Chapter 2 FIRST LOVE

Alexa Kinsey stopped her steps after she felt she had walked far enough. It felt like the words she had just said that had left the boy unable to answer were enough to satisfy her. At least she voiced what was bothering her. At least the boy knew that she strongly objected to his unilateral decision.

Then the unpleasant things she experienced while living with her mother made her realize that she should remember her dream. A dream where he had to leave London-England next year. In fact, she has been planning and organizing her dreams long before other kids her age find theirs. Alexa Kinsey was a girl full of dreams.

"Alexa...," Rylee called.

Alexa slowed her pace, and it was then that she realized she had entered Carnaby Street, a pedestrian and shopping district centered on fashion and fashion retail.

"Hm ...."

"Don't give up, keep moving forward. You can stop for a moment to catch your breath, then walk again. Even if you are hurt or feel hopeless, but in life you have to keep going."

Alexa Kinsey also began to pay closer attention to Rylee than the trendy clothes that were no more interesting than culinary to her. Hearing her young brother's motivational words, she became interested in rewarding him with a faint smile, as she was still unable to muster a big smile at the moment. "Strange ...," she muttered, with one eyebrow raised. "Why do your words sound more mature than your age?"

Before Rylee could answer, she interrupted him again. "I'm not that strong, Rylee. You know how I am."

The fact is, sometimes being perceived as strong is not so fun. It meant she had to put up with other people's views and demands about how she should always be able to get through everything, even the tough stuff. But she wasn't that strong. She was just trying to stand tall amidst the storms that were trying to knock her down.

"I know Alexa. The thing that amazes me and mom to this day is, you didn't cry, or maybe you cried but hid it from mom. When Dad suddenly went back to America and left us."

Alexa swallowed, her memory automatically flying back to the fragments of that moment that were stored so neatly in her head. As she recalled it, she couldn't ignore her heart that began to throb painfully. But, she wouldn't let herself stay at that time. She had to move on to the future, even though she couldn't erase that memory from her mind.

"I'm still not really tough. But I want to be strong, I have to keep smiling and laughing. Trying to convince myself that there will definitely be good things tomorrow," she hoped earnestly.

Right, I will definitely have good days in my future, right? She thought to herself.

Rylee nodded as a symbol of agreement at the meaningful words spoken by Alexa. "Oh, yeah! By the way, did you have something with that guy earlier? From the way you look at it, it seems like-"

She nodded immediately. It was unthinkable to hide something hidden in her heart about that boy.

As a result of that question, she felt transported back to the moment when the boy who pulled her arm to save her from almost crossing without looking at the crowded street.

When she remembered the boy's concern, her mind suddenly warmed. The warmth spread throughout her body and filled her empty soul.

The look on Rylee's face was serious and curious. "Really? So, how was your first meeting?"

"Actually, it can't be said to be a romantic encounter like in the movies, or a pleasant one," Alexa said. "I'd say it was enough to make him very upset and angry with me."

Even in retrospect, it was quite horrible, the face that always filled the boy's expression when she accidentally met him at school.

"Wow, right! Apparently, something happened between you before today's meeting," he said. "Tell me about your meeting."

She smiled mysteriously, enjoying Rylee's curiosity, and it was quite fun. "My encounter with him was during a sports competition in the fall. Wait a minute, I actually saw him a lot, but I just saw him and nothing happened because we went to the same school," Alexa said. "But the fall of two years ago really changed everything."

***

Fall, Sports Competition ....

This was Alexa Kinsey's first year of high school. Eden Hall High School is one of the top schools in London, even though she knows full well her brain is not smart enough to compete with the students here.

Still, she wasn't that stupid, as she could pass a complicated test and needed to beat several candidates in order to become a student at this school. Let's just say that she has a mediocre brain when compared to those super-brained students.

She had brown hair and amber eyes passed down from her father's genes. Not as sexy as a Calvin Clein model, and not as pretty as the most popular girl in the school. But, her cute face and innocent gaze did sometimes make people she met would look in that direction for a long time, before turning their eyes in other directions.

Basically, she didn't really like being the center of attention, and being looked at like that. During her high school years, Alexa wanted to be a mediocre student who wasn't the center of attention.

"Alexa, let's go to the field. Everyone's gathered there," called Alice Madison, who was her best friend and the smartest student in her class, class B. Alexa turned her head to the source of the voice. And her eyes landed on Alice who was already at the door frame.

"Has it really started yet? I'm too lazy to wait there," she replied, and still sat on her stool despite the sport uniform wearing on her body. "I'd rather wait in class."

Alice shook her head. "The hundred meter race is about to begin."

"Oh, really?" she said as she straightened up quickly.

"Let's hurry. We have to support our class."

"Ok, Alice," she called out before they ran out of the classroom to the field.

That moment before descending the stairs, who knows what was going through Alexa's mind. And who knows what was blocking the focus of her eyes.

Suddenly, her ears heard Alice scream a second before her body hit something in the middle of the stairs. But it was too late. Alice's scream couldn't freeze her body's movement, couldn't stop time.

All she felt was a hard collision attack. Then her body stopped on the ground floor after getting the same impact for the last time. She groaned as her eyelids closed, her head spinning, her eyes blurry, her ears ringing, pain flooding every inch of her body.

Somehow, she could control herself in the unbearable pain. Being able to get up and hold her body using both hands was a great achievement amongst the numb nerves all over. When her eyes refocused, she saw a boy who was sitting up just like her. Both hands were clutching one leg. Moans of pain and agony were coming out of his mouth.

Her muddled brain could not comprehend what was happening. And her thoughts almost stopped when she realized the injured boy in front of her was Jonathan Flint, a Class A student who was quite smart. All the students must know him.

Oh my God, what had she done? Did she cause that boy to get hurt?

The girl gasped, "Sorry, I'm sorry ...." Those were the only words that could come out of her mouth. "I didn't see you standing on the steps at all."

Jonathan grunted through the pain in every inch of his body. Lazy to answer, and only shot a glare in reply to the girl's apology.

"Oh my, Jonathan, you fell down the stairs!" shouted another boy who had just arrived and stormed towards him. He looked much more panicked than Alexa Kinsey. Practically the moment she saw his friend's reaction, the panic in her rose even higher.

In response to his friend's reaction, Jonathan nodded.

"Oh my, your head is bleeding!" the boy shouted again. His panicked voice completely could not disguise his emotions. Alexa looked up at the boy for a few moments in a confused look, then turned to Jonathan. But his head looked fine.

"Not his head, but yours!"

"Alexa, your head is bleeding!" Alice's voice came between them.

What? But what did Alice say? Her head is bleeding? Right, her head, and not Jonathan's.

She swallowed, while her limp hand lifted slowly, touching her stinging scalp. A thick, sticky red liquid stained her hand. As her eyes began to recognize that it was blood, she gasped. Completely unable to hide the wave of anxiety that filled her.

Try as she might to tell herself that her eye sight was wrong and just a hallucination, she was shaking with fear, and suddenly everything went dark. Her eyes could not see anything, her ears could not hear anything, and her brain was suddenly empty.