The Bad Boy and The New Girl

Chapter 3

He paused. I turned my head towards him and waited for him to continue.

"Like, everything gets a bit much sometimes. And I guess it helps to come to a place that makes your problems feel small."

He looked at me, frowning.

"Did that even make sense?"

"Yeah, I totally get it! Like when you're on an aeroplane and you look out the window at all the tiny houses and tiny cars. And even the huge things look tiny. Like lakes and mountains. And you know that amongst that there are so many people, so many lives, so many problems...but you realise how small and insignificant they really are when you're so far up above it. I guess it just takes some perspective to see it like that..." I trailed off as I noticed him watching me intently with the smallest hint of a smile on his face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble," I hurriedly apologised.

"No, no, you weren't! Not at all. That's exactly what I mean. I think you just phrased it a lot better than I could have," he reassured me with a kind smile.

I smiled back at him and our eyes met for a moment before I looked away. I seemed incapable of maintaining eye contact with him for more than a few seconds.

We sat in silence for a minute, just enjoying the view and the cool end-of-summer breeze and the warming rays of sunshine and the soft whistle of birdsong. I felt relaxed and peaceful.

At least, that was, until I remembered I hadn't checked the time since we left the auditorium.

I shot upright, nearly launching myself back down the bleachers, and hurriedly grabbed my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans. Mason quickly stood up too.

"Woah woah, what's going on?"

I pressed the home button. 9:24. 4 minutes since registration ended and my first lesson started.

"We need to go, now!" I started stepping back down the bleachers as fast as I could. I could hear Mason behind me, his footsteps much heavier than mine. I reached the bottom and turned to face him. He was maybe 10 steps from the ground.

"Come on! I can't be late on my first day!" I called.

"It'll be fine, they'll know you're on a tour," he shouted back. I knew he was descending the bleachers fairly quickly, but standing there at the bottom waiting for him come down it felt like he was moving excruciatingly slowly.

"Please, Mason!" I pleaded.

"Okay, okay!" he replied, more serious. He reached the ground and we paced back to the main courtyard. As we walked, I checked my timetable and told him I had English in room E4.

"Oh, same as me!"

We entered one of the buildings and walked along the corridor. I stopped just short of the last door on the left. Mason kept walking, heading towards the door.

"Wait!" I whispered. Without thinking, my hand reached out and grabbed his forearm, pulling him back. We both looked down at my hand holding onto his leather jacket-cladded arm before I quickly pulled my hand back and awkwardly used it to dust off my jeans. He looked back up at me, a playful smirk on his face, one eyebrow raised.

I took a deep breath, then put my hands on my hips and asked, "how do I look?"

"What? Great. I mean, nice. I mean, what?" he replied, suddenly flustered. 

What the hell was that?

I brushed over it and changed the question.

"I mean do I look alright? I want to make good first impressions!"