spoken word. (gxg)

four.

four.

I almost wished that I had stayed in the classroom, though it wasn't possible. My roommate was nice enough, but I hardly knew him. He was out all day until at 1 or 2 am, when he returned with the reek of alcohol or marijuana.

But at 8:45 pm, when I swung open the door to my apartment, I heard a female gasp, apologized loudly, and ran as fast as I could to the other end of the hallway, the image of two bodies seared into my brain. A neighbor's door creaked open.

"Mia?" It was Charlotte, the woman who lived a few doors down from me. Her tightly coiled hair was messy and she was wearing a light green robe. "Is everything alright?"

"Fine," I squeaked. I could tell she didn't believe me.

"Do you want to come in?" She offered.

"Yeah, sure," I said, following her. She sat me down on a small couch, shoved a pillow and blanket at me, and gave me a cup of tea.

"What's up, hon?"

"I, uh, just got back from school," I realized how strange that sounded, so I continued in a hurry, "sorry. I would leave, but my room is... occupied." She winced, obviously understanding.

"Don't worry about it. Stay as long as you like. That couch is actually pretty comfortable to sleep on," she chortled a laugh, "Jason should know." Jason, I remembered, was her husband.

"Thank you, " I said, realizing I really meant it. It was sweet of her.

"What's on your mind, shug?" She asked. I shrugged, but when she continued to stare, I found myself telling her everything.

"There's this girl," I started, "her name is June."

"What's the problem?" She wanted to know.

"June, uh, fights a lot. And she never comes to class. But it's weird because she's nice to me and I don't know whether I should believe the rumors or not, you know? Because, on one hand, I want to be her friend, but on the other, rumors have to come from somewhere." I started rambling. Charlotte nodded.

"You want to be safe, I get it."

"But also..." I trailed off. Charlotte smiled knowingly, and my face flushed.

"I see," she mused.

"I don't know what to do," I said weakly. "Today, she came to class for the first time in weeks because I asked her to, and then she stayed with me for hours after school ended while I read a book to her. She doesn't... seem dangerous. And yet," I didn't speak further. And yet, every survival instinct I have is on edge around her.

I found myself riveted. I wanted to know why she came to school with bloody knuckles, why she never went to class, why her eyes were stone cold and she never spoke unless she truly wanted to. I wanted to know why she came to English when I asked her to. How was it possible that, with her ruined reputation, people still stared after her in the halls and did everything they could to win her favor? Even the teachers, who, by rights should have hated her, seemed to be on good terms with the expressionless student.

I wanted to know why she always put her flaming hair up instead of leaving it down. What her favorite song was to listen to when she was alone. What her family was like.

Why, even though she hardly knew me, she let her guard down enough to lean back and close her eyes while I read quietly to her.

June Willow was filled with mysteries, and I wanted to solve all of them.

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A/N: Pretty much everything I write is based on my own experience. I'm currently a freshman in college, so I understand poor Mia's struggle with roommates.

This one was short, I apologize! I just bombed a bio exam and dropped my grade by 6% fml

Feel free to leave comments/suggestions/edits!