Gorgeous (Mike's story), chapter 1

I stared at her with glowing curiosity. She was just..... different. Great, I thought to myself, the first day of school and you've already set your eyes on someone, great way to start the year Mike! But, my god, she was gorgeous... Wearing ripped, folded-up-boot jeans up to her knees, with black thread stocking like things underneath and black and white converses and a navy blue zipped up sweater. With her legs half crossed, she looked rather bored and annoyed... I mean, who wouldn't? Sitting in the first seat, of the first row, with the teacher a foot away from you... man, she has beautiful eyes, glowing amber eyes... ..Nice hair too. Chestnut. I wonder what it looks like put down... she has a lot of bracelets, necklace, hmmm... She has no make up...

"Mr. Pritchard?"
"Hm?" I suddenly sat up in my chair and saw Mr. Rosen.
"I know that you're very bored, but please try not to space out, especially with your mouth open." He added. The class half snickered. I slummed down. I saw the girl give a snicker, she suddenly then looked in my direction. She turned her eyes away as they meet mind and looked at the floor. Is she blushing? Holy shit! She is! Wait... is that good or bad? Aww, crap...

The bell rang and I waited until everyone walked out. I watched her pick up her backpack and walk out into flooded hall.

"Earth to Michael... " Mr. Rosen teased me. I gave a weak smile.
"Mr. Rosen, what's her name?" I asked absent minded, still staring at the door.
"The girl you were staring at with your mouth open?"
I blushed. Was it really that obvious?
"Anastasia." He said.
"Anastasia." I whispered. What a name. But it was perfect. I Knew I loved her.

The whole day I couldn't stop thinking about her. Anastasia. She was like an angel. A beautiful angel... I couldn't stop thinking about why she was blushing either. She had seen me, obviously. Did she like me? Or was she just embarrassed for looking? I mean... I really don't understand girls sometimes... They confuse me. I was walking to Billie's place when I heard some one call me.

"Mr. Pritchard! Hey! Over here!" It sounded like a girl's voice.
I turned around and stopped dead. Holy shit.
I turned to see her running up to me. I'll I could do was stare in awe.

"Hi. Uh, do know were the Walgreen's is?" she asked looking at me, straight in the eye. I was surprised; she was almost as tall as me, by a few inches.
"Uh, yeh, it's... right around that corner." I said and pointing to down a block.
"Oh, Thanks," she said gratefully, "By the way, what's your name?" she asked with curiosity.
"Uh, Mike." I said nervously.
"Ok, Mike. I just didn't wanna keep calling your Mr. Pritchard. Hope I didn't scare you." She said laughing a bit.
"Uh, kinda. After happened in Rosen's... " I trailed off. She laughed. I love her laugh. It's so filling.

"Well, thanks anyway." She said with a smile spread across her face. And with that she walked away, her backpack swinging over her shoulder. I stood there, watching her, until she turned the corner and disappeared. I was so in shock. So many questions ran threw my head. Why was she going to Walgreen's? Did she have another reason for knowing my name? If she called me Mr. Pritchrad, she should have remembered what happened, right? Did she just happen to find me walking? I continued to stand there, staring to where she had disappeared. I loved her smile, her laughter, her beauty, her humor... It seemed in class that she was shy and quiet, not funny and radiant. Hey, kinda like me... This to good to be true. Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by some one else calling my name.

"Mike! Stop starring into space and get inside! We're gonna play at Gilman's in an hour!" Billie shouted from the front door.
"Oh, right... sorry." I said quietly and walked up the lawn to the house. I went with Billie down to the basement and started playing. As a picked up my bass and started practicing, flashes of her radiant smile blinded my vision.

Playing at Gilman's last night was fun. We stayed up so late, I couldn't get my butt out of bed the next morning, plus a had huge hang over. I knew Billie must have been the same, so screw it. I wasn't going to school. But then I sudden thought seeped into my mind. Anastasia. As much as I wanted to stay home, I wanted to see her beautiful smile. My head pounded, my eyes ached, my gut felt liquefied. My mind said yes, but my body said no. I tossed and turned in my bed for the next 20 minutes, undecided what to do. Finally, I decided to go.

I rolled out of bed... no, really, I rolled over and fell over board. I grumbled as I stood up. The moment I did my head swung in circles and the blood pounded hard. I fell back to my bed as I crinkled in pain. Five minutes later I stood up and gave it another shot. Wasn't so bad. I quickly got dressed, grabbed by bag and headed out. Just as I walked out the door, Billie was in the kitchen in his pajamas getting breakfast. The moment he saw me he seemed shocked.

"Mike, where you going?"
"No where." I said simply and shut the door behind me.

I ran five blocks to school, were I made it just in time. I was kinda sleepy and my head hurt a bit, but I made it through the first half of the day. When I got to the cafeteria, the first person I saw was Tre.

"Tre! What the hell are you doing here?" I yelled at him. He turned around and ran to join me in the lunch line.
"My mom made me come." He said angrily, "what about you? I didn't see Billie."
"I, uh... came my own... " I said quietly, looking away. He stared at me suspiciously.
"Really? Well, it must have taken you a lot shit to get outta bed, cause it took me." He said semi sarcastically, as he took his food tray. I looked at the main course. My eyes widened.
"What is that?" I asked myself out loud.

"Spaghetti." The lunch lady said kinda harsh, "Eat it or beat it."
"Uh, I'll beat it, thanks." I replied as I grabbed an empty tray. We inched further down the line. Tre stood silent for a while. I knew he wasn't gonna say shit until I told him why I came. I sighed. I knew I was gonna regret this.
"Alright. There's this girl I saw yesterday and-" That's when Tre acted like his normal self and exploded talking uncontrollably.
"A girl? What girl? What's her name? Does she know you? Is she here?" He said this a little too loud. He immediately turned around and started searching through the people.
"Tre! Be quiet!" I said, panicking a bit. People were starting to stare. I pulled him back into the lunch line.
"Look, one, she's in my history class, two her name is Anastasia, and three I have no idea if she's here, so fuck up!" I said rather loudly, holding Tre by the collar of his shirt. Being a few inches taller than him was a good advantage. He just stared at me with those big blue eyes. I stared back at him with my big blue eyes. We just stayed in that position for what seemed like forever.

"Hey! Move it!" some one behind me yelled. I quickly let go of Tre and we ran to catch up with the rest of line. As we chose our drinks and I grabbed a sandwich, I whispered in his ear, "All right I'll tell you, just keep quiet till we get out this line."
"Deal." He whispered back, "now, should I take a bag of spicy n'hot barbeque chips or a bag of famous amous?" he asked in his regular voice, holding up both bags.


"Good choice." Tre said wisely, as both of us went munching down on the spicy n'hot barbeque chips.
"Definitely." I agreed. Both of us sat alone at our usual table. It seemed lonelier without Billie.
"So," Tre asked between mouthfuls of chips, "Who's this girl?"