It was his Eyes {ON HOLD}

Chapter 1: The Scene

It was his Eyes

Written by:

Sandra Pollock

Copyright.© 2011

All Rights Reserved

Edited by: Effy Cook

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Chapter 1: The Scene

     Have you ever been the type of person that just doesn't get the jokes? Or better yet, they don't get yours? Do you feel like people just don't get you...?

     Well, that's me, A.K.A., Jolie Kate Petters, born the daughter of James & June Petters in the deep south of the USA. Born into a family of 6 older brothers and 3 older sisters, I’m used to getting lost in the crowd. Don't get me wrong, I love my family. Growing up was awesome because I always had someone to play with and I learned a lot of lessons on how to kick some butt. No, my only problem was that no one actually knew my name. I was more accustomed to being "The Petters’ Baby" (this one I hated the most when I was in high school. It was just plain humiliating). It was either that or, "You know that football team of Petters? Well, she's the runt." Lovely, I know. My favorites were, "The Odd One" or "That Weird One".

     Because I was the youngest in a family of 12, everyone seemed to just give up trying to remember my name. We were even named alphabetically to make it simple, but it didn’t really help. I won't bore you with naming all of us, you’ll just get to know us as we go.

     We’ve lived in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and good ‘ole Alabama. That's where we settled. I went to college at the University of Tennessee. This, along with several other things, is why I'm called odd/weird. Anyone from Alabama knows that it's basically a crime to go to any school but the University of Alabama or Auburn University. And Lord forbid that you go to Auburn if you lived in house full of Alabama fans. I sure hope you don't need to sleep at night if you do, ‘cause you’ll be sleeping with one eye open for a long while. Cops probably consider it a just cause for killing. See, for those not in the loop, in Alabama, football is everything. When Alabama and Auburn play, it's like the town shuts down. It's almost a holiday; at least in Birmingham it is. My brothers were all football players, and my sisters, cheerleaders. Everyone went to Alabama except for me. Then of course, I had to be different. Not only did I not cheer, but I played basketball. Getting a full scholarship to UT was not impressive to my parents, or anyone else for that matter. Add that to the fact that I'm a whopping 5 foot 1 and 3/4 inches tall, and everyone declared something was definitely wrong with me. [Hey, that 3/4 is very important! Plus, I'm only 23, so surely I'm still growing, right?]

     Aspen used to say the only reason I was good at basketball was because nobody paid attention to me. I was too short to be noticed. Though it might sound harsh, I think Colin was right when he shared his theory that people just expected I sucked at it, so they didn't bother blocking me. But, I think Becca had more of the truth of the matter. She would say it was because everyone was wondering why I was there in the first place, and, since I was fast on my feet, I got a shot in before they had time to think. Farah thought it was a miracle since, apparently, I'm a complete klutz. She didn't understand how I couldn't walk down a hall without falling, but I could run up and down the court effortlessly. Of course, Ginny claimed my success was due to me being a freak of nature. I know, my siblings were so nice. Ian, Dane, Evan, and Hayden secretly supported me. Ian would even sneak us into the courts and play with me in the middle of the night. So, my “anonymous” supporters would not say a word when the subject was brought up and I was fine with that. Graduating from college at only 21 and still short, it was annoying that when I started teaching the students and other teachers would both assume I was a student. I still get asked for a hall pass when I’m in the hall between classes even though I’ve been there for 3 years now. It’s quite annoying, to say the least!