Second Chances by Kimberly Berryhill (books to read for teens .TXT) 📖

Cassie saw him alright. She didn’t understand how you could overlook a person such as him. He was tall, about 5’9”. His hair was a deep chestnut. It was thick and had slight waves running through it. Cassie moved her eyes down to his face. Oh, his face! She thought to herself. He has a sculpted jaw bone and cheek bones, but not enough to make you think he was made from granite. His skin was tan. It was just the right mixture- not too pale or too dark. His eyes were Cassie’s favorite so far. They were bathed in the most pure of caramels with subtle specks of gold. They seemed to have an almost perfect shape. Those eyes were brilliant, and they were looking straight at her! Cassie had been so deep in her thoughts that she didn’t realize Mr. Bender had told the new student to see which empty seat he wanted and to her utter embarrassment she hadn’t looked away from his gaze all this while. She quickly looked away to study a crack in the far wall. She realized that her roommates were also staring at her with wide, surprised eyes. They had seen the new kid. Cassie was sure of that. She ignored their stares and counted the splits coming out of the crack in the wall she busied herself by studying.
She had just gotten to the fifth fracture when she felt the chair beside her pull away from the desk. Why the seat beside her?! Cassie thought while she readied herself for his accusing gaze. She slowly switched her view toward the center of the room that way she could look at him from her peripheral vision and to see if he was staring at her of course. He appeared to be focusing on Mr. Bender, but she had a feeling he was watching for her reaction just as she was waiting for his. Cassie wanted to believe that he was really looking at her, but it wouldn’t make sense to her if he was. She was never aware of guys, not since Him anyway. Cassie shoved her dark thoughts away and really focused on Mr. Bender getting ready to give his lesson for the day. No matter how tempted she was she would not look over in the slightest bit for the rest of this class, she promised herself. She wanted to cheat as soon as that promise crossed her mind.

* * * *

She had a subtle kind of beauty. She was not too skinny nor fat, but somewhere in between. It was a healthy figure. Her skin was a pale color, but with a hint of a fading tan. Her hair fell a little ways past her shoulders. It was a medium brown with light golden highlights. It framed her face perfectly. A face that seemed delicate in a way it unexplainable yet beautiful. Her eyes were a deep chocolate with swirls of green here and there. Derek was so busy studying her that it took him longer than necessary to realize she was staring at him. He was thinking of a way to look friendly, and not like a creep who had just been practically interrogating her with his eyes. He decided to just smile at her. Too late. Her eyes had found the wall and his had found the floor. Derek was the first to break. His eyes found her again, but this time they did not stay. They wondered over to the empty seat beside her. Well, why not? Derek thought to himself. He figured he might as well enjoy what fate brought to the table.
He slowly made his way up toward the vacant chair nearest to her. He hesitated before claiming the available spot. He worried for that split minute that she may not like him sitting next to her, and that maybe he shouldn’t push it too far after the staring contest. Then, he remembered he would not be here for long so it would not be a huge deal. Derek, fully decided, settled down in the space that was now his for the month or so. He was planning on at least introducing himself the next time she decided to glance his way, but he got stood up. She kept her eyes to the front of the class the entire time. Disgruntled, Derek settled on sideway glances at her then and again. However, he was careful not to be obvious and kept his head angled toward Mr. Bender, but let his eyes stray off slightly throughout the class. He tried his best to pay attention, mostly, but by the time the bell rang he didn’t even remember more than five words that came out of the teacher’s mouth.
* * * *
The bell finally rang releasing Cassie from her daze. She had done it. She had kept her promise to herself that she would not look at the mystery guy beside her. She had no idea how hard that promise was to keep, but now it was over. She was free to gaze at him willingly enough. She slowly gathered her books, and lifted her bag over her shoulder. Finally, Cassie looked up to drink him in with her eyes. He had just grabbed up his book when his curious eyes found hers. This time, though he did not look away. She was confident, and by the looks of it he wasn’t budging. He was the first to break the ice.
“Tough lesson today, huh?” he suggested cautiously. Cassie was thrown off for a moment, because honestly she didn’t even know what the lesson was about let alone if it was challenging. She just simply shrugged in reply. “Oh, I’m Derek by the way.” he offered her his hand.
Cassie shook it willingly, and asked “So you’re the new kid the whole school’s buzzing about?” He nodded slightly.
“That’s me.” he said openly.
“Cool.” She smiled shyly, and began to walk toward her next class. Derek held out his hand to stop her.
“Aren’t you at least going to let me in on what your name is?” he said playfully.
“Fine, Cassie.” She made her way down to the door with one last look at Derek over her shoulder. Derek. Hmm. Cassie thought. I’ve always liked that name.

Cassie, it’s fitting. Derek thought to himself. He was lying across his bed with his boots still laced onto his feet. He didn’t even attempt to try and sleep. He knew it was hopeless. How could he possibly sleep after finding out he had more than one class with Cassie? They both had science and math together. Both subjects were not in Derek’s favor list, but it did not matter to him. It only meant that he had something productive to do while the teacher roamed on and on about evolution, quadratics, and stuff he really didn’t bother listening too. While he still made high grades, he could get to know the girl that he found himself pondering over. The math teacher, Mr. Hinkle, assigned Derek the seat farthest away from Cassie. It was as if somehow he knew she was his biggest distraction; however, this did not stop him. Derek could still exchange long glances with her, he could still stroll slowly by her desk when walking by, and he could still talk to her before and after class. He was pleased with the thought, and if those ideas didn’t work they always had Mr. Bender’s science class in the morning. Derek rolled over, and tugged off each his boots and socks. Then, he sighed and changed into something comfortable he might be able to fall asleep in that night.
Once he lay back down his mind began to wonder once more. This time he was trying to figure out what he should talk with Cassie about the next day. He found himself excited to be here in this new town. Suddenly, he frowned. Why am I getting my hopes up? He wondered to himself. She was just another lost hope. He was going to have to run away in a matter of weeks. These thoughts crowded Derek’s mind allowing no belief of staying in Nestlé seed enter. Defeated, he crunched up in his bed, and drifted into unconsciousness.
* * * *
Beep! Cassie groaned and rolled over. Beep! She heard her roommates’ complaints about her getting up so early. Beee-click. She slammed her hand down on the off switch of her consistent alarm clock on her bedside table. Cassie slowly got to her feet and stretched out her arms. Groggy, she made her way to the bathroom on her floor of the dorm. As she took her regular morning shower she started to think about the dream that had gone unfinished thanks to her wake up call. All Cassie could remember from her dream was looking up into rich caramel eyes, and seeing the gold flecks in them shine. She didn’t have to think twice about whose eyes she was dreaming about. They had been in her head all night even before she broke into unconsciousness. She shook her head trying to focus on walking back to her room in her cotton soft robe.
As Cassie got dressed into her running sweats she found her mind running through the possibilities today could bring. She had to admit to herself that all of them had the same lustful eyes as in her dream. She decided to take her morning jog alone today. She left a note and set four alarms for her roommates. They would understand why she needed to be alone, especially after the staring competitions from the day before. They only bombarded her with a million questions about the new guy, Derek. Most of which Cassie herself didn’t know the answer too. She needed to clear her mind of everything, and try to find a sensible solution to it all.
Cassie was jogging her usual route when she spotted an opening up ahead of her in the woods. As she got closer it was easy to tell no one had really been into the break. It was a spot that could be easily missed. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to explore the new path. She turned her iPod, that was blasting ’You Found Me’ by The Fray in her ear buds, to a low volume. It seemed to be a small path. Nothing seemed different about it. A flash of disappointment struck her. It would have been nice to find something cool that no one else knew about. She thought to herself. She turned her music back up, and steadied her pace to a slow run. She was just coming around a bend in the trail when she ran smack dab into something that