Where the Butterflies Hide

*}|{*Chapter One*}|{*

She was so interesting, capturing the attention of the room without even trying. And she definitely wasn't trying. Her dark jeans, plain t-shirt and grey hoodie blended into the dull colors of the classroom walls around her, the nervous twitching of her fingers showing her desire to fade into those walls and disappear. But it was impossible with her golden hair shining through the dull colors she surrounded herself with.

"Levi, you listening?"

Levi Walker turned his body back to his best friend and teammate Josh Kennedy, while his eyes still lingered on the mystery girl "Yea man, I'm listening." Satisfied with his response, Josh continued, running his hands through his short blonde hair. "As I was saying, we need to go over the playbook before Friday's game," Josh rolled his green eyes at his friend "I swear the guys on the team all think they have eidetic memories and they only have to look at it once!"

Levi nodded, but his gaze followed the girl as she moved to the very back of the row and took the seat closest to the window. He noticed how carefully she placed herself in the chair, as if she were afraid it would break under her weight. He watched as she slid her backpack off of her shoulders, pulling out a simple composition notebook and pen and arranging them neatly on the desk. The early autmn sun shone through the window panes, illuminating her hair and making her appear as if she were glowing.

Josh huffed "Alright seriously Levi stop daydreaming, I need you to talk to me here!"

All at once the spell was broken, and Levi pulled his gaze away from the girl's luminescence and towards his friends irritated expression "Sorry Josh. And yea I agree with you. I'll talk to the guys and have them meet up early for practice today." Josh leaned back in his seat behind Levi, throwing his hand in the air in exasperation. "And he's back on earth! Seriously you freaked me out with your 'I'm not on this planet right now' look". Chuckling under his breath, Levi turned towards the front of the class to face Mrs. Kelly who walked into the classroom and began roll call as Levi sneaked in one last glance at the girl from under his lashes.

Their homeroom teacher Mrs. Kelly was in her late thirties, with salt and pepper hair that she wore in a bun and light grey eyes. She was a friendly woman with soft features who wore pencil skirts, flats and always had a writing utensil sticking out from behind her ear.

"Um.. Claire Hartley?" Mrs. Kelly called.

"Present," Levi heard the mystery girl, Claire, answer. The whisper of her voice caressed him as it traveled throughout the room and echoed off the silent walls. A shiver traveled down his spine as he listened to the one word she spoke, causing him to turn back in his chair slightly to see if he could catch a glimpse of her face.

Light blue eyes met his dark brown ones as he took her in. She had reluctantly pulled the hoodie off of her head earlier due to school rules, and the golden mess of her hair tumbled down past her shoulders and frames her heart shape face, giving her the appearance of an angel. He found her observing him as well and he flashed her a wide grin when he saw admiration color her gaze. Her eyes widened then and she looked down embarrassed, a blush staining her cheeks bright pink as her long blonde lashes hid the blue of her eyes. Levi silently laughed at her reaction.

"Oh, my apologizes, you are new here Ms. Hartley correct?" Mrs. Kelly asked politely. Claire just nodded her head in response and proceeded to stare intently at the floor, like she was whishing it would open up and swallow her whole.

"Well, welcome to Belleview Ms. Hartley. Now where was I...oh yes, Josh Kennedy?"

"I am always here Mrs. Kelly." Josh replied smugly with a grin on his face, propping his feet up on Levi's chair. Mrs. Kelly rolled her eyes in response "You keep telling yourself that Mr. Kennedy, hopefully it'll become true." She replied, earning a few chuckles from the class as she returned to calling out students names.