Cassandra

"Bored. Disinterested, fatigued, tired..."

Those were the thoughts going through my mind as I strolled absentmindedly through the school hallway, dodging bodies and clutching tightly onto my binder in the process.

I looked down at my converse sneakers and tried my best to avoid any human contact because socializing with others meant humiliation for me.

Talking to people certainly wasn't my cup of tea. Well, talking to everyone except Bella and the Mathinators. Bella is my best (and only) friend. We've been together since the second grade and ever since then, we've been inseparable. As for the Mathinators, they're the school's competitive math team that I'm apart of.

I guess you could say that I'm a bit of a nerd but I wear that word with pride. While everyone is busy 'being cool' and partying, I plan to work hard, receive a scholarship and get into Harvard. I have my life completely planned out to a tee.

As I walked, I overheard 2 girls having a not-so-discreet conversation amongst themselves. The first girl, I think her name was Felicity, laughed with a redhead girl.

"Aren't you so excited for Christmas? It's absolutely my favourite time of the year! And I can't wait for The Snowflake Dance! It's always so romantic! I really hope Tyler asks me out. We've been hanging out a lot more than usual and I think he likes me," Felicity babbled, gushing. Redhead looked up from her phone, clearly interested.

"Really? That's awesome. I'm not really sure who I wanna go with yet." Redhead admitted. "I'd probably go with anyone who asks me to it. Like Dylan." She swooned and giggled happily. "He's super hot and he's the best player on the basketball team." I tried my best to ignore them, but once they started squealing and planning for their dream future weddings, it took all of my being to not A) go over and tell them to shut up or B) cover my ears.

The mention of Christmas made me roll my eyes though. It's not like I hate Christmas or anything, I'm no Grinch after all but... It's just... what happened... Christmas Eve... the thought made tears spring to my eyes. I shook my head and gently wiped them away, regaining my composure.

"Can't let one bad memory ruin my day, now can I?" I rationalized as I kept walking.

What I didn't realize was the fact that I was about to run into someone who was running full speed BACKWARDS!

We collided and not only did this person knock me over, but they also made me drop my binder, causing my notes to scatter all over the floor and my thick-rimmed glasses to fall off my face.

Without my glasses, I was practically blind so my vision suddenly went fuzzy.

"Ugh, can this day get any worse?" I muttered under my breath, suppressing a groan.

I could only see the blurry outline of my knocker-downer as I tried to sit up. I rubbed my shoulder, which didn't feel too hurt, but it was a little sore from the fall.

"Oh, wow, I'm so sorry about that." A voice said apologetically. It was a boys voice, I could tell. "Here, let me help you."

"It's okay, thanks," I interjected harshly. I immediately cringed after those words escaped my lips. I hadn't meant to sound that cold. I guess I was still just a little ticked off after being knocked down, but could you blame me?

I blindly patted the ground around me as every stereotypical nerd would. My hands failed to find them, and I rubbed my eyes, which were starting to get sore after not wearing my glasses for so long.

I heard paper rustling and I turned to see my knocker-downer holding out what seemed to be a less focused version of my binder and papers. I smiled as gratefully as I could; an attempt to make up for my harsh tone from earlier.

"What are you looking for?" He asked. There was something familiar about his voice. I think I had talked to him a couple of times before, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"My glasses," I concluded with a sigh, hoping that my frustration wasn't too obvious. "I can't see anything without them."

There was a pause, and I could see him moving around.

"Oh, are these them?" He inquired, holding up something blurry. I couldn't help but laugh.

"How am I supposed to know?" I chuckled, gesturing to my almost blind eyes, which had started to tear up now from not wearing my glasses. Yes, that's how blind I am.

I saw his arms carrying the black blur closer to me and I jerked my head to the side.

"It's okay, I can put them on myself!" I exclaimed.

I heard a soothing shush as he placed a warm finger over my lips. My breath hitched in surprise. It seemed like my mysterious knocker downer was flirting with me. If that was even possible. I had never gotten much attention from guys before. They rarely even noticed my existence.

My glasses slid onto my face and the world came into focus again. I looked up at my knocker-downer in surprise.

Andrew smiled at me. "Better?"

I was about to respond back with an "I could've just done it myself", but when it finally clicked in my head and I realized who I was talking to, I froze.

The persons whose ocean blue eyes were gazing back at me were none other than THE ANDREW MILLER, my longtime crush!!!

I had liked Andrew since 8th grade and nothing changed when we headed off to high school.

Andrews the kind of guy who with one look could make a girl fall head over heels in love with him. He just had that effect on people, and I know it might sound cliché but I was just the weird girl who liked the popular guy and moments like these were like finding diamonds in a dirty old cave. Rare, priceless and almost impossible.

The sight of him made me tongue-twisted and I could only muster up an "I... um... uhh..."

Smooth move Cass.

"Wait..." Andrew trailed off and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear.

I felt my skin burn at his touch as my heart sped up a few 1000 beats.

He backed up to examine me and with a satisfied smile on his face he whispered, "perfect."

I could only gawk back at him in response.

After we starred at each other for a couple more seconds I saw a glint of realization in his eyes.

"Oh! Where are my manners, I should help you up."

He stood up and held out his hand to me.

Hesitantly, I took it and he pulled me up, forcing us to become mere inches away from each other.

I could practically feel the energy moving in the space we had in between.

"You sure you're ok?" He asked, concerned.

I slowly nodded, at a loss for words.

He finally dropped my hand, picked up my binder, handed it to me again and waved. "Ok, see you around I guess." Before I could even answer, he ran off again, disappearing just as fast as he came.

"Bye," I breathed wistfully and dazed to the air, so low it could've been mistaken as a whisper.

I brushed myself off, snapped myself out of whatever trance I was in, and started walking again so I wouldn't be late to my Mathinators meeting, all the while replaying the events of everything that had just gone down over and over again in my head.

Maybe today wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.