How We Began

by Sandra Corton

  His mind tried to process the information, as she quickly scurried on her way. Turbulent thoughts rained down, as he considered how it would look if she were the girl he was chasing. He felt overwhelmed, and just a little sickened at how his friends would laugh at his obsession with Hat Girl.

  He had finally found the girl who had given him the best kiss of his life, and now he wasn’t sure what to do next. He stood there, as people rushed past him, feeling equally horrified, as he was enthralled. He had been right earlier; this girl had severely messed up his life.

  Chapter 4 – Persuasion is not the technique to use.

  Kayla threw her keys violently onto the tabletop. She closed her eyes, and forced back the tears. Why did she have to feel so much for a guy that didn’t give a damn about her? She had thought all his little looks and winks had to mean something. It turned out the guy would flirt with anything that had a pulse.

  “Hey, ‘lil sis, what’s with all the noise?” Mitchell McCrae walked in with a frown upon his face.

  Kayla always hated to upset her brother, she liked to see him smiling, it made her life that much easier. His dark hair stood out with the bright blue steak that he had added for some flair. While his eyes, the same green as hers, reflected worry.

  “Why are guys such jerks?” Kayla asked, as her shoulders slumped.

  “Wait a moment, you’re talking to one remember,” Mitchell raised a dark eyebrow.

  “I don’t mean you, Mitch. I’m talking about this guy at school,” she replied with a huff.

  “In that case, I won’t take offense. So, what did this loser do?” Mitchell watched, as his sister paced and sorted her thoughts.

  “I thought he liked me. I mean he finally took notice of my existence… he talked to me and was nice, kind of flirty you know…” She trailed off, looking sad.

  “And? There’s got to be more to it than that.”

  “He kissed another girl today.” She finished on a sorrowful whisper, and her brother let out a sigh.

  “Come here.” He held open his arms.

  Kayla fell into the warmth of his brotherly hug, as the tears pricked her eyes again. These were the times when she was glad he was home, however briefly. She missed him when he was away, but she knew how important it was for him to get his degree. It was just a shame his school was so far away.

  “Okay, so the most important fact here is that most guys are jerks, and some never grow out of it either.” Mitchell informed her, as he hugged her closer.

  “Including you?” She teased him, to try to hide her own emotions.

  “Hell, no! I’m a way superior breed than just your average guy.” He stuck his nose in the air, and a small laugh escaped her.

  “What should I do?” She asked seriously.

  “Forget about him.” Mitchell clicked his fingers dramatically.

  “If only it was that easy.” Kayla muttered.

  “Alright, how about we try and attract his attention?” He sent her a wink.

  “Oh, yeah, like how?” Kayla rolled her eyes at his suggestion.

  “Let’s start with this hideous uniform that they force you to wear.”

  Kayla let out a groan at the excited look in her brother’s eyes. She should have known not to encourage a budding fashion designer into her boy problems. Still, she guessed it couldn’t really do too much harm. Mitchell had been trying to change what he called her frumpy clothes for years, but this was only her uniform, so she couldn’t see that it would be a big deal.

  She sat in her car at school the next morning, and wondered whether she should just drive home straight away. Mitchell had gone overboard in his adjustments, as he liked to call them. Her new dress now fit her snugly, but Kayla felt exposed. She had never really wore body-hugging clothes, except for when dancing. She preferred comfort to style and always had.

  Her insecurities popped up again, and it was hard to force them down. Did she really want to be doing this because of Isaac? Mitchell had insisted that she had looked perfectly fine, and to go get her man. The problem was that Kayla had never been as outgoing as her brother was, so this was a massive stretch for her.

  “Kayla, why are you hiding out in your car?” Hayley’s voice disrupted her thoughts.

  She glanced out the window to see her friend grinning at her, as she tapped on the window. She wished she had Hayley’s confidence with life. Her friend never let anything stop her. She wore clothes with a style and flair all her own, and was proud of who she was. She faced life with a grin, and a bucket load of determination.

  “Ah, nothing,” Kayla replied, as she wound down the window.

  “Well, even from here I can see what Mitchell’s been up to,” Hayley’s grin widened. “Come on, get out,”

  “No, I don’t think so.” Kayla edged lower into her seat.

  “I want to see his handiwork,” Hayley tugged on the door handle, and with great difficulty, prised Kayla from the car. “That guy has got some mad skills. I’m so jealous.”

  “He’s just a crazy guy with scissors and a sewing machine.” Kayla replied with a roll of her eyes.

  She reached in for the only hat that her brother would let her wear. It was small, barely covering her face, but at least her forehead stayed hidden. They had had a massive discussion about her hat collection, until her Mum got home. She thankfully told Kayla to wear whatever made her comfortable, which had Kayla smiling smugly.

  “Nope, Mitchell is one talented designing guru.” Hayley said, as she gestured for Kayla to spin around. With a grumpy look, Kayla turned as quickly as she could.

  “Okay, I’m done with showing off.” Kayla turned back to her car to retrieve her bag.

  “See you around.”

  Kayla simply waved a hand vaguely in the direction that she thought her friend was. She grabbed a textbook that had fallen to the floor, and quickly shoved it in her bag. She straightened up, and prepared to leave. She turned, only to see a familiar presence nearby. He stood there shuffling his feet, while glancing anywhere, but at her.

  “Um, hi.” She mumbled, cursing her stammered out words, before recalling that she was supposed to be mad at him.

  He stared at her, and then bit his lip, appearing incredibly indecisive. She was about to say anything to fill the awkward air between them, but he turned and marched away. Kayla felt struck by a hurt that she had never expected to feel. Mitchell had been wrong about altering her dress it had changed nothing. With difficulty, she pulled herself together, before slamming the door of her car, and heading to class.

  For the first time in Isaac’s life, he couldn’t think of what to say to a girl. He had seen the way her dress smoothed over her body and felt gobsmacked. Gone was the baggy dress and here was the curvy lushness that he had never really expected. However, he walked away. He said nothing and walked away. Now, he wanted to kick himself for the way he had acted.

  He had thought it all over the night before, and made an important decision. He didn’t care what anyone else thought about him liking Hat Girl; he was still going after her. This morning when he had seen her talking to Hayley, his resolve had been set even more. Now he stuffed it up, and he had no idea how to come back from that either.

  It was only when he was heading for class did he realise that Hat Girl was in his class. She had always been there, but he had never taken any notice of her. She was quiet and never answered questions, but she always did well in class.

  With that thought in mind, he rushed to his classroom. He wanted to be there first, to see her walk through the door. He needed time to plan what he wanted to say to her. This time he wouldn’t wreck everything by saying nothing.

  The bell rang, ushering in a new day. Isaac looked around his classroom with keen, excited eyes. The same old faces marched unhappily through the door. A few of the girls he didn’t really know, but they all smiled at him. The last one to walk through the door was the one that he had been waiting anxiously for.

  With her butt ugly, black rimmed glasses in
place, and that dreaded, old cardigan once again covering her newly designed uniform, he still smiled. At least her hat didn’t smother her face today, nor did it contain all her hair, as it normally did. That long, dark hair was bundled and stuffed into an untidy bun, as if it had been an afterthought.

  She made her way to the front row of desks, and took a seat without even looking his way. She neatly arranged her pens and notebook on her table in a way that he found utterly adorable. All he could wonder was how he had ignored her existence for so long.

  Before the teacher began her lecture, Isaac quite deliberately moved chairs. With a protest from the girl sitting next to him, he went to the front of the room. His nameless girl looked over at him, as he took the seat next to her. At first, she seemed puzzled by the motion, until panic gripped her firmly.

  “Hi, there,” Isaac said smoothly, watching her eyes go wide with disbelief, until she quickly looked away. “You know I normally known the name of the girl I’m kissing, and you’re the only one left that I don’t know.” He grinned at her. She sent him a shocked, but slightly anguished look that he couldn’t quite understand

  “Mr Thornton, do we have a problem?” Mrs Carter peered over her glasses at him, while the girl cringed away.

  “No, ma’am.” Isaac proceeded to get out his pens and paper, so he at least seemed astute.

  “Good, then I will start the lesson.” Mrs Carter said sternly.

  He grouched to himself, as the teacher simply marked the roll without calling out names. He had an opportunity to learn her name, yet still he had nothing. He glanced to her notebooks, but she had it opened with no sign of a name.

  All through that class, he kept staring at her. He could tell that he was making her uncomfortable, but he just couldn’t stop himself. She was becoming that interesting to him. He wanted to know all about her, and not to let her get away again.

  “Stop it,” She muttered halfway through the class.

  “Stop what?” He asked, knowing exactly what she meant.

  “Stop staring.” She wrote on a piece of her notepaper, when the teacher turned to glare at them again.

  “I can’t help it, you’re gorgeous.” He scribbled underneath her note.

  He was hoping to get a teasing answer back, but she clammed up, going stiff in her chair. She moved all of her stuff away from anywhere near him. She even went as far as tilting her chair, so she was no longer even in his peripheral vision. He cursed to himself, realising that she wasn’t going to respond to him anymore.

  He knew that he had to drop his teasing act. This girl wasn’t going to respond the same way to his flirting, as all the other girls did. She looked at the world a little differently, but that only made her much more intriguing.

  Class ended with the teacher underlining the homework that she expected them to do. With a groan, the class got up to try to make a quick escape, including the girl next to him. Isaac tried to place a hand on her arm to slow her down, but she moved away.

  Kayla tried to shove her stuff into her bag even faster in reaction to his touch. She was racing towards the door, before he could say another word. He couldn’t believe that she was getting away from him again.

  He caught up to her in the crush to get out the door. He touched her arm again, and she physically flinched away from him. He felt disturbed by her reaction, so he let her go. He watched as she ran off with confusion filling him at the way she was acting.

  “So, Isaac, I thought you were going to meet me after school yesterday.” He turned at the slightly outraged voice, only to see a girl that he didn’t really know.

  “No, I don’t think so.” Isaac replied to which the girl huffed and stormed away.

  Damn, was he losing his touch with girls? It was all coming down to being Hat Girl’s fault. Since the day he had kissed her, his life seemed to have gone awry. The only thing he could think to fix it was to track her down again. He knew the first thing that he wanted to hear from her, and that was her name.

  He was cheering later when he found her in one more of his classes. Jay sat beside him up the back of the room in their usual seats. As soon as she walked in, Isaac grinned and turned to his friend.

  “I’ll catch you at lunch, Jay,” Isaac said, as he pointed to the front of the class. Jay’s face lit with recognition before turning sly.

  “So, you finally figured out who she was,” Jay whispered to him and Isaac nodded.

  “Yep, I just don’t know her name yet.” He looked imploringly to Jay, who shook his head.

  “And you aren’t finding out from me.” Jay told him with a grin, before gesturing for his friend to leave.

  Isaac did the same as the earlier class, and took the seat next to her. This time she looked somewhere between exasperated and hurt. He puzzled over her expression, having no idea how he possibly could have hurt her.

  “Are you going to tell me your name?” Isaac asked outright, thankful that the teacher wasn’t really paying them any attention yet.

  “No.” She whispered, before refusing to glimpse his way.

  “Look, whatever I’ve done that’s bothered you; just tell me what it is.” Isaac said bluntly and she let out a bitter laugh.

  “Enough noise class.” The teacher took command and her words were lost to him.

  He began to call out names, and Isaac smirked, now he would know her name. He groaned when he realised the teacher was only reading surnames. Why wouldn't someone give him a break? All he wanted was her name. She answered to the name 'McCrae', so now he at least knew her surname.

  He racked his brain for the rest of the class, trying to figure out what was going through her mind. She was giving him absolutely nothing, whereas he was in one hundred percent give mode. Surely he hadn’t done anything to her, he barely knew her. He stared hard at her, before deciding that she was doing his head in.

  End of class was once again a mad rush, but this time he was determined to get some answers from her. As she went to pick up her bag, he quickly snatched it from her. He carried both their bags out the door, with her trailing along behind looking frustrated.

  “Give me my bag,” Kayla demanded sharply.

  “Not until I get your name, or figure out why you’re mad at me,” Isaac insisted, as she reached for her bag. He swiftly moved it out of her reach and shook a finger at her.

  “Give me my bag.” Kayla tried again, but this time he moved the bag behind his back.

  “Answer me, and you can have it back.” His stare became intent.

  “Why are you doing this?” She sounded pained, and he had no idea how to react.

  “Why did you kiss me like that?” He threw back and she went still.

  “We are so not talking about that. Now, give me my bag.” She held a hand out to him, but he refused to budge.

  “I think we should talk about it.” He took a step closer to her, watching her eyes flare brighter.

  “No.” She replied a little breathlessly at his closeness.

  “Then tell me why you’re mad.”

  He leaned in, until they were breathing each other’s air. Hurt spread across her features, along with an unexpected anger. Her eyes were so expressive that he found himself getting lost in their depths.

  “You’re not into this whole relationship thing, so why are you even trying with me?” She asked, with pain evident in her voice. “You know what? Just don’t bother.” She unexpectedly snatched her bag from his hands, and for the second time that day, he watched her walk away.

  What could she possibly mean about the whole relationship thing? He pondered her words for the rest of the day, until he saw Marnie waving at him. It hit him hard why she had been angry, he had been kissing another girl.

  He was the biggest idiot! How could he have missed something so obvious? Hat Girl was not like the other girls he had dated. She wanted a relationship, and he had proved that he would never be the one to fit that mould.

  The bell rang for the end of day, and Isaac still had no clue what to d
o next. He still didn’t know Hat Girls name. The only one in his group of friends that was aware of who she was seemed to be Jay. His friend was smugly insisting that he wouldn’t find out from him.

  The fact that she was mad at him was driving him crazy. It was even more annoying because normally he wouldn’t give a damn about hurting any girl’s feelings, but this one mattered. All he could think about was how he had screwed everything up.

  “Are you going to apologise, or let her be angry at you forever?” The voice of reason, known as his sister asked, as she stood waiting next to his car.

  “I don’t apologise.” Isaac uttered childishly.

  “Well, you had better start now before she loses interest.” Hayley pointed in the direction of her friend’s car.

  Isaac glanced over, and felt his whole chest clench tightly. She sat in her car crying and guilt plagued him. He had done this, but fixing it seemed impossible. He didn't deal with crying girls. He had no idea how to respond to them, let alone how to make them feel better.

  “Go and talk to her without being a jerk and she might be a bit more receptive.” Hayley nudged his shoulder.

  He stumbled over to her car, and for a moment simply stood there, feeling mired in her misery. He tapped against the glass, and she shifted back with a startled scream. She sent him a panicked look, before rifling in one of the compartments for a tissue.

  How could she possibly still look adorable with such red eyes and snotty nose? He didn’t know, but to him she was still better looking than many of the girls he had dated. Now, he wanted to hug her and comfort her. He wanted to make her feel better, but he felt afraid that he might stuff things up even more.

  “Open up,” he tapped the window again, making her quickly shake her head at him. “C’mon, I really want to talk to you,” he sent her his best, most charming smile that normally had any girl hooked. It only made her scowl at him.

  “What’s left to say?” She said; when she finally cracked the window open.

  “A lot.” He insisted, trying to appeal to her and quite obviously failing utterly.