𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒

you're writing, like usual

"Start writing, no matter what.
The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on."

✉

Annie Halden has a habit of writing letters to herself every day.

She liked having the freedom to display all her innermost personal and deepest thoughts and feelings, exhibited as scribbled letters on a piece of paper. It was only for her to see. Nobody else to know or read.

While the idea embarrassed her to think about, almost made her feel pathetic, - the comfort in it beat the embarrassment.

"Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind." Virginia Woolf. Annie liked that quote. Writing made her mind and thoughts feel free and safe, whereas speaking them aloud to anyone at all, did the entire opposite.

"You're writing," Jack, her older brother, mused. "Like usual." He had walked into the school library to see her sitting by herself at a corner table, as always.

Though only a year apart, with Jack older, they were polar opposites. Jack was in his senior year and Annie in her junior. Jack was your stereotypical golden boy—with the popularity that gave him an endless amount of friends and kept him familiar with just about everyone, the parties and school events to keep him busy and in his extroverted habitat, along with his place on both the basketball and football team. Not to mention the girls always swarming around him.

Annie, on the other hand, was a wallflower to a fault. She had her two best friends to keep her company, her private writing to express her thoughts, and a new book every other day to keep her entertained. She didn't mind her life, though it being different than her brother's. She liked blending into the shadows and remaining under the radar. It felt safe.

Perhaps it were just her social anxiety and introverted nature that made her hate any sort of attention and fear being in anyone's way.

Annie was sure that nobody even knew she was Jack's sister.

Oh, the bewilderment they would contend if they knew.

Annie glanced up, her writing coming to a halt. "I am."

Jack hummed as he briefly glanced at her paper. He couldn't make out any words but he knew his sister and he knew she bottled her feelings via only sharing them with herself on paper. "Want to talk about it?"

"About what?"

Her voice was quiet, so much so it was almost inaudible to her own brother.

Jack shrugged, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I don't know. Anything." He glanced elsewhere. "Where are Amari and Jay?" Though he wouldn't often admit it, he found himself constantly worrying about Annie. He knew she wasn't one to talk much, at all, about anything that may be causing her trouble.

"In class, I presume." Annie refocused her attention on her paper, busying herself by doodling little flowers on the corner of the lined paper.

Jack only nodded. "I have to head to practice. I'll catch you later, yeah?"

Annie looked up again and watched her brother offer a smile before he turned and headed out of the library. He was far more in his element on the field, rather than here in the house of books.

Annie sighed before she continued to finish her writing. Slowly, the more she wrote, the more peaceful she grew,

Not soon later, the bell rang and took her by surprise. She hadn't noticed the time go by. She scrambled to gather her things because getting to class as early as she could, not wanting to walk in while everyone was already seated.

✉

At the end of another uneventful school day, Annie waited by her and Jack's car for him to arrive. She was used to him running late after practice. Though she was tired and couldn't wait to get home, crawl into bed, and binge-watch Gilmore Girls, she didn't have the heart to complain to her brother about it.

"Are you Annie?"

She glanced up to see a familiar face, one she had seen around school many times before. It was a face that you couldn't possibly ignore.

Leo Smith.

The sight of him almost paralyzed her. She couldn't help her mouth falling open the slightest bit as she stared back at him, wondering how the hell he even knew her name.

The Leo Smith. The ever-popular, well-known, Leo Smith. He was high on the social ladder and known by just about everyone, even the kids from neighbouring schools. Sportscars and cigarettes sang his name; his tendency to skip classes hardly caused a scratch on his ever-perfected GPA. Leo fell under the bad-boy stereotype and as much as you wanted to laugh at the idea, it was impossible not to be enchanted by the boy.

He was divinity in the form of a human boy; a balance of danger and charm, something was mesmerizing about him that you couldn't quite put a finger on. Perhaps it was how inaccessible he seemed, that made him all the more desirable. Leo was like something forbidden.

Annie had never made eye contact with him before, let alone spoken to him. She had noticed him, of course, because it was hard not to—along with her tendency to remain on the sidelines—it made her a great observer.

"Um—" she blinked confusedly. "Yes. I—I am." She was choking on her own words but she was far too bewildered to feel the embarrassment. She was too busy questioning everything in the world right now.

She had never felt more uncomfortable and awkward in her life.

Aside from the fact that she had never been close enough to him before this moment to properly have noticed just how beautiful he was, Leo was far too high on the social ladder to ever communicate with Annie-who wasn't even on the ladder, to begin with. She was below even the bottommost of tiers.

"I'm sorry," she sputtered, shifting on her feet and scrambling her hands here and there, confused about what to do with her own body parts. "Am I in your way? I'd—well, I'd move the car but my brother—" she finally looked at him again, exhaling heavily. "Well, he has the keys."

She was like deer in headlights, fearing for her life while too stunned to actually move. Wide-eyed and staring back at the boy, she was holding her breath and preparing for the worst to happen-though she didn't know what that could entail.

Leo only chuckled softly, enthralled by her worried state. Not in a jerk way—but rather, he was more than amused and intrigued by the unusual girl standing before him. He found her panic almost endearing, in some strange way.

"No, no. You're good," he said, his voice unexpectantly gentle. "You're far from in my way, Annie."

He said her name almost like he was trying it for sound.

Annie continued to gape as she watched him walk away, heading to his own car. He didn't give her another glance as he left but Annie was acutely aware that this wasn't the last she'd see of him.

The thought of that worried her further.

Miles of thoughts ran through her mind, enough to give her a migraine. How did he know her name? And what could he possibly want from her? Why did he stop just to ask her name? Had she done something she wasn't aware of?

"Hey." Jack's appearance broke through her train of thought. "Ready to bounce?"

Annie blinked, turning away from staring at Leo and looking at her brother instead. All she could do, for now, was snap her mouth shut and get into the car.

✉