The Curious Case of Charlie Vincent

Chapter 1

I will never forget her smile. I will never forget the way she always had a smile. I will never forget the way she loved the rain. I never will never forget the way her gray eyes changed colors with whatever color she was wearing, which is the reason why I called her "Cammie" for chameleon instead of "Charlie" for Charlotte. I wonder what they call her now.

           It was the first day of my junior year when I walked into New Haven High School and laid eyes on what I knew had to be an angel. Better yet, a goddess. I was head-over-heals for this girl with long, smooth, golden hair. She turned and made eye-contact with me. My first thought was, "Her eyes are an endless pool of gray." My next immediate thought was, "Great, now I'm the new stalker kid," so I quickly averted my eyes.

As I walked to find my locker, I overheard the conversations of the kids I would soon know as friends, enemies, or acquaintances. One name seemed to come up multiple times. That name was Charlie. I made a mental note to keep an eye out for Charlie, who seemed to be everyone's friend, because if whoever they were could get along with all these people, then maybe they can be a friend to the new kid. The bell rang and I wandered around like a lost puppy because none of the classrooms had names or numbers on the door. Me being the social anxiety filled person that I am, refused to ask for directions. Finally the principal patrolling the halls caught up to me. "You must be Tyler, I'm sure New Haven is a little bit of a culture shock to you compared to Gerald High School. Let me show you to your classroom." Mr. Spencer said.

As we walked into my science class, all eyes were on me. Mr. Richardson turned from the board and said, "You must be Tyler. Come on in and take a seat wherever you'd like." I turned and saw no seats but only fifty-something eyes staring into my soul. While caught in my worst nightmare, I suddenly heard, "There's a seat open next to me." I turned and saw the golden haired goddess with her hand raised. I took my seat next to her and everyone resumed writing what Mr. Richardson was writing on the board. "Hi," she said, "My name is Charlotte, but everyone calls me Charlie." She had the most beautiful smile. "Oh, hi. I'm Tyler. I've heard your name around," I said way too excitedly. Charlie? A girl? Never would have guessed. "Really? People talk about me?" she had an uneasy, anxious tone in her voice, as if she didn't want her name in anyone's mouth. To calm her nerves, I said, "It was all good things. People around here seem to love you." She smiled at that. I grabbed my notebook out and tried to concentrate on the work but all I could think of was Charlie.

As soon as the last bell rang I walked to my car and as I opened the door I heard Charlie say, "Tyler! Wait up!" I turned around and saw her running down the hill in a t-shirt, spandex shorts, knee pads and sneakers. I didn't realize until now how in shape and beautiful her body was. She got to my car and smiled her never ending smile. "Hey," she said, "I was just wondering if you'd like to hang out this afternoon. I know it's short notice but I thought maybe you'd like to get smoothies and get to know each other a little bit-I mean not in a weird way, I just thought maybe since you were new and don't have friends yet-" she looked so flustered, "I didn't mean that like that I-" I just laughed and said, "Its fine, I know what you mean. Yes, I would love to get smoothies and hang out. Thank you for being so sincere and thinking about me, ya know, since I don't have any friends." I winked at her and her face turned dark red. She looked down and smiled then looked back up. "I'm really sorry. Here's my number, just text me whenever so I have yours. I get out of volleyball practice around four-thirty. Is that okay?" she asked. Like I was going to miss out on this opportunity. I said, "I'm on your time, gracious young lady who is nice enough to accompany me as a friend." She laughed, "I'm never going to live his down am I?" "No," I said, "no you are not. I'll see you around 5?" I could not get over her smile. "Sounds great to me."

I got home and took a shower. All I could think of was this girl I met not even twelve hours ago and now I'm going on a non-date date.