Chapter 1

*Josh's point of view*

The closer I get to my sister's bedroom door, the more I can hear of her phone conversation. She complains again, barely breathing while telling her bestie how impossible, rude, lazy and annoying I can be. I roll my eyes and sigh.

'He does absolutely nothing! He lives on my paycheck, in my apartament, sleeps on my couch! I am so tired of him. He is not a child, he doesn't need someone to take care of him but dad doesn't seem to understand that. I have a life as well! I need freedom!'

I hate her. I grab the keys of her car, knowing that this will only bring me trouble later, but right now I gotta get out. I just need some quiet time, and with Amy speaking on the phone louder than a trumpet, I would only mess with my nerves. I drive until I reach the local bookstore parking lot and I park the car close to the doors. I started coming here since I moved in with my sister, this place being the only one where I can ease my mind because it's quiet. I go straight up to the second floor where the reading tables and big armchairs are, pick a separated corner and grab a random book, to pretend I'm reading so that I wouldn't be kicked out.

Suddenly, my eyes capture a red long hair coming up the stairs, using a white long stick to tap the floor before her. She is wearing a circular pair of sunglasses, so that makes me realise she is blind. She chooses a reading spot one table away from me and gets a book out of her bag. She opens it somewhere in the middle and starts running her freckled fingers over the pages while moving her lips. I've seen this on a TV show. Blind people read with their fingers because the letters are touchable in the books made for them.

'Would you stop starring, please?'

It takes me a few seconds to realise who talked and that she talked to me.

'Excuse me?' I ask, as polite as I can.

'You were starring at me. If I can't see doesn't mean I can't feel what is happening around me.'

I've heard that blind people have their hearing and sensory system a little more evolved than normal people. But c'mon, I was quiet the whole time. And I wasn't starring, just analyzing the situation.

'I was not starring at you, miss. I.. um.. was just interested in... the book you were reading.'

Unimpressed is the perfect word to describe her face.

'Oh really? Do you wanna join a blind reading club? 'Cause I have a lot of recommendations for you. But how about you create one? The Starring Reading Club, or just Why Don't We Just Come At The Bookstore to Stare at Blind People Club?'

I wanna laugh. I really do. Still, I came here to get rid of the annoying voice of my sister, but look what I find? A squeaky voice that also complains about my existence. I'm done with being nice.

'Look, miss accuser. This is a public space, I have the right to do whatever I want, alright? If I want to stare, which I didn't, I will do it for as long as I want. Respect everyone's rights, not just yours.'

She turns red. Her skin is very light and she has freckles all over her hands and face, so her redness is very obvious, even though she tries to hide it.

'You are impossible.'

She emphasizes every word.

'You do not care if other people need privacy. I get attention wherever I go, everyone tries to be nice and helpful to me because I'm blind. Here is where I can be alone, away from everything, away from attention and useless pitty, and you are ruining everything! It's hard to respect your rights when you don't respect mine!'

'Why do you have to be so dramatic, good Lord!' She literally drives me crazy right now. I get up and go down the stairs, leaving the store and deciding to never walk on that door again. But the moment I start the car, I see the redhead sitting on the chair I did five minutes ago and laughing. What is wrong with her?

I'm mad, and I don't even have a good reason for it. My phone rings, the screen shows my dad's name. I mute it and leave the parking lot. I feel a little hungry, so I choose a fastfood restaurant to go to. A huge black parked limo gets my atenttion while I turn right, but the thought leaves my mind quickly. I turn the music on as loud as possible and start to question myself about my dad's call. After gossiping with her clone, Amy probably called our dad to complain about me, so he only hits my phone to argue with me about my behaviour. Not that it didn't happen before. It only happens this way, dad never calls me to ask if I'm doing well or if I have friends.

I couldn't get a job in the first 3 weeks so I gave up. Amy was fine with it, until she wasn't; all of a sudden, she started to blame me for everything that wasn't going right in her life. Still, my dad was sending her money every month, and basically this was the only thing that was keeping her away from throwing me out in the street. I sometimes think that dad only sent me to live with Amy because I was a burden for him as well. Am I that bad?

I leave the car parked near the restaurant and get in to buy myself some food. But while I'm waiting in line, I see the same limo I noticed at the bookstore stopping behind my car and the door opening. It's the redhead. Great, she'll do a scene here too. I sit at a table, not facing the door and trying to type random things on Google to distract myself. But obviously, the door bell rings and I can clearly hear the walking stick's ongoing taps on the floor. Man, why am I even hiding from a girl? Because I know that everyone will defend her because she is blind? And also annoyingly rich? Of course not.

But she is in a lighter mood, seems relieved. She smiles while ordering and... approaches my table. I realise she probably followed me here.

'What? Are you gonna charge me for picking this table? Or this restaurant where you probably used to come every Sunday with your fancy blind friends? 'Cause you probably have a backstory for everything.'

She giggles.

'Relax, would you? I was just messing with you back at the store.'

I am confused. She takes a seat at my table.

'I recently joined a theatre club. And they're just a little unsurprised by my skills so I'm trying to practice whenever I get the oportunity. Also, I changed the lines so that it could seem more real, I connected it with my condition and... well, you know the rest.'

So she acted the entire time?

'You lied.'

'Well, you did stare and I know that you were trying to convince yourself that you didn't while arguing with me.'

'Reverse psychology?' I ask with a little note of sarcasm in my voice.

She just smiles. My food is ready and I start eating, because she doesn't seem to want to leave the table any time soon. She gets her food as well and plays with her fries.

'But you actually turned red. I annoyed you.' I tell her.

'Yeah, you did. Still, all I said was already written at home, so you didn't actually influence my acting.'

Of course I didn't. Hollywood is written all over your forehead.

'How did you follow me here?' I gotta ask, because silence would be too awkard.

'I asked my butler to do it. I felt a little bad for what happened and how I talked to you and I needed to clear things up.'

'Why would I believe you?'

'Oh, I don't care if you don't.' She takes a big bite of her burger.

Now I'm starring at her but she doesn't seem to notice or to even try to. Her hair is very long, almost reaching her hips, but the color of it, this shiny red, is really outstanding. She wears a deep green top and a pair of yellow shorts.

'And the limo?'

'It's my dad's, he lets us use it sometimes when we're in a hurry.'

'Show-off.'

She smiles and takes another bite.

'I'm Sunshine. Who are you?'

Why would I even want to introduce myself to this spoiled girl? I'll probably never see her again.

'Josh.' I simply say my name and look on the window.

I imagine kids bullied her at school. Probably stole her pens or her lunch box because she wasn't able to see them doing that. I know that I would've laughed at her, or be mean for no reason just because my friends would've done it. I feel sorry for her.

'Um.. so, how did this happen?' Controlling my curiosity is something that I need to work on.

'You know you're not gonna choke or hurt my feelings if you actually say the word blind, right? It's not an insult to me, it's normality.'

I roll my eyes. Why can't we leave the irony alone?

'Oh, you were born blind?'

She nods. She wouldn't open up unless I ask her to.

'And you never saw anything at all?'

She sighs.

'No, never. But I build images in my head, considering the feelings that I get when I touch something.'

Now I really pity her. I don't say anything for a while, she remains quiet as well. But suddenly she smiles and starts looking for something in her bag.

'And now you feel sorry for me. Like everyone else.'

'Of course I do, it's human. Seeing is the real normality, but to you it was denied. I can't imagine how hard it is.'

'You're deep too?'

I hate her. She gets up and braids her hair really quick and then takes off her glasses. Two beautiful green eyes, so bright that I almost forget where I am. Her eyelashes are so long and graceful, and her beauty is more obvious that I'd want it to be.

'Now you're really starring.'

She leaves the restaurant and gets in her limo. What am I supposed to do now?