Charlotte

Today was the first day of middle school and I wasn't looking forward to it.

The moment I stepped into the gigantic school, my mood drastically decreased.

This was going to be a long year.

I looked around myself and saw kids smiling happily ready to ruin unite with their friends whom they hadn't seen in a while.

I smiled bitterly. I looked at my old classmates, and they looked back at me. I have no intention of going to them.

They waved at me and I gave them a small nod in response. With that, I casually walk away. I was in no mood to talk.

These people are bad enough but the people I'm most scared of are the new kids. Even though I don't know them yet they seem to be the people who would come in and ruin everything.

When the bell rang, hundreds of kids climbed up the stairs in unison. It was really crowded, that annoyed me because I prefer quiet places a lot better.

They all squish together trying to get into the big school gates.

I didn't move, I decided to wait for all the people to leave before going in. Maybe then they would stop shouting and the new school year excitement would calm down.

It took about 10 minutes for most of the people to get into the building. I was in no rush to get in anyway so I took this as an opportunity and slowly made my way inside.

When I was about to take a step in, I glanced to my left and someone caught my eye.

A guy walks in, I have never seen someone like him before.

I brush the thought of his beautiful face off my mind.

Deep down, I secretly hope that he is in my class.

With that thought, I walked into the school. I climb up the stairs and onto the third floor which is where our new homeroom is.

I went to my homeroom teacher, Mrs. Keating who was standing in front of the room greeting people who were coming in. I heard a lot about her but this year was the first year we ever got her. She was quite young probably early 30s. She has a sweet smile, she was one of the nicest teachers in the school so people say that we were lucky to have her.

"Hi, Mrs. Keating," I greeted politely, a good first impression never hurts.

"Hi, dear, what's your name?" Mrs. Keating asks.

"Charlotte," I answered.

She smiles warmly and rummages through a huge stack of papers trying to find my name. When she finds it, she hands it to me.

"Thanks," I muttered. I took the paper and looked at it.

The paper has my name written big on the front. I flipped it over and it read,

225 03-41-07

I walked over to the locker that had #225 in it.

It was the locker on the left of the stacks. It was one of the top lockers.

I sighed, I always wanted to have a locker at the bottom but of all my 3 years here, I never got one.

I took my bag off and stuffed it into my locker. I could just stand in front of my locker forever but a lot of people were out there and I felt rather awkward standing there by myself doing nothing so I took a deep breath, left my locker, and walked into the room.

The room was filled with it's usual chatter. As I walked in, I could see some people looking at me. I walked through trying to ignore the looks, why does everyone have to look up whenever someone walks in?

I look around trying to find a possible place to sit. There wasn't any but to my delight, this was an English classroom so there was a stack of books at the back of the room.

I quietly made my way towards the back and sat on the floor. I picked up a random book to make it seem to people that I was busy, not that they were going to talk to me anyway. I just needed not to seem lonely.

I was reading a couple of pages of a trashy book when I felt someone staring at me, I tried to resist the urge to look up but their stare was too strong so I just had to look up.

When I did, I saw Ally staring at me. She was giving me the death glare. I sighed, she always hated me since 2 years ago I didn't even know what I did. I stare at her back.

To think we actually used to be friends. One moment we were close friends and the next we weren't. Next to her were my old friends. They were my friends last year until Ally stole them from me. I really hate her and I could see it in her ebony eyes that she felt the same way. She was always so narcissistic.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. I was about to go back to my book when the guy from earlier walked in.

When he did, it was as if he was walking in slow motion. All eyes were on him as he greeted Mrs. Keating and casually walked into the classroom.

This might just be me but I felt our eyes lock for a split second before I looked away embarrassed for looking at him. I can't believe he was actually in our class.

I could see Ally looking at him. She looked like she was in love. Her ebony eyes turned lighter into her normal light brown eyes and I swore I saw hearts in her eyes. She immediately looked a lot gentler and a lot more innocent than she actually was. I feel like she has a good chance with this new guy.

I quickly glance back into my book as the boys in my class approach him even Michael, the most popular boy in my class. I could see all the girls staring at him with love.

This new guy is great and all but he doesn't compare to Michael. Michael is literally perfect

Chapter 3: Greetings

Charlotte

I could hear him talking to all the boys including Michael, I had a crush on Michael like forever, but I doubt he even knew me because we never really talked. Maybe this year will be different.

I laugh bitter to myself, I told myself that last year, and how did that work out?

Terribly. Never said another word to him.

I leaned my head against the bookshelf. This was going to be a long year. And Michael was not helping, it was annoying trying to be invisible in front of him but still wanting him to like me back. Stupid I know but I'm too shy, I don't want him to think badly of me because I feel like everything I do is going to drive him away. He's everything and I'm nothing. I have probably liked him since 6th grade, but he probably doesn't even know I exist. That's how sad it is, and he will never know that I exist. I loved thinking about him but hated it at the same time.

How can looking at someone make you feel so happy but yet so heartbroken at the same time?  I watch as he smiles while talking to the new guy. His smile was beautiful. My heart melts when he runs his hand through his curly black hair. He is like the only person who is able to make me feel this way and I hated him for it. Why can't he see me and love me the way I love him?

Why is love so hard?

I have to stop looking at him. I'm too desperate, and I can't just stare at him all day even though I want to. His handsome face was literally all I can think about these days. I never looked into his eyes but I bet if I did, I'd probably be mesmerized by the beauty of it. I sighed just thinking about him.

When I looked up again, I saw that the new kid had made his way to another group of boys and then another group. Was he going to circle around and talk to everyone? Probably not, but a part of me hopes that he would.

Soon, I heard someone cough rather loudly next to me. I immediately looked up, startled.

In front of me was that new kid. He smiled at me.

"Hi," I said, "Can I help you?"

I could feel Ally's eyes boring into my back. She probably won't want to be to talk to him. I smiled, I didn't want to make Ally jealous.

"Hi, I'm Charles," he smiled.

Charles? That's a rather posh name. With him being so close to me, I could feel his strong aura. I studied him, he had a chiseled chin and jet-black eyes that him look elegant. He was really good-looking but maybe not as good as Michael. His voice was hoarse but yet in a way that made it sound kind. My heart skipped a beat.

"I'm Charlotte," I murmured.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. If he really was going to talk to everyone, he better hurry to Ally's table, there were barely 2 minutes left.

"There are like 2 minutes left until homeroom starts, you better go to that last table you haven't been to before it's too late," I'm just trying to be nice.

"You noticed?" He teased.

I furrowed my brow, he thought that I was looking at him? How rude, even though that might be true. I don't have a good excuse that says otherwise.

"Are you going to go there or not?" I asked feeling a little frustrated.

He laughs noticing my mood, "If you really want to know, I wasn't planning on going over there."

I frowned, "Why not?"

Ally was definitely waiting for him, he had no reason not to go.

Before he could respond, the bell rang.

Because of the fact that we were sitting at the back of the room, there were 2 spots left next to each other.

Charles immediately went to one of the seats. He had no intention of answering my question. He motioned me to come sit on the other.

My eyes fell on the spot next to him. I wasn't sure if I should sit there. I hesitated for a while before deciding that I had no choice but to just sit there next to him. Besides, a lot of people were looking at me including Michael, I wouldn't want to embarrass myself.

That I decided was the reason I went to sit next to him.

And the reason that Ally looked rather jealous was definitely helping.

Chapter 4: Homeroom

Charles

Here I am sitting next to her.

She was actually the first person I saw when I walked in. She was just sitting there, head leaning on a bookshelf and a book in her hands. I could see her eyes moving around the page as she read the book. She looked up for a split second and I swear I caught her eye when I walked in which hopefully means that she saw me.

I know people would laugh if they found out that I was only talking to them so I could circle to the back of the room.

I wasn't really listening to what the teacher was saying too much. Something about the community-building crap. I wasn't interested.

I didn’t realize that I was staring at her until she suddenly looked up, caught my eye smiled, and gave me a smile unsurely.

I smiled back sheepishly, ashamed I’d been caught.

I quickly looked away embarrassed.

After this, I focus my gaze on the teacher.

I actually don't hate this place too much. At first, when my parents suggested coming to this school I really didn't want to. I thought it was just going to be bad and boring even though they insisted that this would look good for their image. Now i don't regret coming here maybe it would all be worth it soon.

4 years later

Charlotte

We finally finished high school today. Me and Charles. It's been 2 years since my parents passed in a car accident so they weren't able to attend.

I blinked back my tears. After our graduation ceremony today, Mr. and Mrs. Denver who took me in after my parents died wanted to talk to me and Charles.

They were out there in the crowd today and they looked so proud. Even though they were Charles' parents, they treated me like their own.

I glanced at Charles, he was with Ally, his girlfriend now apparently. I never thought I'd say this but they look good together I guess. I guess me and Charles were never meant to be even though I was in love with him for a while now after Michael.

I guess he never felt the same way, and he probably never will. I sat on the seats of the now-empty auditorium which only an hour earlier, seated hundreds of guests who had come to watch the graduation. Now I sat alone, waiting for Charles to say goodbye to his girlfriend. He gave her a long kiss, I looked away in disgust.

Their kiss left them both breathless. I laugh bitterly to myself, why did I ever think that maybe one day, me and Charles would be something?

Ally flashed me a smug smile, I rolled my eyes but pretended like I didn't see it. Ally started kissing him again and they looked like they were going to do more if more soon. I cough loudly to get Charles' attention. With that, he immediately broke the kiss and looked back at me.

"You, Okay Charlotte?" Much to Ally's annoyance, Charles asked me.

"Yeah, it's just getting late, remember Mom wanted us to meet her at that new place remember? You can't just stay here kissing your girlfriend all the time. "

The moment I realized that I was in love with Charles was when I was with Michael. Both of my parents were in a car accident then. Charles was always there for me and when I ran to my parent's grave every day, he was always the one who ran after me and gave me a shoulder to cry on. After that, I broke off with Michael and never dated anyone else because I was in love with Charles. I never told him because obviously he would never feel the same way, I am only like a sister to him, nothing more. Then he started dating Ally.

Charles flashed a smile back at me, "Listen, Ally, we should get going, I'll see you later?"

"You can count on it," Ally said firmly while glaring at me.

I frowned, she said that as if she was telling me that Charles was her. No matter how much I love Charles, I couldn't bring myself to break them apart. Charles looked genuinely happy to be with her. I can't take away that happiness just because I wanted him to.

Charles kissed Ally goodbye and left.

I was about to follow him out when Ally grasped my arm.

"Stay away from Charles, he's mine." She threatened and then she smiled sweetly. "I trust you would do so?"

How can a person's mood change that quickly, Ally really was a good actress.

I merely just nodded not wanting to get into a fight with her. I really did think Charles would really have better taste than this when it comes to women. Everyone is always trying to get his attention and out of every girl he could have picked, he picked her?

I quickly walk out following Charles.

Charles arrived at a rather fancy car and opened the door for me to go in. I went in and then he went to the other side and got in too.

It seems like Charles's family was spending a lot of money on this graduation.

Charles

The graduation party was finally over. I took a deep breath, I was nervous about what was to come next. Charlotte doesn't know anything about it and I am scared of how she would react.