(12) Blinded

It's fifth period already as I dodge the sea of oncoming freshmen packed through the halls of Darien High School. I can hardly breathe as I suck in my stomach under my knee length red polka dot skirt and white cardigan and squeeze past a teacher trying to direct people to their rooms. I don't see the faces behind this swarm of confusion, but instead focus all my attention on looking ahead, towards C wing for my next class.

"It's my first day of being a sophomore and I am not going to mess anything up this year!" I tell myself confidently as I rearrange my skirt.

Glancing quickly at the crumpled schedule in my left hand, I read C5 and after scanning each door I find the classroom.

Completely relieved and, after checking my watch, still on time, I walk inside, surprised that already the whole class is sitting in a horseshoe formation as the older man, who is wearing faded khaki pants and a blue button-down and who must be Mr. Johnson, is speaking to them. I decide by the bored expression of some girl in the corner, filing her nails, that he's probably telling them all about his expectations for the coming year.

Exasperated at actually being late again, I swing open the door so that it hits the wall. I rush in, already apologizing to the man in front of me who suddenly looks tired and annoyed.

"Name." He immediately flips open his grading book, raising his black, thin rimmed glasses from where they hang on his neck to his nose.

“Uh, Daria…” I feel my face growing hot.

“Miss Daria…”His head is down, but his eyes seem to bore into my forehead. He pulls off his glasses so that they hang once again on the slope of his stomach. “Uh, Daria..” He tries again and stops smiling at me. Suddenly my stomach is on fire. “I don’t suppose you are a junior, are you?” Then he lets out a deep-bellied laugh. “You’re a freshman aren’t you?” I look at him puzzled and begin to disagree but he interrupts me, “Daria, you’re in the wrong class, and I suggest that if you are going to barge into strange classrooms, letting the door slam and interrupting the teacher that you be a bit more quieter about it.” I start towards the door wishing this whole confusion were just a bad dream.

“Oh, and one more thing. Make sure the next teacher isn’t already annoyed because all of us should already be retired by this year." Roars of laughter surround me as I glance uneasily around the rows of guys and girls in my sister's grade pointing at me and calling me a dumb freshman when they all know that I am a sophomore.

Britney's brother Alex is sitting in the back in khaki shorts and a red Polo shirt, his deeply tanned legs stretched out under his desk and his hands folded behind his head.

He removes one hand to wave at me with a dumb expression on his face. My heart is pounding and I feel as if I am going to be swallowed up by my embarrassment.

I hold the strap of my backpack and turn once more toward the door, mumbling another word of apology, as I throw myself into the hall, where I finally feel like I can breathe.

"Way not to mess up, Daria!" I tell myself bitterly, as I rush toward the end of the hall towards the entrances to the bathrooms. I'm dreading the embarrassment of a late entrance to another classroom.

"Hey, umm.... Are you…?” a deep voice starts to ask and I am afraid to turn around. Slowly I glance behind me and my heart almost stops. I see a pile of lightened blonde hair, glittering deep brown eyes, and an unmistakable shell necklace. I can't look into those eyes at this overwhelming moment and my whole body is on fire. Suddenly I can't control my feet and I rush towards the bathroom.

“It can’t be, this just can’t be happening…” I think to myself as I almost step into the boys’ room. I realize my absolutely insane mistake and head for the girls’ when I notice he’s still standing there trying not to laugh. He saw the whole thing. Jeff Waters just witnessed me almost going into the boys’ room.

“Whoa,” he laughs, “You didn’t have to like run away, I was just wondering if you were Daria Knight.”

My heart is hammering inside my sweater and I can’t force myself to make eye contact with him. It feels like his eyeballs are tiny blazing suns and if I look too closely, I will be blinded forever. Staring at his tanned neck instead and the shell necklace overlapping his collar, I reply, “Yeah, I’m Daria, and you must be Jeff, right?” I smile my flirty smile and hope for the best, though I am already regretting letting him know that I know his name.

"Yeah. You're the one who was totally beaten by my amazing Ping-Pong skills this summer."

"Actually," I smugly point out, "I believe I beat you by my amazing ping pong skills this summer."

He laughs. "Umm.... Right." He smiles. "So anyway, I’m sitting with your friends I guess at lunch and they were wondering where you were. They'll be glad I found you. Britney told me to search for a girl in a white cardigan and a red polka dot skirt." He looks down at my skirt and I smile back, feeling like I am going to faint any minute.

"Well, thanks a lot. I'm glad you found me also." Then I finally look up into his eyes just in time and we make eye contact so perfectly. I wait for him to think about that one for a little bit. I feel my confidence coming back now that I have figured out the kink in my schedule. " Are you going back to lunch? I just figured out after completely embarrassing myself by going into a juniors' class that I'm supposed to go to be in the Caf right now!"

All of a sudden he's walking me to lunch as I tell him all about the embarrassment I had just experienced. He is not as talkative as other guys are - I instantly notice this. He also at least tries to make eye contact when I talk to him, even though sometimes I have to look away around the hall, for fear that those deep brown eyes will eventually be able to blur my vision completely - but not by the sun. This blinding would actually be from a crazy teenage girl who instantly decides she's in love with this guy without knowing a thing about him. I suppose this is typical of romance sometimes, girls being blinded by a guy's charm and attractiveness, not even knowing if they can trust him until after they devote every waking hour to him only to find out that he doesn't feel the same way about her.

It's all too soon that we've reached the double doors of the Big Caf and he's holding the door for me. My friends instantly squeal from a nearby table and I am immediately swallowed up in their chatter about classes. I look back at Jeff who is standing right next to us watching this whole silly scene. Then I notice he is looking at me. We make eye contact again as I smile back at him and my heart starts hammering again.

"You're going to watch where you're heading this time, Daria," I tell myself slyly. "This time you're going to know exactly what is behind that door before you swing it open." I glance back al him and even though Charlotte is asking me what class I have next it doesn't matter. At that exact moment, I can't focus on anything but that pile of golden blonde hair and those deep brown eyes that seem to see into my soul.

Jeff Waters is as good as mine.