Chapter 2

I woke up to a stream of sunlight boring into my eyes. I covered them with my pillow and groaned. The sound of my alarm clock buzzing right beside me confirmed my dreary thoughts: today was my first day of college. I rolled out of bed and onto my hardwood floor face-first, where I proceeded with another groan. After a few moments of simply laying there, I pushed myself up and walked over to my mirror. Just as I expected, a huge lump protruded from my forehead. I pulled my hair from my ponytail and brushed it over the lump. Much better, I thought.

The rest of the morning seemed to go by in slow motion. I ate breakfast, dressed in a strapless sundress and cardigan, grabbed my planner and laptop, and finally found myself driving to Haywood, a community college in the town of Clyde, North Carolina, where I lived. It was an easy fifteen minutes from my house, so I took no rush in getting there. Once I arrived, I noticed that the parking lot was a mob scene. I circled around the buildings a few times until I finally found a spot three blocks away. I groaned for the umpteenth time that day and started my walk towards the buildings that contained my future.

As soon as I reached the entrance to the main building, I pulled out my schedule and glanced at my first class: Human Anatomy. I followed the map of the school campus I printed out until I found myself standing outside of room C16. I warily stepped inside the classroom and faintly recognized some of the faces that stared back at me. I took a seat next to an Indian-looking girl; I figured it was a good idea to sit next to someone who was probably smarter than I was. I introduced myself and learned that her name was Farah. She seemed very nice and I decided then and there that I would try to befriend her.

As I began to highlight my current class on my schedule, I heard a woman clear her throat. I looked up and noticed a fifty-something year old woman with frizzy brown hair and glasses standing in front of the class. Before she even opened her mouth, I knew that she would be my favorite teacher for the year.

"Hello everyone. My name is Renee Holland and I'll be your human anatomy teacher for the year. Before you begin to moan and groan, remind yourself of why you signed up for this class to begin with. If you want to save lives in the future, this class is just as vital to you as inhaling and exhaling oxygen is. I'm not a boring teacher; I like to have a good time. Please don't misinterpret that, that I'll let you do whatever your heart desires, because I won't. I'm here to teach you about human anatomy, and that's that. I'm not a strict nor hard teacher, but if things get out of hand, I'll see myself to be. Any questions?" No one raised their hands. "Good. Let's start off with attendance."

Mrs. Holland pulled out her attendance sheet and began to speak a name when the door to the classroom opened and a tall, blonde boy sauntered in, not bothered by the fact that he was late. As soon as I caught a glimpse of his face, my heart dropped. I recognized him immediately.

He sat down in the empty chair next to me, of course. He smiled and said, "Well well well, if it isn't the girl with no name," and then turned to Mrs. Holland, who was staring at him.

"Hiya, I'm Leo," he said, waving to her. A few giggles erupted from the class, but I just shook my head at the fact that he was already pissing me off.

"You know Leo, it's funny," Mrs. Holland said, sauntering towards him. "I've barely known you for a minute and I already want to kick you out of my classroom." She gave him a huge grin.

"You know Miss, I do tend to have that affect on people. Am I right?" he asked the class, turning around to face everyone. A few girls sitting in the back of the room squealed, oblivious to his cocky personality. Mrs. Holland just shook her head and returned to the front of the room, standing in front of the podium. She read a couple of names before saying, "Leo Flynn", and grimacing. Leo raised his hand and said, "You can just call me Storm, by the way. That's what everyone calls me."

"In that case, I'll call you Leo," she told him. He grinned and slumped back into his chair. After a few more names, she called out "Katherine Sylvester." I raised my hand and requested to be called Kat. Mrs. Holland smiled at me and agreed. I turned to Leo and grinned, rubbing it in a little bit. Then she continued calling out names.

"Looks like you do have a name after all," Leo whispered to me.

"That doesn't mean I want you to call me by it. Actually, scratch that. I don't want you to call me anything. Just hold back on talking to me and we'll have no problems, okay?" I shot back at him.

"Ouch, someone's bitter," he muttered, scrunching up his face. I rolled my eyes and stared ahead for the rest of the class period. As soon as the bell rang, I jolted from my seat and out the door. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough. As soon as I stepped outside the door, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I sighed and turned around. Leo was smiling at me.

"What do you want?" I asked, exasperated.

"Did I do something for you to hate me?" Leo asked.

"Not quite. You're just extremely over-confident and annoying, which happen to be two of my biggest turn-offs."
"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come across like that. I do have an outgoing personality, but I don't want it to be mistaken for cockiness. Give me a chance to prove you wrong."

At that moment, I gave a half-hearted laugh. "Seriously? Are you really asking me on a date right now?"

"Depends on what your answer is," Leo smiled. "I'll be on the Pier at 7 tonight, by the Sawmill. I hope to see you there." And with that, he turned around and walked away, leaving me confused and strangely excited.

…

The rest of the day went by in a daze. All I could think about was Leo. I'll admit, I was slightly disappointed to find that he wasn't in any of my other classes. Nonetheless, the thought of seeing him later distracted me from my teachers' lectures and I was yelled at to pay attention more than once. As soon as I got home at 3 o'clock, I ran past my parents and bounded up the stairs to my bedroom. I immediately tore my closet apart in search of an outfit to wear for my date with Leo. I eventually decided on a beige romper with a gold belt, gold gladiator sandals, and a gold wristlet. I curled my hair and waited downstairs. My parents kept me occupied by asking me questions about my first day of college and the boy I was going on this date with. Finally, my phone read 7:00. I darted out to my car and I drove to the Pier. The Pier is the local boardwalk in my town. It's peaceful and consists of little shops connected to one another. There's a Ferris wheel at the end of the Pier but that's it in terms of rides. There are a few restaurants as well, including the Sawmill, which was where I was supposed to meet Leo.

As soon as I reached the Pier, I parked my car and walked over to the Sawmill, where Leo was standing with his hands in his pockets. He was wearing a white polo shirt and denim jeans. His blonde hair was spiked up and he looked like he came straight out of a magazine. I never noticed how truly attractive he was. When he noticed me walking towards him, he grinned and waved.

"I must admit, I'm a little surprised that you showed up," he told me.

"That makes two of us," I said.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and bit his lip. "Well, I'm glad you did. Anyway, I was thinking we could take a little stroll on the beach? Unless you had something better in mind."

I shrugged. "I don't care."

"Okay then. Off we go," he said. We walked to the staircase that led to the sandy beach. Once we were on the sand, we both took off our shoes and held them in our hands. Other than a few teenagers cuddling on the beach, Leo and I were the only ones there. We began walking side-by-side, ignoring the strong gusts of wind being blown in our faces.

"So, Kath…how long have you lived here?" Leo asked, glancing at me.

"Please call me Kat. And I've lived here in Clyde, North Carolina my whole life. How about you?"

"I can't call you Kat…it doesn't fit you," he told me, shaking his head.

"Then in that case, I won't call you Storm," I argued, figuring this threat would change his mind.

Leo shrugged. "Fine by me. Only my friends call me Storm. I may have exaggerated in anatomy class today. I was interested in seeing how far I could go with annoying the teacher. I like to test my limits sometimes, if you haven't guessed already."

"Oh trust me, I've noticed," I assured him. "I think all the other girls in the class noticed, too."

Leo smirked and looked down. "In that case, those other girls will be disappointed. There was only one girl I noticed in class today, and it wasn't any of them."

My heart fluttered in my chest and I felt myself blush. Leo must've noticed, because he laughed and said, "What? It's only the truth."

"So you're saying that the only girl you noticed was…"

"Mrs. Holland, of course!"

"Asshole," I laughed, playfully shoving him. He rammed into me with his shoulder but I lost balance and ended up falling into the sand. Leo toppled over me. By then we were too busy hysterically laughing to notice the grains of sand all over our bodies. As we began to quiet down, Leo looked directly into my eyes, resulting in my heart melting. We gazed at each other for a few moments until Leo said, "This girl had the most beautiful hazel eyes I've ever seen."

"Tell me more," I said.

"Her long, brown hair rolled past her shoulders and made it extremely difficult for guys to resist running their fingers through it."

"And…?" I trailed off, curious of what else he had to say.

"She's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my entire life." He stared at me for a moment, and then continued. "And I need to ask her something."

"Anything," I answered. At that point, he was lying on top of me, with our faces a few inches apart.

Leo gave me a shy smile and said, "I don't usually ask to do this type of thing, but with you, I don't really know what to expect."

"Well, what is it?"

He hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Can I kiss you?"

I laughed softly and bit my lip. "I'm not really used to guys asking permission to do something simple like that."

"I know that…I just don't want you to turn away at the last second."

"I won't."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

At that moment, Leo leaned closer until our noses were touching. Then, ever so gently, his lips met mine. It was a soft yet life-changing kiss. As soon as he pulled away to smile at me, I knew that my life had changed from that moment on…which is exactly why I told him to do it again.