bruised apples

v. phase

"I think you're beautiful."

Matt watched Dan's pink lips mouth the words, sighing as he brought his hand under his chin. The blonde girl giggled.

"Me?" She smiled out of the corner of her mouth, her hair bounced as she shifted her position.

But Matt noticed her skinny wrists, her small waist, her cheekbones, and her flat stomach. It was everything he wanted at the end of this stupid diet.

"Of course you," Dan mused, taking the girl's delicate fingers inbetween his and planting a kiss on her lips.

Matt had hardly touched the bag of cherries that he'd brought from the hospital cafeteria; he was too busy gawking at Dan and his gorgeous face and how the sunlight seeping into the hallways at school made his coffee-brown hair glow so beautifully against his tanned skin. And Matt wished he could drown in Dan's wide-eyed gaze as he touched his flushed cheek and leaned in--

"Eating in class?"

"Wha-" he swatted the bag of fruit into his lap.

Ms. Rivera sneered at the boy. Matt put his hands in his lap, looking down at the wooden desk in embarrassment. She could've found out.

"It's funny that y'know," she smiled, stepping away from a poster behind her, "you sit next to the rules, yet you can't seem to remember what they are..."

"I didn't mean--" he confessed, officially blushing as dang it, Daniel and his female friend were staring at him and he was never, ever more petrified in his entire life until this point.

"Yeah, yeah," she swatted her hand. "Save it for Mr. Hampton's detention at four. Have fun, kiddo."

With one hand, he rubbed his temple. With the other, he clutched the green slip in horror. But then there was the whole issue with transportation and he'd never get home in time, nevertheless, what if his mother wakes up and he wouldn't be there for her?

"Okay, sure," Matt passive aggressively muttered. "Thanks, Rivera."

"Ms. Rivera."

"Oh trust me, I know."

And her scowl followed him outside of the door as Matt cheerfully waved, his hands in his pockets as he trudged to the English teacher's room.

*****

A/N -- hooray!!! we know the name of matt's love interest ooooo (aka, I finally decided on what the name was gonna be after a lot of messing around over which one looked better in the paragraph, lol)

I know, I know, this chapter was kinda uneventful but I just wanted to get you guys introduced to the guy before I moved too far ahead ;) The song for this chapter is "Phase" by Beck -- it's a beautiful instrumental song so that's why there's no lyrics at the beginning (and by the way, are the lyrics at the top bothering you guys or what? let me know!)

See you in the next update! Much love. :) -NN