Reinventing the Heartbeat

Blake Elizabeth Freeman ;;

Everything about him was perfect.

The way he moved, his blinding smile, his affection for everyonebut me, how he could make breathing look so damn irresistible; everything was perfect.

To me, he was the most flawless and beautiful being to ever walk the planet.

With emerald eyes that could easily make any girl completely melt right in her spot, a smirk that spoke every word his mouth never had to, and an attitude that clearly showed the world just how confident and sure about himself he was, not one individual of the female species could ever deny that face.

He was just so. . .perfect.

And, naturally, he was the boy that stole my heart the very first day of high school. The very second I laid my eyes on him, my mind went blank. I had forgotten how to breathe. I had forgotten my name. And I had forgotten that I was walking with my binders and new books in my arms and that the ground dipped ever so slightly where I was about to walk.

On my very first day at a new school, even worse being a high school, I'd not only managed to embarrass myself like the clumsy fool I am, but succeeded in doing this in front of the hottest guy on campus.

I was already planning ways to completely dismember myself in any painful and unusual way I could think of as I picked up my dropped items, when it first happened.

Quietly cursing at myself for my stupidity, I noticed a hand now jutting down at me for me to take. My eyes trailed further up, a surprisingly, for a freshman, well-built looking arm leading me to a set of piercing green eyes that had just seconds ago caused me to trip and fall to the ground degradingly.

It took me a few seconds to realize that he was holding his hand out to help me up. The sound of his soft, melodic laughter was what brought me back from the black hole his eyes had lost me in. He finished picking up the rest of my books, considering I still hadn't made a move to show I was about to, and grabbed a hold of my free hand, pulling me up to a standing position once more.

"Are you okay? You had quite a nasty fall there," he pointed out, motioning down at my scraped knees under my Capri pants.

I blushed and looked back up at him, smiling like an idiot. His voice was even more appealing than I'd imagined it to be.

"Yep," I assured him as he gently rested my books on top of the others in my arm with a warm smile. "Nasty falls seem to happen to me on a regular occurrence, so I'm quite used to it," I said, hearing that charming laugh of his escape his lips again. "Thanks for the hand."

"It was no problem," he told me sincerely, lightly shaking his head for emphasis. "I'm Greg."

"Blake," I replied, stunned that I was actually able to hold a conversation with this guy, and remember my name.

However, in the very rare chance that something good starts happening to me, something else comes along and ruins all of that for me - or, in this case, someone.

Just a few simple, innocent words had instantly crushed all good that had become of my first day in high school the second they left this someone's mouth.

"Hey Greggs, I've been lookin' for you. Oh, who's this?" an unnaturally blonde haired girl approached us, immediately wrapping an arm around his waist.

She smiled sweetly at me and then exchanged her glance to the boy next to her.

"This is Blake," he told the quite pretty girl, motioning a hand towards me. "Blake, this is my girlfriend, Ellie."

Ellie and I exchanged polite smiles, however mine was probably more forced than hers.

Of course he had a girlfriend. Who was I kidding by thinking he might actually be single?

Anxious to get away from the couple and get home so I could sulk in the privacy of my room, I quickly made up a lame excuse and escaped.

From that day on, I tried to stay as far away from Greg as I could. I know it seemed silly, but it honestly hurt to see him with other girls. And, dealing with it for nearly four years, you could imagine how bad that made me feel.

That boy was never single. Whenever he broke up with his at-the-moment girlfriend, there'd be a new one within the same week. Which, you'd think, would be a turn off in a guy for any normal, logically thinking girl. But I couldn't help it. There was something about him that made me want to like him. Along with all the other girls.

But, you know what they say, you don't choose who you fall in love with. It just. . .happens.

And, ever since that day, and between the few conversations and jokes we'd shared, my feelings had remained the same.

I was brought back to reality by the sight of someone walking in front of Greg, hiding his face from my view a few seats behind him.

Oh shit, I thought. I'm staring again.

Silently shooting daggers with my eyes at the back of the head of the guy who had just interrupted my staring time - no, I'm not acomplete stalker - instead of thanking him, as I probably should have, in case Greg had noticed, I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I whirled my head to the side, only to come face to face with the knowing expression of my best girl friend, Melanie.

"Already checking out the new guy, huh? Well I'm glad to see you lookin’ at someone other than Gr-" a quick movement of my hand over her mouth immediately shut her up. She smirked behind my reluctant-to-free-her-mouth hand as I simply shook my head at her, finally realizing the first part to what she had just said.

Glancing from the guy to Mel back to the guy before returning to Mel, I scrunched my forehead in a confused manner. "New guy?" I asked. "Since when?"

She laughed at my stupidity, gently patting me on the head. "Blakey, I think you will notice, you can learn a lot about the world and its many inhabitants when you're not thinking about the same guy over and over and over again." She raised her eyebrows at me disapprovingly, giving me a stern look.

She was right. So incredibly right. I just didn’t want to admit it. Greg was all I knew. He was all I wanted. And, unfortunately, he would never be.

I almost got lost in my thoughts about him for the second time that period when my best friend snapped me out of it before I could get in too deep.

"Damn, girl. You picked a nice one this time." I impulsively shot my head towards her again, seeing that her eyes were on something in front of me. "Just look at that ass of his!" she whispered the last part, smirking and shaking her head to herself.

Hesitantly, I turned my head in that direction as well, first noticing that he appeared to be in a deep conversation with the teacher. Then, in an even slower speed, I allowed my eyes to go. . .south. A pair of tight gray jeans clung firmly to his legs, magnifying his, well, ass. And, boy, I was definitely not complaining at what I was seeing.

"I wonder how he gets his ass to look so nice. I mean, seriously, that can't be natural. . .right?" my friend questioned me, scooting forward to get a better view.

Almost immediately, however, she shot back into her seat, seeing as how this new kid had finished talking to the teacher and was now walking back to his seat, now clearly displaying Greg to me once more.

Taking his seat, I realized just how absorbed I'd been in observing Greg to notice him.

He was sitting at the desk directly behind me.

For the remaining minutes of the period, Mel and I kept our mouths shut, neither of us daring to start a conversation in the event that one of us 'accidentally' said something wrong.

At the sound of that annoyingly loud bell, we quickly packed our bags, ready to get to lunch and away from the awkwardness of that class.

But the feeling of somebody's hot breath against the back of my neck caused me to stop everything and stiffen in my chair.

"Wanna know how I get my ass to look so appealing?" the voice behind me asked almost seductively. I turned my neck slightly, worried about how close his face might actually be, and gazed into a pair of bright blue orbs through the purple fringe that always hid my own eyes. Staring into them reminded me quite a bit of Greg, for some odd reason. It was like, I could tell these were a set of eyes no woman could turn down. They were special; different. They had a story behind them. And, all of a sudden, I wanted to read all about it.

A smirk became visible on his lips as he set them right next to my ear and whispered smoothly, "I go commando."

And with that, he gathered his books and left, leaving me speechless and dumbfounded in my uncomfortable, plastic chair.