I Kissed A Girl

2: Late October

Mackenzie's P.O.V

It was late October, the wind was picking up and the buzz about Jonas' Halloween party was blowing all around campus. It was chilly out, and the fall foliage was breathtaking to watch, how the different hues of yellow and orange littered the ground in its beauty. I tucked my hands into the pockets of my vermillion hoodie, taking a deep breath and allowing the day's stress to vanish into the warmth of the material, the most worn of all the articles of clothing I owned. There wasn't much that was special about the hoodie, except that it was given to me by my eldest sister, Liv.

The scattered leaves looked so aesthetic that I resisted the urge to snap a picture for a photo album that would never see the light of day. The afternoon rolled around now and I have had to sit through all three classes of the day and listen to the freshmen sorority girls bitch and rave over Jonas Pierce, the new midfielder on the soccer team that transferred in from Excelsior College this fall. If all it took was for a guy to be athletic and good-looking to be loved-by-all, then maybe I should give it a try.

As annoyed as I was at hearing women that were supposed to embody independence and strength raving about men who probably had trouble keeping their dicks to themselves, I couldn't blame them for being boy-crazy, all the exaggerated romcoms we watched had to impact us somehow.

Men were lowlifes, although that could just be my anger talking. I mean, I'd only ever been with one guy and I feel like one is enough to make a fair assumption that most of the male population in college was going to be just like him. He was a lowlife, scum of the Earth, a piece of shit... Yup. Definitely, my anger talking.

Then there was Tristen Morgan. Tall, lean, and a nice guy, of course, girls on campus would be falling head over heels for these idiots. From what I've heard, he's a second-year nominated team captain. Turned out, it's quite rare for a second-year to be nominated for such a position. He was probably only nominated team captain because he was popular but what do I care, as long as they score goals and look pretty I'll tolerate them.

I liked soccer; it was the cocky and misogynistic men that played the sport I couldn't stand. I wouldn't have anything to do with them. Especially after Xavier Sitch, my boyfriend of two years staked me through the heart. Mom warned me about them, boys, I mean but no, I was in love and he wouldn't ever hurt me.

Spoiler, he hurt me. After being homeschooled all my life, no wonder I was so stupid. I planned my whole life around this relationship: college, marriage, and kids. Though it wasn't just for him, I guess a part of me didn't want to stay in Glenwood Springs forever. I wanted to experience the world and meet new people, have adventures beyond my holing up in my bedroom singing in front of the bathroom mirror, pretending I was happy in a small town where everybody knew everybody, going to church, sitting in the pews with mom, dad Maya, the second eldest and wishing to God that my parents would just apologize to Liv so she would come home. Maybe I wouldn't feel alone if they did.

I groaned and pushed these thoughts away. I wasn't going to allow them to ruin my day. I headed to the last class of the day, Psychology. I had been looking forward to this all week. Professor, Simms was starting a new topic in Social Psychology: Attraction, Romance and Love. I was intrigued by these things that were concepts, words if you will. I couldn't possibly have imagined them to be anything but a construct, an illusion but when I saw my parents, it made me want to believe that these concepts weren't just... well concepts.

As I walked briskly, almost a jog, my mind couldn't help but be everywhere. The only place I would rather be was in my class preparing to hear all about these outlandish concepts of human attraction and love. Everything about it fascinated me.

If I had one weakness it would be people and everything associated with them. The challenge to communicate, tolerate and even understand them was both terrifying yet something I wanted since I'd never had that but I was cursed. Cursed to be socially challenged for the rest of my life. Pathetic right?