Love Story - Part Three

So her motives weren't the most pure. Is that really all that mattered? As she huffed up another flight of stairs to her room, she wondered if she wasn't being petty. Then he caught her eye - the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. He ran his hand through his tender brown hair. His blue eyes were startling. She was smitten for the first time in a long time. But she had promised herself no crushes. They had only served to do exactly what they intended, crush her. She couldn't be smooshed on the floor and expect any guy to want her. So, she quickly looked away and ducked into her room, practically tripping over her bags in the attempt to hurry.

She seemed to catch some man's attention because she heard a deep, accented voice behind her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She dared not look in case it was the gorgeous gentleman. She couldn't bare if she had made a fool of herself in front of such a sexy man.

"I'm fine - just a little clumsy. It runs in my family actually. We're all clumsy. Not that we've been so clumsy to need anything fixed with surgery or had any broken bones. Well, that's not true. I have had my tonsils out, but I guess that's not clumsiness that causes that. And my sister did break her finger once, but it was because her friend shut it in the car door. I'm not sure if that's clumsy or just absent-mindedness. Anyway, it really doesn't ...."

Her rant was cut short as she felt him take her hand. Her heart fluttered. He was a gentleman. At last, her dream may be coming true. She turned to look at him and was greeted by a complete surprise. This was not her dream man as she had assumed. This young man had an out of control hairdo, big, black-rimmed glasses and .... BRACES!!! Oh, if only she had looked first.

"Do you always talk that fast?" He asked.

"Only when I'm nervous. It's not easy being a scholarship student in a place like this. I'm just waiting to be made fun of." She replied.

"I hear you." He replied in his thick accent. "But I think that I have more cause for alarm than you. Look at me. I scream outcast. Please someone pick on me. Especially when only half the school can understand what you say."

She chuckled under her breath. He was funny. Perhaps he would make a good friend, at the least. Adrianne couldn't see herself settling for a scholarship student. It just couldn't be justified in her brain. She was bright and in her mind, deserved exactly what she had come here for. But nothing said she couldn't have a friend.

He helped her to her feet and assisted her with her bags. After she sat down on her bed, he took a spot at her desk chair. They talked and laughed for at least a few hours before parting, on the premise that she needed to unpack. Adrianne began to feel hopeful that this wasn't the worst place on the planet. She may just survive four years at this high school.