-- rambles

The first time I saw him was in science class. Well, to be more specific, it was after science class. He was there, standing with the rest of his classmates. Easily noticeable was his superior height. His head must have been five inches higher than anyone else’s that day, and he wasn’t even on his tiptoes.

Despite how he was taller than almost every person in the hallway, my eyes would have never flickered to him if it weren’t for the effort of the black-haired girl beside me. “That’s him,” Eve said softly, making a small jerking movement with her head instead of pointing. She turned away quickly before he can notice that he had her attention. On the other hand, I continued staring at him with feigned indifference.

Lucas. That was his name. I knew nothing about him, except for the fact that he cost my friend many sleepless nights before. That he stole her heart, but never gave his in return.

The only times I would bother to think of Lucas were the times I would look over Eve with a mischievous gleam in my eye and my lips partly open in mock surprise.

“He’s behind you!” I would say dramatically.

Eyes widened, Eve would turn so quickly that her straight hair whipped freely behind her, like in those shampoo commercials. As she scrambled to her feet in panic, I would turn away and hold my laughter back as she searched for the boy who was never there in the first place. A few moments later, her small and delicate-looking hand would come barreling towards my thin arm, leaving a red mark on the easily bruised skin. High-pitched screams of curses and ‘don’t do it again’s’ would follow, but it was an advice I never followed.

She always fell for that trick. I never understood why. It was because of phenomenal acting skills, I always thought. Never did I notice the hope filling up her eyes every time she would look. Never had I considered that after all this time, she was still hoping for the chance to make him hers.

Bad day. The last day of summer was a bad day.

“You’re in Section Two?” I said, aghast. Eve could only nod in reply. I brought my hand to my face and cursed. From my overreaction, you would’ve thought it was the end of the world. No, it was just the end of summer, only finding out that you will no longer spend your classes exchanging snide and sarcastic comments with your closest friend.

Had the teachers done it on purpose, getting us away from each other? Such annoying killjoys, weren’t they?

I sighed, but as a thought struck, the corner of my lips twitched up in a small smile. “Well, at least you get to be in your future husband’s class now.”

Color flooded her cheeks and I felt smug. Just the reaction I wanted.

“Actually, he’s in One now,” she murmured, pouting. She huffed, folding her arms over her chest. Her voice was sour like lemons. “You know, your class.”

I raised my eyebrows in mild shock. “For real?”

Eve offered a small meaningful smile. “Yeah.” She paused, fidgeted with her fingers, before looking up shyly. “Say ‘hi’ to your future classmate for me, alright?”

I snorted. “Yeah, yeah,” was what I said, but I knew I’d never do anything of the sort. Deep inside, maybe she knew that too. It didn’t cross my mind that she hoped I never would.

We never talked much, Lucas and I. I never made the effort to start a conversation and apparently, he never felt the need to as well. Not even a single ‘hi’ or a silent wave. To be honest, I did try once to do just that, but he didn’t return the gesture.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he just didn’t see me.

Yeah, because you totally can’t see some girl directly in front of you, lips stretched into a wide grin with her arm flailing wildly—I mean waving in the air.

Benefit of the doubt, I reminded myself.

No, it was definitely not a good a start for the two of us.

Guess who got assigned to sit in front of me? Yep, that’s right. The-boy-who-broke-Eve’s-heart-slash-the-boy-who-ignored-the-girl-who-waved-at-him.

Good Lord, I should really think of shorter nicknames.

Fine, let’s call him Blind. Hi, Blind. I’d wave at you again, but you’re, y’know, blind.

I guess I can’t really get over the fact that he was blind that day.

It was late. Nearly midnight and I was still bent over my books and answer sheets, scrambling to finish the homework due the next day. While I scribbled away, my Acer netbook lay open in front of me, the window open to—surprise, surprise—Facebook. Honestly, I only opened that ever-so-distracting site to chat with my friends and compare answers. Just that.

Imagine my surprise when the chat window popped up. Lucas Greynold in white letters at the top. “Finished with the homework?” he had asked, and I huffed in reply.

Great. Not even a hello in class and he suddenly chats you up in Facebook to ask about homework. Way to go, Blind.

“Yeah,” I typed in. A short pause. “You?”

“Same,” came his reply. The chat ended after that.

Stupid distraction, I thought, getting back to my answer sheets and continuing on from where I stopped.

Definitely not off to a good start, Blind.

Surprisingly, he talked to me the next day. Asked the same question. I told him I did. He smiled, before shifting his attention back to his still unfinished work. He reasoned that he got distracted. I laughed, pointing out that being online in Faceboook guaranteed distractions. He persisted, telling me that I had been on too. Lost for words, I just chuckled at his quick wit and went back to reviewing my answers.

Again, it was late. This time, I didn’t stay up because of homework. This time, I blame 9gag.

Then suddenly, one of my tabs started blinking and I clicked on it, only to see the familiar chatbox in Facebook pop up. Lucas Greynold again. “Get to sleep,” he said.

I shake my head to myself, responding with a “rofl, fine.”

 
A short glance was all it took. Just a random wayward glance at his direction and our eyes met for the briefest of moments.

I smiled. He stumbled on his feet, almost falling face-first on the rough cement.

That night, I laughed myself to sleep.