blind-sided

chapter one

IT WAS A CHILLY September day. I had just reached West High and stuffed my hands into my pockets. That's when I saw him, Jamie Thompson. My blood went cold and my heart nearly stopped. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach flutter around as they woke up one by one. I didn't understand why I still felt this way six years later. Maybe it was his dark and brown wavy hair. Maybe it was those eyes that you could get lost in, because you couldn't tell if they were black, or just a mind-blowing deep brown.

Suddenly, I was 12 again and back in Owen's home with Jamie. I could feel my face flush with embarrassment as I dwelled on such a stupid memory.

Jamie and I hadn't talked since that night and I didn't think we ever would again. If anything, boys like that didn't talk to girls like me. And no, I didn't mean that in a self-deprecating way, I meant it in a way that that's just how it was, because Jamie and I hardly knew each other. Even in middle school we rarely ever talked, but now this was high school and everything was different.

Jamie was the school's star quarterback, a man nearly everyone knew of like some infamous celebrity. Me, I was in the robotics club, a girl too smart for her own good with an early acceptance to MIT. We couldn't be any more opposite.

I watched as he furrowed his brows and stopped where he was. He scratched his head and looked around in his black folder. I heard a loud "Shit!" and wondered what was going on. Though, I shrugged my shoulders and adjusted my backpack, focusing on the entrance to the school.

"Hey!" Someone yelled from behind.

I didn't realize the "hey" was directed towards me, until I heard them come racing after me. I quickly turned around and must've scared whomever it was, because they tripped and rammed straight into me. My body met the cold concrete with a loud thump. I was completely thrown off guard. I shook my head and slowly sat up, blinking my eyes as I saw a million, tiny floaters cover my vision.

"Are you okay?" The person was clearly a male. His voice was deep, but there was a slight raspiness to it. Also, he was not American.

"Um, yeah, I think so," I chuckled and looked up, meeting light blue eyes and the friendliest face I'd ever seen. He offered his hand and I took it, springing me back up to my feet.

"I'm awfully sorry 'bout that," he apologized and smiled just a tad, his dimples barely noticeable.

"It's okay," I brushed it off.

We both stood there in an awkward silence that lulled for a while until he turned to me again and said, "I was meaning to ask you a question."

"Mmhm," I was trying to figure out where he was from, but I couldn't put my finger on it. He sounded British, but his accent was slightly different than a British person's accent. It was strange. Maybe he was faking?

"Well, my name's Collins, and I'm the new transfer student from British Guiana, or South America. I was hoping you could show me to the main office?" He asked, with a lop-sided grin.

His eyes were huge.

"Mm what?" I but my cheek to stop myself from blushing as I realized I had been staring at his eyes. Not because they were blue (my favorite color) but because they were so huge. I didn't think it was possible for a person to have such big eyes. Did they see a lot more of the world because of it...? Finnley, that is by far the stupidest thing you have ever thought.

"The...main office? Can you show me?" He repeated.

"Oh! Yes! Of course I can direct yo—"

"Collins Wagner?" That voice. I knew that voice.