If there was one thing Cole Sear was sure about, it was that he was unmistakeably falling in love for the first time. He looked at the teenage brunette at the front of the class with renewed interest. If there was one thing that distracted him from her pale face, it was a young blonde child holding her hand.
"OK, class, settle down, please. This is Nomina Cyrano Wolfe." The teacher called the class to attention, hands on her shoulders, he introduced her to the class of High-Schoolers. "Say hello to the class, Nomina."
The girl didn't, her attention was fixated on the boy latching onto her. Cole traced her vision to the boy, he was staring back at her, with bright blue sparkling eyes. He was wet, dripping in a small puddle around him over the laminated wooden floor, hair darkened by the water.
The whole class watched in awe at her still frame.
Charlene, the resident leader of a small group if cheerleaders, and her two best friends, Chelsea and Chantelle, snickered in the row infront of Cole.
"Hey, freak." Tommy Tammisimo elbowed Cole sharply in his ribs to get his attention, theb nodded at Nomina. "Check it out. Another freak."
Cole sighed and returned to the girl. who had begun to cry.
Tears dargged emerald eyeliner and mauve mascara down her cheeks as she breathed heavily.
This only propelled Charlene's group's sniggers into mocking laughter..
Nomina cleared her throat, dabbed her eyes with a sil handkerchief and straightened herself up.
"Uh, are you-are you ok?" The teacher stopped himself from laughing and clapped his hands together.
Nomina turned to him, finally breaking from the boys hypnotic gaze, eyes wondering around the room and nodded. "So, where do I sit?"
Cole clenched a fist under the table at her unusually soft voice.
"Any place you want. As long as there's a spare chair." The teacher chuckled nervously, as if she should already know.
Conveniently, there was an empty desk next to Cole, and she had seen that one first, so she walked, rather gracefully for someone wearing high-heeled boots and looked like she hadn't eaten in a month or two, to the chair next to him, giving him a shy but polite smile as she sat.