Chapter 1

There We Met



That was the first time I saw him. I was sitting there, halfway up in the bleachers, at Pasadena High School’s first varsity home game of the season. At that minute, I had been reading my book, getting bored with the game. All of a sudden, there was a ton of commotion on the field, and, naturally, I looked up. Then, I saw him. He looked right at me, right into my eyes, and smiled at me. I had never met him before, let alone seen him before. How could have this total stranger been smiling at me? I’m not that pretty. And I’m kind of a nerd, too. I’m positive my hair was frizzy at the time, as I took a shower right before the game and had no time to blow it out. My hair and eyes are such a dull color too, both a dull brown. I didn’t under stand how he, a super hot guy, could be smiling at me, of all people.

The mystery man stopped for a few seconds at the bottom of the bleachers, staring at me intently. I tried to ignore him and his staring, but it didn’t work. It was if he was drawing me in with his eyes. I then realized his eyes were a beautiful, odd color. They seemed to be green and brown. Not a mix of the two, but as if the two were swirled together. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Not to mention everything else about him. But his eyes were what drew me in the most.

He then suddenly walked away, and it startled me. I tried looking around the area to find him, but it was no luck. I sat there, baffled for the rest of the game. I really had no idea what had this happened. I was sure that I was merely a figment of my imagination. No guy had ever been interested in me before. My hair is dull, my eyes are dull, and everything is dull. I wear hardly any makeup, and even when I put on a lot (for me), it still isn’t that much. Heck, even my name is dull. Mia. So dull. But he couldn’t judge me by my name, since he’s never met me. Suddenly, time went by and the game was over. Apparently, we won, with a final score of 28 to 13.

As I left the stadium, I ran in to my best friend, Sammie. She came running up to me, with tons of hyperness in her big brown eyes, and her small body was jumping up and down. “Oh my gosh, Mia, I can’t believe it! Our first game this year, and we’ve already won! I can tell our senior year is off to a good start,” she exclaimed, and then paused. “Mia? Mia, is something bothering you? You look confused.”

At that moment, I was debating whether to tell her or not. Would she say I was crazy? I do feel like I imagined the whole episode. Then again, she had been my friend for practically my entire life, so I knew she would support me with whatever. I decided to tell her. “Umm, Sam? Something strange just happened. I mean, really strange. I’m still a bit baffled by it,” I began to tell her.

“What happened? Did you not get the football terms again? How many times to I need to explain them to you, Mia?” She stood there with her hands on her hips.

"No, no," I replied. Just tell her. She's your best friend, I thought. "There was this extremely, and I mean extremely, hot guy that I saw at the game. I had never seen him before this. At one point, he stood there, at the bottom of the bleachers, just staring at me. I think it was for only about ten seconds, but it felt like ten minutes. Then he just disappeared. Just like that. I didn't see him at all after that."

"So? What's wrong with that? A hot guy more than likely likes you. I don't see a problem," she retorted.

"The thing is, I feel like I'm totally imagining it. I've never seen him before, and I know practically everyone on campus. We haven't had a new student at our school in years, aside from the incoming freshman every year. No one had ever had a crush on me in so long. I just feel like it's not real." After I said that, I felt real stupid. I mean, I'm totally overreacting over this. "You know what, just – just never mind," I stuttered. "I feel stupid for making a big deal out of this. You know what, wanna come to my house tonight?"

"Ummm, sure thing Mia. Let me go home and grab some clothes. I'll be there at five." At first, she looked baffled, then turned happy. "See you in an hour, Mia."

She walked over to her Mini Cooper, then drove off. Oh, how I was jealous of her car. As much as I loved my Volvo, her Mini Cooper was to die for. I walked to my Volvo, and drove home.

As I drove home, I continually thought about the boy. I wondered what his name was I wondered if it was a more common name, like Matt, or a more unusual name like Xzander. I also wondered how old he was. He couldn't have been a freshman or a sophomore. He might have been a junior, but he was more likely a senior, or that he was even already done with school.

Even though I had only seen him for about ten seconds, I had a crystal clear image of him in his mind. He had medium warm brown hair, and it looked super soft to the touch. His eyes looked like blue and green liquid metals, swirled together. He had huge, wide, and strong shoulders. He looked tall to me, but he was probably average for a boy, at about 5 foot eleven inches, I would estimate. His lips were big and round, and looked very kissable. He had kind of a rounded head, if you ask me. He even had some dimples when he smiled. This was an image I would never forget.

I continued down the street, thinking of him. It was very quiet the whole time. Then, suddenly, a car roared up next to me on the street. As we approached and stopped at the next stop light, I turned to glance at who was in the car next to me.

It was him. The mystery guy.