The Twists and Turns of Love

A loud alarm clock awoke Sarah from her sweet dreams. She groaned loudly. There was a reason she didn’t own one of those things: they were the most annoying things on the planet.

On the other side of the wall, her roommate, Claire, awoke with a huge smile on her face surrounded by her perfectly tidy room and with the morning sun crawling in through the window, bathing everything in golden light. Okay, maybe it wasn‘t exactly like that, but that’s how Sarah imagined the scene.

Claire was the closest thing you could find to perfect. Her grades were the best in the school, she was astoundingly gorgeous and she was the tidiest person Sarah had ever met. They were roommates and didn’t live with their parents because they were from a small town various hours away, and their parents, who were the best of friends, decided to rent them an apartment in the city so they could go to the Jacobson Arts Institution.

The whole reason they were even going to that fancy school was because they had won scholarships, entering in an art contest. Their parents didn’t want to pass up an opportunity like that, so they agreed to let them move out. They were a year away from 18, so it wasn’t like they needed that much care from their parents.

“Sarah! What are you still doing in bed?” Claire asked, popping her head in.

“Just five more minutes…”

“No, you need to get up now.”

Sometimes it seemed Claire acted like her mother, which always made Sarah laugh. She could never rid herself of someone who acted like authority.

Sarah finally listened to her friend and pulled off the covers. A wave of cold air hit her, and she felt like crawling back into bed, but Claire was faster than her. She pulled her out of bed, and made sure she was getting dressed before she left for the kitchen.

She stared at her closet blankly. Every morning she had the same dilemma. None of her clothes were too girly, her style being tomboyish, so she couldn’t ask Claire for help. She would just throw the entire closet in the garbage.

Getting impatient with herself, Sarah chose some ripped jeans, with a camouflage top and her worn out Converse. She tied he caramel colored hair into a messy ponytail.
Before leaving behind her messy bedroom, she took a look in the mirror. Why couldn’t she be more beautiful? Why did she always find herself comparing her looks to Claire’s? She would always end up losing. But Claire was just so pretty, with her long blonde locks and piercing aquamarine eyes, whereas she just had brown hair and brown eyes. Not beautiful at all.

“Sarah, we have to leave in ten!”

That was her cue to eat some breakfast and head out the door as soon as possible. She glanced back one more time at herself and sighed. That was all she was ever going to be: Claire’s ugly best friend.
~~~

“C’mon, Sarah, we’re going to be late!” Claire yelled at her fifteen minutes later, running through the streets at an athletic pace.

“I can’t run as fast as you!” Sarah called back, struggling to keep up with her.

What didn’t this girl do great? Apart from being a possible model, intellectual and organizer, she could also be an athlete.

The traffic light that read walk started blinking and Claire sprinted across the street as fast as she could. And she made it. Unlike Sarah, who was stuck on the other side behind some old ladies blocking the way.

Claire was going to wait for her friend, but Sarah saw just how impatient she was. It was no big deal to her to get there late, but to Claire it was the end of the world.

“Go ahead!” Sarah yelled to her.

She didn’t seem sure of what to do, but in the end, her need to be there on time kicked in and she went on her way, but not before throwing back a grateful look and mouthing thanks.

As Sarah waited for the light to change she looked around at the people surrounding her. Old ladies with extravagant clothing surrounded her, apart from a man in a suit with a fancy suitcase in one hand.

The books in her hand were starting to get heavy, and she shifted them from one arm to the other, hoping to relieve the pain in her tingling arms.

At long last, the don’t walk sign read walk instead. She jogged across the street and kept a steady pace on the way there.

As she was rounding a corner, she barely had time to dodge a bike going straight at her, and collided with it. Papers flew everywhere and the two bodies lay, bruised, on the hard pavement.

“Ow,” Sarah groaned, getting up and brushing the dirt from her pants. She studied her elbow, which had turned a purplish color.

“Are you okay?” the owner of the bike asked.

“I think so,” Sarah replied, grabbing her straying papers and books.

“I’m so sorry,” he said retrieving his things too. Turns out he was also carrying papers and books.

“It wasn’t completely your fault. I should have paid more attention,” she said, getting her things and not looking up at him once.

“Here, I think this is yours,” he said, handing her a purple notebook.

As soon as she looked into his eyes to thank him, her breath was gone. His dark blue eyes gleamed at her and his lips curled into an adorable smile. His brown hair was cut short like the type of haircuts those Calvin Klein models have.

“Yeah… Th-Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

She spotted the books in his hands. A Midsummer Night‘s Dream, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye…

“You like to read?” he asked her, spotting her eyes on the books.

“Well, um, honestly, not too much. I prefer poetry.”

“Really?” he asked, breaking out in a smile.

“Yeah,” she said, happy she had made him smile.

And then she remembered she needed to be somewhere. That little thing called school.

“I’m so sorry, I’ve got to go. I shouldn’t have stopped here. Now I’m going to be late!”

“Do you want to borrow my bike?”

“Don’t worry, but thank you a lot. Really.”
As she rushed off, Sarah took one last look back and saw him watching her leave. She waved before rounding a corner and disappearing.

The rest of the way there, she couldn’t stop thinking about him and his wonderful eyes. She should have asked him his name, at least, but no, she hadn’t even done that. He had seemed so perfect: cute, gentlemanly, kind, smart… Why was she fantasizing about some guy she barely knew anything about? She only knew his exterior, but that exterior did say a lot. But then again, he could have a girlfriend, could he not? And she was thinking that the way he looked at her so intently with those eyes meant something.

No, she should just get him out of her mind. It was for the best. She would probably never see him again, and after a few weeks he would only be a blurry memory from a Friday morning. She tried and tried to convince herself that it would really be that way; that she could get him out of her thoughts so easily. Easy come, easy go, right?

As she entered the school’s front doors, she was convinced of something. That day she wouldn’t be able to concentrate in class. At all. And because of a pair of dreamy blue eyes.