LIB

Chapter 2

             My jaw dropped as I gaped at him. “Blind?” I finally squeaked.

            “Yeah, there was an accident two years ago and he’s been legally blind since then.” David replied.

            “Um, what is he doing at this school then?”

            “His great grandparents helped found this school and his parents are very rich. They threw a lot of money at this school so that he’d be allowed to come here. They think it’ll help him live a more ‘normal’ life if he goes to a regular high school.”

            “How do you know all of this?” I asked.

            “We used to be best friends, before the accident,” he said with a slight sad tone.

            “Used to be?”

            “Well, you already noticed he’s not the most social person around. He used to be popular and friendly, got along with everyone. But after the accident, he became surly and nasty, pushing everyone away from him. He lives with his aunt and cousin now, because his parents couldn’t deal with it.”

            I was silent as we started walking again, absorbing all the new information. That explained why he didn’t read the paper. But why would his parents think it would be better for him here? Now he had to deal with all the people he knew before the accident and I could guess that not all of them were accepting of his disability. 

            I know that I never would have survived at my old school after the accident. Not because I thought my old friends would no longer like me, but because I wouldn’t have been able to deal with people who knew my parents and Jake. For that reason, I was grateful that my uncle lived just under two hours away from where I grew up. It meant that I didn’t have to deal with my old friends and no one at this school knew about the accident.

            David led me into our math class and he asked me to sit by him. I was a little worried that he might be interested in me, but that was quickly put to rest when a moment later, a small blur bulleted past me and launched into David’s arms. I watched in amusement as he staggered back a couple of steps.

            The person who had thrown themselves at him pulled back a little and I saw that it was a girl the same age as us. She had dark blonde hair and blue eyes that were currently sparkling with mischief. “Hi!” she said to him before going on tiptoe to press a kiss to his lips.

            David chuckled and bent a little so he could return the embrace. “Where were you this morning? I missed you,” he said with a bit of a pout.

            She grinned up at him. “I got roped into helping at the library. That’s what I get for trying to sneak a book in that I forgot to return last year.”

            He laughed. “I can’t believe you thought you’d be able to sneak it in.” He straightened up again. “Hailey, this is my girlfriend, Rachel. Rachel, this is Hailey. She’s new here and I’ve been showing her around.”

            Rachel turned and beamed at me. “Hi! It’s nice to meet you.”

            I couldn’t help but smile at her very bubbly demeanor. “Nice to meet you too. Your boyfriend was kind enough to save me this morning. I hope you don’t mind.”

            She waved her hand in dismissal. “Nah, he’s always doing things like that. That’s how we met two years ago. But for us, it was love at first sight.”