Actually, Minnesota

Chapter 1

Love at first sight: the premise of all rom-coms and sappy romance novels. My 10-year-old girlish self was convinced that this ideal attraction toward another human was required; my entrance into high school, however, showed me that this was just a cliché that allowed authors and directors to make money. I spent my first year at Roosevelt High in a hopeless quest for butterflies in my stomach and weakness in my knees. When these feelings went unfelt, I realized that "love at first sight" was a complete hoax. I shut myself off to the world of romance; by the next year, I found myself avoiding eye contact with boys as much as possible and dodging dead-end conversation at all costs.

"Chloe, you are being completely ridiculous," my best friend Lauren often told me. "Boys are, like, so hot. And you're totally gorgeous. You could literally date anyone you want." Looking back, I realize she was offering me beneficial advice, but at the time, I just didn't believe her. My average brown hair was frizzy and deemed unattractive by Instagram models worldwide. My nose is too big, eyebrows too unkempt, brown eyes too plain to draw anyone's attention. This is what I told myself and eventually grew to believe.

The summer before the start of my junior year I promised myself to keep more of an open mind. I was ready and willing to maintain conversation with the opposite gender in hopes that it would lead to something more. There I sat, in homeroom with Lauren and the rest of the classmates I spent the last two years doing the Pledge of Allegiance with, when someone unfamiliar walked through the door. His shaggy blonde hair was slicked neatly at the top of his forehead, and blue eyes blazed behind wide-framed glasses. He looked muscular, but not like a jock, and walked with a nervous air about him. I felt the butterflies immediately and could only pray that my cheeks remained their normal pale color.

"Who is that kid?" I heard Lauren whisper to the group of classmates we were sitting with.

"I think some new kid from Montana or something like that," a girl named Kate replied in a less-hushed volume.

"Actually, Minnesota." The foreign voice was approaching my desk. Well, not exactly my desk but the cluster of desks that I happened to be a part of. "Jackson," he introduced himself. Everyone said their names while I was fumbling through my bag. I wanted to hide my interest in him, so I opted for the "look busy" method. I glanced up to see his piercing blue eyes burning into me.

"Oh, I'm uh, Chloe" I stumbled over my words.

"It's very nice to meet you, Uh Chloe," Jackson replied through a teasingly radiant smile. The bell interrupted the awkward exchange, initiating the rush to first period. "Hey, wait, do you think you could show me to my class?" It was Jackson, and he was speaking to me.