Varieties of Blue

The Beginning of The End

I climbed the stairs to the second floor while squeezing myself between the large number of people flocked at every corner; friends hugging each other, some guys lost on their phones while others 'reuniting' with their girlfriends.

"Keep sporting that scrunched up face and you'll lose every chance of ever changing your Facebook status."

I snorted involuntarily and turned around, being greeted by a freckled face, forest green eyes and spiky blond hair that looked like it had just been dragged through a mud puddle.

"Jensen." I smiled sweetly. "At least my being single can be excused as bad luck and not as my ability, or lack of really, to keep up with the times. Seriously, Facebook?" Who even used that at this point?

Jensen grinned like a Cheshire cat and thrust his fists into his jacket pockets, coming closer to lean over me and finally pulling off the whole bad boy cliche image. "Pfft, please. Bitches fight to get a piece of me, baby. But you know you're the only one for me, Cassie."

Jensen Austin was annoying on his best day, completely intolerable at his worst. He was held as the school's, possibly the city's, biggest playboy and he obviously took a lot of pride in that fact.

I put a hand on his chest and pushed him away when he started leaning over me. "Don't even think about it." i deadpanned.

He pouted, disappointed. "You'll cave in soon enough, Cas. You know you like me." He said confidently, as if he was 100% sure of his words.

"I'd have a better chance of living long enough to see Justin Bieber become president." I scoffed, then jumped a little when the bell rang. I always hated that ringing sound. It was piercing and glass-shattering, it always startled me and almost made me shriek; my pride was possibly the only reason I hadn't let out a scream yet.

"I better get to class." I murmured, then looked at Jensen and asked. "Where's Sid?"

They always came to school together. Always. Sid's dad owned a successful company that made shoes and was friends with Jensen's dad, so he paid half of Jensen's school fees, because their economy was pretty tight. Mr. Grahams had offered full payment, but they didn't like the idea of being treated as a charity case. At Mr. Grahams' vehement insistence, they had compromised for half. Mr. Austin quit his job, because of a heart condition and Mrs. Austin occasionally worked as a substitute teacher at a public school.

This way, Jensen had met Sid and, by extension, me.

Jensen shrugged a little, looking disinterested. "Got no clue. He said he had something to take care of. Didn't ask him what."

I blinked in surprise. "Oh." He hadn't told me, I wanted to say, but it sounded weird and childish even in my head, so I left it at that.

**********************

I've known Sid since the summer of sixth grade. My father had just closed a huge business deal with a french company and had apparently that learning the french language would broaden my possibilities in the future, so he signed me up for some classes that were taught by a high school friend of his.

Frankly, I'd hated the idea from the very beginning, but I didn't have the guts to disagree with my father.

There, sitting at the first seat of the room, I saw him. Messy, dark hair sticking out of his hoodie and resting on his large forehead. Freckles painted his olive skin and long, dark lashes contrasted with sea-green eyes. Quick fingers tapped the lit up screen of his phone, the owner too focused to notice me sitting next to him.

Sidorel Grahams.

He looked like the main character from that TV show, Stranger Things.

"I like your eyes." Was the first thing that came out of my mouth and I blushed. It wasn't totally unintentional, the first thing I notice about someone is their eyes. Not in the 'the eyes are the window of the soul' kind of thing. No, I just love looking into people's eyes, especially when they are green.