People say that college is the time and place for everything. I'm here to tell you that the people who say that have no idea. For me, college has been the time and place for absolutely everything, whether I liked it or not.
My name is Vincent.
And by sunrise I intend to be dead.
Better that than to live forever the way I live now. Michelle got lucky, but I can't stand seeing people I care about put on the spot like that just because they know me. Simply being what I am has already proved too costly for me.
Wait... You don't even know what I'm talking about, do you? I guess I am starting off on the wrong foot. Let's see...
I guess the trouble really started with me sitting in that assembly room, listening to Patrick declaring his goals for the SVA to expand their reach to the rest of the campus. I was just about cringing, and I could tell our leader was being more than a little bit influenced in his decision making.
No, wait, that's not the right place to start either. I need to go back farther, to when my whole life changed.
Okay, I've got it. My story would really more accurately begin in my psychology class. I sat listening to the lecture with half an ear in my typical lecture-hall position; that is to say eyes half closed, elbow resting on the desk and face resting on my knuckles. Professor Quentin knew very well what he was talking about, but he seemed to be the only one who did. It was only a fifty-minute class, but he was that kind of professor who had complete control over time itself and was able to stretch fifty minutes into hours without adding any time to the clock.
At last, the class was dismissed, and I was all too eager to remove myself from the room. Nonetheless, I ended up staying a little longer. Alicia happened to be there to hold me up. Alicia had dirty blonde hair which, as usual, was tied back in a ponytail, and a pair of lively blue eyes. She wore one of her typical outfits, which consisted of an open denim vest over her magenta tank top and tight black pants.
"Hey Vincent!" she said as she approached from her seat on the other side of the aisle. I greeted her with a smile, as always. Alicia and I were what you might call an item waiting to happen. Or maybe an item that could have been. It all depended on whether the glass was half full or half empty. We'd been making eyes at each other since the day we met on campus, but I never really got around to asking her out before some drummer in a local band named Bobby asked her first. Alicia's not the kind of girl who has an easy time saying no. At the very least, we were on close, friendly terms by that point.
"What's up, Alicia?"
"I just thought we could meet some time to study up for next week's test?"
"You want to arrange a study date with me?"
Alicia quickly looked around her. "Careful using the 'D' word."
"Alicia, you know as well as I do that you don't have to worry about Bobby overhearing you, because he doesn't take this class, which is the only reason you're asking me and not him."
She scoffed at me. "Oh, don't be so cynical!"
I just shrugged. Who was I to say no? "Okay, sure."
She said something then. I have no idea what it was. Well okay, I have some idea, since she ended up repeating it a moment later, but at that particular moment Alicia suddenly became the last thing on my mind. As the other students were filing out of the lecture hall, one girl looked at me as she passed. Unable to help myself, I looked back. The world instantly reduced its pace. The first thing I really saw was a pair of eyes locked with mine. Those eyes... My God! Those eyes! I think they would technically be defined as hazel, but they looked to me more like gold. I don't know what it was about her eyes, but the spell they cast was so overwhelming there was simply no denying it. I couldn't look away.
When I managed to take in the girl I was looking at beyond just the eyes, I realized the girl herself was pretty fabulous too. She had long, silky black hair that was parted on the right side, coming very close to covering her left eye, and luscious red lips. She wore a light jacket made of black leather, a red tube top that seemed specifically positioned to add a little push to her chest, a black leather miniskirt and a pair of sandals to show off her black toenails. She gave me a tempting smile as she walked by. I remained fixated on her, until suddenly a pair of fingers snapped in front of my face, and I looked back to a rather peeved Alicia.
"Uh, I'm sorry, what were you saying?"
She gave me a pretty nasty look. "I asked if I could meet you in the library at six o'clock on Saturday?"
I shrugged. "Works for me. Bobby's not taking you anywhere this Saturday?"
"Bobby has a gig on Saturday. Kind of out of town. I told him I'd need that night to study, so I'm not going with him."
"Okay, cool."
"Was she pretty?"
I looked at her. "Who?"
"You know who."
I grimaced, realizing I was being interrogated. "Yes, she was pretty." She was dating somebody else, yet I still succeeded in making her jealous by checking out another girl. She and I really should have been together, although that particular thought was still failing to come to me at that moment. My mind had already started drifting again. My eyes scanned about the area of the door, even though I knew she was gone by now.
"Anyway," I said hurriedly, "I gotta run. I got another class to get to." I didn't even wait for her to say bye. Looking back on it, that moment was probably one of the biggest mistakes I ever made.
I emerged from the classroom into the hall and began wildly looking about. She couldn't have gotten far. She had to be somewhere... nothing. My shoulders slumped as I observed no trace of the mystery beauty I'd seen a moment agoβ
A hand touched my shoulder.