Let Me Stitch Your Broken Heart

Carly was not happy. Today was the first day of sophomore year. Last year hadn't ended too well, and she certainly wasn't thrilled with the idea of picking up where she left off. Carly had seriously considered dropping out of high school and moving to Hollywood. It was her life-long dream to be an actress and Hollywood was the perfect place to start. But, unfortunately, her parents believed that school was more important than anything and would never even consider letting her quit. So, with no hope left, Carly rolled out of bed and got ready for school.

When she walked in, no one looked at her. No one talked to her. Carly put her hand in front of her face, "Nope, still not invisible." Once she found her locker, Carly began unpacking. Because her last name was Wade, and conveniently placed at the end of the alphabet, she had a bottom locker. She had almost finished setting up her shelf and decorations, when the owner of the locker above her appeared next to her. "Excuse me," Carly moved to the side and glanced up at her locker buddy. A shocked gasp escaped her lips. Carly fell from her kneel on the floor. The boy, her locker partner, her ex, her one true love raised his eyebrows as his lips turned up into a smirk. He proceeded to set up his locker.
Carly righted herself and made her way to the bathroom as fast as she could without looking too weird. Once there, she bent over the toilet and upchucked her entire breakfast. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God." Nervous tears raced down her cheeks.

Two hours later, Carly sat in the back corner of the English classroom. The teacher was droning on about their summer reading of Fahrenheit 451. Carly whispered nearly silent reassurances to herself, "He's not in any of your classes yet. Math and English are clear. All that's left is Chemistry, Government, and Theatre. Study Hall doesn't count because you can go to the library or something. He won't be in your Government class because he's in World History. He won't be in your Theatre class because he does Art. The only class you have to worry about is Chemistry." Just then, the bell rang.
That was enough for Carly to worry about. She didn't relax all day. She barely ate as she sat at the only empty table for lunch. She also found she was the only sophomore in her Study Hall. Finally, last period arrived.

Carly walked into Chemistry. He wasn't there, but neither were 3/4 of the students in her class. As usual, Carly sat in the back corner of the room. From there, she could see the door and everyone that walked through it. Carly counted fourteen people that weren't him. That didn't include the four that had been in the class before her. Including Carly, that made nineteen. There couldn't be many left. The tardy bell rang; he wasn't there. Carly released a sigh of relief as the teacher shut the door. A minute and a half into class, the door reopened. "Sorry I'm late!" The only empty desk was in front of her. He sat in it.
All through her teacher's introduction to the study of Chemistry, Carly scarcely breathed. She was desperate for a distraction from the being sitting in front of her. Looking at the instructor put him in the corner of her vision. Looking at her desk might make her seem asleep. Detention was not a good thing to get on the first day of school. She couldn't take notes because no one actually taught anything on the first day of class. There was nothing she could do. It was hopeless. There were no distractions. All there was was him. In front of her. Clouding her vision.

"Everyone pay attention!" Carly brought her eyes to the front of the classroom reluctantly. "Tomorrow and the rest of this school year you will all sit in the same seats. This way I don't have to create a seating chart. I hope you chose wisely. There will be no exceptions." Carly froze. If she hadn't known better, she would have said her heart stopped beating. The end-of-school bell rang through the building. Almost immediately, she regained the ability to move and raced from the room. Carly didn't grab her book-bag or any books. All she took were her car keys.

Carly had no idea how long or how far she drove. All she knew was that it was dark, raining, and her station wagon was out of gas. She sat with her forehead pressed against the steering wheel as she talked to herself, "Why? Why me? Why him? Why? Why? Why?" She let out a tearless sob.

"Ugh!" There was a loud banging noise right in Carly's left ear. She turned her head without losing contact with the steering wheel, and jumped. There was a man standing outside her car door. His face was hidden by the black hood of his raincoat.

Carly eased her window down an inch, "May I help you?"

"That's what I came to ask you." He didn't shout or raise his honey-smooth voice, but she heard him loud and clear.

"Oh."

"Need a lift?"

Carly thought for a moment and decided that this was probably the only help she was going to get. As far as she could tell, she was in the middle of Nowheres-Ville. "Yes," her voice came out in a cautious tone.

"My car's back this way," he gestured with his thumb. Carly turned and let her mouth fall agape. His car was a shimmering black Lamborghini with dark tinted windows.
She climbed out of her lame station wagon and followed him to the passenger side. He opened the door for her, "After you ma'am." Carly was impressed by his chivalry. The inside was just as amazing with seats clothed in black leather and a high-tech sound system. Carly got in as he shut the door gently.

"Your car is- is-...," she stuttered once he was in as well.

"Haha. Yes, I understand exactly what you mean." His laugh was like a brilliant one-man symphony.

Carly smiled, "Thanks for helping me out. I'm Carly."

"No problem. My name's Colton. I have a question if you don't mind me asking." Carly shook her head. "What were you doing out here?"

She thought for a moment, "Umm...exactly where is 'here'?"

"We're about two and a half hours outside of the city. Basically, the middle of nowhere. It's not exactly safe out there." He gestured out the window.

"Oh. Umm see I was just umm. Well, it was the first day of school and last year was...err...Well, it's a long story."

"I see. You sure you don't wanna talk about it?"

"It's difficult to...put into words. And it would take forever to say..."

"Like I said," he pushed his hood back, "we're two and a half hours outside of the city," he smiled reassuringly. Carly realized this was the first time she'd seen his face. It was absolutely gorgeous. She was speechless. "Hello? Carly? Anyone home?" Colton waved a hand in front of her face.

"Oh! Yeah! Umm, what was I saying?"

"You were going to tell me what you were you doing all the way out here."

"Right," Carly smiled at him and began her story. She didn't know why, but for some reason she trusted him. Trust did not usually come easy to Carly.