•Hi, Paul•

EIGHT YEARS AGO

“Hey!” Alyssa burst into the almost empty classroom that contains only a few students. She paused, searching the classroom urgently with her eyes. Her gaze landed on Natasha. She hurried towards Natasha and sat in the space beside her, exclaiming, “You won’t believe who I just saw!”

Natasha closes her textbook, took in a deep breath and asked, “Who, Alyssa?”

“A really really reaaaallly hot guy!” She said, dragging the last ‘really.’ “I think he is new. If he is not, I would have known about him sooner.”

“Of course, you keep tabs on all the hot guys in the school,” Natasha replied, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, duh. If I don’t, who will?”

“Another jobless person, perhaps?”

Alyssa waved her hands dismissively. “Whatever. Anyway, this guy is so freaking hot. He makes me hyperventilate.”

“All hot guys make you hyperventilate,” Natasha replied, sighing with boredom. “And besides, you are exaggerating.”

“Am I, really? You need to see this guy to understand what I am talking about!”

“No, thanks, I’ll pass.”

“Whatever,” Alyssa said with a shrug. “Your loss, another person’s gain,” she said.

Natasha tilted her head. “Um, Alyssa, I’m pretty sure I’m not losing anything.”

“That’s what you think.”

Alyssa was Natasha’s best girlfriend and only friend. They were both sixteen years old without nothing else in common. While Natasha had a jet black curly and frilly hair, Alyssa had a long straight blonde hair. While Natasha was so concerned and interested in her school work, Alyssa couldn’t even give two fucks about anything that had to do with books or schools. While Natasha could barely land herself a boyfriend (she hadn’t even had a first kiss), Alyssa had a string of boys in line to get with her. While Natasha would kill to have a boyfriend for the first time in her life, Alyssa didn’t really care about having a stable relationship. She just loves to make out with the boys and they didn’t mind. Natasha's favorite food was chicken and chips, Alyssa would kill for a box of pizza. Natasha was close to her family (her two elder sisters) while Alyssa hated her family more than anyone.

Despite their differences, the two of them seemed compatible. Alyssa loved Natasha just as much as Natasha loved Alyssa. They had first met when Alyssa came into the school as a new student at the age of thirteen. Natasha had been the guide the principal appointed for her and they both hit it off from there and have been best friend ever since then.

While talking, the door to the classroom opened and a dark boy walked inside wearing a pair of jeans and an hoodie. He glances around the empty classroom, looking a bit confused and out of place. His eyes met the gaze of Alyssa and Natasha.

Alyssa smiled and whispered excitedly to Natasha, “That’s him. That’s the guy. He is cute, right?”

Natasha simply rolled her eyes and concentrated back on her book. But she couldn’t deny that the boy was really handsome. In the short look she had of him, his mouth happened to be the most beautiful feature he had. Natasha bit her lower lip to stop herself from smiling sheepishly.

“Hi,” she suddenly heard the boy’s voice but much closer now. When she looked up, she noticed that he had made his way over to their table.

“Hi,” she mumbled in reply, quickly glancing down back at her book while Alyssa said excitedly, “Hi, My name is Alyssa.”

“I’m Paul,” he replied. He glanced at Natasha who kept her head down, refusing to look at him. Childishly and playfully, he poked her hand with his nail. “Hey.”

She snapped her head up.

“I'm Paul,” he reintroduced himself. “What’s your name?”

Without replying, Natasha rose to her feet, packed up her books, picked her bag and walked out of the classroom, her heart slamming in her chest with fear and excitement.

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Few minutes later, Alyssa and Natasha were walking silently down the hallway to the cafeteria. Alyssa wanted to talk about what happened in the class but Natasha forbade her from doing so, so she held her tongue and kept herself busy by flirting with and winking at the guys who all swooned for her.

Natasha rolled her eyes at that just as a voice boomed through the intercom. “Natasha Matthews. Report to the principal’s office right away.”

Natasha and Alyssa exchanged surprised and confused glances.

“What did you do?” Alyssa asked.

“I don’t know,” Natasha replied, a confused frown on her face as she slowly stood. “I’ll meet you in the cafeteria,” she said.

She hurried to the principal’s office. It took her about ten minutes to get there and when she did, she met his personal assistant, Miss Norman.

“Good afternoon,” Natasha greeted politely.

“Hello,” Miss Norman said. “Natasha, how are you?”

“Fine, thank you. Is the principal in? He asked to see me.”

“Yes, about that.” She turned to the boy sitting on the couch in her office. “Paul? Come here.”

The boy stood up and moved closer to them. Natasha turned to face him and she gasped. “Hey…hey,” she stuttered, shuffling her feet nervously. She lowered her eyes, unable to like his strikingly handsome face.

He gave her a smile that made her feet curl. “Hi,” he said, in a cool, deep voice and Natasha felt her heart spinning as she raised her head to stare hazily at his face.

“Natasha, meet Paul,” Miss Norman introduced them. “He is a new student. And I’ll like you to be his guide for the week if you don’t mind?”

“Of…of…course not.” She said to Miss Norman. Turning to the boy, she let out a small, shy smile. “I’ll be happy to help.”

“Great,” Miss Norman said. “Paul, this is Natasha. She will be your guide for the week.”

Paul stretched his hand out for a shake. “Nice to meet you, Natasha.”

Natasha slipped her hand into his and slowly shook it, loving the feel of his soft palm in hers. “Nice to meet you too.”