As Ms. Dawes went through the attendance sheet in Advanced Grade 12 English, Clare sat patiently waiting for her favourite class to actually begin.
"Clare Edwards?" Ms. Dawes called.
"Here." Clare responded immediately.
Ms. Dawes continued down the list while Clare looked out the window to the right of her desk. She loved watching the leaves fall. Autumn was her favourite season. The colours, the smells, everything. Clare was lost in a world of orange, red and green when she heard a familiar voice fill her ears.
"Here." The boy who she had collided with earlier this morning said.
"Nice to meet you Eli. How are you liking Degrassi so far?" Ms. Dawes questioned.
"From what I've seen," he started and looked over to me, "I think I'm going to like it here." He finished and smiled shyly.
"Well that's very good to hear, Mr. Goldsworthy. Degrassi is a great school!" Ms. Dawes responded and continued on down her list.
Eli. Eli Goldsworthy. That was his name. Eli. The boy with the captivating green eyes, who had left her mind swirling only a short while ago, his name was Eli. She thought to herself and decided that she liked his name.
xxxxxx
Clare Edwards. That was the name of the girl who literally took my breath away this morning.
It was my first morning at a new school. Degrassi Community School. My family had just moved here, to Toronto. I was nervous about starting a new school in my senior year of high school, and I was really pissed off about having to leave Ajax.
I loved my old city. My old home. Although I was pissed, I understood the move; my family, and especially me, have suffered through a lot in the last 2 years. It just got to be too much. I…. we, we couldn't go anywhere without being reminded of that tragic event. Everything served as a reminder of what we all lost. It was too much. So we took the initiative and left.
I wasn't expecting to meet any new friends for a few weeks. I'm not the type of guy to randomly walk up to someone and introduce myself. I'm not overly shy, I just don't have a high tolerance for people. I find most people to be fake. Always wearing a mask, hiding behind a façade. I just didn't understand that. I was who I was. I didn't have much to hide. The few things I kept to myself were so that I didn't burden other's with my problems.
I was a different kid though. Most kids didn't have my problems, actually, no kid I knew had my problems. I wasn't hiding though, I was protecting everyone else; sparing them.
This is why it took me by such surprise when I collided with this girl. She was beautiful, and had these baby blue eyes that reminded me of the ocean. She was so apologetic, in a confident way. I didn't even think that I was making a joke, but when she laughed at my crack about blaming gravity for the bruises, I realized I was comfortable around her after only spending a minute with her.
I don't really joke around with people. I'm more standoffish. I guarantee, if I had collided with anybody else it would have been a quick muttered "sorry" and I would have been off in another direction; but with this girl it was different.
She captivated me. She made me act outside of myself; and I'd only known her a minute! She was so effortlessly confident, and it left me wanting to know more about her. That was why when she went to leave I had to stall her. When I grabbed her arm, I panicked, I didn't know what to say to her now that I had her attention.
I muttered the first thing that came to mind. I asked her for directions. Yeah, cause that's how you get a girl, ask her where your class is. I felt so ridiculously childish and stupid. I had one chance and I blew it. I could have asked her name! That at least would be something, but no.
Although, maybe it wasn't so bad after all, because turns out she had the same class. Who would have guessed it? When I followed her to her locker so she could get her books I could see her peaking out from underneath those long dark eyelashes. I let her stare. I actually quite liked the sly glances. It showed me she was intrigued by me.
This girl though, she was just so beautiful. She had medium length, light brown, curly hair. The curls looked natural, not fake like every other girl who seemed to be following a trend. She wore a navy jacket over her red polo. Mr. Simpson had explained the uniforms to me earlier; Grade 9's wore yellow, Grade 10's wore purple, Grade 11's wore red, and Grade 12's wore blue. So this girl was in grade 11, yet she was in Advanced Grade 12 English. This meant she was smart. That's good, cause dumb girls really annoyed me. I liked a girl who could hold a conversation, one who challenged my ideas.
As she led me into the classroom, I took a seat far enough way to make it look like I wasn't attached to her now that she spoke to me, but not far enough away to say I didn't appreciate her help. As the teacher, Ms. Dawes as I quickly learned, took the attendance, I listened intently, hoping to learn her name.
"Clare Edwards?"
"Here." I heard the familiar confident voice respond.
I looked over to her as she returned to staring out the window to the right. I watched her as she watched the autumn leaves fall to the ground. She seemed unfazed by the bustling of the restless students in the classroom, focused on the outside world.
As Ms. Dawes called my name, I responded and answered the few questions she asked me.
Ms. Dawes was right. Degrassi was a great school. At least, I knew it would be, as long as I got to know Clare Edwards.
