Never Again Will I Fall

Part One-Marc: Chapter One

I walked into the cafeteria on the first day of my sophomore year, fresh from a nasty breakup and the hardest summer I'd ever had. I grew nine inches and gained thirty pounds of pure muscle. I still wasn't bulky, but I wasn't the scrawny Mexican anymore.

My best friend, Bear, ran up to me. "Dang, man. Jay said you had a growth spurt, but you're taller than me."

I grinned, and spread my arms. "Yep."

"Ash was asking about you."

My smile faltered, and my arms dropped. "And?"

"She was talking about you two getting back together."

"That's never going to happen."

He rolled his eyes. "I give it three weeks."

"Whatever. There's no way I'm going to go back to where I was. I can't go through that with her again."

"Okay, whatever you say."

The cafeteria doors opened and closed, then everyone got really quiet. Bear looked over my shoulder, and he nudged me. I turned, and saw that Ash had walked into the cafeteria, flanked by her two best friends, Jazz and Kinna.

Ash made eye contact, and I thought her deep brown eyes were going to fall out of her head. Her dark brown hair was bleached and straightened, as usual. Part of the reason why our relationship didn't work was because I didn't want to be fake anymore, but she was fine with pretending to be someone else.

She smiled, and I just looked at her, disgusted. The smile was less real than her hair was naturally blonde. I turned and went back to talking to Bear. She wasn't worth the energy it took to stare.

The first day back at school was pretty mediocre. Girls were hanging off of me like icicles on the branches of a tree, but I ignored them. It wasn't that I wasn't over Ash, I just had no interest in any of them. In fact, I felt empty, like all of my emotions had been replaced by the height and muscle. It wasn't a feeling that I liked.

I went home that day and found my little sisters playing on our trampoline. I hugged them and kissed their foreheads, then went inside to eat something. The school food was disgusting, something I was just now realizing.

I made myself an omelet and ate it before changing into sweats and a t-shirt. I grabbed my phone and my earbuds, turning on my running playlist. To keep in shape for football season, I ran three miles every day after school. There was a great running trail in the park next to my house and it was my favorite place to run. I shut my brain off, and just ran.

Once I was done running, I walked the three miles back to my house. I heard the faint sound of screaming in the distance. Normally, people would be freaked out by that, but it was as normal as birds chirping in the morning.

The house that the screaming came from was nicknamed "House of Horrors" by my family, because no one really knew what the screaming was about.

The screaming eventually stopped, and I was about to put my earbuds back in when I came around a corner and crashed into something. Whatever it was fell to the ground, and made a strange yelping noise.

I looked down, and saw a girl at my feet. She was the kind of timeless beauty you read about in romance novels. Her chesnut hair fell straight down her back like an endless roll of exotic silk. Her eyes were green that day, like the vibrant landscape behind me. I must've been staring at her for a while, because she started to fidget.

"Oh, sorry." I held out a hand to help her up. "I guess I just zoned out for a little while."

She took my hand an I pulled her up. I overestimated her weight, and she crashed into my chest.

"Sorry, again. I didn't mean to..."

"It's fine." She smiled and that's when I noticed why her eyes looked so green. She had been crying. Her cheeks were still slightly wet, and her eyes were rimmed with red.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She said, wiping her cheeks with the sleeve of her cardigan. She started to walk away, and I stared at her back until she disapeared around the corner. She walked with a purpose, but it wasn't walking; it was floating. Everything she did, every small movement she made was a part of an elaborate dance that had me mesmerized.

Before that day, I didn't believe in love at first sight. Yes, you can see someone, and be attracted them instantly. That's how it was with Ash and I. But falling in love with your soulmate the first time you lay eyes on them? I was an unbeliever, until she converted me.