Five Years Ago
You know that moment in the movies where someone walks through a door and time slows down? The light comes from behind the most breathtaking creature and it permanently and irrevocably changes your world.
Yeah.
Same.
My breathtaking, world-shattering, life-altering creature? This girl, right here.
She walks through our classroom door. The warm summer breeze is behind her, carrying her cinnamon scent. It fills the room. Does she know she smells so good? Is it creepy that I want to shove my face into her neck and inhale her, stain my lungs with her?
Probably.
Do I care?
Nope.
Before this moment, I had never seen someone so beautiful. So captivating. It’s like my world was void of color. The same pale, dull people. The same expectations. The same little town wanting and hating the same things.
But then she poured color into this room, this town, my heart, and it’s as if I have woken from a dream—no, a nightmare.
Her rich caramel skin and brown rebellious curls are like a breath of fresh air. She is different. Beyond compare.
Her style is edgy, like she doesn’t give a rat’s butt what anyone thinks of her. Her baggy jeans have rips. She is wearing an oversized black Guns N' Roses T-shirt. They are a welcome change from the pleated skirts and frilly sweaters of the princesses I am used to.
Obsession had already began to swell inside me, but then she looks up from watching her feet and her eyes collide with mine and I'm a goner.
Want to know my new favorite color?
Blue.
Blue.
Blue.
But not just any blue. Blue like a storm on the horizon, with clouds of gray and sparks of lightning.
She is across the room from me, but her eyes strike me like an arrow through my heart.
Thank you, Cupid.
She gives me a shy smile.
I give one back.
Mrs. Houser introduces her as Leora Laney. I know it seems crazy to find the love of your life in seventh grade. Go ahead and institutionalize me, because that’s what happened.
“Where is this girl even from?” Natasha’s voice pulls me from my hypnosis.
Heaven.
Hell.
Disneyland.
Who knows, and who cares.
She is perfect.
