vivid mind
as told by everest
•
It's funny how quickly you can become fond of people.
I actually think I became fond of you too quickly. I first saw you on the school bus on the morning of September 3rd, the first day of my sophomore year of high school. I was sitting in the second to last row of seats. Some kids in my grade were sitting around me, telling jokes and complaining about how long and torturous the day was going to be, and I was staring at the window because I was nervous and unhappy that classes were already starting up again. My so-called-friends tried including me and asking why I was in a sour mood, but I just glared at them and stared back out my disgusting, foggy window.
I didn't pay much attention to who boarded the bus after I did because they were mostly elementary school kids with pigtails and giddy smiles and light-up velcro shoes. Not many high school students rode bus number three, but I did not complain. That meant an empty seat for me and my vivid mind that never, ever shut up.
In fact, after a couple of minutes, I couldn't take my eyes off the window and the world outside it. I had traveled on this bus route since I was in kindergarten, but the vegetation of the woods were in such an abundance this fall that it seemed to swallow the entire road, and I found it mesmerizing. My so-called-friends realized this and stopped trying to include me.
This happened quite often, actually, and maybe it was my fault. I was a generally introverted person who attempted (and usually failed) to seem likable and interesting. Another reason I was not prepared for the year. Once, last year, a very popular and, according to the girls, attractive guy in my grade tried to convince my best friend not to hang out with me anymore, and it worked, and it hurt. I was insecure and self-conscious and I know that is not common in boys but it was very significant in me.
About ten minutes into the bus ride, we stopped in front of a large blue house out in the middle of the forest that was surrounded by different types of flowers and plants and was indubitably flawless. We had never been here in the past years and I wondered who could be living in such a nice home-- it was entirely possible that it was another elementary schooler, but this house gave me a strong, curious feeling that I knew could not be sparked by some little kid. The decor had such an older, more sophisticated manner, one that would positively be impossible with children around.
Which, for a fact, is why my house looked nothing like this ginormous, beautiful thing. I had a younger sister and an older sister and brother, but my older brother and sister had both graduated and moved out already. My younger sister was just a toddler and had a habit of pulling out flowers from the soil and demolishing literally anything that she could touch. We could not leave things on the ground or on low shelves and we had to lock all the low cabinets because she tried to get to our fragile things. She was born for disaster.
That's when the doors of the bus creaked open and my eyes wandered to the front to see who it could be. Footsteps bounded up the stairs, and I stared as the figure started down the aisle between the maroon seats. I was dumbstruck. It was a girl with short, chin length blonde hair and blue eyes that stood out against dark eyelashes speckled with mascara, thin lips and pale skin. She was wearing a knit sweater that hung over her hands and black leggings that covered her thin legs, a floral backpack on her shoulders.
It was you.
And you were the most stunning human being I had ever seen.
YOU ARE READING
Laughter Lines
Romance"Cross my heart and hope to die, I'll see you with your laughter lines." a boy. a girl. you know the rest. © Valarie Rae, two thousand and fifteen.
