Prelude

He had been a freshman for a month now. Secretly, this excited Zachary. Despite the upperclassmen being such jerks to Zach’s class of 2009, Zachary had found some cool friends that he hung out with regularly.

He even realized that he was gaining some popularity. Maybe he would even be considered cool soon. He had gotten contacts because of this sudden realization, and he didn’t wear his retainer to school anymore.

Hell, he didn’t even shop at Wal-Mart for clothes like he did in middle school.

Currently, he was spending lunch with his soccer friends, who were all guffawing loudly through mouthfuls of food at a round table in the corner.

Though he didn’t find them remotely close to funny, Zachary laughed along with everyone else whenever a dirty joke was made. These were his friends. He was on their soccer team. They were practically the same blood.

What he would never admit was that they only hung out with him because he was so exceptionally good at soccer.

Matthew Kunnaw, the goalie, was currently telling a loud and obnoxious joke about his girlfriend when a short girl with long brown hair walked by, wearing dark clothes that clashed with her innocent face.

Zachary felt intoxicated by her almost instantly. The way she looked so mysterious, the way she kept her eyes down as she walked past their table.

Until Harry Liam tripped her.

The table broke out into roars of laughter, but it died down instantly when someone shouted, “Hey!”

Wait.

Zachary realized all too soon that that was his voice. And he was standing up.

But the girl was looking at him. Oh God, she was looking at him. Did his hair look okay? Did she think he was a tree because of his height? Did she think his striped polo was dorky?

But she simply looked away, whimpering slightly as she picked up the pretzel that had been on her tray. She clutched it to her as she made her way towards the garbage can, the tray and chocolate milk held at her side in her other hand.

“What’s wrong, Zach?” Harry asked, and only then did Zachary realize that they were all looking at him. “Have a crush on little miss freshman?”

Zachary fumed. How could they be so mean to someone so helpless?

“Stop being such a little bitch, Harry,” Zachary said coldly. “I hope you fail college and become some homeless person who has to resort to making pornos and gets a million STDs from this career path.”

The whole table burst out laughing, and Zachary couldn’t help but wonder if they were laughing at him or at Harry. But he didn’t care, because by then he was walking towards the girl. She stood in the doorway with her milk carton, looking extremely confused. He realized then that her eyes were red and puffy. It slowed him down, but it didn’t stop him.

“Hey,” he said softly, looking down at her. “Sorry about my friends. Or teammates. Or whatever they are. They’re jerks.”

She sniffed, and laughed. “It was just an accident.”

“It wasn’t,” Zachary said harshly. “Harry’s an asshole who gets happiness from other people’s misery.”

She paused, looking at the ground and in turn avoiding Zachary’s gaze. “I don’t like swearing.”

He frowned. “Sorry.” He smiled then. “I’m Zachary, by the way. Zachary Patel. You can call me Zach.”

The girl looked up then, and he noticed she was smiling softly. “I’m Kelly Norris,” she said, her voice just as soft as her smile. “Nobody’s ever given me a nickname.”

“I might be able to come up with one,” Zach said, becoming more cheerful by the second. This girl was so pretty, and maybe they could become friends. Or maybe more, as time progressed. It made him giddy at the thought. “Nice to meet you, Kelly.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Zach.” She paused, before adding, “Thank you.”

AUTHOR NOTE: Just as I finished this chapter last week, real life hit me like a tornado. It’s weird, because all of July has been so very boring, but now I have tons upon tons of plans. It’s a weird feeling, I’ve never been able to describe my life as “busy” before. Anyway, this is going to be different from my two other stories, because it’s going to be lacking in the humor department. But I hope you enjoy it anyway. (: