o n e | The Beginning

Like every other day, he looked gorgeous.

Like every other day, I—with, of course, the rest of the girls in the room—gave him the usual cursory glance as he walked with a friend of his to the door of the class and bid him goodbye, before moving ahead to his classroom next door.

Like every other day, I turned back to Mrs. Samuels and whatever she was saying regarding English, immediately shutting out any thoughts of Noah Archer and just how good he always looked because I definitely had other priorities.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

It was a Thursday morning when it wasn't just any other day anymore.

The news that Noah's parents had been in a car crash last night (the accident which was talked about on television all morning) spread like wildfire around college grounds. It was hard to miss because it was honestly all anyone could talk about, which in itself was extremely annoying. I understood that he was a little popular around campus—okay, more like a whole lot—but instead of gossiping about someone who'd just lost his parents, the students at Redwood University really needed to get some hobbies.

"Did you know what happened?" I heard.

"I heard he lost it completely," a high-pitched voice responded. "Like, his dorm room door? I doubt his roommate did it. I heard Noah kicked it in last night."

"Well, can you blame him? I mean, his parents died."

"Yeah, I know. I'll just let him know that if he needs any comforting... I'm so here for him."

Oh my God, seriously?

I slammed my Psychology book close in my lap and braced to give the girls sitting a little distance behind my bench an earful, but a hand snaked across from the left and grabbed my wrist the second I shut my book.

I looked to my side at my best friend, Ella, who simply shook her head. I just sighed as she slowly loosened her hold on my wrist.

"Seriously, I don't get it," I murmured to her. "Someone's parents just died. How can people be so insensitive? Everyone's talking about it. Let me tell you something, I know more of all the possible rumors and speculation going on about Noah Archer in the face of his parents' accident than I do about today's Psych test and I've been trying to study out here for almost two hours now."

Ella gave me a wry smile as she held up her own book. "I joined you here about an hour ago, so yeah, I kind of know what you mean."

"I'm sorry," I said. "I'm just really stressed about this test."

She snorted. "Riley, what are you talking about? You stayed up all night to study for it! You'll ace that test, bitch."

I still had a topic to skim through before class, but I nodded anyway.

"Now me on the other hand..." Ella groaned.

I felt a smile curling at my lips in amusement before I caught how her eyes suddenly widened at something in the distance. Following her line of sight, I tried to find what she was looking at.

It was Noah.

Noah Archer was here.

"What?" Ella whispered to me. "That's Noah. Why is he here on campus? Shouldn't he be like, literally anywhere else?"

She was right. The accident happened just last night, and one would expect not see him for quite some time. What was he doing here?

And since we were out on the quad, it wasn't exactly a quiet place, but with Noah's arrival, it suddenly was. I caught a lot of students making wide-eyes at each other and communicating through obvious facial expressions. But that didn't bother me, no. It's when the facial expressions turned to whispers and hushed voices that didn't sit right with me.

This went on for a while and I winced at how far everyone'd crossed awkward and was now bordering on downright rude.

He seemed to be texting as he settled on a bench about a few steps across from us and put the book he'd been carrying in his left hand across his lap. There was a frown of concentration on his face as those brilliant blue eyes of his stayed on the screen of his cell phone, and it was almost like it was only regular old day and he was just here because he was.

But there was something more.

His movements were jerky and rough, like he was rushed or something. There was also obvious frigidness in the way he sat with a stiff back straight up and as he placed his book, his posture was held stonily, all seeming almost as if he was forced to be here. It was odd, something that made me want to know more, but that train of thought definitely came to a pause because that's when I suddenly sneezed.

Loud.

It really shouldn't have been a big deal; at least, not here in the quad. But the reaction I got would make you think I just sneezed in the Bioscience lab.

He looked up, sharp gaze aimed straight at me and we immediately locked eyes. It was a small measure of time, maybe just for a second, and then he just turned back to his phone. But that small second had been enough to truly unnerve me.

I could've sworn I felt chills down my spine at the sheer coldness of his eyes.

I couldn't pull my gaze away for some reason, even though he was firmly at it on whomever he was texting. The trickle of conversation started up again, slowly at first and then all at once becoming a low buzz of sound—no doubt to start the gossip network back up.

"Well, I'm going," Ella announced to me as she grabbed her bag. "Weird as all that was, I have to get there early to beg Mrs. James to be a kinder grouch while she's grading my test. I'll save you a seat."

I absentmindedly waved at her as she walked away and turned back to Noah.

His friends had walked over from the game of catch they'd been playing over in the field and they exchanged some words. There were some nods, and some pointing over to the field. One of the guys I recognized as Noah's close buddy, Mac, who seemed to be pressing his lips together and watching Noah's every move cautiously, almost appearing like was being careful.

I felt a little bad. If it wasn't enough that every single student present in the quad had to turn their eyes on him like he was some sort of an alien or a new experiment of some kind, his own friends were tiptoeing around him. Like he was fragile and might break or something.

It sucked for them too, because I'm sure they were in a confusing position as well. There weren't exactly many handbooks around here telling them whatever the correct way to act was.

And just like that, a decision was made.

It was almost something on an unconscious level because I didn't have a plan per se, but I still knew what I was supposed to do.

It was excellently timed too, because just as I reached for my bag, it was nearly time for my class to start. I threw the strap over my shoulder and turned directly ahead. With no hesitation and no amount of uncertainty, I walked straight to him.

"Hey, Noah?" Those were the first words I'd ever said to him.

There was the slightest bit of surprise on his face—which had to be because he had no idea who I was, yet I knew his name. But then again, everyone at Redwood knew him; he was Noah Archer—tall, cocky and handsome as all hell, the star of the football team and Ladies Man Extraordinaire. Of course everyone knew him. But right now, other than that bit of surprise, he simply looked up at me with those piercing eyes of his. Even though my resolve shook the smallest bit just then, I still went on.

"Uh, I heard what happened. And, um, I can tell people are dodging it with you, and I guess most in your position wouldn't want to talk about it but... I don't know, if it was me, I wouldn't want that. I'm sorry for your loss, Noah."

Something flickered in those eyes of his. I couldn't clearly make it out, especially with the way he didn't let his guard down at all, but I was pretty sure that was also the most I was going to get.

And that was okay, because I expected as much. And I couldn't stick around because first, I was done and second, I had a test to get to.

So I turned and started for Psych class before throwing a short, "Goodbye," over my shoulder. I didn't know how he responded. Or even if he responded. I also didn't know why he was here in the first place. All I knew was, he was a guy going through what had to be a really hard time, and I only hoped it got better for him. I would've offered more, tried to strike up an actual conversation (I doubt he would've replied) and whatnot but if his expression was any indicator, now so wasn't the time.

That day I knew I had changed the way things had always been by actually breaking out of the regular old pattern and speaking to him for once. But I hadn't realized that that would change things.

But then it did.

Tremendously.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

So chapter one is up! Please do vote and comment, and remember that all feedback is appreciated!