Avoid people. That was Nick Evan's policy when he walked around on campus. If there was a group of people, Nick swerved around them. This sometimes put Nick in odd places. Once, it put him squished between the two foot gap between two buildings.
It wasn't that he was scared of people, he just didn't like them. It's similar to if you don't like snakes; you're not scared of them, but you would go out of your way to avoid them.
Nick was heading to the library building. The library building had all the records, the security cameras, the attendance sheets. That's where he had to go to find Alyssa. So, he made the thirty minute walk from his last class to the main building. His brain worked to find anything else about the girl that would help him find her.
It was weird. The only sense of right or wrong he had ever felt in his entire life was when someone lost something. He never kept it, and he always returned it. He wasn't exactly sure what he was feeling when he needed to give someone something back, just that he was feeling. Nick didn't like it, but he couldn't resist the urge to return something that didn't belong to him.
Nick guessed his parents raised him well on one thing, at least.
He searched his mind for information, recalling the events on the bus. The words Alyssa Young scrawled across one of the straps on her backpack, like a child's. Nice. Now, he had full name and a grade. That should be enough to find her in the computer system.
He walked around another group of people before he finally made it to the building. It loomed over him, casting a dark shadow on the floor that encompassed his body. The cold air froze his lungs, refreshing, but leaving a lingering frost within his chest. The tips of his fingers were numb and frozen, his lips dry and chapped from the wind.
Large letters were spaced evenly across the top of the entrance, spelling out the word "library" in all capital letters. Nick paused as he took in the familiar sight. He used to visit this building everyday until just a few weeks ago. He was very fond of it. Nick found it simply wondrous how hundreds of thousands of worlds exist in just one building. Isn't it amazing?
The doors slid apart easily as he approached. The library looked impossibly bigger on the inside; isles of shelves lined the floor, the colorful spines of books popped out at Nick. The roof stretched upwards. The panes of glass in place of a solid roof gave the illusion of an open top. The building was tall enough to break through the afternoon fog, rays of sunshine beamed down onto Nick, warming his body.
He made his way up the flights of stairs. Noticing his bag would hit his leg repeatedly and often, he held a firm hand to the front of it, pressing it against the uncomfortable fabric of his jeans.
72... 73... 74... 75... He counted his steps as he approached the fifth floor landing. A blue sign was nailed to the wall stating that Nick did, in fact, make it to the fifth floor. Nick rushed to the end of the hall, turning left into a small room. The lack of noise inside the room settled into his brain as he shifted awkwardly in the doorway. The silence in there was louder than when he was in hallway. In the room, nothing but steady breathing and the clicking of computer keys. At least in the hall way, the noise echoed into a comfortable background noise.
Nevertheless, he stepped into the room. The toe of his shoe tapped against the marble floor, which was shiny, clean, and white, the exact color he imagined angel wings would be. The sound rebounded off the walls. Two of them were completely transparent, one letting him view the outside world, the other showing him the lobby of the library. He took a seat at one of the desks and placed his laptop on it. It was a slim laptop, bearing the logo of a once bitten apple, a small indent in the center. Lifting the top, the screen lit up instantly. Nick's fingers worked fast on the keyboard as he entered a series of codes.
He smiled a bit when he noticed it worked. The entire school's database was displayed on the laptop screen. Nick shifted the device out of the view of anyone else in the room. He was careful about being caught. Knowing he had to work fast, he searched up the girl he was looking for. Several results popped up and he clicked on the first link. Alyssa Young's student profile. He took a quick glance at her school photo to confirm he got the right girl. Confirmed.
Nick got all the information he needed from the class schedule posted underneath Alyssa's personal information. He exited out of the window and shut the computer. Walking through the doorway, his bag swung and got caught in the door frame with a loud thump, tugging him back roughly by the neck. He stumble back but managed to keep his balance. The two boys who sat at the desks gave him a judgmental look. Nick just gave a small shrug and continued out the door.
Nick decided that he had already wasted enough time looking the girl up; he only had fifteen minutes left of his lunch break. He worked through the buildings and crowds, which were mostly about a dozen people standing in a big blob talking. He didn't understand those groups. Two people would talk to each other exclusively, but still stand in a group of other pairs. Human kind was weird.
Nick arrived at the building he was looking for. It was just as large as the library- maybe even bigger. The Performing Arts building. That building had several theaters and practice rooms. That is mostly all it was, stages taking up the majority of space.
Of course Alyssa would be a performer. She had a weird kind of flamboyance and happiness that would be perfect for the stage. She was an actress. Her student profile showed that she was to finish college after four years of studying acting, and Nick vaguely remembered her telling him that she was moving to L.A. when she finished school in two years.
It's surprising how much information is profiled online. He learned a lot about the strange new girl. Her full name was Alyssa Marie Young, born on the fifteenth of May in the year of nineteen ninety-nine. At sixteen years old, she lives with her father and twin brother. He also learned that she had a strange obsession with pears. That, of course, wasn't written into her profile, but a deduction Nick had made based on her numerous head shots, as well as her posts on something called Twitter.
He had never been inside the Performing Arts building, never had a need for it, so he had to actually look at the room numbers to navigate the building rather than doing it mentally, like he usually did. His mental map didn't work in the Performing Arts building because he never found a point in time that it was necessary to write one. He drew one out in his mind as he walked down the dimly lit corridor. Stanford had so much money, he wondered why they couldn't replace the lightbulbs in this building. The lights flickered as he stood in front of the door he was looking for. Room 34A.
He decided not to barge into the classroom. Instead, he sat patiently with his back pressed against the opposite wall, staring at the door intently. He didn't let his mind wander that time, though. He counted the passing seconds mentally, taking note of how long he thought it would take for Alyssa to be released. Nick guessed it would take eleven minutes and thirty two seconds.
He sat in the empty hallway for a long while, simply counting the time, staring blankly at nothing. Eleven twenty-nine, eleven thirty, eleven thirty-one, eleven thirty-two, eleven thir- The door swung open and a short blonde girl exited the room whilst talking to her friend. The pair was followed by a flood of young adults. Nick was able to single out Alyssa easily, sauntering over to where she and her friends were conversing. Her glance swept over him, a look of recognition overtook her features as a small smirk danced on her lips.
Nick dug Alyssa's phone out of his pocket, the metal cold in his hand. Alyssa shooed her friends away. Nick heard saw one of them wink an eye at her before they walked away. Alyssa plucked the mobile device out of his grasp. Nick furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Alyssa and her friends seemed to have some secret language spoken through body motions. Nick hated that he didn't understand it.
"Thanks for returning it," Alyssa smiled. She had to tilt her head up to look him in the eye when they stood face to face. Nick was more than half a foot taller than her. He gave Alyssa a curt nod, turning on his heel to walk away. Alyssa gripped his arm and spun him back around mid-step. Nick scowled at her permanently happy expression. "Leaving already?"
"Yes," Nick became extremely confused when she pushed out her bottom lip, widening her eyes. He didn't like being confused.
"C'mon, don't you want to do something? I've seen you around campus; you're always alone," Alyssa stated her observation. Nick realized her hand was still wrapped tightly around her arm and jerked away. Alyssa pulled her hand back in surprise.
"No," Nick's tone was blunt, "I don't like you." A spark of sadness flashed in her eyes, but disappeared almost immediately.
"Hey, I'm not that bad! You should see my friend, Karen. She talks so much, never stops. Sometimes I wonder how she can even live with the amount of breathe she uses up per second. Why don't you like me?" Alyssa squished Nick's cheeks between her two palms, Nick ducking away as soon as he realized what she was doing.
"I don't like people. Now, if you're quite finished, I need to get to my next class," Nick snapped. Alyssa wasn't sure why this boy was so rude. Nick wasn't sure why this girl was so nosy.
"Fine," Alyssa said as Nick began walking away once again, "At least tell me your name, then."
Nick didn't look back at her as he spoke. "Evans. Nick Evans."
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A/N: I'M SO LATE ON THIS CHAPTER I APOLOGIZE I'VE BEEN SUPER DUPER WUPER BUSY AND I'VE BEEN PROCRASTINATING YOU GUYS HAVE TO UNDERSTAND MY STRUGGLES xD
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
What do you guys think about Nick practically stalking Alyssa to find her?
What about Nick being oblivious to Alyssa's flirting? How blunt he is when he speaks?
(Feel free to answer these questions no matter when you're reading. I love to know what you guys are thinking!)
So, the dialogue in this chapter shows a lot of Nick and Alyssa's characters. I didn't mean to make Nick's exit so dramatic, and I know it's kind of out of personality, but I thought it would be awesome to put in a book. (And since Nick is played by Ash, something I can imagine Ash saying).
On the side/top is Alyssa, who is played by Ashley Benson.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you did, please vote and/or comment. I really appreciate those (:
Next Update: Hopefully within the next two weeks!