Wall Street Seduction

Chapter 2 : The First Love

Chapter 2: The First Love

"You never forget your first love"

-Wandelin Van Draanen-

***

     They said first love is one you could never forget for the rest of your life, it was supposed to be sweet and romantic. It would sweep you off your feet and carry you in a magical carpet through a whole new world. Unfortunately, that was not the case for everyone. Scarlett Heart had a rather, bitter first love experience. One that she could never forget for the rest of her life.

    It all started on the first day of her senior year in high school, at first glance everything seemed like the usual, nothing was out of the ordinary, for Scarlett, there was not much change from the previous years in term of her social life. Physically, there was a minor visible change on her, she managed to grow out her hair slightly and lost a bit of weight. She was still considered overweight,  but it was not as bad as before. People started to give less damn about her and  mostly just left her alone, which was a huge help for her, because at  least no one would bother her like they used to. Maybe it was part of the transition of becoming an adult,  most of them have turned eighteen, they would also graduate in no time,  perhaps they were scared of karma, that's why they acted a little bit  better toward her, some were still douches, but it was just part of life, truth is, some people would live with Peter Pan syndrome their whole life, they simply never  grew up.

    During the odd year, Scarlett would often spend her  time watching the scenery of the city through the window of her class, it was mostly the same view of high tower buildings and skyscrapers, since her class was facing the entrance area, she could easily see who was late  that day, often amused when she witnessed some students getting punished  for being late right at the entrance where people who were passing by at the time could take a glimpse of what was happening.

    It was not just useful for watching people getting scolded, it was also useful for observing people in general. As of lately, she had been noticing a certain  someone, he would stand in front of the entrance as he carried his bike from the small parking area they had and would stop to chat with his friends for a few minutes before riding his bike back home. She recognized him as the guy from the class next door, the one who outshone  them all.

    His name was William "Liam" Davinson, he was the  bright, slightly nerdy and highly intelligent guy. She did not know what  it was, but she found intelligence in men to be a highly attractive  trait. He was not just all brain though. Standing at 5'8", he was pretty built,  broad shoulder, flat abs, with toned legs. He had visibly pearly white teeth shown whenever he smiled, which he often did, alongside his  striking gorgeous hazel eyes and light brown hair with styled bangs  which made him look absolutely hot and adorable at the same time.

    In her eyes, he was a total package. A killer combination of everything she loved in a man. Scarlett might not look like one later on in her life, but at one point, she was a hopeless romantic, often drowning herself in romance novel to distract her from the reality of her romantic less life. In her eyes, Liam represented the perfect sweet guy in the teenage love stories, but he was more than that. He was special. A word she never thought she would use to describe anyone.

     She would often find herself staring at him from afar, admiring his  charm. Sometimes she wondered what did God use to create such a being. Was he even human ? She was unsure. He could come out as an alien and she would not be surprised.

At the beginning stage of her first love experience, he would barely notice her. His social life was the opposite of hers after all. He was surrounded by his equally attractive friends and approached by plenty of  girls from every class, sometimes she would see him walking with some of his female friends who were clearly flirting at him, he was popular after all, what odds would she have being with him?

     When she thought about it, Scarlett had no idea how she even managed to fall for him, it started so  slowly there was barely any lines which divided the time when her  feelings started to change. Eventually, it became more than a little  crush, the feeling she had developed for him became something one called  "love".

    It was a bit odd if she was to think back about it, she already broke the normalcy since she had her first love when she was  eighteen. It was not an instant feeling as well. She had known Liam before, they had met each other since the beginning of high school's freshmen year, she had always known he was attractive but maybe before she was not as sensitive to his presence. For whatever reason it might  be, her attraction toward him had become too obvious overtime, it just happened to reached its peak during her senior year. Every  single time she walked passed him on the hallway, she would shamelessly try to steal  glances at him. He would always look perfect each time, and she  questioned how it was even possible.

    Admiring someone from  afar was not the easiest thing, because every time she saw him with a  female classmate, she would feel a sense of jealousy, yet she could only  keep the feeling to herself, after all, she was a nobody to him. He did  not even know she existed.

    She forgot that things could change in a snap of a moment.

     It was Valentine's day. Every year, the school would celebrate it by  doing an array of events which were fully held by the students for the students, it was the only day when teachers and the school's staff was not allowed to interrupt the kids making out on the hallway. The school committee would be selling roses for a higher price tag, they would also have kissing and hug booth, love letters competition, Cupid's arrow (which was a blind matchmaking section for single students) , and several more events which they clearly enjoyed. One of them was the classic chocolate gifting  event, of course, the popular kids always got the most chocolates (and flowers). At the end of the day, the boy and girl who ended up with the most chocolate would then end up with the title "King and Queen  of Hearts" which Scarlett thought was absolutely silly.

    Usually, Scarlett was not the biggest fan of valentine's day because it was the one day when she felt worse than she usually did. But that year was different, she had no idea what overcame her that day, but she was holding tight to a bar of chocolate in her hand. Initially, she had no plan in giving anyone  any chocolate, yet somehow there she was, standing in front of the  committee room where Liam spent most of his time as a member of  the student committee. She went back and forth with her decision, doubts  started to fill her mind, her heart was beating rapidly, she was  sweating profusely from nervousness, some people who walked passed her  thought that she was crazy (as if they did not before) but she was too invested in her own mind to  notice.

    On the last moment, she changed her mind. She was about to chickened out when Liam and one of his friend walked her way, they  were busy chatting with each other and did not notice her presence at  first. Scarlett froze in place, a rush of thoughts entered her mind, she only had one chance to do it. It was a near matter of life and death for her.

Then it happened, he found  her staring at him, their eyes met for the first time, she swore she nearly lost her breath, it was the first time she had seen him from such close distance without having half of her face covered by her book. He definitely looked more handsome from up close. His friend who  had been talking beside him seemed quick to realize what was going on,  he poked Liam teasingly on the shoulder and entered the room, leaving Scarlett alone with him.

    "Do  you need help with anything?" he asked her, his voice was deep and  alluring. She was speechless, all the plan she had previously made vanished into the air. The only thing she could rely on right then was her own gut will.

     "Ah, yes, here is a chocolate for you, goodbye" she awkwardly handed  the chocolate over to him, and left without saying anything else. Her mind was filled with instant regret. She had one chance to make a good first impression on him and she completely wasted it.

    What  she did not realize at the time, as she rushed to hide her face, the top of her bag was not zipped. As a result one of her  notebook fell on the floor. Liam noticed the book and bent  down to pick it up, he turned his body to call her out but right when he was about to return it to her, she was already gone.

    Scarlett ran as fast as she could to the bathroom and coughed hard  on the sink. Trying to catch her breath, she turned the faucet  to get some water which she shoved into her mouth before staring at herself in the mirror.

    "What  the hell did I just do?" She questioned herself. Everything happened so  quickly her brain could not even comprehend it yet. You are crazy.

     She spent fifteen minutes in the bathroom trying to calm herself down as soon as she was out of the bathroom, she was  surprised when she saw Liam standing in front of the girl's bathroom.  His back leaned casually on the wall as he was scrolling through his  phone.

    Scarlett was definitely not prepared for that.

    Their  eyes met once more and this time, he approached her. As he got closer, she wanted to run away but her body would not move. She could only stare back at  him as he pulled out something from his backpack. It was her notebook in his hand, she had only realized she must have dropped it  earlier. To make the matter worse, It was not just any notebook, it was her diary, the one she  always kept with her at all time because she was paranoid if she left it  at home someone might read it. Turned out, carrying it at school was  not the best idea as well. He must have read some of it, inside were  some of her worst secrets, the one she had never told anyone.

    s**t! She muttered underneath her breath. She rarely ever cursed, but it seemed appropriate at the moment.

     "Hey, I think this is yours. You dropped it earlier" He did not seem to  notice it but she could have sworn people were staring at them. She  hesitantly reached out her hand to take the book back from him. He must  have noticed the worried look on her face, quick to catch the signal.

    "Don't worry, I did not read it. I respect your privacy" hearing those words made hear sigh a breath of relief.  After thanking him, she turned her body and ran away, still as awkward as usual. He stared at her  from behind and grinned in amusement from the way she reacted at him.

What a funny girl

     "See you later, Scarlett !" He shouted, she froze and turned around, he  was practically waving at her. He left her with warmth which was spreading over her cheeks.

    Did Liam just say her name?

    Scarlett felt  butterfly in her stomach, it was a feeling she would never forget. For  the first time in her life she was getting attention from a guy,  nonetheless, from someone she loved.

    The day passed by so fast. As soon as she arrived home, she  opened up her diary to write about the day's experience, when she  flipped it open to the first page, she found a line of number on the  bottom corner of the page written in pen. It seemed like a phone number. Her eyes widened. She could not believe what she saw.

    Liam Davinson just gave her his number.