deliberation, I decided to overlook it and try to break this wall he had put up. "My name's Mia," I said with a pleasant smile, "what's yours?"

"Romeo," he replied, staring coldly into my eyes. At this point, I felt something different to when I saw his eyes for the first time. It felt like he was battling me (and winning).

Barely allowing a sigh to pass my lips, I awkwardly averted my eyes from his condescending ones and looked at the girl he was sketching. He noticed I was looking at it and defensively held it close to his chest, like it was his child.

"Can I see that?" I asked politely, trying not to lose my patience, "It looked really good from here."

He shook his head as he casually muttered, "Look, I have to be somewhere."

Romeo stood up and closed the sketchbook as he stuffed it under his arm. Before I could offer to accompany him to wherever he was off to, his long legs were already striding away from me. I shifted my gaze over to Oliver who was trying to stop himself from bursting out in laughter.

But I was a determined girl; I would've never given up that easily.

***
Hello! Thank you so much for reading! I'm Sarah and I am the author of this book. Remember, this is my story, and it's copyrighted, all rights reserved. No part of this story can be reproduced in any form or by any means without my permission. If you see that someone has plagiarised in any way, do not hesitate to contact me. All serious business aside, I hope you enjoy this fun-filled story! :-)) Model in the picture is Manu Rios.

Enjoy!

— sarah xox