Thoughts of a Thinker

Chapter eight

Sleeping in my own bed last night was much needed. After Vincent dropped me at home, my mom had quite a few things to say to me. Which is understandable I guess. Somehow, I managed to get to bed ungrounded. I had assured my mom a couple lectures would do me good, and that was all I needed.

Now I'm here; once again, in Ember's car. Her friends Lindsey, Tara, and Lexi all sit in the back while we drive to school. The 5 of us have been talking and giggling nonstop. My favorite song comes on the radio and I turn it up before singing along and moving strangely. The rest of the girls follow suit, minus Ember.

"-Ain't it funny how life changes,

You wake up ain't nothing the same,

And life changes,

You can't stop it, just hop on a train," Ember finally sings.

The suns beating down on my face, I'm singing my heart out, and I'm with a couple amazing friends. This is all I need to understand the little significance Vincent played in my life.

Although it might seem that Vincent didn't do anything wrong and he was once an incredibly nice guy, I refuse to let a boy play with my emotions that way.

So here I am; better than ever.

"Ember?" Tara says getting Ember's attention.

"Yes Tara" she says melodramatically.

"Starbucks run?" Tara says hopefully.

"I swear you just want to waste my gas," Ember says jokingly before sighing. "Finee," she agrees. So we begin our descend to Starbucks.

"What are you guys doing after school?" I question the group.

"Nothing, want to come over?" Lindsey replies first.

A series of yes' and other noise is followed by the rest of my friends.

Then I'm at school and the day passes slowly in a boring slur. The only thing that gets me excited is the Mr. Noodles I buy from the cafeteria and the thought of seeing my friends after school. Mostly the Mr. Noodles though.

A group of people parade into the cafeteria and walk in my direction. I make out Lindsey, Ember, Tara, and Lexi from a distance. A couple guys I've never met follow Ember and them closely.

Someone sits beside me, and I turn my head even though there are noodles hanging from my mouth. I slurp them up quickly.

He is tall; maybe 6" and has dirty blond hair. His hair reminds me of beach hair or a surfer. His skin is olive and tanned and his eyes a light hazel. Have you ever looked into someone's eyes and seen a tornado or maybe a hurricane? I see both.

I've always had an infatuation with eyes. It's wrong to judge a book by it's cover, but is it wrong to judge someone by their eyes? I look at myself in the mirror and I see eyes of innocence and hurt and pain and eyes of adventure. I dig deep in my brain and those things have always been with me.

I look at this particular pair of hazel eyes and I see chaos and inner conflict. Then I see warmth and kindness. I've always trusted someone with kind eyes.

"Hey, I'm Winston," he says before shaking my hand.

"I'm Sabrena, but people call me Rena," I say feeling shy.

"That's a very pretty name," he says sweetly. While he says this, I look into his eyes. What I see tells me he's being genuine, and I smile at him.

"Thank you, my mom named me," I say. Oh god, why would I say that? I sound like such an idiot; of course, my mom named me.

"Well, I guess we have that in common," he laughs before winking slyly at me.

Winston and I talk the entire lunch hour and I never forget to look at his eyes.

To see the beauty that lies beneath the hurricane you must watch closely. So that's what I do. You can tell exactly the type of person someone is by their eyes.

For a fleeting second, my mind wonders to Vincent's eyes. Deep blue and slightly tragic. I saw no trace of bad in them, just a spiral of self-doubt and anguish. Everybody has a reason for things. Whether it's legitimate or not is another story.

I focus back on Winston's eyes before taking a second to study those around our table. I look to Tara and see happiness mixed with giddiness in this moment. Then I look to Lindsey whose eyes scream for attention as she listens in on a conversation.

Then I look at Ember's. I see something I wasn't expecting. Hers are filled with discreet greed. Almost like she's trying to hide it.