Phoenix Montgomery

First period could not have ended sooner. It wasn't even the fact that I was potentially the only atheist in a room full of Christians, and honestly the lesson was really interesting... what I managed to pay attention to. I was too busy looking down at my chipped nails trying to hide my face from Mr. Winston, partly due to the fact that I had just horribly embarrassed myself in the hallway, and partly because of his sheer gorgeousness. All I remember is that the lesson was about Adam, Eve, and Temptation. Even though I never once glanced at his face, I could feel his eyes on me nearly the entire 45 minutes.

Finally, finally the bell rang, three high-pitched staccato notes, and I almost leapt out the door. It. was only later that I realized I left without grabbing that night's homework, but at the moment I didn't care. Today had started out so strangely, and I just wanted to see my best friend Ellyn. We didn't have class together until last period, but luckily we had lunch together, however that was still 31/2 hours away. Seriously, all I wanted was to tell her about... about... I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to remember what I wanted to tell her about. Didn't something just happen? Something important... and a little scary... right?

I began feeling frustrated, challenging myself to remember. It was like when you try to remember an actor's name or try finding the right word instead of its synonyms. It was on the tip of my tongue, yet it felt so far away. I began ascending one of my school's many stairwells, still dwelling on my inability to remember whatever it was I was trying to remember when I began smelling something so familiar it nearly knocked me over. Rich jasmine, soft lavender, dark musk, and the salty sea all mixed together in an invisible cloud swirling around my head. No one around me seemed to notice, but those smells were nearly tangible to me.

I reached the top of the stairs—for the record, I was only slightly out of breath—and the smells were stronger than ever. It was almost as if someone and placed their essences right under my nose. For some reason, I began feeling nervous as I walked toward the open doorway leading into one of the upstairs hallways. I could sense something was lying beyond, I just hadn't the slightest clue as to what it was.

Gripping my backpack straps and taking a deep breath, I stepped through the opening, and directly into someone's chest. I hit them with such force they ran into the person behind them, causing all of their books to fall to the floor. I immediately rushed over to the person on the floor, yelling out a meaningful sorry to the person I actually hit. As I grabbed books and papers off the hard floor I realized this poor person was the freshman I ignored earlier. He was not having a good first day of school.

“I am so sorry,” I said to him, holding onto a few of his books as he stood up. “Are you okay?”

He nodded sheepishly, pushing his round glasses up, and reaching out for his other things. “Thanks,” he said quickly before scurrying away with his head down. I sighed, feeling terrible about basically being the root of this kid's day. I began walking away when a warm hand grabbed my wrist. As a knee-jerk reaction I yanked my arm away and whipped around, getting ready to ask this person what the hell was wrong with them.

But as I saw my personal space violator's face, I felt as though him grabbing my wrist was cause for internal reflection on what the hell was wrong with me. This guy was beautiful. His skin was smooth and he had a strong, square chin and had an undercut and his hair was a gorgeous dark brown which was perfectly tousled. He smiled widely, revealing perfect teeth and a deep dimples on either side of his face. His eyes were dark brown and looked kind and were an attractive half moon shape when smiling. Was this love at first sight? Or was I just shallow?

“I'm sorry for grabbing you, but I just wanted to tell you how nice I thought you were for helping that kid,” he said as he gazed into my eyes. His voice was deep and clear and he was seriously so handsome. Was he even real? I almost offered my wrist to him again.

Stammering, I managed saying, “Oh, well, y-you know... You just gotta, like, help people.. and stuff.” Oh my god! I thought, he is going to think I'm so stupid for that! On top of speaking like a 5-year-old, I was also running my hand through my hair like a broken record, a nervous habit that resulted in oiliness. In the semi-awkward silence that fell after my idiotic speech, I noticed that he felt very familiar, as if I had known him my entire life. And the way he smelled, it was like lavender and musk. Weren't there missing scents? My mind was so muddy today.

In an effort to save myself I asked, “Are you new here? I haven't seen you before...” I trailed off, realizing this, too, was stupid of me because my high school was not a small school. In my senior class alone there were about 800 kids. It would make sense that I hadn't seen him around.

To my surprise he laughed a bit nervously—and adorably—and said, “Do I come off as that lost, then? I am new here, actually, I just moved back from South Korea.”

“Oh, really? That's so cool. I've always wanted to visit there. Did you live here before then?” I couldn't keep my eyes off him. Everything about him just seemed so... right. His messy hair, his dimples, his skin... his adorably accented English. Uughghghgh. I was smitten.

“Yeah, I did live here a long time ago, when I was just a child. By the way, what's your name? I forgot to ask.” Please don't say Beef Wellington, I thought to myself, which almost caused me to giggle.

“It's Phoenix. Phoenix Montgomery.” He smiled when I said my name! I, Phoenix Ann Montgomery, made a guy smile without even trying.

“You have a very lovely name,” he said, still smiling. At this point, I was sure my face was more red than my dad's face when the Patriot's lose, and, trust me, that's bad. I was so caught up in my thoughts I almost forgot to ask his name. Luckily, I didn't have to because he added, “My name is Hongbin. Hongbin Lee.”