Every Fall (h.s.)

The Beginning

I woke up this morning with the unknowing encounter I would have that would change my life.

I woke up to my alarm clock at 9 a.m., fully motivated for the day, being a graduated 8th grader, almost in high school, life was pretty great. I look in the mirror and see a very self-loving human, someone I have grown to be. My appearance was a bit chubby in the face, very tall from a recent growth spurt, but still happy as can be.

School was almost starting so a faint fall smell was in the air. I took it in without a care in the world, excited about the most simple things that would come, pumpkins, football games, candles, and sweaters. I was especially excited to spend it all with my best friend, Rose.

Rose and I had met at the beginning of 6th grade at a pool party of my friends, I had never met her before because she went to a different school. I remember how beautiful I thought she was and how badly I wanted to be friends with her. This did bring my self esteem down seeing how matured and pretty she was for 6th grade. We ended up being interested in the same things and becoming each other's other half. Ever since then, we had been inseparable. As I continue my day, I get a text from rose.

Rose: HEY GIRL

Hadley (me): heyyyy

Rose: Are we going to Emily's house tonight?

(Emily was one of my neighbors that was a year older than us but we had started hanging with her a lot more)

Me: I have practice but I will come after

Rose: Okay well me and Danielle will be there when you come

me: okie dokie

I sat and thought about how long it'd been since I saw Emily so going there would really bring my mood up.

Practice went by slowly since all I could think about was going to Emily's. After endless drills and baskets, I got my stuff together and had my mom take me. As soon as she dropped me off, I could see all the cars in her parking lot, knowing there will probably be a lot of people here. I walked in the door and could hear a lot of people talking, no voices I could recognize. Emily had a brother that was a junior and had people over a lot.

When I entered the kitchen they all stared at me, confused at who I was.

"Hadley! You're here!" Emily said, running to hug me.

"Hi Emily. Hey guys," I said, waving to Rose and Danielle.

"Hey!" they said in unison.

"Hadley, this is Niall, zany, Louis, Liam, and Harry," Emily said, pointing down the line. Once her finger stopped on the last person, my eyes were glued. He had by far been the most attractive guy I'd ever seen. His hair was long and curly, brushing over his forehead in a meaningful wave and his facial structure was more defined than anybody's I'd ever seen before. His figure was thin but muscular. But, his eyes, they were connecting with mine on a different level that I had never been used to. The emerald of his eyes left me feeling raw, as if he saw into my skin and bones, into my soul. I felt a comfortable invasion with his look, but uncomfortable not knowing what was behind his eyes. They looked sad.

They all nodded to me, acknowledging and greeting my presence, but Harry smirked. I looked down at my feet, unsure what to do or say. I had never felt this way so fast in my life. Although I was going into 7th grade, I had a lot of boyfriends throughout elementary school, I practically dated every guy in my class (there were only 12, I didn't date them all). I had little tiny crushes on boys in school, but never this much feeling behind a glance.

"So, we're going to go out to the pool, because it's nice out and we're bored," Emily said.

"Emily, it looks like it's going to rain," Louis, Emily's brother, said.

"It's still nice out," she said back to him.

"Ill go change," I said, noticing everyone had their stuff on under their clothes. Thank god I packed a bathing suit. Since It was still summer, I always packed my bathing suit in case things like this happened. As I changed into my bathing suit, I looked in the mirror at my body and felt self conscious for one of the few times I had so far in my life. I had never given much thought to my figure, because I didn't even know people stressed about it. But, as I looked in the mirror, I felt uncomfortable knowing those guys would see me in a bathing suit. My love handles felt as if they were spilling over the sides of my bikini bottoms and the front of my belly was a huge mess. After realizing I was being stupid to look at myself with such close inspection, I turned to open the door. I thought everyone was outside but harry had stayed behind.

"Hi, I'm Harry," He said, giving me a small wave.

"Hadley," I said, shyly, my cheeks blushing.

"I've never seen you around before, how come?" he said, meeting my gaze then looking away.

"Emily and I have just became friends, I haven't been to her house other than once," I said, hoping that I can get out of this conversation soon, because the atmosphere around him was making it hard to breathe. It was as if he was intoxicating.

"I was about to say, i would've remembered seeing you around."

i would've remembered seeing you around.

He gave me a smirk and went out the patio door. I stood staring at where he had just been, confused and feeling butterflies in my stomach.