Narration of Emery
Chapter 1
Chad is pretty typical if you’d ask me. -He’s a high school jock with a “boy next door” look. Natural ash blonde hair and blue eyes; -you get the point! At times I like to relate him to a piece of white bread, -no butter and not even toasted! He’s as basic as they come, and something about that irritates me. It’s also hard to admit… but for some odd reason his oppositely artless self kind of attracts me.
He’s got an adorable button nose; noticeably pump lips and dimples that frequent when he smiles. He’s strikingly good looking with a developing ego caused by the countless girls that latch onto his attention in the hallways. He spends his afternoons working out at the fitness centre and has a built chest that shows noticeably through his thin cotton white shirt. He always seems to be smiling and also squints a little when he laughs. I occasionally wondered if he had ever noticed me in the hallways considering we’ve never had a class together. It was that very moment during my final semester in high school when Chad walked in my last period math class late and our eyes met for the first time.
Our new professor was really strict and decided to assign a permanent seating arrangement upon arrival. I was unfortunately placed at the very back row of the classroom, which made it a little challenging to see the notes even though I had good vision. As Chad walked in a little late he was destined to take a seat right beside me, also considering it was the only seat left. I was so caught off guard that my first impression arrived without any preparation and it was quite awkward to say the least. On the contrary I was quite surprised how sincere and easy it was to talk with him. We ended up bonding over the idea that we were closest to the door and that we could probably escape without the teacher ever noticing. He also made a comment the teacher’s writing was too small to read from all the back of the class. I caught him occasionally squinting while he asked me to clarify some of the numbers and I willingly allowed him to look at my notes.
With the sound of our papers trading back and fourth our professor noticed him coping my answers and had called him out on it. Chad explained that he wasn’t cheating but only coping the questions because he was having trouble seeing the board from the very back of the class. Our professor being pretty deviant didn’t give him the option to move, but suggested that he went for an eye exam and that he may need to wear glasses. Chad quickly played it off and made a joke doubting that he needed them. I had a feeling he was only trying to hide from admitting it.
Two weeks later during parent teacher interviews our professor had mentioned to Chad’s mom that he had been having trouble seeing the board from his seat and that it may be a good idea to have him get his eyes checked. She was quite concerned and disappointed with Chad’s sudden drop in grades and brought it to his attention that she thought it would be best to schedule an eye exam for him. Chad tried to convince her to cancel the appointment and that he didn’t have trouble seeing. He told her that he’d also try harder to improve his grades. He knew his vision was a bit blurry but did not like the idea of potentially getting glasses because it would ruin his image and popularity. After the argument had ended Chad was forced to go to his the eye exam the following afternoon.
He waited in the chair while being slightly nervous. Looking around at the room, which was unfamiliar to him. He had developed a silly feared during his childhood that anyone who wore glasses would be called a “nerd”. He was pretty stubborn that he was forced into his appointment and waiting felt like forever. He then got called into the room where the overfriendly optometrist guided him through a series of tests. Looking at bright lights, left and right while being startled by air pressure into his eyes. The optometrist then told him to sit into the one and only examination chair that he was most frightened to be seated in.
It started out that he could read most of the lines, that was until they got pretty small, and boy they were blurry. With the uncertainty in Chad’s tone trying to guess correctly while squinting was more than obvious to the optometrist. The test shortly after came to an end and there was a moment of silence. Deep down in Chad’s mind had already known the news that soon came out of the optometrist’s mouth. -That he’s been missing out on some vision and that he would need to start wearing glasses if he wanted to see the boards at school. He accepted his prescription but was very passive about it.
He rushed out of the office and into the front end of the store where he glanced around at the selection of frames knowingly that one pair would soon be his. He felt embarrassed about it while quickly giving up and suggesting to postpone the big decision. His mom argued that he needed to pick out a pair before leaving or else she would cancel his Netflix. He ended up choosing a pair of rimless frames to reduce the obviousness of the frame. -He wanted little attention to the fact that he needed glasses and swore that he wouldn’t wear them in public.
A few weeks later at school he had the case sitting on the edge of his desk. Actually it was the first thing I noticed. *** (update starts here)
He didn’t bother to put them on unless the overhead projector came on and the lights were dim. Chad discretely put them on while the lights were dim in hope that nobody would see him do it. After all, he needed them to see. When the lights had turned on, Chad for a second too late forgot that his glasses were on his face and a buddy of his called him out on it while a few surrounding students overheard. “Hey Chad, nice specs” Chad’s face went red and he hoped the moment would go by quicker. His teacher had also overheard and made it a little more obvious to the entire class. Had to make a smart remark.“Glad to see you resolved your vision problem by getting glasses Chad!” All of the classmates turned around to get a good look and laughed out loud as Chad was even more embarrassed than he ever was. He knew that if he took his glasses off in that moment it would show some sort of defeat, and so he just laughed it off and tried to play it cool. “Yeah, well it’s next to impossible to see back here and because you wouldn’t move me… I had to get them” Since Chad faced all embarrassment about his new glasses all in one moment he began to wear them a little more frequently without feeling as self-conscious. I noticed that he never wore them in the hallways or out of class but only in his math class because of his unfortunate seating arrangement. I was really turned on for the fact that I was able to sit right beside Chad and that he began to wear his rimless glasses for the entire lesson in math. While Chad became to wear his glasses for a little over an hour his eyes became a little bit dependant to the lenses that when he took them off his vision was slightly but noticeably blurrier. I found it so adorable to see him squint after taking his glasses off, and in thought about putting the glasses back on his face. Chad would talk to me, and show me his intellectual side while wearing his rimless only in class, but as soon as that bell rang, he would quickly take them off and stow them in their case and slip it into his front pocket. Chad would exit the classroom while quickly meeting with new friends in the hallways, smiling big while squinting a little… while only I picked up on how closeted he his behaviours were. Because I was only able to spend time with Chad when he was wearing his glasses I felt a growing attraction for him when he was wearing his glasses. It was like I got to be with him at his most vulnerable state, and if anything he’d be most open with me at those times. At times he’d ask me. “Do I look okay in them?” And I’d look at him and say, “yeah, you look… –fine!” I tried to play it cool, but I really was trying to hold in the fact that I could say that it was the hottest thing that I’ve had ever seen! It was obvious I had a huge crush on Chad. And even more when he wore his glasses. Once I got the courage to finally ask him in class. “Why don’t you ever wear your glasses outside of class? You look awesome in them.” He started to go red and humbly asked… “really?” I think that is when we had our first moment. I told him, “Well if I ever needed glasses I’d wear them all the time. What’s the point of trying to look cool when you can’t even see.” He kind of agreed with me, but I could tell he still valued his own opinion over mine. He seemed less confident while wearing them. It kind of reminded of myself, maybe that was another reason we started to relate? Or was I rubbing off onto him?
TO BE CONTINUED…
Note: I apologize if my writing appears somewhat awkwardly structured or frumpy. -it’s the first story I released publicly. The story is in narration of a character named Emery. Now I would love to hear your thoughts! -and if you have a favourite part? The rest of the story will be released sometime soon.
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