Heather was different today, not only her appearance but also her mood. Always a sad lurking girl was somewhat happy today. I don't know the reason but I want to see her happy. It gives me comfort knowing she is happy. If I have to describe the feeling concretely, it's like knowing your secret stash of Cheetos are safe and the location is disclosed, giving you a sense of security. God...I mentally cringe at the example and continued thinking about the girl beside me.

Good thing I decided to ride on the bus today instead of taking my car, I got to see Heather. I got down the bus and I was waiting for Heather to get down. We walked from the bus stop to the college. We were walking in silence but I can't pin point if it is the 'awkward silence' or the 'comfortable silence'.

She took in fresh air, combing her black hair down which was a havoc due to the air gushing towards us. The girls I have been with complained every time about their hair getting frizzy due to the wind but Heather, was not like any other girl I have met before. She is like a breath of fresh mint, very refreshing. She takes a quick look at me and turns away smiling, a natural blush to her tanned cheeks. I smile at how cute she is.

I think I was in 8th when I first saw her. Her eyes were the ones that had my attention, they were like big balls of fire, the more you look into them the more you burn and turn into ash. I craved secretly for them to see me, burn me. There was a duality to her eyes. Sometimes they were caramel too. I quite didn't understand why. I blamed it on my racy hormones.

I averted my eyes every time I saw her in the school. She was the first girl I noticed, the girl I thought was beautiful after my mother. I haven't paid attention to her after that. I thought it was just a mild attraction and a little fetish I have for her eyes. I thought it was just a phase for a boy my age and it will pass on one day. But the attraction became a big type crush which I am too scared to admit.

I wanted to distract myself. I found her shy act as a turn off. I indulged into football and earning good grades, sucking up to all my teachers. I worked hard to make a good reputation for myself. Heather became some kind of an itch which I stopped caring about. Me and my friends used to gang up on her, called her names. She fought with me a lot. She was my only competition. She was annoying and I hated her.

In my last year of the school, I was mostly paired up with Heather to do all the projects. My mind was too exhausted to act annoyed and gave up it's job, so my heart thought there was a need to control me and it took over my emotions. It pushed all the annoyance to some corner and brought back the trapped attraction.

I found myself enjoying my time with Heather. She was just like me even with the differences of her own. I was no less than an alcoholic, the only difference was that I was getting drunk on Heather.

We met up almost everyday, in the same way my feelings grew. Don't know what's stopping me from confessing my feelings. Is it a doubt of Heather not accepting me after the ton of shit I have given her in school? Or is it a fear of how she'll react after knowing my secrets? It's horrible now that I am thinking, I showed her how much of an ass I am. I did all of this to divert my thoughts from her, partly. The main reason was to hide who I really am. I am too scared to admit my identity. I'd rather be 'the douchebag Jayden' than 'the criminal Jayden.'

My day dreaming came to a halt as we reached our destination- Le' college. I looked at her properly one last time before I start my 'oscar worthy performance' of being an ass. I don't know why I offered her, to hangout with me and my friends today but it felt right. It was a subtle way I asked her out so I can see her more, more like a pathetic excuse to check her out. Jay, what a man you are, tryin' to fit her into your schedule for your selfish need, eh? Bravo!

I scoff loudly, which seems to have grabbed Heather's attention. I asked her, "So, are you gonna hangout with us later? Or are you kind of busy?" Without waiting for her answer, "It's fine. I can understand if you are busy and you don't wanna be with us. I am not compelling you to hangout with us. I know how you feel about us. It's not like we acted all buddy-buddy on you." Great! Now I made her uncomfortable. I looked doubtfully at her, expecting her to reject my offer. She had to. She doesn't have any reason to be around us.

But she surprised me with her answer. She told, " I don't think of you guys that way Jayden, you act stupid and dumb all the time, picking people like me but I don't think of you guys that way, like you're making it to be. I know deep down, you all are good people. It's just you are used to do bad things and one day someone will see the good, hiding within the depths of all of your hearts. Trust me, that day you will feel like you are born again."

I was in awe. Well, my friends were never this wise. She smiled peacefully at me and I don't know what happened but I returned the smile, peace washing all over me. "Heather? Who told you all this stuff?". She gave me a quizzical look, "Why? Why do you ask?"

"No. It's just, you are the first person who spoke positively about us except that part where you called us stupid and dumb. And what you spoke is just too wise for anyone our age." Heather looked lost in thought, as if she was reliving one of her memories. After quite sometime she told me, "My mom." I swear I saw something in Heather's eyes, not brown, not caramel, but a slight hint of sorrow and grief. It was there for a second, before she gave me a smile and told me "I will hangout with you today, Jayden." This single line light me up like the 4th of July. "I'll text you the details. Bye." And like that we parted our ways for now, just to meet again.

Well, you all came to know that Jayden likes Heather too but just not enough to confess.
What secrets was Jayden talking about? Why did he call himself a criminal? Why is he hiding his identity from Heather? How will 'the meet up with friends' go?
I can't promise you'll find all the answers in the next chapter but you'll find them eventually as the story progresses. Happy reading!