Neil

My first day of eleventh grade at Emerson High, and I heard a lot about her from Abhi and his friends. And since I only knew Abhi here, I had to stay with him.

Everyone said she was a player, and that she liked close to 60 boys already. I laughed when they told me to stay away from her. As if anyone would honestly look at me and tell me they like me. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm not ugly or anything, but from the hundreds of good looking guys I saw in the hallways throughout the day, I doubt any girl would notice me. Compared to those guys, I'm nothing.

So, after a forty minute homeroom just listening to Abhi and two of his friends, Rishi and Vij, I walk to my first class, then my second, then my third, then lunch, then fifth/sixth period. Then, seventh/eighth, AP physics. Room 229.

"Okay, grab a white piece of paper from the front table, and look at the seating chart to see where you are sitting." Mr. Cillens, our teacher, instructs us.

Like Mr. Cillens said, I walked up to the table in the front of the class, and look at the seating chart. I skim through, looking for my name.

Neil, Neil, Neil...where the hell is my name?

That's when I found her name. Thanushri Padmavathi Theera Durga Kesavasamy. Wow. She is one of a kind.

Well, at least her name is.

The second bell rings, and I look for my name again. I find my name in the middle row, fourth seat. Walking there, I take my seat.

I turn around and see her sitting there, turned away from me, talking to the girl sitting next to her. I can hear them laughing, but I can't see her face. Her shiny black hair is long, falling past her hips. Her posture is perfect, her back straight, head held high.

"Okay! Welcome to eleventh grade AP physics!" Mr. Cillens says, walking into the room and closing the door behind him.

I watch as Thanushri turns around to face the front. It was like something straight out of a movie. The girl's hair blowing back in the wind, the guy falling head over heels. Except in this case, Thanushri's hair did not blow in the wind for five minutes straight, but there was definitely a connection on my part.

"Let's take attendance." And he goes down the roster, pronouncing people's names, and hoping he was right. "Neil Ray."

"Here." I raise my hand.

He keeps going until he gets to her name. He stares at the computer in front of him, squinting as if that will help him pronounce her name correctly somehow. After a few moments of intense staring at the name, he looks up at her.

"Tan-tanushri Padamavrati-" (I mean, where did he get the r in Padmavathi???)

"Uh, Thanushri Padmavathi Theera Durga Kesavaswamy." She says in one breath, a smile on her face.

"Oh. Is there something else you go by?" Mr. Cillens asked her, his face red.

"Uh, yeah, I go by Theera." She replies.

"Theera." Mr. Cillens says with a smile.

She nods. "Mhm."

"Okay, I'll write that down to remember, but you will have to remind me if I forget." Mr. Cillens tells her as he makes a note to himself. Theera nods and class continues.

She barely even noticed me, though I honestly wish she had. And, since we were in the same science class, we have the same study hall as well, so I get to see her two periods in a row. She is talking to her friend, Aditi, I think her name was? After study hall, I walk to gym. Since today is the first day, we just sit in the gym. I sat with Abhi and a few of his friends. They're nice guys. I suddenly hear a squeal from a bunch of girls sitting in the section next to me. I turn to see what happened when I see her again. Theera (yes, Theera) , talking to Aditi and a few other girls. I watched as she plugs in her earbuds and starts moving and singing a song. I can't hear her, but I could see her lips moving. And so, I watched her all through gym as well.

"Dude, which room are you going to next?" Abhi asks as I grab my binder once the bell rings.

I look at my schedule. "Uhhh, 118." I told him.

"Oh, I'm going to 116. Let's go." He says.

So, with one last glance at Theera, I follow Abhi as he leads me through the crowded halls of Emerson to the last class of my first day of Junior year.

I'm a bit disappointed when I don't see Theera in my class before the late bell rings. I look back at my school issued Macbook, sad.

I'm a bit bored as I'm early to class, but a cool breeze touches me in the humid classroom. I look up to see Theera walking into the classroom. I watch as she walks over to a tall girl and talks to her while standing. All of the other desks in the classroom are taken, except for the couch that is right next to me.

Our English teacher, Ms. Monroe, walks in enthusiastically, only to find Theera standing there confused. Ms. Monroe notices Theera. I start praying that she sits next to me, and my prayers are answered.

"Hi guys!" Ms. Monroesays enthusiastically. I watch as Theera looks at Ms. Monroe, who looks around the room to find each seat taken. "Oh, is every seat taken?" she asks. Theera nods. "Hmm, do you want to sit on the couch?" she asks. "We'll get another desk in here tomorrow."

"Uh, yeah, okay." Theera replies.

"Okay." Ms. Monroe replies with a nod.

So Theera ends up sitting right next to me, but never once looking in my direction.

Abhi drops me off at home. I still don't have a car, but I have my permit. Mom and Dad say that I'm going to get a car soon. I just don't know when.

Theera

It's been three days of school as of today, and the only guy I have a crush on is my crush from last year, Ram. I know, I told him how I feel and he rejected me, but still, he's the cutest guy I've seen. At least, until I saw him today...Neil Ray. I saw him in science, while Mr. Cillens was talking to us about where all of the safety equipment was located in the room and how to use each one of them. Mr. Cillens had said something funny, and I was laughing as he walked towards the front of the room. I turned to watch the teacher as he talked to us, and I saw him. I didn't remember his name. The sun was shining on his face, and his eyes almost seemed a blue-gray color. I was mesmerized for a moment before he turned around to watch Mr. Cillens too, and I could only see the back of his head(which wasn't that bad, honestly).

I latch onto Aditi the moment science ends.

"What's going on?" Aditi asks as we follow our science class to study hall.

"What do you mean?"

"You're smiling like a maniac."

"Oh."

I say, staring at the guy from our class.

"Dark blue shirt." I say, gesturing to the guy with my eyes.

"Oh my god. What's his name?"

I shrug. "I'm not sure, but he's in our science class."

"Wow." She shakes her head as we walk into the auditorium.

We sit in the second to last row, and the guy and his friend sit right behind us, probably playing games on their computers.

"Where is he?" Aditi asks.

"Shhhh!" I exclaim.

"What?"

I gesture behind us with my eyes a few times before she got the message.

"Ohh!" she said in realization.

"Yeah, oh!" I say.

"Talk to him."

"No!" I whisper-shout.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I say?" I ask her before whipping out my earbuds and plugging them into my computer and listening to Em Mayo Teliyadu on loop and mouthing the lyrics.

"I don't know?" she shrugs. "Ask him his name?"

"No! That's creepy!"

"So are you!"

"Okay, but his name is on the top of his school computer, so if we can see it, we'd know his name." I say.

"Do you know what time it is?" she asks, turning and looking up at the back wall. "Is there a clock here?"

I show her my watch, and she practically glares at me, gesturing behind us with her eyes.

"Oh! Shit!" I exclaim when I realize what she was trying to do.

We're quiet for most of the period, until 12:50, when Aditi turns to me.

"Do you know what time the period ends?" She asks me.

"No." I reply.

"Why don't you ask someone?" she says.

"Yeah, why don't we ask Mr. Cillens?"

She pulls out her phone and texts me.

Aditi: ASK HIM!!!!!

I look up at her.

"Oh!" I exclaim. "No! No way!"

"Come on!"

I huff in defeat and turn around.

"Hey, do you know what time the period ends?" I ask the guy. God, his eyes. They're a beautiful gray color.

"Uh-" he says. I glance quickly at the tag on his computer and see his name. Neil Ray.

"I think it ends at 1:05." The guy next to him replies.

I give that guy a fake smile.

"Oh, okay, thanks." I say before turning around with a huge smile plastered to my face.

Aditi: Did you get it?

Theera: yeah

Aditi: What is it?

Theera: Neil

"Nice." she says, putting her phone away as the bell rings. I look at my watch to see that it's 1.

"Oh, the period ends at 1." I say to no one in particular.

"Yup, let's go." she says. "Gym, fun."

We walk to gym, and sat in our usual place on the Junior bleachers when I see him. Neil.

"Shit!" I exclaim.

"What?"

"It's him! He's in our gym class!"

"Oh god." Aditi says, face palming.

And I spent the entire period listening to telugu love songs and watching Neil. And I came up with a code name, Nachos(yes, cringe, I know, but his name starts with 'N' so wtv). After gym, I go to English, and sit next to Kashvi like I've usually been doing.

I turn around and see Neil sitting diagonally behind me. I didn't know he was in my English class! Ahhhhhh!!!!!

So I keep sneaking looks at him throughout the period.

****

After school, Sakith, my older brother, picked me up, since I don't have my own car (and I won't get one till next year). Sakith's college starts next week, so once he's gone, I'm gonna have to deal with getting home either with a friend or walking home. He's close to home, in Princeton, but he got his own place for the year. I had a little bit of homework today, since school barely started, so I was able to coordinate with my best friend, Saamiya, and stalk Neil.

"I just sent you a possible address." She says through the phone.

"K." I open the link and find his parents' names. Eric Ray and Maria Ray.

I go through facebook and find his parents' accounts. There's a picture on his mom's facebook page. He's Christian! He got confirmed two years ago, and his Christian name's Joseph.

I WILL HAPPILY CONVERT(if needed of course).

Hello my dear readers! So, i know that was a very concerning and fast-paced chapter. I wrote this book like a year ago and found it now and decided to publish it bcs im stuck on my other books and have no ideas for them.

More than votes, I really love reading your comments. So, please comment your thoughts and feelings!