The Colors of Love

6: Psychology Class

I walk into school, a smile on my face. I'm determined to talk to Adriana again today, and maybe even ask for her number. Last night when I had gone home, I didn't tell my parents. I just acted like it was a normal day, and I couldn't see in color. I don't think I would be able to handle their sympathetic glances, and optimistic little speeches. So I just stayed quiet and pretended I couldn't see color. That was the hardest part. I would sometimes think about mentioning a color, but I always caught myself at the last second.

My mother has a book full of colors, their names listed underneath them. Last night, instead of doing my Physics homework, I stayed up until three in the morning flipping through the pages of the book and learning the names of the colors.

Blue. That's my favorite. It's the color of the ocean, which had quickly become my favorite image to look at on the computer screen. It's the color of my mother's eyes, and the color of my car, and most importantly, the color of Adriana's eyes.

I take a seat in my psychology class, and stare at the door. A few people trickle in, most of them seniors, and all of them looking exhausted. Now that it's October, we're starting to get the brunt of our work, and it's not the easy stuff that freshmen complain about.

I glance at the door one more time, but Adriana still isn't here yet. The bell rings, and still, she doesn't walk through the door. The teacher does, however, and says, "Alright class. We've got a big project that we're going to start today."

I try to pay attention, but I can't help but wonder where Adriana is. She's in this class, I know it. So where is she?

"We are going to be doing self evaluations, and peer evaluations," says the teacher, Mr. Brunner. "You will be paired with another person in the class, and you will do a psych evaluation on each other."

He goes on to explain the specific requirements for the paper. We're to evaluate ourselves, our partner, and three other people with varying personalities. As Mr. Brunner explains the specifics of the paper we need to write, Adrianna walks into class, looking extremely tired. She blushes as Mr. Brunner says, "Glad you could make it today, Ms. Markus."

"Sorry, I had car trouble," she says breathlessly. Then she takes a seat at the desk behind me. I glance over my shoulder at her, but she's too busy unpacking her bag to notice me. Her hair -it's blonde, I now know- is down today, and falls in pretty curls around her face. She's wearing a simple tank top -it's red, much brighter and fuller than Carter's hair- and black jeans, and yet she looks stunning. She also has a bunch of bracelets around her wrists, and a few of them I can tell represent bands.

"Alright class, pair up," instructs Mr. Brunner. I turn around in my seat with what I hope is a friendly smile on my face.

"Hey, want to be partners?" I ask.

She meets my gaze, and cocks an eyebrow. "What's with the sudden interest in me?"

"Who said I was interested?" I reply, slightly smirking.

"Yesterday at lunch, and now you want to be partners for a project?" she says, eyebrows raised questioningly.

"Ah...well... who else would I want to partner with? There's nobody fun in this class," I retort. Its half-way true; all the kids in this class are either stoners, dealers, or man whores.

She shrugs, "That's true, I guess. Fine, I'll be your partner." I try not to smile too widely, as not to freak her out.

The rest of class went smoothly, and as the bell rings, I turn to Adriana and say, "So, should we meet up at your house or mine?"

"Yours," she replies quickly.

"Okay. How about tomorrow after school?" I ask.

"Sounds good. See you then," she says.

"See you then."

A wide smile spreads across my face, and as I walk to my next class, I can't help but feel slightly optimistic.