Lighting a Match in the Rain

Chapter Seven

"Hey! Will you answer some questions for a project I'm working on?"

The curly-haired girl gave me a dirty look and kept walking down the hall, not caring to even give me a "no thanks" as a reply. I sighed for what felt like the thousandth time that hour, the defeat of this idea pushing me down. Julian and I had started trying to talk to near students in the hallway during our lunch hour and I was failing miserably. Out of at least four dozen students that I had tried talking to, I had gotten four replies, half of which consisted of "excuse me?" and an offended look on their face. If I got their attention with my first question, as soon as I mentioned their lack of reputation, they understood it as me calling them a "nobody" and stalked away without offering me another word.

We needed a different way of doing things. Or I at least needed a different way of wording my sentences. I could only hope Julian was getting somewhere with people unlike me. Maybe his attractiveness could real them in.

The first bell rang, meaning lunch was coming to an end and the next classes started in ten minutes. I leaned back against a random locker and scanned the growing crowd of students, searching for an unknown face with kind stature that I knew would help me with this project.

"Do you need something?"

My eyes snapped up to the deep voice to my left. Reed was standing there in all his glory, looking confused and a little uncomfortable. Now close and with my attention, I could tell just how flat and sage his irises were. There wasn't depth and different shades like most eyes. They were almost completely solid green and held more darkness than any brown eyes I'd ever seen. His black hair was just like everyone talked about, messy but in a put-together kind of way. Like organized chaos. If it weren't for their similar build and face shape, I would have never been able to tell that he and Julian were related. Julian had lively blue eyes and muddy brown hair. They hardly looked like brothers, much less twins.

I don't know how long I was in a daze of surprise, but when I saw his eyebrow raise and his dull eyes glare in annoyance, I immediately snapped out of it. "I'm just asking people for help on my project."

"And that has to do with me, how?"

It was my turn to furrow my eyebrows. It had nothing to do with him. And he walked up to me. "What?"

"Why do you need my help on your stupid project?" he questioned, his tone hard and demanding.

"I don't."

"Then why are you waiting by my locker for me?"

Realization flooded through me, and my own aggravation flashed through my veins. Nonetheless, I stopped leaning on his locker. "I wasn't waiting for you. I didn't even know this was your locker," I told him honestly.

He rolled his eyes. "Sure, you didn't. That's what they all say."

"Not every girl is trying to get your attention, Reed."

"You haven't proved that theory."

"This is exactly what reputations can do to your brain," I mumbled to myself.

Huffing with an arrogant glare, he pushed me aside and twisted his metal lock until his locker door popped open. I stepped away to go to class and tell Julian all about how much I hated his brother, when I stopped, an idea flashing in front of my eyes. What better people to talk about reputations to than with Reed and Ricky?

"How does it feel to be known as a town criminal who doesn't give a crap about anything or anyone?" I questioned, Kins' inner interrogator rubbing off on me.

"Excuse me?" he seemed offended, like most of my victims in the past hour.

"You're known around school as a criminal," I said, though I knew he already knew. "How does that make you feel?"