My eyes kept sweeping back towards his face. He would not look at me and his head was still turned to where the teacher’s voice could be heard. His deep brown hair was cut short and he looked interested in what we were supposed to be learning. His face was tanned and beautiful, as always. Eyes hidden behind a pair of dark shades, he inclined his head towards me. I looked away and swore. He couldn’t see me anyway. This felt so wrong, staring at him like this but I just can’t help it.

I fell for him the first time we spoke to each other. It was the first day I entered French 2 and I was absolutely nervous. New school, new classes, and the people all looked at me strangely. He was the only one who didn’t. Others would only glare at my face, see the scars, and disfiguration, then wouldn’t meet my eyes. I tried every hairstyle you could imagine to cover at least some of the scars. My hair was a tangled mess of grease and hair being bent and twisted. I sat behind him, thinking he was a safer choice than anyone else who whispered when I passed.

I wasn’t really paying attention to the teacher since It was all just review for me. I had my mp3 Player turned up at one of the loudest volumes and closed my eyes. Out of no where I heard a tapping noise at my desk and he was smiling at me.

“ You like that song too I see.” I was shocked, he was the only one to talk to me all day. Even some of the teachers shied away when I spoke, they were wary of me. My mouth had gone dry and my music stopped as I pressed firmly on the pause button.

“ Y-yeah.” My voice came out as a dry whisper. He laughed at how nervous I must have sounded.

“ Great minds think alike, not many people appreciate that song. My name is Ryan.”

“ Claire.” With that he turned around, it was like we had come to some unwritten agreement. My mind instantly filled with thoughts of only him.

As the bell rang I was grateful and my heart was light when I walked out of the classroom. I turned my head to talk to him again and saw him grab the cane in the far right corner. A pale women swept past me and helped him out his seat. I gasped as I saw them. I felt my chest tighten as I raced away down the hall.

If only more people learned to see like he did.