It was early. Too early. It was that kind of early where after sleeping in until 1pm all summer you suddenly have to wake up at 6am, and nothing feels real. Since it was September, and starting to get colder, there was a light dew on the grass along the path from my house to the bus stop, which I was walking down.
The stop was only about a five minute walk, but I still managed to be late, almost missing the bus. It pulled up, and had almost started driving away as I jogged up to the door before it closed.
I clumsily scanned my pass without looking up from my phone then found a seat, which wasn't hard considering the bus was pretty much empty. A quiet hum filled the air around me. The seats were gross and torn up, and there were a few odd wrappers and tags on the ground. My nose stung at the horrid sweat and general homeless smell. I sighed to myself thinking of how I would have to smell this almost every morning.
Minutes later we stopped a little bit farther into town, letting on only one person, who wandered up the stairs and proceeded to sit down across from me. I looked up from my phone to inspect this stranger, as most normal people would.
He had earphones in, which were partly hidden by some dark brown almost black wisps of hair. His fingers tapped along to the beat of his music on his tanned knee which poked out through a hole in his tight black skinny jeans. His deep almond eyes stared blankly at the floor in between us, scanning over the intricate, yet stained patterns on the carpet.
He was wearing some black muscle shirt with the name of some band I didn't know. I assumed they were pretty punk, though, judging on the number of holes by his collar bones. Just a guess. Through one of those holes, I could see what I'm pretty sure was a tattoo of maybe a feather or bird or something. Badass.
I liked tattoos, not dramatic colorful ones, but the simple black outline ones. I wasn't really one for going over the top with things. I was pretty simple, and nothing special, you could tell from just looking at me. With my straight brown hair, black skinny jeans and grey sweater, I was anything but noticeable. I didn't need to be special though, I'd rather blend in and not be the center of attention.
The bus' brakes squeaked as we pulled into my new high school. The boy looked up to see out the window, and we caught each other's gaze for a brief moment. I nervously glanced down at my legs so he couldn't see my flushed cheeks, I wasn't the best with human interaction, as you might be able to tell.
I swung my dark blue bag over one of my shoulders and made my way to the front of the bus. When I heard footsteps behind me, I looked back slightly only to see that the boy had gotten up and was now standing right behind me, waiting to get off the bus.
I smiled to myself as I thanked the bus driver and walked down the steps and into the front lawn of my new school. The boy pushed passed me, taking out his earphones and strutting over to three other guys who had the same sort of punk-rockish look as him.
~
The cafeteria was absolutely insane. There were people everywhere and hardly anywhere to sit. I spotted a empty seat, but it was quickly taken, leaving me with no idea what to do or where to go. I impatiently scanned the room, and I noticed the same group of guys I had seen earlier, only there was one missing.
I don't know why but I must have been caught in some sort of trance from looking at him. He was just so... heart eyes emoji... I don't know how else to describe my feelings. I felt a my stomach twist at the realization that I had been fixated on the dark haired boy. What if he saw me full-on staring at him like this? God, he would think I was such a freak. I felt the knot in my stomach tighten as I drew in a quick breath and felt my face turn heat up as our eyes connected for a brief moment, much like this morning on the bus.
My eyes started awkwardly wandering around the room again, looking for something to distract me. I glanced back at him and he was still looking at me, but as soon as he realized I saw him, he looked away and continued eating. I didn't want to be in this room anymore, there was too much going on and this eye contact thing was really awkward for me.
I rubbed my clammy hands together and pushed a loose bit of hair behind my ear as I began to walk away, realizing I have no idea where I was going to go. Being new to this school with nobody to show me around, I was lost. I pulled up a map of the campus on my phone trying to sort out how to get to the big field. I was almost out the door but then- "shit".
I ran into someone. Of course, the first day, the confused new student who doesn't want to be noticed was now on the floor. I closed my eyes out of embarrassment, but when I opened them, nobody had even acknowledged me, except for the vaguely familiar blonde boy kneeling down next to me.
"Are you alright?" He asked, in his very australian voice, something I have yet to get used to since moving here.
"Oh um ya I'm so sorry I wasn't watching where I was going and-" I stuttered. He lifted an eyebrow at me.
"Hey it's alright, don't worry"
I recognized him from this morning... he was part of the group with the guy from the bus. He was less tattooed, but his lip was pierced, and he was just as attractive.
Coming out of my thoughts, I grabbed onto the hand he was holding out to help me stand. I blushed because it was probably sweaty from my nerves. I cringed, I didn't want him to think I was gross. I wonder if he noticed. His eyes looked me over, and then connected with mine. He smiled as I finally stood up.
"I haven't seen you before." He stated, looking at me with curiosity. "And you sound kind of..." he paused for a moment and squinted one eye, thinking. suddenly his face lifted, "Canadian!"
"H-how did you guess?" I lifted an eyebrow as I looked at him he smirked
"Well, you are definitely not australian, and the first thing you said was 'sorry', so I kind of just guessed. I hope that doesn't offend you or anything." That may be a stereotype, but I have to admit, it's true.
"Well, you're right... this is my first day here, and I was just trying to get to the field but I'm kind of lost and-" I was interrupted with an excited smile.
"Hey, I could show you around!" He beamed, though he started blushing a little, slightly regretting his overenthusiastic response, "I mean, uh, if you want. No big deal."
Oh my god what? Incredibly attractive boy, who is friends with another incredibly attractive boy wants to show me around? I let out a small laugh,
"Sure, that would be really, uh, helpful" I looked at him and he smiled at me. I noticed his ocean blue eyes and his dimples and how everything on his face was just kind of... perfect.
I smiled back right before some guy near the back of the room yelled out
"LUKE"
"Hey Luke, stop trying to get laid and get over here man!" Someone was yelling at us, loud enough for the whole cafeteria to hear. Luckily, only a few people looked up from their food, but quickly went back eating. I whipped my head around to see the three other guys looking at me and the blond boy, aka Luke. I looked back at Luke, who now looked slightly flustered. His cheeks became faintly pink, and I laughed under my breath at the guy's comment.
Unsurprisingly, the one yelling was part of the group from this morning, he was the most punk of them all, with his spiky red hair and eyebrow piercing. He wore a muscle t-shirt that showed off his arm tattoos. I didn't even know the school allowed tattoos.
Luke turned to me and gave me an apologetic face. "I've gotta go but maybe you can meet me before first period tomorrow so I can show you around then?"
I agreed, and Luke went off to sit with his friends. It was great that I had Luke to show me around, but I was still alone and lost in the cafeteria with nowhere to sit.
