Those Eyes
It was my first day in a new school… again. It was also the fourth time we’d moved in the last eighteen months, so when my dad said it was the last I was kind of sceptical. My dad has a problem staying in one place; We’ve been moving ever since my mom died. He likes to move because it keeps him from focusing on it. I suppose that’s why he stopped writing; it gave him too much time to think.
I know I’ve changed too. I used to be head cheerleader and student body president. After my mother died I hated being in groups or really talking to anyone outside of class. I never went out anymore, and my boyfriend dumped me the moment he saw tears in my eyes. All my friends suddenly had very important things to do. I didn’t care. It only helped me to fulfill my need of being alone.
I became a ghost to everyone in school, including the people who had admired me the most. So when we started to move I didn’t mind. I would just blend in and no one would notice me, except for the first day when I was introduced. It seemed as if I had developed this invisible force field that kept people from seeing me. That’s why I was extremely disturbed when I realized I had been spotted.
I was giving my usual spiel about myself in front of the class, when I noticed a set of eyes looking at me. I know this is normal if I’m in front of the class, but people don’t usually notice me. They acknowledge me as something new in the class, like a new map that hadn’t been there the day before. But these eyes were filled with interest, a need to find out more about the unknown. Those eyes belonged to that of a person who actually walked up to the map and figured out where the treasure was. The treasure no one else knew about because they just didn’t look.
I finished my spiel and walked to my seat feeling those eyes on me, and I tried not to think about the fact that those eyes belonged to a guy a really cute guy.
I got through my class, but as the day progressed I had the distinct feeling of being watched. I finally realized he was in the majority of my classes. Even when I was in the halls I could feel the holes in my back burning deeper and deeper. By last period I was very on edge.
That intense stare hardly ever looked away from me. I got up the nerve to ask a girl named Jasmine, whom I’d met earlier, who he was. She acted as if he was the new kid, and said that shed never seen him before. And as I watched closely, I could tell that barely anyone noticed him at all. I watched and wondered how anyone could miss such a perfect specimen, and why anyone would wish to be missed the way he was.
Then I realized, he also had a type of force field .It was a lot like mine, but slightly different. He had his because he was meant to be that way. He was a born watcher. Born to see, and born to tell. He was the type that knew everything and everyone, and he knew I was an imposter. He knew that my force field was one belonging to a hermit, and at that moment I became ashamed.
I was ashamed to say this was how I was living my life. I hate it, and my mother would have too. I began to feel tears in my eyes. So I gathered up my books and walked out of class. I found the nearest empty bathroom and cried my eyes out.
I stood in front of the mirror long after school was over and thought about the changes I would make in both my life and my dad’s, and how I would slowly start my old activities again. I would do all of the things needed to get back on track, starting with getting to know that guy. I’d made my decisions and had him to thank, no matter how bizarre it sounded. So I picked up my bag, wiped my face again, fixed my hair, and walked out of the door.
There he was waiting out by the wall for god only knows what, and before I knew it, he was he was in front of me with his hand held out. “My name is Jared,” he said, “I’m kind of quiet, but I see things. I saw you today. Would you like to be friends?” and that was all he said, just like that. Not caring at all that this was completely unconventional. We stood there for what seemed like hours, but finally I took his hand, shook it and said “Thanks, you have no idea what this means to me.”
