Rose, May and I have a daily routine on weekdays to prepare ourselves for school, pick up Sam from her home so we can drop her off at school with us, be at school, drive back to our apartment, practice our songs, send Sam back home, and finally sleep or relax. One morning, Samantha was talking to me about a new American substitute teacher that she saw the day before while May was driving us all to school. She and some other girls have been swooning over him since his recent debut, but Rose would be a notable exception.

"I had him for one of my classes," she commented. "I don't see what the big deal is with him, though. He has those gross albino rat eyes. Just because he's 'muscular and athletic.' Give me a break."

"You make him sound worse than he actually is," Sam defended. "His eyes look nothing like those. He has deep blood red eyes and a cute, warm smile. He looks like he's around your age, too."

"So what if he is? He probably only wanted to work there so he could make fun of the abundant amount of over-aged students with the other bloody teachers. I can understand if they were paid a ton to work there as a reward for putting up with us and this low-quality prison of a school, come to think of it."

"I think I saw someone like that before!" I exclaimed. "I thought he was a student!"

"You sure it wasn't a pole, hon?" May remarked as she and Rose laughed.

I was so ready to leave the car and get the day over with although my curiosity for the foreign substitute teacher did ease my embarrassment. I anticipated Sam introducing me to him because befriending a young sub did not seem all that bad. When it was eventually lunchtime, Sam waited with me to find him wandering around so I could introduce myself. Sam insisted that I exclusively approach him because she was too shy to confront him. She spotted him and tried to describe his appearance so I could figure out who he was.

"You see him? He's the tall, thin, somewhat muscular guy with the blonde hair. You can trust me when I say he's not as judgemental as Rose thinks he is. Maybe being friendly with him could help your grades one day."

"Er... Thanks?" I replied.

I walked over towards him after he sat on a bench to eat his lunch alone. I assumed that he was distant from the other teachers because of his age or he just wanted to enjoy the view of the plain school field with the usual grey, humid sky. Whatever the reason was, he seemed relaxed. I was sort of reluctant to introduce myself at the last minute because I was worried about annoying or startling him, but I wanted to make him feel welcome here and answer my questions.

"Hey! Aren't you a new substitute teacher?" Just as I expected, his first impression was to be shocked.

"Damn!" he exclaimed. "What happened to your eyes?! Should I take you to the nurse?!" He was clearly worried and grossed out, but I knew the drill.

"I'm good!" I nervously laughed. "They call me No-Eyes. You might have seen the back of my head before. I've heard that you're an American and I was curious about you because of that, and you haven't been a substitute in any of my classes yet." He suddenly began to grin.

"Oh, I can arrange that. You can call me Nick. I moved to England because I'm a curious guy myself. Don't worry. I don't plan on leaving this place for a while. Come and sit with me."

I knew better not to sit with strangers like him, but Sam was very encouraging so I tried to not sit too close to him. We sat together for a while and we got to know each other a little more. Some facts that I found out were that he really was shockingly only twenty years old, wears contacts to make his eyes look blood red just because he likes the colour, loves football, misses the warmth of his hometown, and is a Gorillaz fan coincidentally. I figured that maybe he knew that I was related to 2-D after observing me so he was alright with me sitting with him, and he was only remotely surprised when I admitted to being his daughter. I then saw a group of girls, not even Sam, watching us talk as they gossiped. I was not so comfortable so I tried to ditch him to go back to Sam.

"It really was nice meeting you, Nick. But I have to go find my friend now. See you tomorrow."

"That's too bad," he replied in dismay. "Later, No-Eyes!"

I could tell that he enjoyed my company, but the attention we were getting was a bit unsettling. The school bell beat me to finding Sam so I just went to the next class as I caught Rose and her boyfriend making out by the stairs and I childishly eavesdropped for a few seconds. I hoped to tick them off only to have unsuccessful results. Eventually, I met Sam after school and waited for Rose and May to arrive.

"Where did you go?" I asked Sam. "I thought you would be waiting for me to stop sitting with Nick and we could go back to hanging out."

"Wait. You call him by his first name?" Sam asked looking suspicious.

"Well, yeah. But-"

"I said you could befriend him! Not get personal with him!"

"Don't blame me! I was confused when he didn't tell me his last name, too!"

"Oh, I haven't told you. He's Mr.-"

It was at that moment when I was whacked on the back of the head with a sneaker by none other than Rosie with May beside her.

"You didn't think I saw you snooping around, huh, you damn virgin? Maybe you should get a room. And starve." She scolded, more grumpy than usual.

"I- I didn't think it was that serious!" I stammered.

"Don't mind her," May sighed. "She just found out that he was cheating on her. Nothing new. Now everybody just shut up and get in the car."

We all stepped inside the car and I noticed how nobody was in the best mood. Even Sam was looking down. I remembered that she did not answer my question about her whereabouts when we were at lunch. Perhaps she was trying to dodge the question because she was hiding something. Or maybe she was just using the toilet and I was being extra nosy. May is normally crabby so I just let her be. Rose being cheated on was a bit unfortunate, but she could always write a song about it. We all rode in silence until we returned to the apartment and practised.

The songs we worked on were coming along slowly, but surely. During our break, I noticed that Sam had been writing what appears to be lyrics to songs of her own. I hope that Sam can finish them and show Rose to convince her to use them one day if they are. I wonder how much their styles would contrast? After we dropped Sam off to her house, I was thinking about how Nick and I interacted. I was slightly creeped out, but he must be open like that to all the other students. It was not like he would have a crush on a student anyway... And then tomorrow comes.

Going to school the next day brought me an unpleasant surprise. Nick had made the most drastic change in appearance I have ever seen any teacher do. His smooth blonde hair became messy and blue. His usual formal attire is now an outfit matching mine. I have only met him yesterday and it is always weird, on the very rare occasions that it does happen, to see someone attempt to match your look without further notice, especially when you are me. I remembered that one of my teachers announced that she would be absent that day. I was shaking at the thought of Nick having to step in and possibly humiliate me in class, but it turns out that I was close enough. I enter the classroom and my heart sinks as he greeted me.

"Oh! Good morning, No-Eyes! Funny seeing you here." Nick said.

You would expect a teacher to call you by your legal name or not even say any of your names, but nope. He should have found out while he was looking through an attendance chart or something. It is my fault for just telling him my nickname, but still! Bad pun intended. I was also immediately embarrassed as I heard some snicker about us looking alike. It was as if he tried to make me uncomfortable, so I was thrown completely off-guard the whole period to the point where I did not even skim through his last name on the whiteboard- Although I probably should have listened to the lesson more. During lunch, I told Sam that I would talk to Nick about him trying to be my twin.

"So... You had him as a sub, but you still didn't get his last name...?" She asked grinning.

"His last name is the least of my worries now. How would you feel if you saw some guy wearing the exact outfit you were wearing right now?" I asked rhetorically.

Sam looked at her dress and smiled. "That's a whole different story."

"Oh," I laughed. "I guess you're right, but the point is I have to clear up the confusion. See you later."

I found Nick on the same bench as last time appearing to be waiting for me to sit with him.

"What's up, No-Eyes?" Nick smiled. "Were you glad to see me there?"

"I really wasn't," I replied. "You dressing up like this was a huge distraction for everyone, specifically me. I didn't understand the reasoning behind it either."

"Wow. It's good that you speak your mind like that. You care to sit with me?"

"I don't know! Explain yourself first."

"Alright... I want to go out with you."

My gosh. It was absolutely mind-boggling how some guy I barely met would have the nerve to change his appearance to possibly impress me and be straightforward enough to admit that he likes me as if he were obsessed. It was just not normal. All I could say was "Why?"

"Let's just say it's love at first sight."

"Um... You seem nice and all, but I hope we can be friends instead. In the meantime, do your job, okay? I don't want you to get into any trouble."

"... Of course. Sorry about that." He replied with a shocked expression.

"Hey. Thanks for the discussion. I have to go now. Good day."

That really did escalate quickly, but I was glad that I could hopefully bring it back down just as fast. We waved at each other and I returned to Sam. She must have seen the whole thing because she looked as if she saw a ghost.

"Well. That's a first." Sam commented.

"Yep," I added. "I'm glad it's already done with. At least there weren't any girls that came over to watch us this time."

"Maybe he was also trying to make himself less attractive so he wouldn't get too much attention from the crowds."

"Wait," I looked at him and began to grin at Sam. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know I'm joking, girl!" She giggled.

We both laugh and then enjoyed the rest of the day at school. Nick was on the back of my mind, but I still felt bad for him because of how desperate he seemed to be for a girlfriend. I know he was not expecting to fall in love with a student, specifically one that was the same age as him. I was a bit disappointed that he did not return to school since then. I do not know what that was all about, but maybe he will be better off wherever he is.

...