Finding Solace

Chapter 2

Callum

"What about this one?" Jake mused.

"Nah, too skinny. I like them curvier." Henry snorted. Then his eyes lit up. "This one's much better."

They were going about their usual girls picking. They both liked playing around with girls and whenever they were bored, they went about picking their next targets. They also seemed to have a knack for arguing about every single silly stuff.

"This one? Are you serious? She's not pretty enough!" Jake protested.

"And you think that other skinny thing's pretty? Maybe you should get your eyes checked, dude." Henry added sarcastically.

"What did ya say?" Jake said seethingly, turning to face his friend.

"You guys cut it out!" Blake said in an annoyed tone. He has always been the serious type and seems to hate the childish banters his other two friends usually exchange.

"Oh come on man, we're just trying to figure out who's the best chick to hit on." Henry complained. Then he seemed to have an idea and turned to me. "Callum, you tell us who's hotter, that sexy curvy brunette or the other slimmer one?"

Up to now, I had only been vaguely listening to their conversation, but when they addressed me, I had to give them my full focus.

"I don't know really." I replied in a bored tone. "Aren't they all the same?"

"The same? How can you even think like that! I mean, it's two totally different types we are talking about..." Jake's tone was disbelieving as he said that.

"Give him a rest man. I mean this guy only has eyes for the ice queen. All other girls are invisible to him." Henry said in a teasing voice.

I gave him a death glare at that.

"Oh! Right... how could I forget!" Jake said in a dramatic tone. "Well that's totally understandable. This is the ice queen we're talking about after all! Perfect looks and body... you can't even compare her to other girls." He added in an almost dreamy tone, his eyes glazed over.

My glare turned even more menacing as I shifted it to Jake. They all laughed at my reaction and I sighed, giving in. They were right after all. I've only had eyes for that one girl ever since I first saw her. Thinking about her gave me that usual pleasant twinge in my chest. I knew that this was just a simple crush though. I mean, I have never even talked to her. There was no way you could fall in love with someone just by admiring them from afar. At least, this is what I convinced myself of.

A flash of white blonde hair suddenly caught my attention. It was her, the girl that has occupied most of my thoughts and dreams for two years.

"Oh! Speak of the devil!" I heard Henry say.

"Are you looking, Callum?" Jake asked me but I didn't answer.

"Just leave him be." Henry joked. "He's in another world right now."

My heart thudded in my chest as I watched her smile as she talked to her brother. It was that same smile that was my undoing the first time I saw her. Something about it felt so genuine and innocent that I couldn't help falling for her. However, she only seemed to smile like that when she was with her brother. Any other times I saw her, she only had a poker face.

Seeming to sense my gaze, she looked upwards and her pale blue eyes widened slightly when they met mine. I took a sharp intake of breath. It was the first time I had looked at her in the eyes. They were even more beautiful than I thought. Like the brightest ice crystals... almost hypnotic. Time seemed to stand still as we just stared at one another. This is the closest I have ever been to her. The first time she really looked at me. My heart leaped with joy at that simple contact and I found myself hoping this could last forever. However, just then, I felt the unmistakable killing glare of the person next to her. I reluctantly shifted my gaze to him. Daniel Brown seemed to be barely containing his fury. The look he gave me held the promise of retribution later for openly ogling his sister like that. I knew about his overprotective nature towards her and how he promised hell to any who even tried to approach her. Well, the bastard could come at me if he wanted to. I'm not the least bit scared of him and it would be nothing new anyway. For some unknown reason, he seemed to bear a scathing hatred towards me since the beginning. Without any explanations he just started picking fights with me every time we met. Even other gangs started coming at me after that, thinking that I also formed part of some gang. The worse was that my friends also became involved in all this because of me. They didn't seem to mind though and in the end we formed our own little group to ward off all those who bothered us. The main one being Daniel and his friends who kept hounding us relentlessly. I wonder what it was that I ever did to make him hate me like that. Or maybe there really was no reason and he just chose someone randomly to vent his anger out on. He did have the reputation of being like a crazed dog after all.

Jillian seemed to be talking to her brother with a worried expression. Whatever she said seemed to direct his attention away from me and he walked away but not without giving one last killing glare. 

"Whew!" Jake whistled once they were out of sight. "Talk about a heated encounter!" Jake said once they were out of sight.

"In both sense of the word." Henry added with a smirk in my direction. "Looks like our ice queen finally gave you some time of her day."

"And some intense time, at that!" Jake said, making his voice deliberately breathless. "The way you two just stared at each other... like no one else existed in the world."

"Okay that's enough teasing me already!" I chided them.

"But they did say something significant there, Callum." Blake said in his usual serious tone.

"Not you too, Blake?" I gave him a look every bit as exasperated as my tone of voice.

"No, wait. I don't mean that to make fun of you or anything." He added defensively. "It's just... I mean how long have you secretly had a crush on her now? Yet you never even tried to get close to her. Don't you think it's about time you made a move?"

"I second that!" Jake said excitedly. "She will be more easily accessible now that you're attending the same school. It's your perfect opportunity."

"Even if you say that, she doesn't seem the least bit interested in me. I couldn't be more invisible in her eyes." Saying it out loud made a sinking feeling settle in my chest.

"But wasn't today a positive development? For once, Jake's right. The way she was staring at you definitely meant something." Henry said.

"See! I told you!" Jake said, giving me a tap on the shoulder, then he seemed to realize and glared at Henry "Wait a second there, what do you mean for once?"

"Anyway," Blake quickly interjected, probably to stop the other two from getting into another argument. "What we mean is you should go for it. You won't know for sure until you try. Otherwise, you might end up regretting."

"You're right." I said, smiling to myself, feeling convinced. "I'm gonna try talking to her and maybe even tell her my feelings." Then I remembered and added in a more somber tone "But first, I need to find a way to get past that hound guarding her."

"I was wondering when you were gonna come to that." Blake said, his expression turning serious. "That guy didn't seem the least bit pleased to see us here. This place's like his domain... he's gonna prove troublesome."

"Who cares about this crazy old dog?" Jake practically shouted. "He can come at us if he wants to. We're gonna deal with him cleanly like we usually do. Besides, this school doesn't belong to him! Anyone's free to attend it."

"It might as well belong to him" Blake interjected, narrowing his gaze. "I heard that his father donated lots of money to this establishment and because of that, all the staff hold him in high regard. He always does as he pleases and they turn a blind eye to it all."

Henry whistled at the aggravation "Whoa man, looks like we entered the lion's den. And on top of that, we're planning on taking away its most prized possession..."

I narrowed my eyes at him menacingly "We?"

He held up his hands defensively "Of course I meant you! Calm down, man!"

I let it slide for now. "Anyway I'm not the least bit scared of that guy. We can hold our own against him now. It's no longer like before when we just got kicked around. Though, I'm gonna be making your lives more complicated again..."

"Don't worry about that, man!" Henry said, putting his arm around my shoulders "Aren't we pals?"

"Yeah we're gonna watch out for each other as usual!" Jake added with a huge grin on his face.

"Yeah. Thanks guys." I smiled at them. They've always been such great friends to me. We've been hanging out together ever since we first met in middle school some three years ago. Even now, we were still as close as before despite the hardships we faced. Just then, the bell rang, signaling the entrance ceremony was about to start.

"Should we get going now?" Blake asked. When we all turned to look at him in surprise, he nodded in my direction. "I know you said you wanted to skip but I have a feeling you've changed your mind now."

I smiled at his on-spot guessing. "You're right. I'm suddenly really looking forward to attending."

The auditorium hall was huge and already packed with newcomers. I recognized several faces from my old school. As we walked down the aisle, we caught the attention of several students, especially girls. Looks like we will be every bit as popular here as we were in our previous school. Jake and Henry seemed to be really enjoying the attention as usual. They kept sending flirtatious smiles and even winks causing the girls to make a ruckus as each one tried to get us to notice them. I didn't pay all of these happenings any mind, being too busy scanning the room to locate Jillian. I couldn't seem to spot her anywhere though.

"Silence in the room!" A middle-aged man, who I assumed was the principal, called in an authoritative voice through the mike. "I want everyone to be seated within  two minutes."

Disappointed that my search turned fruitless, I went to the nearest empty seats, my friends following behind. I watched in boredom as all the staff introduced themselves and blabbered all the common stuff about school and education prestige. Then they called for the honor student to make his introduction. I believe that would be the person who got the best results in the entrance exams as well as in middle school.

To my surprise, Jillian walked out from behind the stage and went to the mike. She looked every inch dignified and proper, like every high class lady.

"No s**t, man" I heard Jake murmuring. "She's actually the honor student?"

"She's got the beauty and the brains... and she's rich to boot. You really know how to choose them Callum." Henry said jokingly.

None of those aspects are what attracted me to her but I now realized that she was way out of my league. Still I couldn't bring myself to give up as I watched her give a short speech in a soft voice that felt like the most beautiful music to my ears. Blake was right. I would regret it if I didn't try my chance with her.

I walked to the classroom I was assigned to but was disappointed to notice that Jillian was not there. I was hoping we would be classmates as well. It would certainly make things much easier for me. Oh well, at least I was together with my friends. We occupied the places in the farthest corner by the window. Time seemed to pass slowly throughout the first two periods and I couldn't wait to be out of the room. Well mostly, I was curious as to which class Jillian was assigned to. However, during the first break, we were instantly surrounded by the girls from our class who kept hounding us with questions. No matter how much I tried to ditch them, they refused to leave me alone. In the end, I wasn't able to leave the classroom. The same thing happened during lunch break. Of course my friends didn't help the situation one bit. Quite the contrary, they encouraged the girls further by blatantly flirting with them. I was despairing that I wouldn't be able to make any progress for the day when I saw none other than Jillian herself entering the classroom. My heart started it's usual thudding usually only brought on by her.

Shortly after, the bell rang and the teacher entered the room calling for attention and ordering everyone back to their respective places. It was only then that the girls surrounding us left.

"You may go ahead and choose an empty seat, miss Brown." He said to Jillian.

Her eyes scanned the room and landed in my direction. The only empty seat was the one right in front of me. I couldn't believe my luck. To think I would get to sit so close to her. It would definitely make things much easier for me. My heart trembled with excitement but then it sank in disappointed when Jillian quietly walked to the seat without so much as glancing my way. She was completely ignoring me just like before. Was the connection I felt before just my imagination after all? How will I breach the distance between us if she keeps avoiding me?

Henry leaned over to me and whispered. "This must be fate. Go for it man, I'm rooting for you!"

I smiled at that. They're always so optimistic. I should try and learn from them. On top of that, I'll get to admire her from behind all I want from now on without her noticing. I have a feeling that I will really enjoy my new high school life.