Through Your Eyes

by Ali Merci

  But then, I remembered it was only when she was around me and my friends that we saw the horrific side of the mega bitch. Whenever she was with her friends, she turned into an angel automatically. No, no that wasn’t the right word. She became a goddess.

  Caleb laughed and pounced off the bed. He snuck closer to her and placed his hands on her hips. Sam tensed up right away. Caleb licked his lips and leaned toward her ear. “Oh, but didn’t you invite me?” he whispered. Caleb loved teasing Sam, and that made me love him even more.

  Sam elbowed him in the stomach. Caleb chuckled as he backed off. “In case you missed it Caleb, I have a boyfriend.” She glared at both of us, but we were too busy laughing to care.

  Caleb waved Sam away and went back over to my bed.

  “Can I help you with something?” I asked Sam.

  “It sounds like you guys are having a threesome from downstairs,” she growled. She glanced over my shoulder and noticed my other friends in the room. “Well, in this case, maybe it was a foursome.” She snickered at her clever comeback. Hilarious.

  Caleb laughed and put his arms around Quinn and Becca on the bed. “Want to join us, Sam?” he asked her, raising an eyebrow. “I’m sure we can all fit.” He winked. Quinn and Becca giggled.

  Sam scoffed with disgust after giving us an eye roll. “Just keep it down.” She gave us each one last glare before strutting down the hallway and down the stairs. If looks could kill, we would have all been dead by now.

  “Does she know we’re actually coming to the party this time?” Becca said.

  “Who cares?” I laughed and grabbed Becca’s and Quinn’s hands. “Let’s go have some fun!” I squealed, and we paraded through the door.

  “This is gonna be epic!” Caleb shouted from behind us, throwing his hands up. The girls and I laughed at his comment and descended the white stairs.

  That’s when the party hit me—the pungent smell of cheap liquor, weed, and sweat infiltrating my nose. In our living room was a guy I faintly knew. His name was Eric, and he was the DJ for the night. EDM blasted through the speakers that were placed strategically around the house so every corner boomed with the music. In the room with Eric was a swarm of kids dancing, rubbing their bodies against each other. Guys nibbled at girls’ ears, while the girls giggled and swayed back and forth.

  Quinn practically threw up right away.

  “I think I’m gonna get sick.” She covered her mouth and ran back up the stairs. My eyes locked with Becca’s. Becca just tossed her hair over her shoulder and jumped off the last step.

  “Let her be. We’re here to have fun.” She smiled and danced her way through the crowd, her red hair bobbing up and down as she moved.

  Caleb smiled as Becca began dancing in the center of the dance floor.

  “That girl’s wild.” He chuckled.

  “Oh yeah?” I said and took a look at him. His eyes were bright. “Why don’t you go dance with her?” I nudged him a couple times in the stomach and gave him some winks.

  “No, I… uh…,” Caleb stuttered and scratched his head. “That’s not who I want to dance with, Ella.” He coughed and glanced at his feet.

  “Okay, whatever.” I rolled my eyes and left Caleb on the stairs. “I’m going to get a drink.”

  “Wait! Ella!” he called and tried to come with me.

  “Go to Rebecca!” I shouted back and headed into the kitchen.

  The kitchen didn’t have many people in it. Just a couple making out near our fridge. It was gross, but that’s what happened at parties. People got drunk, and other people hooked up.

  I looked at the island and saw the drink options: beer, vodka, and Coke. Both the beer and vodka smelled revolting, so I played it safe and chose the soda. Besides, I wanted to attend my first party sober. I grabbed a can and flicked it open. Immediately, soda began pouring out, spraying its contents all over the white kitchen. Crap. I turned and tried to run to the sink before I made a mess. Well, I tried to, at least.

  Before I could get two feet from where the soda began exploding, I ran into a body. A male body. Brown soda soaked the white shirt he wore, and his shirt now stuck to him. That’s when I noticed the amazing six pack on the guy I just bumped into.

  “I’m so sorry!” I squeaked and grabbed a towel that hung on the stove. I began dabbing his stomach, making myself look like a bigger idiot than I already am. “Oh my god, your shirt is probably ruined,” I groaned and covered my head.

  “Relax, Sam. It’s totally okay.” The guy laughed and grabbed my wrists.

  I froze. My eyes slammed shut. He thought I was Sam. This guy with rocking abs thought I was my twin sister. My better and prettier twin sister.

  The guy lowered my hands and I snuck a peek at the guy. My breath caught in my throat.

  It was Aspen.

  It was freaking Aspen-totally hot-Carder.

  He was the star of the championship soccer team at our school. He played forward and scored three out of the four goals at the game. He was tall with adorable curly brown hair, which was hanging loosely around his ears right now. He looked amazing causing my heart to race. I couldn’t believe I had spilt my drink all over the star athlete.

  “Oh! Ella!” he exclaimed and quickly let go of my hands. “Sorry, I… um… I saw the blonde hair and...” he explained, gesturing at my head. “And I thought you were your sister.” His face was turning red. Was he embarrassed? He was probably scared to be seen with me. People usually wanted to be with my sister, not me.

  I shrugged and tried to hide my face. “Everyone does,” I mumbled.

  We stood there in an awkward silence. I waited for him to say something, but he just stared at me with his chocolate eyes. A small smile spread on his lips.

  “Aspen!” A girl squealed from the sliding glass door. We both jumped and looked to see who it was.

  Sam.

  “Silly, that’s not me!” She laughed and skipped over to him. Her arm snaked under his, linking arms with him.

  “Hi, Sam.” I put on the smile that I always did when she was around. “Where’s James?” I asked.

  James Smith was her boyfriend. They had been dating since last year, around Homecoming. Of course, they were declared the sophomore Homecoming king and queen. Now it was a new year, and Homecoming was in two months. There was no way she would dump James before then. It was always expected that the captain of the cheerleading squad dated the quarterback of the football team.

  “Ella, why don’t you just go back to your room? You do hate parties, don’t you?” She put on a smile as well and turned to Aspen. “Now, come on, Aspen. We’re having a soccer game out back, and I already declared you captain.”

  It was sickening how sweet and nice she tried to be with Aspen. Clearly, she had a crush on him, and if she really wanted him, she could get him. It didn’t make sense why she was with James. Both James and Aspen were amazing athletes. Aspen was better than James, but...

  Sam nodded toward the fenced-in backyard. A soccer ball was bouncing between some teenagers. They were all mostly from the guys soccer team. I didn’t see any girls playing.

  “Cool.” He nodded and began heading for the door.

  “Wait, you’re playing soccer?” I asked before Sam left the kitchen. She scrunched her eyebrows at me.

  “Oh, yeah. Ella, you play right?” Aspen asked, his head tilted in my direction. “You should totally play with us.”

  My heart skipped a beat.

  “Yeah,” I said, smirking at Sam. “I would love to play.”

  -----

  If you enjoyed this sample, look for

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  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Thank you to my Wattpad readers, who read the original draft of Through Your Eyes, the unedited, typo-filled version and loved it anyway. It is because of the lot of you that I never stop writing. Thank you for always, always encouraging me and motivating me and sending me private messages on the site to let me know that I have made a difference in your life with my writing. That is all that I have ever wanted. Know that you have made me the happiest writer on the planet.

  Thank you to my agent, AJ, and Precious, my editor. Thank you also to the team at Typewriter Pub, who literally turned a dream of mine into reality. Thank you for making me believe in miracles once again.

  Thank you to my family; to my mother who read me bedtime stories and made me fall so passionately in love with words. To my little sister who supported me endlessly and fell in love with this story even during the times I began doubting it. And my big sister, who doesn’t forget to tell me how proud she is of me and keeps pushing me to reach new heights.

  Thank you to my other family; Amanda, who never failed to tell me I was going to become a published author one day even though I never believed her at the time; Shavi, who is my daily dose of sunshine that I grow to appreciate more and more every single day, and Mishka, for reminding me to love life.

  Thank you to Kiara, without whose endless encouragement to go ahead and post this story on Wattpad, it would still be sitting in my drafts.

  And last but not the least, thank you to Tay, my source of unwavering support who puts up with my spam of texts at past midnight whenever inspiration strikes or a new plot crosses my mind. Know that even though you live continents away, you are forever close at heart.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Thank you so much for reading Through Your Eyes! I can’t express how grateful I am for reading something that was once just a thought inside my head.

  Please feel free to send me an email. Just know that my publisher filters these emails. Good news is always welcome.

  ali_merci@awesomeauthors.org

  Sign up for my blog for updates and freebies!

  ali-merci.awesomeauthors.org

  One last thing: I’d love to hear your thoughts on the book. Please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads because I just love reading your comments and getting to know you!

  Can’t wait to hear from you!

  Ali Merci

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Ali is a passionate reader and writer. She’s also a lover of literature and iced coffee with a slight obsession for chocolate cake and Marvel superheroes! During her spare time, you will most probably find her drawing Mandalas or Bohemian doodles, staring at pictures of abstract art on her phone, or even browsing through Latin origins of random English words. She's also a huge fan of courtroom dramas, redemption character arcs, angsty romance, and protagonists that know there’s strength in kindness and compassion.