Every love has a story. How you first met. Who said the first word.
Even mine does.
Seven o'clock is not the time anyone will think of falling in love. But as our worlds collided, we did just that. In a moment...
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CHAPTER 1
It was raining that day.
The droplets hit the ground, echoing lightly. Drip. Drip. Drip. It created a steady beat as the soft drizzle turned into a heavy rain. Looking up from my umbrella, I wondered if the rain would continue until the afternoon. It was unusual to rain on the first day of school, but that didn't mean it wouldn't happen.
My leather shoes and black knee-high socks were getting soaked. The light, full-length jacket that I was wearing prevented my white blouse and navy blue skirt from getting wet. I didn't bother to wipe my glasses, because it would require balancing my umbrella between my shoulder and chin. With my poorly coordinated reflexes, I didn't risk it.
A boy was standing on the other side of the street, and he might witness how I could trip myself and fall on the ground for no reason. He was wearing our school uniform, even the provided raincoat. He didn't look familiar, so he must be a new student. All of us were waiting on this side, and he was perceptibly standing there on the other side of the street. A boyish smile. That confident stance. He got the looks that would tell you that nothing could go wrong for him.
He made it look so easy.
I stood on my toes, searching for any sign of the school bus. Ten minutes had passed since its scheduled time of arrival. Our stop was the last one from school, and it was getting late.
The girl standing behind me already loosened her tie, muttering about how today was so unlucky for her. She was in my year. It was the first time that we wore a thin bow tie. This distinguished the juniors from the sophomores, who were still stuck with the cross tie. I'd learned how to tie this into a ribbon during the summer break. No matter how bored I felt, I was too eager to wear it.
There were three of us who usually waited at this stop. The other one was a sophomore, and he was busy playing with his Rubik's cube. He didn't complain about the delay. Like him, I wanted to be indifferent, but that trait didn't seem to go well with my way of thinking.
After a while, I heard a honk, so I looked up. Finally, it was the school bus. I checked my watch, letting out a sigh of relief. We'd still make it to school on time.
We boarded the bus, while the driver kept on telling us they got a flat tire, and it took a while to change it because of the heavy rain. Conversations about it went on, as I kept my head down while walking.
Finding a seat on the school bus was like an unspoken rule. For me, it was beside Jane and Brooks. It was a good thing that one side of the bus had three seats in every row. At least I didn't have to sit alone or be paired with someone I didn't know.
"Anyone else missing?" the bus driver asked. He was a middle-aged man who lived in our neighborhood.
"No one, sir," Blake, the student in front, answered.
