Seeing Grey

3. Noah Chase

At first I ignored Grey because she scared me by being so aggressive. I was too shy for that. Not to mention everyone in my new elementary school also ignored her. That was the only way I was going to survive. Kids can be very judgmental and that was what we did, we judged away with no mercy or guilt. I guess you can say it's the biggest fault of human nature.

I dodged Grey like no ones business. Let me tell you though, it was hard. During this time I saw my best friend Jacob about once a month and visits with my other friend Mikayla ceased to exist. I missed them, and the school had dubbed me as Grey's boyfriend. That quickly changed my status to social leper. That surely was not the way I intended to start my new life.

But what I could never come to understand, even now, after knowing her for many years, were the intricacies that shaped Grey Winters. She was the weirdest, craziest, and- although it took me a while to understand- the most wonderful person I would ever meet. She made it seem like the sun was out on cloudy days but then on sunny days she would make it seem cloudy. I was hot and cold with her. I had no understanding of this.

I survived elementary school, barely, and soon middle school since we began to meet more kids. I started dating a slew of girls: Tall, skinny, short, curvy, smart, dumb, blonde, brunette, ginger, popular, sporty, girly, or rocker. I dated them all. As long as people forgot I was Grey Winters' "boyfriend". I wanted that horrible dub to be long gone and I wanted no association with that crazy girl who ruined my early years. And it worked, I had no classes with her and I made new friends. I still hoped for high school when about six hundred more kids would be added and I would reunite with Jacob and Mikayla. Those were the years I held on to. I

t was a hope that I would never see Grey again. If I did see her I hoped it would only be in passing and she wouldn't recognize me. However, fate had a different plan of course.

High school was the time that I saw Grey even more than the previous years. It was the years where she was everywhere. It was the years where I horribly and wonderfully fell in love with the crazy Grey Winters.

Soon four years turned to six, and there we were at the end of eighth grade. I saw Jacob more since my sister Georgia had just gotten her license, and it was her sisterly duty to drive us everywhere. We never stopped begging her for rides and she soon learned she could not escape us.

"And you will not believe what happened next. She literally hopped onto the kitchen counter stepping onto the variety of meats shouting 'murderers'. Now we don't have meat in our cafeteria at all." I was waving my arms frantically around me. I almost hit Jacob in the face and I smacked my hand into the car window.

Jacob came out with a barrel of laughs, tears springing into the corners of his eyes. "She sounds like she can kick ass man!" I shook my head. Jacob could not grasp the concept of how annoying and crazy Grey was. I had given up with my stories because they always just made Jacob like Grey even more. He always defended her or liked something about her. I didn't understand why because I always painted her much more horribly than she really was.

"You're just saying that because you still had meat in that fancy private school of yours," I defended. Jacob having money was always my way to make him back off or feel bad. Jacob punched my shoulder in response and soon we were having somewhat of a fist fight in the back. I was pulling on the sleeve of his red hoodie and stretched it out to the point where his mother would nag at him for hours about it.

"Hey stop it you two!" Georgia yelled with her wild red hair adding more effect. She shook her head and thought for a minute. We knew better than to interrupt her thought process she was having at this moment.

"Noah, I don't understand why you don't like this little girl. Grey is so wonderful, you don't come by people like her anymore you know. You've got to stop being cruel."

I let out a groan in frustration. In the past month everyone seemed to have had a change of heart and they fell in love with Grey. Suddenly she was almost as popular as me and everyone loved her. It seemed as if I was the only one who still saw the real lunatic her. I wanted to scream at the world and I actually did. I caused a world of pain for my family and friends.

That summer I did everything wrong. I did things I could have never imagined myself doing and they are things that I am so ashamed of. I had smoked all the marijuana I could get my hands on and popped half of the pills known to man. Even if I didn't know what they were or who they came from, I still took them. I was selfish to my family and for some reason just felt the need to act out. Maybe I wanted my family to think that Grey's craziness was making me do this.

I also went around being mean to my sisters, ignored my grandma and was rebellious to my parents wishes. In the meantime, Grey grew in everyone's hearts except for her parents. Drugs were my breaking point, and her parents were hers.

That summer she had moved into someone's house− I didn't care whose. While she was free from her vindictive parents, I was trapped in my house by my worried ones. With Grey gone, I was fine as long as we were far away from each other. As long as I did not see her.

A whole summer without Grey and I was truly happy. I hoped my family would see that she was the root of my problems. I realized a little too late that the problem was just really inside of me. I was unhappy with who I was becoming because of how I tried to avoid Grey. I had a whole summer without the world and I came to hate my life much more. Three months had passed and I soon found myself on the last day of summer. Boy was I not excited to start high school and have the slight chance that I may see Grey again. Because it meant that I would be dumb and return to my old ways.

...................................

"Noah, wake the hell up." My perfectly warm blankets were pulled off of my still sleepy body and cold air hit me. I reached out to nowhere in particular trying to find my thick navy blankets. "Noah!" My sister Georgia again screamed. Her voice was not so pleasant to wake up to.

"Wake up this instant or I'm not driving you to school," she threatened me without a hint of joking. I got shivers but they weren't from the cold, it was frightening how much my sister was starting to sound like my mom. Fearing the thought of my mother, I quickly jumped out of bed and into the shower.

After coming out I stared at my reflection in the mirror and was happy. I had finished middle school at the height of 5'6 and I was now 5'11. My shoulders had broadened creating the illusion of muscles. No one saw me these past two months and they were going to get a huge surprise when they saw me again.

I got dressed, packed my backpack, and rushed downstairs to get breakfast. My whole family was already eating but it only consisted of bowls of cereal. I grabbed the bag of lucky charms, my favorite, and began to pour when caught the sight of something outside.

Turns out I wasn't the only one who had done some growing. Grey's hair had grown to her waist, her somewhat chest filled out, and curves sprouted in all the right places, she had also grown about three inches. She looked more beautiful than ever. Gone was the lanky, immature girl. Hopefully this was the case with her personality too.

For a quick second I let myself think that she was a little hot and then shook myself out of that trance. Although hot, I bet she was still same old weirdo Grey Winters and I didn't want to mess with that.

"Understand Noah?" I turned to my mom who had that look in her eye that I knew meant business. Georgia was laughing, Janice had her mouth dropped open, and my grandma rested her hand on mine.

Whatever my mom said I had just missed and something tells me I shouldn't have. Well, I should never miss anything my mom says.

"I understand Ma." I planted a big wet kiss on her cheek and sat down to eat breakfast. "Oh Noah what would I do without you," she muttered as her hand caressed the top of my head.