I saw an angel today in Algebra class. Her long black hair curled around her neck and shoulders like a shadowy embrace. When her eyes met mine, I knew I was in love. She was the most beautiful girl in the entire school. I think. I've only been here for a couple of hours.
Wait, why are they all staring at me?
“What's your name, dumbass?” a boy who looked like gorilla shouted at me. I'd gotten so lost in metaphors I hadn't realized we were doing roll call. “Oh! Um, Alder Jones!” I sputtered. I put my head on my desk. I was already beginning to feel out of place here; this school was too high class for people like me. This school, with its twenty thousand dollar tuition, state of the art buildings, rolling green hills and fields... it was a bit of a step up from my old, run down Catholic high school. I got lucky. Yeah, I knew I was smart, and I was pretty good at wrestling (the sport paying my grant) but...I was very different. I knew it as soon as I came here this morning. I almost regretted my decision, until I saw her.
I spent too much time zoning out. I didn't even hear her name.
“Alder you said?” the boy sitting on the other side of me whispered. He raised an eyebrow at me; he looked a little confused. “Yeah. Why?” I responded, probably sounding more annoyed than I intended.
“We're on the same team, dude” the boy said with a laugh. “Same weight class and everything. Funny though, coach said you were a chick. I guess you do got a girly face.”
“I am a girl.”
The boy flushed, and looked back at his notebook for a moment before turning back to me. “Heh, that explains why you got a girly face, though,” He looked at his desk a the teacher shot a look in our direction. When he went back to writing on the whiteboard, the boy turned back to me. “Didn't mean any harm. I'm Zach, by the way. And, I won't be going easy on you cuz you're a girl, either.” I couldn't help but smile at the boy. He was friendly enough.
“Good. I want to pin you fair and square.” I gave Zach a confident smirk. It might have seemed a little cocky, but I didn't really care. I held up three fingers. “I'll have your ass pinned in thirty seconds.” Zach laughed.
“I'll bet you twenty bucks you won't.” Crap, I didn't have twenty bucks. Well, that just meant I had to win. I noticed the angel watching us out of the corner of her eye. I really wish I'd heard her name. I just got lost in those deep brown eyes and...
“Double or nothing.” I added.
Dammit, I'm an idiot.
