Familiar person

Chris had to admit that this whole thing felt foreign to him. And he wasn't only talking about being in a new environment. When he was in high school, literally everyone knew him. He wasn't talking about just his school alone. Everyone in town, as well as the next town, knew who he was. So whenever he walked by, there were either people saying hello to him, approaching him, or inviting him to parties or whatever. Thanks to his good looks and his family's prestige. He was always in the spotlight, even when he didn't want to be. 

But here... things were different. He had already arrived at the university block and had the most peaceful walk of his life. People had looked at him curiously, and by the looks on their faces, he knew it was because of how tall he was, not because he was from a rich family or because he was good-looking. 

These people here seemed to be blessed by the god of beauty because their looks were all remarkable, so his looks, coupled with the nerdiness he had added to it wasn't anything special to them. He passed by a big poster with the facial portrait of a guy that looked like a model and a big caption that said, "WELCOME BACK TO CAMPUS"

He stopped and looked at it a second time, blinking at the model. He was beautiful. And not in a feminine way. 

 What caught his eye was the wavy blonde hair that fell to the back of his neck. It wasn't very long, but neither was it short. The tiny black huggie earring in his left earlobe was properly revealed. His almost shaped eyes were a bright hazel and he had a nice set of dimples decorating his cheeks. 

Chris frowned when he realized what he was doing and frowned at himself. He was about to walk away when he looked at the hair again. 

The hair reminded him of someone, even though the other person's was dyed white while this one was blonde. 

He snorted at the poster and walked ahead to complete his registration in the office he had been directed to. 

They were quite efficient and everything was concluded in less than an hour. He received his class schedule and was able to meet up with his first class for the day, which was by 10 a.m.

High school was indeed different from university. He thought to himself as he listened to the lecturer. The class was so boring that he almost dozed off. 

As the class went on, he noticed someone was staring at him a few rows to his left. At first, he thought he was overthinking it until he caught the girl in the act.  

He expected her to look away since he had caught her staring, but she kept on with it, looking at him curiously, which made him furrow his brows. Now that he was also looking at her keenly, he noticed she looked familiar. Was it possible he had met her before? Was that why she was staring at him like this? He quickly looked forward, hoping that was not the case. But before he could leave the class at the end of the lecture, the tiny girl stood in front of him and openly looked at his face. 

"I... know you, right?" She asked, peering closer at his face and creeping him out as he bent backwards, trying to get his face away from hers. 

"I don't know you." He shook his head. 

"The voice!" She exclaimed and snatched one of the notebooks he had been about to return inside his back.

"It's you! Christopher Owe—"

He clapped a hand over her mouth and looked around in alarm at the students who were looking at them curiously. 

Her eyes rounded in surprise and confusion as she looked at him. He slowly let go and looked around again, relieved that everyone was minding their business now. 

"Don't say another word." He whispered. 

Just great! He had travelled many hours away from where people knew him just to bump into this one here. From her accent, it was obvious she wasn't from around here. But he doubted she was from Southern Creeks. Otherwise, he would have easily recognized her, but he was still finding it difficult. 

It seemed she was able to read his face because she introduced herself in a whisper. 

"My name is Rachel. I attended Northend Academy. I was the senior's class prefect before I left the school, and we've met a couple of times."

That sounded familiar. He racked his brain to make sense of it and suddenly remembered. 

"Ah! You..." He pointed at her. "Your... family..."

"Yes. That's us." She whispered and looked around. "But no one here needs to know that detail about me."

He remembered her. He had met her before at a few parties and also during interschool games. They had barely spoken to each other. Maybe once or twice. But he remembered a particular detail about her—many girls hated her. 

Since the two had a lot in common, they were currently seated in a cafe outside the school, catching up, and she seemed a little giddy to meet him. 

"As much as I was wary about bumping into anyone from our place, I am excited to see you. You are like the last person I imagined finding here. What happened? And why do you look like this? I don't remember hearing anything about your family going under." She asked curiously.

"First of all, how did you recognize me? I thought I did a good job covering up my looks?" He asked, curiously. 

"You're like tall and have this striking facial features that is hard to miss. And I used to be your avid follower on social media." She blushed.

"That's... cool, I guess? What are you doing here?" He asked her. What were the odds that the two of them would meet here and share a class?