It's Complicated

Chapter 2

Fairview High School was bustling with enough people to make your head spin. It was nearly impossible to hear yourself talk because of the noise. Two thousand students made the school not only big but also on the edge of being impossible to navigate if it's your first time being there. I heard about it when Larry complained his first year of getting lost and winding up five minutes late to his first class. I didn't believe him, instead attributing it to his having a poor sense of direction.

Not the case.

I found this out the hard way.

Larry and I arrived at school around seven, giving us time to hang out before the first bell. I found my locker and opened it with the school-issued combination. About the time I got my things inside, I heard footsteps rushing to me. I turned to see who they belonged to.

A Hispanic guy stood over me, another Hispanic guy that was nearly identical right behind him. I smiled at them. "Hi! Is one of you sharing the locker with me?" I asked.

The one closest to me glanced around comically and looked back at me. "It would seem so," he said in lightly accented English.

"Great. Well, I took the top, but if you want it, you can have it since I didn't ask first."

"That's okay – I don't mind the bottom." He glanced at the guy with him and he nodded. Then he gave me a smile. "What's your name?"

"Daisy Jenkins. What's yours?" I couldn't believe I'd forgotten to introduce myself. His smile widened and-

Oh wait. Yes, I could believe I forgot.

"Mario Lopez." He held out his hand and I shook it. "We meet again."

"Pardon?" Again? I surely would have remembered a richly tanned guy with wavy black hair and a pair of eyes that are a honey brown – eyes that felt like they could stare into my soul.

He chuckled in a soft way that lured chills to my skin, adding to the ones the air conditioning gave me when I came in. "Yes, again. We used to play together as kids when we were in Bear Creek."

I thought back. I remembered several Hispanic kids playing with me, but none of them could be this guy that probably made every girl fall in love with him by flashing a smile. But I also remembered their names: Dan, Rebecca, Amanda – and Mario. "No way."

He laughed outright this time and nodded. "Yes, way. Oh, and this is Dan." He gestured to the other guy.

The guy behind him stepped forward and shook my hand as well. "Nice to see you again." A slightly heavier accent than his brother, but still barely there.

"Likewise. Where did you guys go, anyway?"

Mario shifted his weight and took a step closer to the locker, setting his bag down with a thump in the bottom. "Here and there." He stood and began ticking off places. "First, we moved across Boulder, then we moved to Branson, St. Louis, New York City, Sacramento, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Dallas."

"So pretty much everywhere in the consecutive forty-eight," I said, my voice tinged with amazement.

He shrugged. "I guess." His eyes shifted to someone behind me.

I turned and found George at his own locker, just two over from mine. He opened it and glanced up. I swear, his face could have lit all of Boulder when he saw me. It made me blush as I smiled back. "Hey," he said coming over, forgetting his backpack at the locker. His arms enveloped me, holding me loosely in an embrace. "Long time, no see." His deep voice seemed to vibrate through me. He had sandy hair that he kept slightly long so it would flop into his eyes. All it had really managed to do was get me to imagine how soft it would feel to run my fingers through it.