Love-Sight

Chapter One

I hated going to school, I felt like a complete outsider there. It didn't help that I couldn't concentrate with all the red strings glowing in my face. It was as if they were beckoning me to give them more attention.
My family already thought I was a freak, seeing as they couldn't see these horrible strings. They followed me wherever I went, I could never escape them...
I sighed as I threw my bag over my shoulder, heading towards the gymnasium. I had track practice, which was the only thing I looked forward to after my rough day at school. I could push everything away and just run, run my troubles away.
I didn't have any friends on the team, or friends in general. I tend to stay away from everyone so I could avoid the strings tied around their pink finger. I must be going mad, I would constantly see them and even run into them, but no matter what no one else could see them. I had never had the courage to research these strange strings, afraid that they might be something dark and deadly. But that couldn't be, they always glowed with a soft light that drew my attention.
   My parents have tried everything to convince me that the stings were just in my imagination, setting up millions of appointments with the ophthalmologist to see if it was just something wrong with my eyes. When they couldn't find anything, they even have had me go to a psychiatrist to talk about what I think they are. Their last resort is to put me on medication...
   I shuttered at the thought. I could never picture being on meds for the rest of my life. I could go on ignoring the red strings than being on medication.
We had started practice early, which I was thankful for. I had plugged in my music and ran my troubles away. I didn't really have a lot of friends, I mainly just kept to myself. I found it was easier this way... But my best friend didn't seem to like this idea.
   "Ellie! Wait up!" Shouted Lilian, who sprinted her way to me. She was already breathing heavily as she tried to maintain my pace. "Could you slow down! It's only the first practice!" She exclaimed.
I scoffed at her. "Just because I ran all summer doesn't mean I'm gonna slow down. You should have run with me."
She huffed in annoyance, or maybe she was trying to catch her breath. "You know I couldn't! I had two jobs!"
I laughed. "And whose fault is that!"
She choked on her laugh, causing her face to become beat red. It reminded me of how red the strings were, which I had almost forgotten about. Of course I couldn't tell her about these strange strings, she would think I was crazy. So I would constantly ignore the glowing string around her pinky whenever we hung out.
    However, I still found it strange that I don't have a string on my own finger. Everyone I have seen has had one except me. I didn't know if that was a good or bad sign, and I didn't want to find out.
At the end of practice, I was back to being surrounded by the strings. My best friend was sucking in air next to me as I did my post-workout stretch. "Man... I'm really... out of shape..." she started. I chuckled as I checked my watch. I had a few hours to kill before I would need to go babysit.
"What you in a rush?" Observed Lilian. I grinned as I replied, "No, just checking the time."
She rolled her eyes, when suddenly they stopped and widened. I followed her gaze to the soccer team walking out to their field. I smiled as I looked back at my friend, who was already blushing. "Don't you say it." She grumbled.
This made me smile more. "You're crush is walking out. You should go say hi."
At this she turned bright red, which caused me to laugh. "You know I could never do that! Besides he would never go for someone like me..."
I narrowed my eyes as I draped my arm over her shoulders. "Now don't you start that! You are an amazing person and anyone would be lucky to have you."
  She smiled, her cheeks turning red. "Thanks Ellie."
I smiled back, patting her on her back before we started to head back to the locker room. But that's when I noticed something, the closer we moved to the soccer team, the brighter the string connected to my best friend glowed. I stopped in my tracks with a frown. What could this mean? This had never happened before, and it made me even more curious.
My best friend stoped and frowned at me, she said something I didn't register what she said. My eyes locked onto the string and followed it towards the soccer team. I couldn't believe what I saw. My eyes widened as I found the end tied to the pinky of Robyn Wolfe, my best friends major crush since seventh grade.
  "Ellie? Are you okay?"
I blinked and looked back at Lilian, who was frowning at me with concern. "Yeah I'm fine, just got lost in thought."
   She chuckled. "You were staring right at the soccer team. Do you have a hidden crush that I don't know about?"
    I laughed and replied, "Oh yeah sure. Maybe I have a crush on the coach."
    She grimaced and pretended to choke on something to show her disgust, causing me to laugh even more. We laughed all the way to the locker room, but I couldn't help but stare at the red string on my best friend the whole time.