Auriel makes her way to her first class, mentally kicking herself for making a fool of herself in front of Michael, as she slides into her seat she replays the conversation in her head.
"So you think I'm pretty do you?" Michael's asks and wiggles his eyebrows
Auriel begins to panic and her heart races as she thinks of something to say back to him.
"M..ma..maybe a little. I mean your no Luke Hemmings, he could have anyone." She says barely saving herself.
Michael smiles and chuckles lightly "I'll have to work on that then, Luke is pretty sexy."
Auriel laughs and realizes that it's been a long time since she has, it kinda hurts inside but she doesn't give it away. She talks to Michael until she has to go to class, trying not to embarrass herself further
Auriel tries to pay attention but all she can think about is Michael, his smile, his laugh, his smell, and his voice as he stood less than two feet from her and talked to her. She makes her way class to class all day in a haze, when lunch period comes she begins to panic remembering that Michael is buying her lunch today.
She slowly walks into the lunch room with her head down, hoping he forgot and goes about his day because deep down she knows she is just getting her hopes up that he could ever like her in the way she likes him. As she makes her way to a table in the back of the room she feels Michael's hand on her shoulder, her breath catches in her chest as she turns to face the tall smiling boy.
"I believe I owe you a lunch my lady" He says with a bow and laughs
Auriel laughs and takes his arm. "Since I can't talk you out of it, I guess."
Michael leads her across the lunch room to the line of students waiting on food, she reaches for a tray and of course Michael takes it from her and tells her that she isn't to lift a finger. When her food is on the tray he pays and tells her to pick anything she wants but she insists that she's fine with what she has.
Once they are out of the line Auriel tries to get her tray and thank Michael but he holds it above her head and grins at her reaching above her, on her tip toes, he notices her shirt is lifted and he sees a bruise on her side and lowers the tray back down.
"Um, Auriel would you like to sit with me and my friends? They already said they want you to sit with us." Michael asks with a small sadness in his voice.
Auriel considers saying no but she decides it would be better than sitting alone so she nods, "I would love to join you for lunch." She says with a smile.
Michael walks to a table with Auriel in tow, she recognizes most of the people sitting around the red table. Michael pulls out a chair, sits her tray down, and motions for her to sit down. She sits in the small plastic blue chair and Michael pushes her in being gentle not know where else she might have a bruise.
"Guys this is Auriel, she's the girl I was telling you I rudely knocked to the ground this morning. Auriel this is Luke, Calum, and Ashton." Michael says giving Auriel a small smile.
"It was my fault, really, but he won't accept that." Auriel says with a small laugh.
"That sound like Mikey, Hi by the way." Luke says and the other two boys nod and wave.
Auriel picks at her food and joins in on small talk with Michael and his friends, she didn't want to tell Michael that she doesn't really eat lunch, so he wouldn't feel bad. The bell rings signaling that lunch is over, Michael's three friends stand up and Auriel feels like she's surrounded by trees.
Auriel stands to leave and Michael grabs her hand she turns to face him and she didn't mean to but she had began to cry. As her eyes met Michael's she could see the pain in his eyes, Auriel quickly looks down and wipes her eyes.
"Can I walk you to class?" Michael asks and he sounds so sad that it causes a small twinge of pain in Auriel's chest.
Still not making eye contact Auriel replies with a small voice, "Uh, sure, lets go."
Michael lets go of Auriel's hand that he didn't realize he was still holding and stood so he could make sure she was okay. He walked beside her until they got to her locker, he was thinking of what to say and how to say it.
"Do you have a phone? I was thinking we could exchange numbers and if you ever needed someone to talk to or something you could text or call me?" Michael asked, his usual confidence faltering, he seemed nervous to Auriel.
"Uh yeah I do." She scribbles down her number on a piece of paper and hands it to him, and he does the same.
She closes her locker and starts to walk to her next class but Michael stops her with a question she was hoping he wouldn't ask, "Are you okay Auriel? I mean when I grabbed your hand you started to cry, can I do anything to help?"
He sounded so concerned, she wanted to lie and say everything was perfect but when she opened her mouth the truth flooded out, "No Michael, I'm not okay. I have to get to class so I can't go into detail but if you were serious about the whole 'if you need someone to talk to' stuff I'll text you later okay? Like after school, but I really can't be late to class."
Tears were sliding down her cheeks by the time she finishes talking, Michael pulls her into a hug and whispers to her, "I understand, text me or call me whenever, I'll listen."
Michael let her go and walked her to class and once he seen she was seated he took off running to make it to his class on time. He barely makes it through the door when the bell rings, the teacher glares at him and he gives an apologetic smile and takes his seat.
Michael spends the rest of the day thinking of Auriel's face covered in tears, and checking his phone incase Auriel texts. Auriel spends the rest of the day trying to calm herself and praying that Joe is sober when she gets home so she can be left alone.
When the last bell rings dismissing school for the day, Michael runs to Auriel's locker hoping to catch her. As he comes in sight he sees her closing her locker and keep her head down as she turns and walks out the doors. He starts to follow her when his phone buzzes in his pocket, quickly he slides it out and checks the screen, his heart drops when he sees the name 'Mum'.