You ever see someone and at first you had no thoughts on them. You just see them in the hallways on your way to class or trying to look for your friends in the cafeteria and see them hanging out with their friends and just think nothing of them. You go about your day and they go about theirs. You may have a class or two with them but you never really notice them. Until one day, you see them differently. You see them often and everywhere you go, you see them or something reminds you of them. You think about them a lot. I think about her a lot. She’s always on my mind. She’s the first thing I think about  in the morning and the last thing I think of at night. Crap.

The name’s Daniel. A senior at Edison High School in Cali, no need to brag but I would consider myself attractive. Hazel eyes, blonde hair styled to perfection, very well built might I add, and stupidly in love with Isabella Ford, another senior at my school. Who, in my opinion, is the prettiest girl in school. She’s so kind, funny, and beautiful. She’s got these brown eyes that are mesmerizing, shiniest black hair I’ve ever seen. The happiest person I've ever seen too. Brightens up any room she walks in. But she doesn’t need to know about my serious crush on her. Nobody does. Except Lucas, my brother. We are very close to each other. Which is why he is the only person who knows my love for Isabella. At first he teased me about liking someone but once he saw how serious I was about her, he turned very supportive. He became my horrible ass wingman. He had tried to make her talk to me but that only ended up with them becoming friends. Which is.. Okay I guess. I’m not jealous. I can’t be anyways, she’s not mine. 

“DANIEL HURRY THE HELL UP!” Wow. Lucas has such a lovely voice.

“Okay okay jesus” I wail back. I got up my bed, it was 7:30am. I got 30 minutes okay. I get ready and quickly walked down the stairs, seeing Lucas and mom sitting on the kitchen table off the side of the kitchen. Lucas just downing some coffee while my mom is scrolling through her phone.

“Aight bro, let’s go. Ms. Lee’s gonna be on my ass if I’m late again” He grumbles.

“Bye mom” I say. My mom only gave me a nod as she seems very invested on whatever is on her phone.

We arrive at the school. Thank god. Lucas drives like a crackhead. As we were getting out of the car,  people (literally just girls) started looking and try coming closer to us. I, for one, am still not used to getting all this attention ever since we moved to this school this year. Lucas, on the other hand, loves it. You can tell by the he smirks and adds a little swagger in everything he does. Ew. Stop. Girls just seem so entranced by him from his brown hair, hazel eyes as well to his body that’s similar to mine. He loves the attention. I ignore it. I want someone else’s attention

We managed to get through the crowd that is getting more excited as we were passing through. Lucas had gone his separate ways, before whispering to me that if Ms. Lee get on him again he’s gonna cuss the hell out her and I quote “I don’t care”. I finally walked into my first period, English. Usually people are grumpy and annoyed already in the morning but for me, I have Isabella in my first period so I’m fine. Great, actually. We’ve only talked here and there but just being able to sit next to her is enough for me, like the euphoria that for other people, only money and sex can give them. Class goes by fast anyways so I’m not complaining. 

This has been going on for months. I never had the courage to go up to her and say anything more than “What’s the date?” or “Can I borrow your pencil?”.

 My friends would try to give me advice on how to start a conversation with her but nothing would work. Except for Lucas. He gets along with everyone. He’s charismatic and outgoing. In one day, they just magically became close friends. I’d often find them next to each other, laughing, smiling and chatting with each other. It was like they were the only 2 people in the world. I would be a little jealous of how close they are to each other but I can’t really get mad. She’s not mine.

Weeks later and still no progress. What the hell. We have finally started talking but we aren’t clicking. I thought we could get really close, become best friends, she hopefully develops feelings for me and then boom, we get together. Maybe that’s just me being too optimistic.

I’m in my room, lying on my bed as I’m just blindly scrolling through my phone on any app I have. I tap in and out of apps. All I can wonder is what is Lucas and Isabella’s relationship? How did they manage to get so close so fast? Are they bestfriends? Are they just friends?

Does he like her?

“Hey Daniel, can I ask you ask something?” Lucas asks, standing next to my door that’s wide open. Lately, I’ve been getting more irritated of Lucas. You could say it’s because of the fact that he has been with Isabella almost everyday, hanging out with her however much he can. He was a player for sure in the past so I’m worried he would want to play her. Leave her heartbroken. She doesn’t deserve that. He doesn’t deserve her. 

“What” I snapped. He winced a little.

“Um...well.. There’s this person I really like and… they know about me being with a ton of girls and being a hoe and stuff but I really want this girl. I… I think I’m in love with her.” His eyebrows were furrowed, deep frown etched on his expression. Looking like an abandoned puppy.

Her. 

It’s her. He’s talking about Isabella.

A growing feeling in my chest begins to spread. What the hell. Is he serious? He knows I like her. A lot. I catch myself starting to breath heavy from my nose.

 I want to punch the shit out of him. I want to hurt him

Yet, that feeling goes away as fast as it appeared. Seeing him like this, like he might lose the whole world, makes me even more upset than the fact that he’s talking about Isabella.He knows that I know who he’s talking about. He wants her. Needs her.

“Then... why don’t you tell her then.” I answered but I added before he can say anything, his face looking up at me now. “You f up Lucas, I’ll beat your ass.”

I’ve seen the way she looks at him. The way she acts around him is different from anyone else. Always smiling when he’s near her and looking depressed when he’s not. She doesn’t do that polite fake laugh she does when other people try to tell her something funny when he tells an awful joke. She genuinely laughs at his stupid jokes. That’s literally the biggest sign of her liking him. He better not screw up. His face contorts as he thinks about his chances. He smiles. 

“I should huh? You’re right. I’m such a coward,” He chuckled a little at himself, “Alright, thanks bro. I’m hopeless without you.” He says sincerely. “Wish me luck!” He yells as he runs from my door to the direction of the front door. The front door slammed shut.

Well. There you go Daniel. You just told your brother to confess to the person you’re in love with. I am the dumbest person on earth. Lucas is a better version of me. She’ll want him over me. 

I was right. He came back the next morning. I stayed up the whole night to hopefully see a disappointed face. An angry one. A sad one. Any kind of negativity showing in his expression. Then maybe I could have my last chance with her. But when he walked passed my door that I purposely left open, he was glowing. Had a skip in his step, grinning like an idiot. He was probably like that on the whole way home. She likes him. She wanted him like how he wanted her. How I wanted her. I shouldn’t be this sad. I should be happy for him. I told him to confess to her anyways but I’ve never seen him this content. It’s fine.

She’s not mine. And she’ll never be.