" I am Elizabeth De La Rosa, I am from Los Angeles California."
I told myself out loud. I need to become my new name a new person. Vanessa Madrigal never existed.
***
Senior year was suppose to be the one of the greatest time of any high school st...
Since first period there was chatter and whispering throughout the school that there was a hot redheaded guy that transferred to the school and was the same age and grade as my friends and I. After my second class I completely forgot about it until Alessia texted me if I met the guy already. It was already towards the middle of day and I still haven't seen or ran into the cute redhead boy.
Alessia already has seen him as she had history class with him but her teacher had a strict phone policy so she wasn't able to get a face picture of him. She was sneaky enough to take a picture but the back of his head. In reality it wasn't much to see but still I want to see this guy.
The first half of school was chattering "have you seen the new guy.." or someone would say, " his name is Peter."
I couldn't imagine being new to a school and not having friends or someone to talk to during our lunch hour. You had to start all over again just like going to kindergarten and not having any friends. Who was he going to share his animal crackers or favorite toy with? He needed some friends if he was up to it. Alessia had the bright idea of inviting him to hang out with us and she selected me and the others to ask him.
They threw me to the sharks figuratively speaking.
At our lunch break Alessia and I went to our usual table outside under a large palm tree giving us some shade. Our spot was between the library and the water fountain of the school mascot being the American bald eagle. As we sat down Alessia pointed at the new guy. And I have to say the rumors were true. He was cute. He was about my brother's height, just skimming above six feet. Even though he didn't have much color to his pale skin, it went well with his rich deep red hair that was brushed back. I could run my fingers in his hair. We both had the same eye color but his were slightly darker blue than mine. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I watched him open his carton of apple juice while he took a swig of it.
He had about four hours and hasn't yet made any friends to sit with at lunch.
I sat next to my friends as we shared our freshly diced fruit with a sprinkle of chile powder and a freshly squeezed lemon. It was the perfect snack. I turned to face Alessia when I was about to ask how her mom's new store was coming along. I knew that the grand opening was less than a week away when she spoke up first.
"Come on Nessa go and talk to him. He has been eyeing you since he sat down." Alessia nugged my arm. "Go and talk to him!" she exclaimed in a shushed tone.
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Casually I glanced across the courtyard where he was sitting. He replaced the apple juice in his hand, with a book. He was reading a library book. I was too far away to make out what book he was reading. When he turned the page he lifted his head up making eye contact. He was so cute I repeated to myself. Something pulled me to him. There was doubting that there was something interesting about him. I wanted to know him. "Tick tock Vanessa the time is going by and you haven't moved out of your seat to go talk to him yet Vanessa." She teased. I contained my giddiness over a boy I haven't even met or talked to.
