• Prologue

    High school is supposed to be the happiest four years of your life, right? Sitting at my usual spot for lunch, I sat and contemplated my school career thus far. I ate lunch alone. It’s been this way since I entered high school. It never really bothered me, and when it did, I didn’t show it. I have never truly understood why the people at my school act they way that they do. Being alone all the time has at least given me the opportunity to closely study people and read the way they communicate with each other. I guess you could call me a “people-watcher.” It was the beginning of my senior year, and little did I know that my simple, lonely way of life was about to be severely interrupted. Students were clamoring about the school yard, searching for old friends.
    It was a warm sunny day outside, even the breeze was warm. I closed my eyes as the beautiful summer air blew through my hair. Days like this never fail to make me feel at peace, no matter what is going on in my life. My ipod was playing sweet music into my ears. The swirling notes of the piano and the cello mixed with this beautiful day was all I needed. It’s never been understood where passion comes from and why it varies from person to person. Different people have different passions and feel passion for different reasons. I’m not sure that I’ve really found my passion yet, nor do I even know what I feel truly passionate about. I guess music would fit in there. Music depicts so much of who I am, I feel lost without it. Classical music is truly my inspiration for a lot of things. I listen to the violins and the cellos and feel this wave of emotion take over me and I’m instantly lost to my dream world. I see all these different things in my mind and I have to express them somehow. I almost always have some sort of sketch book with me. When inspiration strikes, I must be ready to set it down in real life so that I will never lose site of it. My ipod and my notebook were all I had as I took the seemingly never-ending journey across the school courtyard. It was the beginning of my senior year, and little did I know that my simple, lonely way of life was about to be severely interrupted.

    Chapter One
    I guess I’m what you would call average. My hair is brown. My eyes are brown. I’m not tall, but I’m not short either. Perhaps that is why I don’t stand out to anyone. I’ve recently decided that I must be one of those girls who will never have a boyfriend in high school, who wasn’t destined to find someone until college. So there is hope at least. I made it to the door without so much as a sidelong glance from anyone. Typical. My first class of the day was choir, the same as it has been for the past three years. By now, most of the people that were in the chamber choir, had been in choir together since middle school. We all knew each other, and maybe not loved each other exactly, but we all put up with everyone.
    As I went to sit down in my usual seat, the same one I’d had for three years, I noticed a backpack and books all over it. Obviously this is a mistake. Everyone knows I sit here. Is this some kind of joke maybe? It has to be. So I picked up the bag and books and set them on the floor on the other side of the room in a place hard to see. I figured that whoever had played this simple little joke on me had it coming. Mr. Phillips walked in and signaled for us to sit down. Everyone that is, but one person.
    “Class,” said Mr. Phillips, “This is Jacob Kelly, our newest tenor.”
    He was tall, and completely gorgeous. And also completely confident on top of that. But not in a cocky, arrogant kind of way. He just smiled and said hi to everyone then started to what I pressumed was his seat. But instead he started walking right towards me. I didn’t really get it at first, but then after a few delayed seconds of a very weak thought process, I realized that all those books and the bag I hid were his. So it wasn’t a joke. He was new and simply didn’t know how things went around here. He was all happy-smiley on his way over until he got about halfway over to me, then things really started to go downhill. I think it’s kind of hot in here today…. His face kind of twisted and he looked really confused. He’s probably looking at the idiotic expression on my face right now and wondering what kind of a reject I am. He probably thinks that I have no social skills at all. I tried to look everywhere but at him. I feel like I’m sweating bullets.
    “Hey um, my stuff was just here like not five minutes ago, do you know where it went?” he asked.
    Crap. Crap crap crap crap crap. Of course by now everyone was staring at me as he waited for an answer. I had no choice but to either humiliate myself, or make myself look like a queen of all jerks. I refused to act like a cold hearted person. Looks like this was it.
    “I, uh, um…it’s over there!”
    With that, I pointed over at the corner where I had hidden his stuff, tears of humiliation spilling over my cheeks. No more than a second had passed after practically yelling out my mistake and I had already bolted towards the door. I don’t care if I lose points or get in trouble for this. There was no way that I could keep looking at him for another 45 minutes after making a fool out of myself. What a great way to introduce the new kid to our school. Here’s your first class and I’d better warn you to watch out for those book bag thieves, they’re everywhere these days. If this had been how my first day back at school my senior year had gone after only a few minutes, I was terrified by what the rest of the day would bring. But there was no way that I could skip school. I just had to endure it and hoped that I didn’t run into him again for the rest of the day. But I could be so lucky.
    I step into AP English, and there he is. And wouldn’t you know it, he’s looking right at me. It’s times like these when I question myself. I’ve got to just play it cool. I’m a suave person. In my head. I start to head to my seat. I smile at the teacher as she says hi and good morning to me. See, I’ve kind of got big feet. It’s just something random I know, but I have trouble walking on flat surfaces it seems. I guess I was walking too close to the edge of a desk, because the next thing I knew, I was looking at the ground. The papers I had in my hands went flying as I caught myself on the edge of the desk. Yeah, it’s official, I’m the most suave person on the planet. And of course Jacobywhatshisface is immediately out of his seat and like practically bounding over to me. He doesn’t say anything. He just bends down and picks up all of my papers for me and puts them in a nice little pile on the desk that just tried to kill me. The worst part about it was, he like stared at me the whole time. His eyes were the most brilliant green I’d ever seen. A look of concern, and confusion no doubt, was written all over his face.
    “Are you okay?” he asked.
    “I’m fine I think. Uh yeah, I, I’m okay.”
    As soon as those words left my lips I regretted them. But he didn’t seem to care. A huge grin spread across his face.
    “Well that’s good. That was kind of an intense fall there. You better watch for those desks from now on. They’ll getcha when you least expect it.”
    And with that, he got up and returned to his seat, chuckling to himself all the way there.
    “He’s probably laughing at me.” I thought to myself.
    Oh well. If he doesn’t like me then that’s his loss. What do I care if he’s super cute and really nice right? Right? Shoot. No matter how I try to rack my brain for this one, I’m not going to be able to convince myself of that. There’s just no way. I was just going to have to finish out class with what dignity I had left.
    My sketchbook burned in my bag, yearning for me to take it out and create something with it. But there was nothing at all happy about this day that I would ever want to set down permanently. And yet…his face as he picked up my papers… My class was over and I had an open period, so I went into the choir room and stole an open practice room. I figured no one would miss it. And heck, if anyone walks by suspiciously, I’ll just bust out a few notes or something. I grabbed my pencils and my notebook and set it on a music stand. I sad there and thought and thought about how to set this person on paper, but for some reason it was way harder than usual. What is it about him that was so difficult? Was it the way his eyes held so much thought and emotion when he looked at me? Of course not. I was being ridiculous. He was just like everyone else. I could do this. I was just having a block. I need to relax. So I took out my ipod and turned it to one of my favorite songs that could always make me feel better. I figured that since I was in a practice room, if I sang along it wouldn’t be that loud because of the special walls, so I started to sing along. Walking around in that little practice room, I lost myself to it and began to sing with my whole heart. There’s another door in the practice room that leads to a little closet thing with old speakers and microphones and stuff in it, and it has a window on it. It’s really reflective, so I faced it while I sang my heart out. I should have known better than to turn my back against the door into the room. My song was finished and I felt ready to set this boy down on paper. I turned back around and sat down to work, but my I noticed my pencils weren’t sharpened enough. So I got up to go use the pencil sharpener outside. As I turn the corner outside of the practice room, Mr. Phillips, and wouldn’t you know it, that Jacob guy were having a lesson. They both just looked at me, Jacob’s cheeks turning a bright red. A snicker escapes from one of them, and the next thing I know, they’re both dying of laughter.
    “Did you have fun in there? Though I must say that you were a little sharp in that second chorus,” said Mr. Phillips.
    Oh my god.