I first met Rachael when she was a freshman in college – just turned 18 the month before entering the university. I, on the other hand, was a junior in college, 21 years old and with a bit of a reputation amongst my friends. My friends and I would place bets with one another on a semi-frequent basis putting money on dates with well-known girls in our classes, or simply some of the more attractive girls that we ran into around the university. From the moment my friends and I saw Rachael, we knew that one of us had to have her.
We first saw her during the week before classes started. She was with a group of girls from her dormitory, no doubt she lived in an all-female dorm, she looked like "one of those girls". I remember the moment clearly. My buddies and I were sitting around at an outdoor picnic table watching all of the girls passing by and as her group of new friends started to walk by, she stood out. She was the tallest of them all, nearly six feet tall, long and wavy blonde hair that was loosely tied back off of her long neck, she had a beautiful oval shape that was completely illuminated by her bright, white smile and sparkling eyes. She was wearing a white skirt that fell to her knees, but with each step would rise up mid-thigh, her top was a bright blue tank top, accented with lace around her cleavage which bounced just slightly with each step. I could only dream of what treasures were hiding underneath her clothes.
"Freshmen," my friend Andy said with a mischievous smile on his face. The previous year, the freshmen women had been the subject of our desires and proved to be an easy and tempting target.
"Do you think they have boyfriends?" my friend Chris asked.
"Of course they have boyfriends," I replied, "they all have boyfriends when they start here. And we are the ones who end those relationships."
We watched as the girls paraded by us, each one of them glancing over in our direction separately as they walked by. My eyes never left Rachael though. She glanced in my direction, and for a split second I felt like a freshman in high school all over again. Rachael was a girl that could turn any man into a whimpering pile of pussy.
"Oh man...she's hot," Chris said as he walked Rachael walk away.
"She's mine, guys," I said.
"Oh yeah?" Chris asked.
"Yeah, what do you want to bet?" Andrew asked.
"Boys," I replied with a sly smile on my face, "that girl is going to be mine by Halloween."
"That gives you two months," my friend Steve said. "That's way too much time."
"Is it?" I asked. "First, I have to figure out where she lives, that could take me a month in and of itself."
"So you find out where she lives," Andrew said, "she'll be yours as soon as you show up at her door."
We had rarely ever run into problems with a girl turning any of us down, and I was often considered to be one of the more attractive of the bunch. I was 6'2", went to the gym several times a week to lift weights and work out, and it was given that as soon as I dropped my pants in front of any girl, she was at my mercy.
"Okay, beginning of October then," I said.
"How much?" Steve asked.
"If I get her by the first of October, you buy me booze for the rest of the year," I said.
"And if you don't," Andrew said, "then you owe the same, to each and every one of us sitting here."
"Deal," I said. We all shook on it and I watched as Rachael and her friends rounded the corner.
I may not have attended class quite as often as I should have, but I always made it a point to go to the first day. I walked into my first class of the day, it was one o'clock, and I had just rolled out of bed and looked like I had. I walked to the back of the classroom and took the coveted back row seat. I watched as students filed in, didn't recognize any of them – not that I expected to.
The professor entered the room with his briefcase in tow and started to write various notes on the board at the front of the room. As soon as the professor opened his mouth to speak, she walked – no fell – into the room, rather loudly. She was carrying books in her arms and as she tripped over her own foot while walking into the door, she fell to the floor in a dramatic mess, her books flying across the room.
A couple of the students sitting in the front rushed to her aid, the professor helped her gather her books and handed them back to her.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Rachael McCoy," she replied, standing up, her knee slightly scraped from her fall and her face beet red with embarrassment.
"Are you okay?" the professor asked, kindly. Rachael nodded, taking her books from him and walking up to the area I was sitting in, her head looking down with embarrassment. My heart began to beat faster and faster with each step she took towards me.
She sat in front of me. In front of me! I couldn't believe my luck. I swallowed a nervous lump in my throat, unusual compared to most of my bets. I took a deep breath and tapped her on the shoulder as the professor started to talk.
"Yes?" she asked in a whisper, turning around to face me.
"Hi," I said with a suave smile, "I'm Joshua – Josh."
"Hi Josh," she said with a dismissive voice, was she used to this?
"Uh, are you okay?" I asked, with genuine concern in my voice.
"Yeah, it's just a scrape...and the worst first impression to make on my colleagues," she replied. "If walking into the wrong classroom at first wasn't enough, I had to fall on my face in the right one." The embarrassment in her face began to rise again. I smiled.
"It happens to the best of us," I said. "What's your name?"
"Rachael," she said, "Rachael McCoy."
"Your name is familiar," I said, honestly. I had heard the name before, I just wasn't sure where from. She blushed, smiled and I swore that I could hear a giggle.
"Are you new to the university?" she asked.
"No, I've been here for three years," I replied. She leaned back, close to me, so close that I was able to smell the slightest perfume lingering on her skin and hair.
"My father is the president of the university," she whispered. "Faculty have been talking about me coming here for months." Immediately I felt like a fool and leaned back in my chair, it was my turn to become red with embarrassment. It all came flooding back into my memory, I had read it in the school newspaper that she was a straight A student, had won awards and scholarships because of her intelligence. No wonder she had been able to get into classes that most freshmen never made it into.
I sat back in my chair, feeling not only embarrassment, stupidity, but suddenly everything I had always been so cocky about was completely out of reach. I didn't talk to Rachael for the rest of the class, she seemed very studious, and I would have hated to disturb her and get on her bad side.