Being the new kid at school is never fun. And it’s even worse when it’s your senior year. All the people are staring at me like I’m some kind of freak show. I suppose it’s understandable. I mean common, who doesn’t look at the new goth guy at school like he’s a freak of nature.

The school is surprisingly small. Although there aren’t that many students, the halls seem to be packed like it’s Black Friday or something. It takes me awhile to navigate my way to my locker. By the time I’ve opened it and put my stuff in it, the halls are empty.

My first class is Advanced Painting. I didn’t take any kind of painting class at my other school, so in order to get into a painting class here I had to test into it. They were surprised at how well I could paint and decided to place me in Advanced Painting.

I walk in to see that all of the tables are full, with the exception of one that has a beautiful girl with dark brown hair sitting at it. She notices that I’ll be sitting at the same table as her and stiffens. I take my seat right next to her. Sure there are plenty of seats across from her, but I would rather be next to her.

The teacher walks in and explains all the rules, gives us an overview of the class, and finally lets us talk the remainder of class. Lucky for me, the class doesn’t end for another forty minutes. Now’s as a good a time as any to talk to her.
“Hey, I’m Blake. Who are you?”
“My name’s Jessica but I go by Jessy.”
“That’s a pretty name.”
“Thank you.”

Come on Blake, think of something to say. Usually I’m not this bad with girls, but with Jessy everything is weird. It feels like I’m floating around and only half conscious of what I’m doing. A few minutes go by with silence between us. She finally says something, but I’m so out of it that I have to ask her what she said.
“I said, are you the new kid everybody is talking about”
“I’m not here an hour and already people are talking about me?”

She looks at me and answers, “It’s a small school. News travels fast”
“Oh, well, yeah I’m the new kid. You like to paint I take it?”
“I love to paint. I want to get a degree in painting actually. What about you?”
“I really don’t plan on going to college. I’m going to paint as a hobby, nothing more.”
“So you don’t want to go into the professional painting business?”
“Nope. I want to settle down and have a family. I can always paint, but I may only have chance at true love once in my life. I wouldn’t want to be so busy I couldn’t have a relationship with somebody.”

Jessy doesn’t say anything the rest of the class. I can’t believe I just opened up to some girl I just met. I was having a hard time focusing on the conversation. Her big blue eyes and silky brown hair were distracting me. When I was talking to her everything seemed to fall into place. Her essence made me feel light and cheery. I haven’t felt like this before. There’s something about Jessy that makes everything around me disappear. I have an urge to go up to her and ask her out. I guess I’ll wait. But I can’t help the feeling of absolute need for her. I don’t want to wait too long. I’m going to wait for the opportune moment. Being the new kid in school does have it’s advantages. The advantage: Jessy doesn’t know who I really am.