liar

Unicorns are the ugliest creatures ever thought of. I mean, why the hell do they have a stupid cone on their head anyways? Does it help them in any way? I doubt it. All they do is just prancing around with a cheesy smile and sparkles floating around them. People say they’re the most “beautiful things ever.” Hell, if they were even real, I’d scream my head off and run away—let alone gaze at its beauty. In my opinion, I’d just chop off all the stupid cones off their stupid little heads.

I found myself drawing a unicorn on my paper. Shit, I thought as I quickly erased the repulsive thing. I sighed, my cheek rested on my desk. Was class ever going to end? We were studying mystical creatures in AP Literature and apparently, the most common creature was the damn unicorn.

My teacher, Mr. Terry, was in the middle of lecturing us on why the unicorn is so common when I heard the classroom door open. Still erasing the picture, I didn’t bother looking up. Mr. Terry paused his lecture to talk to the person and then he called my name. “Elena, they need to see you at the attendance office,” he said to me. I sighed, gathering my things and taking the pass.

Burlington High School: the worst excuse for teenage education. I’m pretty sure the only reason they built this school was only for the kids zoned on the East side of town. Anywhere else in the entire state is safer than this school. Not that I’m complaining though, but it could be better. Besides the fact that our school is beast at sports gives us extra brownie points, but besides that there’s just a bunch of stuck up normal kids that have no lives. Sometimes I feel as if I should be attending some high-class school like South. At least there they have decent computers and good school lunches.

As I made my way out of the classroom, slowing dragging my feet behind the teacher’s aide, I noticed that I didn’t exactly remember this boy. In a way, even though I was only staring at the back of his head, I knew that I hadn’t met him before. And of course, as my big mouth would have it, words started coming out before I could even register what I was saying. “Are you new here?” I asked him.

He turned back to look at me with a puzzled look. “Who, me? Naw, I’m not new.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. I pinched myself, of course he’s sure, dumbass. He wouldn’t be telling me that if he wasn’t sure. “I mean, I just don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before,” I corrected.

“Well, I’m sure we’ve met before. But, I’m a senior—if that answers your question,” he offered.

“I’m not sure it really does, because I’m a junior. Maybe we just hang out with different people? I swear to God you look so familiar, where the hell have I see you before?” This was starting to bug me, because the boy was damn sexy. His bright, familiar hazel eyes were pulsing as the seconds passed. I finally realized that we had reached the attendance office when our gaze broke, but he still hadn’t answered my question.

He knew I was still waiting, so he smiled and said, “My name is Kennedy Carmen, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Elena Summers.” And with that, he disappeared into the attendance office.

______

Kennedy Carmen. Kennedy Carmen. Kennedy Carmen. I sighed, my heads rested in my palm as the day droned on. Why the hell couldn’t I remember where I’d seen him before? I couldn’t help but keep wondering why those eyes looked so familiar, though. I tried to think back to last year, when I was just an innocent seed that could never be harmed. It wasn’t until the bell finally rang to end school that I remembered.

“Of course!” I yelled, racing to go find my best friend, Alexandra Murphy. I found her, ogling her eyes at the guy she’s been infatuated with for the past, well forever. “Alex, I finally figured it out.”

“Hmm?” she mumbled, still fixated on Josh Edinburg, our star quarterback. He was okay looking, with his simple face structure and proper clothing. His blue eyes weren’t all that special and even though he had flawless skin, I still didn’t see what she saw in him.

“Well, today during AP Lit, there was this boy that came into the class—and you’re not even listening to me,” I noted as she made a mushy face as Josh walked by. “Dude, if you’re into him so much—then why don’t you just tell him?” I asked.

“Are you kidding!?” she blew up out of her trance, looking at me like I had gone insane. “That’s like, risking everything I’ve built up over these last three months. This morning, when I bumped into him, he smiled and we had our first conversation,” she gushed.

“What’d you guys say?” I asked.

“Well, he said sorry in his luscious voiced and I just said, ‘it’s okay.’ It was magic,” she sighed with a smile.

“Girl, you need to calm yourself. I’m sure you’ll have more conversations with him if you actually talk to him,” I encouraged.

“I’m trying my best! But what were you saying?” she asked, reminding me about Kennedy.

“Oh yeah, so the boy that walked into my AP Lit class was Kennedy Carmen, name ring a bell?” I asked her.

“You mean that senior? Yeah, what about him?”

“Well, it just so happens, last summer when I started getting into all that bad stuff—I happened to run into him at a party. Well, I was trashed so I didn’t exactly remember him, and I never saw him after that. Well, today when he was walking me to the office; I looked into his eyes and recognized him. I have no idea why I hadn’t before, but there’s just something about him that had me so intrigued,” I explained.

“Did he remember you?” she wondered.

“Not that I could tell, but maybe if I see him again I could ask? There’s just something about him. But, I’ll probably just leave it alone. I don’t want to get involved with someone who’s leaving this year,” I told her, putting my things away in our locker. I grabbed my purse and slung it over my shoulder. “So, are we still on for tonight?” I asked.

“Movies and slumber party?” she smiled with a goofy grin.

“You mean a sleepover?” I laughed, shaking my head at her.

“Whoops, yeah, that.”

“Sometimes, Alex, I swear you’re still a little kid at heart,” I laughed, walking out of the school. Just as we were getting in my car, I glanced over to my left to see Kennedy getting into his. He glanced in my direction and smirked. He knew I remembered him, but it’s funny how that night was such a blur. The only thing I remember was that toward the moment I blacked out—we were having a conversation…

“I can’t remember the last time I saw him,” I told this strange boy.

“That’s horrible. I never really met my dad either, but my mom got married after he left and my step dad was pretty much a total douche. One day when I came home late, I found my entire room trashed. All my clothes were ripped up and thrown everywhere, my TV was broken. And you know what? My mom didn’t do a thing. She just turned her head when he walked in there and started cussing me out. He threatened to throw me out on the street but all I did was tell him that he wasn’t my dad and that he had no right. The moment he raised his hand to hit me, my mom came running into the room. He hasn’t really talked to me since,” he said.

“That’s crazy,” I breathed, staring into his intense hazel eyes.

“Ha, sorry, I don’t mean to overwhelm you. I don’t exactly tell anyone about my family life, but you just seem so easy to talk to,” he smiled.

“I get that a lot,” I shrugged, finishing off my drink of hard liquor. I was suddenly feeling happy and warm. There were people around, drunks that didn’t know how to dance correctly. I stood and held my hand out to him. “Would you like to dance, stranger?”

“Of course,” he accepted.

After that, the night was a big blur. But, as I was falling asleep in someone’s arm, I felt lips on mine. They were soft, but sweet, and as quickly as they came, they had left. I was suddenly cold and alone. My last thought before I passed out was the image of a boy, with his succulent hazel eyes that sparkled in the midnight sun.