What He Left Behind

One

I turn to face him. Seeing him up close means I notice the bruise around his left eye. It's fading and partially covered by his eyeliner, but visible nonetheless. Yep, he's definitely trouble. I can make out some of the tattoos on his arms. They're colourful, which I like, but they're pretty unoriginal too: a dragon surrounded by flames on his upper left arm, a rose, a snake, an array of mythical creatures and a bunch of gory gruesome images, typical of any male. The only one that really stands out to me is the star compass on the inside of his left wrist. All the others seem so meaningless that the compass looks out of place in comparison.

I'm about to ask him what the compass tattoo represents but he doesn't look like the open-book sort of person. I don't think he'd take well to my shameless curiosity.

Expectant eyes on me bring me back to the present, remembering Charlie's earlier question.

"Yeah," I reply bluntly, cautious to the fact that trouble is something I'm supposed to be avoiding from now on. I'm not sure befriending this boy is a sensible move.

"Where are you from?" he continues.

"Detroit."

"That's rough. What's your name sweetie?"

"Noelle Fisher."

"Charlie Hemmingway," he tells me, reaching out his hand. I extend my hand begrudgingly to shake his, but he takes me by surprise and raises my hand to his lips, gently kissing it. Clearing my throat, I pull my hand from his grasp. His arrogance is already frustrating me and it's only been two minutes.

"Go easy on her Charlie," a voice from behind me warns, "Don't scare her off just yet." I turn around to see a boy with brown hair, slightly shorter than Charlie's. He is wearing grey jeans and a black shirt and he has two lip piercings. To anyone else, he would probably look intimidating.

"I'm just being nice," Charlie chuckles.

"Sure you are," the boy says dubiously before turning his attention to me, "I apologise for my friend here. I'm Stanley."

"Noelle," I tell him and he nods in acknowledgement before Mrs. McKinley silences the class again and hands out our timetables. I browse through my classes, which are exhausting just to look at, let alone take. Because my GPA is fairly high, I'm encouraged to take AP classes and to take academic classes rather than more creative ones. It doesn't bother me overly, since I find academic classes easier anyway. The only exception to that is photography.

Photography has been a passion of mine since I was a kid. I'd drive my family crazy constantly shoving my camera lens in their faces. I'd take pictures of everything, obsessed with capturing every moment and saving it for future reference. My teachers back home were always telling me that one day I'd make a great lawyer or doctor or managing director, but all I ever wanted to do was take photographs.

I'm out of practice now though, and there aren't many moments worth capturing in my life anyways. So maybe I will end up being a lawyer or a doctor or a managing director like everyone said I would. I'm too impulsive to plan ahead and take things more than a day at a time, however. Every plan I make somehow end up crumbling so I've pretty much surrendered to my fate, whatever that may be.

After a short while, the bell rings and everyone rushes to escape. Charlie and Stan are the first ones to leave the classroom, making a beeline for the door without anyone daring to get in their way. Scoffing, I gather my things and head in the direction of the door, only to get called back by Mrs. McKinley.

I take a seat by the teacher's desk and a pretty brown haired girl sits next to me.

"Noelle this is Amber. Amber, Noelle is new to Sac High so I thought maybe you could show her around and make sure she knows how things work here," Mrs. McKinley suggests.