Right Before His Eyes

CHAPTER ONE: The Evolution of a Shadow

Elara's Pov

For years, I was nothing more than a ghost in the periphery of his vision.

Julian cross. The name alone was enough to make the air in the hallways of Blueridge High grow thick and heavy. The one everyone whispered about the boy with the sharp jawline, the midnight-dark eyes, and the kind of brooding, untouchable aura that made girls ruin themselves just trying to get a second glance.

And I am just Elara. The quiet girl from two houses down. The girl with the scraped knees, the oversized sweaters, and the braces who used to watch him shoot hoops in his driveway from behind the safety of my bedroom curtains. I had loved him since I was ten years old. It was a pathetic, quiet, consuming kind of love that I swallowed down like a bitter pill every time he looked right past me.. until we moved out of the neighbourhood and I was enrolled in the same school with him. I never stopped loving him even Vanessa, my roommate wasn't oblivious of that.

One evening I was heading to the hostel after classes when I heard noises from the direction of my room, I walked in to see my roommate f*****g Julian with her boobs in his mouth as she kept riding him “ooh..yes..ohh..arrgh..fuck” she moaned shamelessly even after noticing my presence.

I shut the door in anger as I stormed out of the room.

Why couldn’t he just look at me differently “I said to my self in tears”.

Few minutes later I saw Julian walk out of the room like he had just won a trophy, well he just won one though as my roommate is a beautiful, Sexy and nasty girl.

I got up from the floor and dusted my skirt before heading back to the room to continue brooding, my roomate was just coming out of the shower when I entered the room, she had always wanted to get Julian into her bed even knowing how I felt towards him..she only wanted to prove that she can get any guy she wanted.

I went straight to my bed without saying a word to her.

Every morning, I arrived at school ten minutes early just to watch him walk through the gates. I knew he preferred black coffee over hot chocolate, always wore his watch on his right wrist, and had the habit of running a hand through his messy dark hair whenever he was nervous.

He had never noticed any of it.

Because Julian Cross only noticed girls like Sophia Miller.

Sophia, with her effortless beauty and perfect smile.

Or Ava Reynolds, captain of the cheerleading squad.

Or whichever gorgeous girl happened to catch his attention that week.

I wasn’t ugly.

I was simply... invisible.

The quiet girl who sat near the window.

The girl teachers praised for perfect grades.

The girl classmates borrowed notes from but never invited to parties.

The girl Julian had probably walked past a thousand times without learning her name.

Yet every tiny interaction with him became a treasured memory.

Once, he smiled while saying, "Excuse me."

I knew he was only asking me to move out of the hallway.

Still, I replayed that smile for weeks.

"You'll never tell him, will you?" My best friend, Maya Collins, asked one afternoon as they watched Julian laughing with another beautiful girl across the cafeteria.

I forced a smile.

"Maybe someday."

Maya sighed.

"You've been saying 'someday' since freshman year."

Across the room, Julian gently tucked a strand of hair behind Sophia's ear.

The cafeteria erupted into squeals from the girls watching.

Elara looked away before the ache in her chest became too obvious.

"It's okay," she whispered more to herself than anyone else.

"If he's happy..."

But the words tasted like a lie.

I went back to my room that day feeling sad..I didn’t know how to tell him how I felt about him.

I started thinking of ways to win Julian's love, after much thought I decided to start writing love letters to him. With that thought I smiled That night, I pulled a pale blue notebook from the bottom drawer of my desk. It wasn't a diary. It was a collection of unsent thoughts every page filled with words she could never say aloud.

I tore out a fresh sheet and began to write.

Dear Julian,

You don't know me the way I know you. Maybe you've never even noticed me, but every day I find myself hoping you'll smile at me, say my name, or simply look my way. I don't expect you to love me back. I just hope that one day you'll know someone has been quietly cheering for you all this time.

I folded the letter neatly and slipped it into a white envelope. There was no name on the front, only a tiny blue heart in the corner.

The next morning, my hands trembled as I slid it into Julian's locker before anyone could see.

For the rest of the day, my heart pounded with anticipation.

Nothing happened.

After school, curiosity got the better of me.

I walked past the row of lockers just in time to see Julian pull out the envelope, glance at it for barely a second, and toss it into the nearby trash bin without opening it.

I froze.

It felt as though someone had crushed my heart beneath their shoe.

That evening, I returned to school under the excuse of forgetting a textbook. The hallway was empty.

I stopped beside the trash bin.

With trembling fingers, I searched through discarded wrappers and crumpled worksheets until I found the unopened envelope, stained but intact.

Still, I refused to give up.

I called my best friend to escort me to the cafeteria when I noticed Julian was going towards that direction..

At the cafeteria I bought food for I and maya when I noticed Julian..I seized the opportunity to be nice as I offered to pay for his meal.

He dragged me towards the café pillar pinning me to the wall like he wanted to kiss me..I closed my eyes expecting his lips on mine, my heartbeat throbbed as I felt his breath on me…