Chapter One - New Boy In Town

Gracie

It is the last night of the summer holidays. Our senior year starts tomorrow. It is my last year of high school. When I leave, I will miss school, but I won’t miss this damn town or most of the people who live in it. 

Everyone from my class is in the woods having a party. A tradition of this town and has been for years. It is the one night of the entire year we are all together, but when school starts again, most of us won’t even look at each other, let alone spend any time together. It is high school after all, what else can anyone expect?

The bonfire is lit, the music is blaring, and the drinks are flowing. People are making out, taking photos and acting like they are all friends. It isn’t my scene. To start, I don’t drink for personal reasons. When your father is an abusive alcoholic who takes all his anger out on you, it tends to put you off drinking. I have a deep fear that if I start drinking, I will end up acting like him. I don’t want that. That is not who I am. I could never imagine hurting anyone or anything. If anyone asks, though, my excuse for not drinking is that it doesn’t agree with me and makes me sick. They don’t need to know the truth. 

Lola, my best friend, turns to me. “Gracie, will you be okay here alone? I promise I won’t leave you alone long.” 

I laugh. “I am a big girl, Lola. I will be fine. You go and do what you need to.” 

I know where she is going. Someone has caught her eye. She is going to go to him and make sure he knows that. Lola loves boys; she always has. I don’t mean she screws around. She loves them in all ways, and there is nothing wrong with that. 

“I will be right back. Don’t move,” she warns in a slur. 

My best friend is a little drunk. Most people here are except me and a few others. I nod, waving her off. Even though she said she would be right back, she won’t be. She will return eventually, but not quickly. Lola gives me a quick hug before she rushes off. I watch as she makes her way towards Harry. He is one of the sweetest guys in our school. I believe she has a massive crush on him, something she will never admit. Lola doesn’t do relationships, they cause too much drama and pain—her words, not mine. I don’t mind sitting alone. I like my own company sometimes. 

The sudden feeling that someone is watching me hits. I glance around in case I am imagining things. Some guy is watching me. I have never seen him before. He doesn’t go to our school. I haven’t ever seen him around town. I would have known if I had seen him before. He stands out. The mysterious guy is dressed in jeans and a leather jacket. All the rest of the guys here are in hoodies or letterman jackets. 

I notice a tattoo on his neck, but he is too far away for me to see what it is. His dark hair is slightly messy, but it suits him. His stare in my direction is intense. I expect him to pull away, but he doesn’t. I should stop staring at him, too, but I can’t. I feel strangely drawn to him. Why, I have no idea. 

A smile slowly creeps onto his lips, or maybe it is a smirk. I wasn’t sure, but it is one or the other. It is my cue to turn away from him. I quickly draw my attention from the gorgeous stranger. My eyes dart around anywhere that isn’t at him. I can still feel his eyes burn into me. I ignore it, trying my best not to look at him again. It is not easy to do. I need to get out of his sight. I stand and walk towards the lake. If there is a bigger distance between us, then I don’t need to force myself not to look at him.

I stroll to the docks and sit on the edge, letting my feet dangle over the water. Thank God I wore sensible shoes, or they would be floating in the lake. Closing my eyes, I listen to the sound of the water. I love the sound of the waves. It relaxes me. I wish I could afford to sail around the world. It would be amazing. Just me and the ocean, sounds perfect to me. It would get me away from here. No one could get to me. 

I sigh, running my fingers through my long hair. It is nothing but a fantasy. It will never happen. I can still dream, though. 

“Why did you run away?”

The sound of someone’s voice from behind me makes me squeal and jump. I nearly fall headfirst into the lake, but manage to stop it and no more. The voice isn’t familiar to me, but, strangely, I still know who it is. It is him, the stranger I came here to avoid. 

I don’t look at him as I answer. “I did not run away.” 

A part of me hopes that if I don’t look at him and say as few words as possible, he may leave. I hear footsteps against the dock, silently wishing it is him walking away, but they are not closer, not further away. A figure soon sits down next to me. 

He lets out a soft chuckle. “I would call it running away.” 

“Maybe, but what do you expect? I had some stranger watching me. What was that even about?” I ask and finally turn to look at him. 

Bad idea! A small squeak falls from my lips when my eyes meet his. Oh, wow, they are beautiful. His eyes are almost emerald. I swallow hard, no words willing to follow. I am speechless. 

“I couldn’t help myself. You seem different from all those other girls. Why is that?” 

“You do not even know me. How could you possibly know I am different from everyone else?” 

He answers quickly. “The entire night, I have not seen you drinking or making out with anyone.” 

The entire night? How long has he been watching me? It is creepy. 

“How long have you been watching me?” 

“You caught my attention the second you arrived.” 

I furrow my brows in confusion. “What? Why?” 

He shrugs. “Because you did, as simple as that.” 

There is nothing simple about it. Out of all the stunning girls here, he happened to notice me. Yeah, I am calling bullshit on that one. I have nothing on most of the girls here tonight. More to the point, why is he here? This is for students starting senior year tomorrow. As far as I know, he doesn’t go to our school. 

“Who are you?” My words come out a little bitchy. It is not what I intended, they just came out that way. 

He laughs and gets to his feet. “You will know me soon enough, Gracie.” 

“Wait, how do you know my name?” 

He smirks. “You will find out soon enough. See you around, brown eyes.” With that, he rushes off. 

I don’t get the chance to get up before he disappears into the darkness. What just happened? Who is he? The bigger question is, how does he know my name? I don’t know if I should be flattered or scared. I stay where I am, confused and try to work everything out. What I wanted more than anything right now was to know who he is.

I jump to my feet and rush back to where everyone else is, hoping to see him. If I can’t find him again, it will annoy me for the rest of the night. I look around, and he is nowhere in sight. How can he vanish? He only left the docks a few minutes before me. 

“Gracie, who are you looking for?” I hear Lola laugh from behind me. 

I turn to face her. “The strangest thing just happened.” 

“What do you mean?” 

I explain to her what happened, and by the end of my story, she seems as confused as I do. 

“I don’t know if the full thing should freak me out.” I sigh. 

“I honestly don’t know. What did he look like?” 

“He is tall with dark, messy hair, green eyes and a tattoo on his neck. He is wearing jeans and a leather jacket. Have you seen him?” 

“I think I did see him, only a few minutes before you showed up. He drove away in his car, though.” 

“Damn it! It is going to annoy me all night. I don’t even know who he is. I haven’t seen him around before tonight.” 

“I haven’t either. It is an odd situation.” 

All I can do is nod in agreement with her. He said I would find out who he is soon enough. What did he even mean by that? Arghh! It is so frustrating. Who was he?

“I guess all you can do is wait and see if you run into him again.” She says. 

I sigh, shaking my head. “I guess.” 

I try to push him and the entire thing to the back of my mind. It isn’t easy. I am both annoyed and intrigued by what happened. I am irritated because he wouldn’t tell me who he was. I am intrigued because of the way he acted. All I can do now is hope I either see him again or that he disappears from my head. I am okay either way. I prefer the first option. At least that way I will know his name. 

Lola links her arm with mine. “Come on, let’s ask around and see if anyone knows who he is.” 

I am not keen on the idea, but she is insisting. I nod, going with her, but I let her ask the question. No one seems to know who he is. 

“I swear if you didn’t see him, I would think he didn’t exist, and I was losing my mind.” I laugh. 

Lola laughs too. “He may as well not exist at this rate.” 

I groan, my frustration growing. I should stop thinking before it gets any worse. He is just some guy. I shouldn’t be so adamant about finding out who he is. Maybe he will always be a stranger that I will never know. Who knows. Time will tell. For tonight, I will try my best to forget about him. We can be strangers who passed in the night.