Smile

Prologue

Once upon a time...

That's how all the fairytales begin, right? There's a girl who's mistreated and misunderstood. She meets a guy—probably the most popular guy in school (and hey, why not make him British while we're at it?). He's most likely very handsome and just as rich, and magically seems to understand her. It feels like they've known each other forever when in fact they've actually just met. It's love at first sight, the guy saves the girl from whatever misery she's in, they meet only two or three problems along the way, and then it's happily ever after.

I would've liked that happening to me as much as all of those other girls. But life doesn't always give us what we want.

I'd met Logan McCloud in seventh grade, five years prior, through some mutual friends. Logan was the silent type; he wasn't one for attention, so he'd never caught mine.

The first time I'd really noticed him was last year. Took quite some time, didn't it? When we entered grade nine, "the real high school", he grew apart from my friends and I from his. That had been the end of our never-really-going-friendship. Neither of us had been affected by that, as we never were "real" friends in the first place.

The way Logan caught my attention during junior year was nothing extravagant or anything like that. I don't know if I'd ever seen him smile before then, but one thing for sure, I did that day. You see, the thing about Logan was that he wasn't someone who'd be considered "hot", or one to have every girl chasing after him because of his looks. But I, for some reason, thought he was beautiful. He was attractive in a very simple way, with his pale blue eyes and long, brown hair that seemed black if you looked at him from afar (and seriously needed a haircut, to be honest... It always got in his eyes).

He'd been hanging out with his friends (who used to be mine too) near my locker when I first noticed. That day, I fell in love with Logan McCloud's smile. Starting from then, I would keep seeking for his smile everytime I saw him, glancing at him during the classes we shared when the teacher made a joke, or watching him in what I hoped was a subtle way when he was with his friends.

Then last month came along. He came to school one day, and I'd immediately felt like something was wrong. And that day, I thought I'd never see Logan McCloud smile again.