Rolling Girl

Chapter III

(Picture of Lucas Till as Carter)

April 16, 2015, 3:00 PM

-Ross-

The bell rang. My first day at school was a success, and I was stoked to have met a beautiful girl who didn't judge me on my wrongdoings last semester. She was so cute, I was so happy when Mr. Liu told me that I would be sitting next to her for the rest of the year. If only she was single. I know she despises Carter, the boy that hurts her every day yet calls her his girlfriend. He doesn't address her right, and she is only referred to as "sexy" or some other skimpy name.

Oh, Gwen.

I wonder how I didn't notice her when I was here last. I knew she was here all along, it just never hit me that she was the one for me. The moment I wrapped her in my arms, I knew she was the one for me. I felt terrible for what Carter did to her. He's so sweet and kind to everyone else, and I bet he's only using Gwen to get into her pants. I wish I could just show Gwen what it's really like to have a real boyfriend. If only she liked me back. Carter left a red mark on her arm. She tried to wriggle herself out but he tightened his grip. Talk about a bad relationship.

I was walking out of the school when I saw Gwen walking out of the bathroom. Her face was florid, yet wan at the same time. She had a bruise on her neck and she was trying to get out of school as fast as she could.

"Gwen!" I shouted, catching many stares. I guess she didn't hear me, because she didn't turn around.

"Gwen, wait up!" I said, a little louder this time. She turned around in the midst of the crowd trying to get out of the school so they wouldn't miss their bus.

As soon as I caught up to her she pushed her hair in front of her bruise.

"Hey." I said, trying to look like I wasn't yearning to kiss her.

She looked down. "Hi.."

I pushed us out of the crowd so that we could talk a bit longer. She looked up at me with her perfect brown eyes but said nothing. I slowly put my fingers in her hair and pushed them behind her ear, fully exposing the bruise. It looked worse up close. I tried not to freak out, but she made me worry so much. I've only known her for half a day and she's already got me paralyzed. Then it hit me: Where's Carter?

"So.. Where's Carter? I thought he would be following you around asking to bang or something."

She put a small smile on her face and looked back down. "He's at baseball practice."

I was a natural at baseball. It always came easy to me, but I missed the auditions because I came late this semester.

"Would it be okay if I were to walk you home this fine day in April?" I said with a smirk on my face, hoping Gwen would laugh and say yes.

 Fortunately for my heart, she nodded and said okay.

I told her I would carry her backpack for her and so now I stood there, carrying two as we walked outside of the school campus.

After about 5 minutes of walking in silence, I asked her what happened to cause the bruise on her neck.

"Oh, that? My dog bit me yesterday." Gwen obviously lied. She put a fake smile on her face and kept on walking. I nodded and shrugged it off.

"So, Gwen, tell me about yourself." I said, ending the sudden silence.

"Well, I'm sixteen, I have two siblings, and I love the color blue." she said. That made me smile. Blue was my favorite too. I desperately wanted to pull her into a kiss right then and there, to ask her to be my girlfriend and to call her mine. To heal her bruises and hold her hand and swing it slightly while we walked down the sidewalk together.

Instead I just chuckled a bit. "I love blue too. Especially light blue, a bright cerulean, the color the sky gets before it turns to pink, then orange, then purple, and finally, black."

A cold breeze came in and pushed the grass into light ripples. It was quite cold here in Montana, and Gwen shuddered. Her cardigan was knit, so it wasn't protecting her from the cold. I took it into my own hands, taking off my backpack as we walked, unzipping it and taking out my varsity football jacket from last semester, before the punch that shoved me out of school for a long, grueling 3 months. I placed it over her shoulders and she looked up at me and smiled. Her body was small, so she could use the jacket as a blanket with cloth to spare.

I looked forward, enjoying the silence between us. It felt good, like something that was eventually going to wash over.

"Oh, that's my house." she said quietly. No way. Her house was down the street from mine and I didn't even know it?!

"Holy shit." I said. "My house is 4 houses down."

"No way. That's awesome!" she said, looking at me as happy as a 6 year old who lost her first tooth.

Oh man, I really loved her.

"Well, I've gotta go." she pouted. "Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow." I reassured her.

She walked up her front steps but stopped before walking through the door. She then unexpectedly turned around and buried her happy face into my chest, hugging me.

"Thanks." she said, her voice muffled by my chest.

"No problem, Gwendolyn." I said with a smirk on my face. She looked up, punched me in the arm playfully with a laugh, and I handed her her backpack.

"Owie," I said sarcastically. "You're strong."

"Bye, Ross." she said with a playful smirk on her face. She trotted in the door and waved me goodbye before shutting it slowly.

Oh, Gwen. I've fallen for you.