"Dave!" I heard her calling down the hallway after me, I tilted my head to the side, wondering if I would have enough time to talk to her and make it to class on time. I'd been in love with her since the day I'd met her. With her long brown hair and petite frame, she was nothing short of perfect, I couldn't see how she even wanted to associate with me, but I suppose it had to do with the fact that we'd both moved here from a little place called Kansas, it wasn't hard to find common ground between us seeing as there really was jack shit nothing to do there. I'd moved to Playa Linda first, leaving Callie with not much else to do but talk to me. She moved the summer going into 9th grade, I'd already been there a year. I knew the surfers and the locals, I knew the do's and don'ts to life at Playa Linda High, she had no choice but to follow me. It worked. Here I was, Callie's best friend, standing in the middle of Playa Linda Hill waiting for her little legs to catch up with me.
"Dave, you will not believe what I got us invited to tonight," She puffed heavily as she scooted between an actively making out couple and a few lockers.
Alright, so she was still a little more popular than I was, even here. But it didn't mean I got left behind, something had changed in Callie during the move, something crucial that left her friends important to her, and I'm not exactly sure what it was.
"Where, Cal?" I looked at her blankly, blinking my bright blue eyes a few times before cocking my head to the side as I waited for her to catch her breath.
"Bradin… Westerly's… party." The words came out choppy due to her quick intakes of breath, but I heard just perfectly.
"Bradin Westerly?" I asked again, my left eyebrow arching as I shifted my weight onto my other foot, my books suddenly feeling like the weight of the world was in my arms, "As in that new kid?"
"Yeah, the really cute one, he's from Kansas. Can you believe that? I'd heard a rumor around that he was, but I didn't believe it. We ended up talking a bit on the beach the other day and it's true."
She emphasized cute, I thought to myself, You only do that when you like some one. She's got to like him; he's good looking and all. I guess. I wanted to kick myself, how could I go to this kids party tonight with Callie drooling all over him? But I smiled nonetheless, "Alright. Sounds awesome, maybe he knows a few of the same people we do." I gazed down quickly at my watch, "Fuck. I'm extremely late." I hadn't even heard the bell ring; Mrs. Ambrose was going to kill me. I hugged Callie goodbye and ran down the hallway that seemed to stretch on for eternity, throwing open the door to room 310 I stumbled into a person standing cautiously in the doorway.
"Hello, Ms. Weatherfield, nice of you to join us. Care to help the young boy you just knocked onto the floor?"
I looked down and into the most beautiful pair of aqua eyes I'd ever seen.
"Bradin Westerly, meet Daveigh Weatherfield. She'll be your new partner for the rest of the year." Mrs. Ambrose chuckled, propping herself up on her desk with her arms. The class followed closely behind with her laughing fit as I blushed a deep red.
So this was Bradin. And yes, I am a girl.