How Peculiar

Chapter One

    A boy with brown, curly hair sat at a small table in a cafe. His name was Tom. His eyes were a blue-ish green color, and they stared intently down at his paper. He held a pencil in his hand as he made light strokes in his sketchbook. He wore a gray t-shirt with a red plaid long sleeve shirt over it. He also had on black ripped jeans.

    Ev'ry now and then he would look up at a girl. It was a certain girl, actually. They went to college together. Her name was Theodora, and he had had a crush on her since freshman year. She was probably the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. But it wasn't her looks that had caught Tom's attention, it was her brain. She often missed the majority of the school year but still managed to have the best grades in almost the entire school. He looked back down at his sketchbook. He had been trying to sketch her any chance he saw her, though he thought it looked terrible. He looked back up and she was gone.

    "Damn it..." he murmured, starting to pack up his stuff.

    "Is that me?" A soft voice questioned from behind. He turned around to see Theodora standing behind him, looking down at the sketchbook. Tom could feel his face heat up.

    "I-I uhh....yeah...." He trailed off, not really knowing what to say. All he could do was watch as she gazed intently at the drawing. Her eyes flicked and met his. Then she laughed lightly.

    "That can't be me," her voice pausing for a moment, "I'm ugly." Shock pulsed through Tom and his eyes grew wide.

    What is she talking about?! She's amazingly beautiful! He yelled to himself. His eyes traveled over her features. Her dark brown, almost black, hair fell perfectly over her shoulders. Ice blue eyes that could pierce through anyone. A slim figure that any girl, or person for that matter, would envy.

    "But you're beautiful!" The words blurted from his mouth before he could stop them. She looked at him in shock, nodding slowly.

    "My ride's here."She said softly. A moment after that was voiced, a woman came in.

    "Theodora," the woman began, "It's time to go." Her foot tapped impatiently. Theodora nodded.

    "Bye Tom. I'll see you later." Her footsteps faded until she stopped when she stood by the woman. They exchanged a few quick words but the only thing he caught was "push his buttons." With that, they left. Nothing more, nothing less. Tom shook his head and finished packing up his stuff. Then he stood, walked to the door and began to open it, but he stopped. Someone... Someone was watching him. He spun on his heel. There was no one. No one. The entire place was empty. There had been people just a moment ago, but now they were gone.

    "Sir?" a voice asked. There was still no one there. "Sir." the voice came louder this time. Tom blinked. A woman stood in front of him. "Are you alright?" Tom looked around. The people were back.

    "Yeah..." Tom said. He swallowed and nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine." The woman gave friendly nod and walked away. He pulled the door open and walked out.