You Should've Listened

Lost

It's been two weeks. Fourteen days and a whole bunch of hours since she arrived but I haven't said one word to her. I don't even know her name yet, I can't keep my eyes off of her. We don't usually get new kids at our school, especially not in the middle of the year but here she is, sitting in front of me. I have no idea who she is but for some reason I have the need to know her.

"Aries." My eyes snap off the back of mystery girl's head and up to the teacher. "You'll be partners with Dahlia." Dahlia. My mystery girl's name is Dahlia. I feel myself smiling at the perfect excuse to speak to her, to get to know her.

Her head slightly turns to me and her tight curls bounce at the motion. When her eyes lock with mine it's like time freezes for us. Her eyes captivate me and I can't help but feel like something is missing in her. She seems... incomplete or like she lost something, maybe someone.

"These will be your partners for the rest of the year. You have five months to get to know your partners and make a presentation on them and before anyone asks, no, you can't change partners." A few people let out a sigh but I bite the inside of my cheek to hold back my smile.

The bell rings and everyone quickly leaves the room. I make my way through the ocean of bodies and catch up to her. "Hey." She steals a quick glance at me but doesn't say anything in return.

"So," I keep following beside her although my next class is in the other direction. "Wanna work on the project after school? I'm free after practice and I can go over to your place."

"No!" She answers quickly as she stops in her tracks to turn to me. Her eyes widen with what looks like fear but before I can be sure of the emotion behind her big brown eyes, she blinks and it's gone.

"I just mean, I'm busy today." She nods like she's not only trying to convince me but also herself. "Yeah, so you can't come over besides, we have five months to work on this, we don't need to start today."

Before I can respond she rushes off.