𝗦𝗣𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗦 ⤻ ᵐᶦᵏᵉ ʷʰᵉᵉˡᵉʳ

[004] prince in dull armor.

"Is there a number we can call for your parents?" Mike asked her. The girl looked up at him, but did not open her mouth to answer.

"Where's your hair?" Dustin asked. "Do you have cancer?"

"Did you run away?" Lucas piped up.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"Is that blood?"

Mike slapped Lucas' hand away and shouted, "Stop it! You're freaking her out!"

"She's freaking me out!" Lucas shouted.

"I bet she's deaf," Dustin said, stepping towards the girl. He brought his hands together right in front of her face, the loud clapping sound making her flinch and jump back. "Not deaf."

"Stop doing that to her," Daniella scolded the boys calmly, crouching down to be at eye level with the girl. "Hi. I'm Daniella, but you can call me Dani. That's what Will calls me, at least."

The boy shared an odd look with each other, and then looked back at Daniella. Of course, the boys had seen Will wave to the silver-haired girl in the halls or during class, but they hadn't expected them to be closer than that. He had told them about her, and about how sweet and funny she was. They just didn't expect to meet her half-soaked in the middle of the forest.

"You don't have to be afraid," Daniella continued. "We're nice. We won't hurt you. Are you.. are you in danger?"

The girl didn't respond.

"Mike, do you have any clothes you can give her? She's shivering like crazy."

Mike nodded quickly, running over to the other side of the basement and digging through a pale blue laundry basket filled with clean, folded clothes. A loud rumble of thunder sounded from outside, and the girl flinched, clenching her eyes closed in fear. Daniella frowned, timidly bringing her own bandaged hand towards the girl's.

"Hey, it's okay. It's just thunder– that's all. Look, look at this." Daniella raised her arm and pointed to the braided bracelet on her wrist. "It's my lucky bracelet. I made it a few months ago, and I kiss it if I ever need some luck. It's pretty, isn't it?"

The girl nodded slowly, bringing her hands up to fiddle with the string. Daniella giggled softly as Lucas and Dustin eyed each other with uncertainty, not completely believing that Daniella had never met this girl before. The way that she spoke to her was so weirdly natural, and if she was always like this, then a girl like Daniella had to have a million friends, didn't she?

"Here, these are clean, okay?" Mike said once he returned, handing her the pile of warm clothes.

Daniella dropped the girl's hand, placing it on the couch beside where she sat with a comforting smile. The girl did nothing except bring the cloth of the clean shirt up to her face and wipe it on her damp cheek. With a glance to Mike and then to Daniella, she stood up, pulling off the jacket that Mike had placed on her shoulders and her shaky hands reached down to the hem of her shirt and–

"No, no, no!" Mike yelled, holding the girl's wrist before she could pull her shirt over her head. Mike's face had flushed red and the girl looked confusedly towards Daniella, whose eyes were wide with shock. Lucas and Dustin were exclaiming loudly, and they had turned their backs to her. Mike quickly let go of the girl's hand and turned himself around as well, the palms of his hands covering his eyes.

"Oh, don't be so immature!" Daniella reprimanded the boys with an eye roll. She took the girl's hand in her own and smiled softly. "You shouldn't change in front of other people, especially not boys. Because then, they'll react like.. that. Privacy, it's important. Mike, do you have a bathroom down here?"