Matt was able to be alone for the first time in his life.
He'd found the perfect place, his favourite place, and now there was no way was he going to be disturbed. This moment was not going to be ruined by some stupid stuck up little idiot who thought they could take him on. He wasn't going to get distracted by petty little arguments that teenagers seemed to have nowadays about ridiculous subjects such as 'who was the best actor in this programme' or 'what they'd do to someone if they were real.'
No, this was his moment and he was going to bloody enjoy it.
One steaming hot cup of black coffee was held in one hand, resting on a plain round glass table that he'd moved from the café around the other side of the building, built specifically for one person. The chair he'd also borrowed from the front was underneath him, straining with the weight of his body pressed against it. His arms were forcibly relaxed against the chair arms, causing the metal to bend as he moved further in his seat.
Now, Matt wasn't exactly huge as you may imagine him to be. In fact, he was far from huge. He was tall but he had the normal average sized body that every other boy had his age. He was definitely one of the tallest boys in his class and had one of the most well looked-after bodies compared to other people but that was probably due to the fact that he didnt vegitate like most guys his age.
Unlike most of the teenage boy population, Matt hated games. He hated xbox games specifically. The graphics would hurt his eyes if he played for more than an hour and the sound was so loud, even on the smallest volume, that even if he wanted to play, he'd have to play his games in silence. The fact that he would get annoyed and throw the controller at the TV, smashing the screen, wasn't really a big part of his hatred, though it created a hole in his pocket each time he did so.
No, he hated gaming. He hated sitting there for hours playing a game which just frustrated him and put him in a bad mood. That was probably why he focussed more on concentrating on his physical appearance instead, creating a body so tough that it would surprise anyone else if they got close enough to see it, not like he was going to let anyone close enough to even get within a few metres of himself anyway.
Maybe his weight was due to the muscles, invisible to the human eye, that coated his bones, hard, strong, and thick underneath his tanned skin. His stomach was like a ladder of rocks, protruding out of his body like hard marble. His legs weren't too bad either, considering the amount of running he did on a daily basis. He was surprised no one had even considered what he looked like underneath the layers.
They would never find out even if they wanted to.
No, he decided, as if suddenly figuring out something he already knew. It was his bones that gave him all of his weight. Unlike most boys, Matt's bones were very dense and strong, causing them to be so much heavier than any other boy his age. That was probably why he didn't look heavy on the outside, but was practically impossible to knock down, even by the biggest lads in his class...
Not that they tried.
This was what annoyed him: being different. He hated having to class himself as different to others. His frustration, as he thought about it, made him whack the glass table, causing it to shiver and clang with the stress. It made his eyes widen as he realised that he was still sat in the alleyway and not several metres up in the sky in a crazy daydream like he was a few moments ago.
Why was he so different? What had he done that had made him deserve all of this? Why was the world punishing him, of all people, when he'd already had such a depressing life, not even reaching two decades?
Though he probably looked calm if you passed him in the street, he was the complete opposite right now. He was never fully relaxed. He'd probably forgotten how to relax by now. High on alert, his fingers flexed against the burning pottery in his hand.
He wanted to be alone to relax yet he couldn't seem to shake his radar even after searching and finding the only place away from passing eyes in the near vicinity. He flinched whenever someone came in range of the café, which was often considering as the café was on one of the busiest streets towards town. Though he couldn't exactly see them - as in, he couldn't see them in his sight - he knew they were there. His eyes could scan the path, see their heat radiating off of their bodies, and feel their presence nearby.
He stretched his legs and forced himself to calm down again, and this time it kind of worked. He crossed his ankles and leaned back on his chair, testing it's strength. It was a poxy bit of metal and fabric mashed together, not too strong compared to the chairs he normally sat on. He closed his eyes and tried to close his mind down, being only half successful when he did so. He could still feel the heat from the people moving backwards and forwards but now it was just like a dull drum in the background, reminding him that he wasn't totally away from everyone, but far away enough to have some space of his own without being interrupted.
Taking a gulp of the throat burning coffee, he felt the liquid slide down his throat as if drinking luke warm water. He could stick his hand into a roasting fire and feel nothing at all, just the licks of the flames like a silk blanket, coating his fingertips. It was something he had tried a few times and no matter how long he sat there with his hand in the fire it didn't seem to burn.
His skin was smooth and only when you touched it did you realise the thickness of it compared to a normal person's skin. However, that didn't really bother Matt much because no one touched him, and so no one knew who he was or what a freak of nature he'd become. They only thought they knew.
Matt had heard the whispers that had passed in class about him, the hushed voices at break and lunch and even after college when walking back to his house. He didn't care much because he knew none of them knew about him and his secrets.
How could they guess what he was?
They wouldn't believe it even if they did know. Hell, if he was told that someone was what he was he wouldn't believe them either. It just wasn't something people could grasp into their small simple minds. It was fantasy, make believe, no way true in the real world. If he was normal and he was told about a guy with his secret, Matt definitely wouldn't have believed it either. In fact, the old Matt probably would have laughed, teased and punched the guy who even tried to make up such a ridiculous tale.
But it was real. What he was was definitely real, and he was one of these unfortunate people who got it bad. He whacked his fist against the glass again in frustration and a small crack emerged to the right of the middle of the small glass table. He quickly lifted his fist and studied it curiously. Not wanting to return the table smashed to smithereens, he gently placed his hand back on the surface and drank more coffee as if it had never happened.
As if sensing something, Matt flinched and instantly put his radar back into gear, shielding himself and blocking the noises out to concentrate on a heated person that had just stepped over his boundaries. He sat up properly and stared at the entrance of the alley way that he had hid himself down. He blinked and green blurred his vision.
A yellow body was slowly moving closer to where he was sitting, just around the corner of the wall. His lip curled instinctively but he shook his head and stopped. It was a regular person walking; they were just slightly too close. No way would they come down an alley for no apparent reason. It wasn't as if anyone was looking for him and the alleyway led to a dead end anyway, binbags, cardboard boxes and rubbish littering the floor at the corners a few metres away from him.
Still, he continued to keep an eye on the glowing shape and cautiously stayed alert in case someone was going to look down the alley, for some unknown reason.
They moved slowly across the wall and Matt narrowed his eyes. Normally the heat of a person increased as it reached him but it didn't seem to be happening in this case. He found it odd but his attention wasn't concentrating on it fully and he quickly pushed his thoughts aside as he continued to study it. Nervousness was never a good sign and already he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prickling.
He stiffened as the scent of the person wafted over to where he sat, making his nose twitch in response. Raspberries. Strong vivid raspberries. It swirled around him through the air and was so strong that he almost choked on it. It was a wonderful smell but there was definitely too much of it and Matt couldn't seem to cope with it. Maybe it was just his stupid heightened senses that were doing it, though they had never given him such a problem before.
She smelt like real raspberries; she must have been wearing a raspberry perfume that made it even more concentrated. He knew it was a she, unless a boy was wearing raspberry smelling perfume, which he could be doing...Matt had been fooled before.
Yes, it was a girl... A girl with a very strong scent that smelt so good but so horrible at the same time. He sucked in a breath when she appeared at the mouth of the alley. Long black boots, black tights, a black skirt, a black jumper with a white shirt, and a patterned red tie that Matt recognised as the compulsory tie from his college came into view.
This girl was from his college.
Great. Perfect. He snorted quietly.
He hoped that she'd just walk on by and not look down the alley. However, his luck was terrible and she looked down the alley as soon as she passed it, as if she couldn't wait to see what was down there.
She stopped and Matt narrowed his eyes as her pale skin with brown eyes shined back at him. She studied him, her hand drifting near to her hips as she obviously wondered whether she should approach him. He hoped for her sake that she left him alone.
Like that was going to happen.
His physique obviously made him look friendly, including the same tie which he wore flung around his neck and over his shoulder like a scarf. Sometimes he wished he looked big instead of normal at times like this. It would at least keep strangers away. Unfortunately, he looked friendly from his facial features, passed down to him through generations, though his jaw was now recently coated in dark stubble, the hairs like sharp razors.
She stepped into the alley and raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?" She asked, her voice ringing in Matt's ears. She stepped closer and Matt tensed more, holding his breath and clenching the cup with his fingertips. She was a pretty girl, slim and tall with long dark chocolate brown hair that hung off her shoulders and down her black in a soft curtain.
However, he wasn't going to be distracted despite her looks. He wanted to relax and she wasn't helping at all. It wasn't as if he got to do this stuff often. He didn't usually sit in a place where he wasn't interrupted so he could have a chance to think about the awful stack of cards he'd been handed. Now his private spot had disappeared all because of this stupid curious little girl who seemed to suddenly be interested in his plans. Now he'd have to try and find another one.
Well, at least he had something to do in his spare time when he wasn't training, going to class or pondering about his unfortunate existence.
Matt didn't answer the girl's question and it caused her to step even closer to him. A hiss echoed inside his head but he forced his face to stay blank and care free. Maybe she would go away if she realised that talking to strangers wasn't a good idea. Any normal girl would surely realise that they weren't welcome if the person they were talking to didn't answer and just stared at her as if she was some kind of mouth-watering meal.
Obviously not this girl.
She cocked her head to the side and stepped again. His tendons contracted as she reduced the space between them. "Can you hear me?" She asked and looked him up and down again with more care this time. The silent treatment obviously wasn't working for this particular human girl. She was brave to take such a risk.
Brave or stupid.
His mind drifted to stupid. It wasn't brave to go up to a stranger and start talking to them as if they were able to be trusted. Who knew who they were and what they were getting themselves into. Good thing it was him she met...kind of. He wasn't exactly going to jump on her and take advantage. It would be quite the opposite, in fact. He didn't want to go anywhere near her, if possible. He decided on a different route in order to make her go away.
"Yes."
She relaxed and smiled, stepping forwards again. Damn. It didn't work. She wasn't going to go away easily. He considered running at her but seeing as she went to his college he decided it wasn't a very good idea. After all, news could spread if she happened to spill anything about him which may seem a bit odd to her, not like he was anywhere near normal regardless.
He supposed that could be a good thing to have another rumour about himself but still, he hated hearsay anyway and preferred that the people in his college didn't talk about him.
Why couldn't he be left in peace? Was it too much to ask? Was her silly little brain not picking up on the warning signals that Matt obviously just wanted to be left alone?
"What are you doing down here? College starts in a few minutes." She informed him, tugging on her tie as if to show that she knew that he went to the same place as her. Of course he'd noticed. He wasn't thick. Did she think he was sat there just for the hell of it?
Clearly she did.
He shrugged, rolling his eyes, and sat up properly in his chair, feeling it struggle underneath him as his weight shifted to the side. She hesitated and stopped moving forwards. Yes. He ran over his actions and wondered what else would make her move back.
An idea came back into his brain, tempting him. Yes, she would definitely leave him alone if he ran at her. That would scare her to death. So it should; it would teach her to stop talking to strangers and people she didn't know anything about. He could be a murderer for all she knew. He could have killed her by now. No one would have even noticed.
Was he a murderer? No, he didn't think so. He hadn't killed anyone as far as he remembered. He could, by God he could, so easily have done, but he hadn't. True, he'd killed a few animals by accident by gripping them too hard, injured a few people if he got angry, strangled his... Anyway.
"You shouldn't be sitting in an alley way. Something could happen to you." She bit her lip lightly and blinked at him, her hair falling around her face in a slow moving curtain. It was a real dark chocolate colour and he could almost imagine eating it, which was weird, even for him.
"I was having breakfast." He murmured loud enough to hear, and stood up, the chair screeching against the pavement painfully loudly.
She took in his figure and realised suddenly how tall he was. She looked up and swallowed before roaming with her eyes down his body. It was a moment before she realised that he was watching her search him. Flustered, she glanced away at the table and the empty coffee cup next to his thigh. "Coffee for breakfast? That's not a good diet."
"I don't like cereal."
"Toast?"
"I was running late."
"Oh." She went quiet and he glared at her. It was none of her business what he ate for breakfast and how good his diet was. He had a perfectly good diet for what he was. Meat preferably was his main food source, not carbohydrates. "Aren't you coming to class then?"
"Yes. I wanted to relax first."
"How can you relax down an alleyway on your own? We're going to be late." She shuffled from foot to foot and stepped closer. Raspberries made his eyes water but he ignored it as much as he could given the situation.
He was more annoyed at the space between them that was slowly becoming smaller, than her persistent moaning to make him go to college. His radar was blinking like mad and it was giving him a headache with the amount of bright flashes that were coming from her body. He closed his eyes for a moment and forced it to the back of his mind so that he didn't have to keep seeing a yellow light around her heated form.
"I wanted to be alone." He said through clenched teeth.
"Oh..." She caught on and suddenly widened her eyes, blinking faster than usual. He congratulated himself for telling her to get lost. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you. I just wanted to find out why you were down an alley on your own. Maybe you were an escaped prisoner or something." She smiled then cleared her throat at the silence.
"If I was, would you still come down here?" He asked and raised an eyebrow, stepping forward. She shrugged but stayed put and Matt growled under his breath. Back off! He screamed at her. His eyes flashed but he was sure that she didn't notice his pupils widen with frustration.
"I don't know. I knew you weren't one when I saw your tie." She smiled. He didn't like the way she seemed to be so friendly towards him. He wasn't used to it. He was trying to be intimidating and it wasn't working for once. Why?
"I could have stolen this tie. I could have been pretending to be a student. Do I look like one?"
She deliberated that for a moment and then shrugged. "I guess not. But I know you are one. You're very tall."
"You're going to be late." He said and indicated the alley mouth that led onto the pavement.
"You mean we. We're going to be late. Unless you're not coming." She stepped closer and raised her eyebrows as if it was a challenge. He wasn't sure whether he liked how close she was now. What was he going on about? Of course he didn't like it. He was so used to being left without talking to someone that his mind was wired to be cautious about closeness. She stood almost within reaching distance and her smell overpowered everything else around him. It definitely wasn't pleasant.
"I'm coming. I just want to finish my coffee." He gave her a meaningful look but she either didn't understand it or didn't want to. She bounced on the balls of her feet, her boots clopping from her heavy chunky heels. She wasn't leaving without him. He groaned quietly and picked up his cup, drinking the rest in one gulp before placing it back.
"Where did the table come from anyway?" She asked.
"The Café." He swallowed down his drink and straightened his navy jumper.
"Wont they want it back?"
He looked up at her almost amused. "No."
"Oh." She thought that over for a moment then smiled when he stood up tall. "I'm Kristen by the way. I'm new."
She held out a hand as Matt stepped towards the alley mouth. He froze and stared at it with narrowed eyes. He didn't want to touch her but it wasn't polite not to shake hands. He quickly calculated then decided that he was impolite to most people so why should this situation be any different, and looked away, ignoring the gesture. However, he thought it was only best if she knew his name too, not that she wouldn't hear it around the campus anyway as soon as she arrived there.
"Matt."
"Short for...?"
"Matt."
"Okay." She dropped her hand and indicated the pavement. "After you?"
He shook his head and nodded to her to go first. She did so, looking back at him to make sure he was still there. Her hips swayed as she moved, her waist curving inwards to create an almost perfect eyecatching bodyshape.
Matt quickly shook himself out of his gaze as they entered the street. People were everywhere now that it was rush hour. His radar instinctively came up like a barrier and he blocked his nose from all of the unique smells. One person bumped into him and he closed his eyes in the effort to stay calm.
Kristen glanced at him then turned back to the view in front of her. The college was only up the road and so obviously there were hundreds of people moving around, students and teachers who were rushing off to their classrooms or sat enjoying their breakfast before a class.
Matt blocked them all out like he usually did and put his head down, slumping over. He began to move left, away from Kristen, so that she could go and make friends whilst he went back to walking around on his own. However, she followed him as if he was leading the way and he frowned. Was she ever going to leave him alone?
She smiled at people who passed and then glanced up at Matt as they all went silent when he loomed, bowing their heads and whispering to each other afterwards.
She pulled a confused face, obviously wondering why everyone was acting strangely around Matt. She asked him that. He didn't look at her but moved to his usual bench and sat down, shuffling through his large school bag, filled with books and a pencil case.
Kristen sat beside him and studied Matt's face but he refused to look at her and concentrated on shuffling through his bag. "Well, why do they act like that?" She asked again, trying to grab his attention.
"Haven't you noticed? I'm different." He glared at her out of the corner of his eye as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"You're a bit isolated maybe but everyone's different. What's so bad about that?" She asked, a nervous tinge to her voice as she looked around, catching the curious glances and the hidden whispers as clusters of people wandered past into the building, staring at them as they went. No one even tried to hide their stares anymore. It was a shame, Matt thought tiredly.
"People like normal. I'm not normal. You won't make any friends by hanging around with me." He opened his planner and glanced at his timetable for a split second before putting it away again.
Wonderful, history first. He wondered whether she had history too but decided not to ask, or care.
"But why?"
"I don't know." He muttered.
"Well, aren't you my friend?"
"An acquaintance, perhaps." He murmured and peeked at her through his dark black lashes. She pulled a face, maybe it was rejection, but quickly hid it and shrugged as if it didn't bother her, when clearly it did.
"Fair enough. Well, can I at least sit with you until the bell goes?" She bent her head so that she could see his face and smiled. "I don't want to go around on my own in a new building. I may get lost."
He shrugged and glanced at her. "You can do. What do you have first?"
Kristen thought for a moment then pulled a face. She'd forgotten. He smiled and looked down as she slapped her bag onto her knee and began shuffling through it. He had a feeling she was going to be in most of his lessons. He wasn't proved wrong when she pulled out her planner and studied her timetable. In one split second he realised that there was only two or three lessons where she wasn't in his lessons and that was only because he had art when she had Latin.
"I have...History. What about you?" She put her planner back into her bag and he noticed a small bottle at the bottom of it, hidden behind a cover of cloth, black coated so he was unable to see what was inside it, along with several other new books and a small purple brush that had been used not even once. Everything was new.
Her smell hadn't even been wrapped around it yet. Considering how strong her scent was, Matt was actually surprised at this.
"Same."
As he sat there quietly for a moment, an idea came to mind and he quickly took out his drawing book, a large brown wolf sketched onto the front. He flicked through the pages of drawings he'd done in classes and moved to a blank page, swiping the pencil from the spine and twisting it in his fingers.
Conscious of Kristen watching him, he began to draw. His fingers swirled and flew across the page in gentle swipes. She didn't recognise it at first; her eyes continued to watch, confusion dotting her forehead. The perfume bottle was quickly formed on the page and she smiled, proud of herself for recognising what it was.
He wasn't finished though. Swirls swiped across the bottle like wind, twisting around the top and round the flowery decorated shape. Up above it, he drew several small raspberries dotted around before scribbling a few lines for the table. He shaded it in and just after four minutes, the whole picture was complete.
Kristen grinned and placed her finger on the picture, planting her own scent onto the page. "It's beautiful. You can draw."
"I took art." He answered simply.
"Can I see the others?" She asked and placed her hand around the book.
Matt hesitated and glanced up at the yard. No one was really paying attention, except a few girls in the corner that were whispering quietly to themselves. He saw them say his name and looked down, letting go of the book. She slid it off his lap and smiled as she began to shuffle through several pictures. Each picture she touched left her mark and he closed his eyes, wishing that she didn't. Couldn't she just flick through the pages instead of touching them one by one?
"They're wonderful. They're so detailed and precise. You should be an artist when you grow up. Have you ever thought of ding this professionally? I love this one." She added as she flipped to the third picture in the book and Matt narrowed his eyes.
It was his favourite picture too. He loved the cliff he had drawn, the sea at the bottom with a wooden ship in the background, the sails a midnight black. This was one of his black and white pictures that he normally thought of when in a lesson. They weren't dreams, but images from a memory or things he was learning about. Trees stood on the right with two bright white eyes staring out of the branches. It had been bugging him, this image, for a while, and then he had suddenly forgotten about it. Now that it was in front of him, memories flooded back and he frowned.
"Matt?"
He blinked and turned his head to the right. He jumped and grumbled when he realised that Kristen was there. He hadn't been concentrating. "What?"
"You looked miles away." She said and bent her head to look at his features carefully.
He twisted his head away from her gaze. "I was." He murmured and glanced back at the picture. She handed the book back to him and he touched the piercing eyes that stared back.
"What is it?" She asked quietly.
He was silent for a moment, then his features hardened. He snapped the book shut. "Nothing."
"Matt?"
"The bell's about to go. I should go." He stood up quickly but she jumped up too. "Kristen." He muttered her name and blew out in an irritated sigh. He'd let himself get out of control and he hated himself for doing it. Just because someone was now talking to him didn't mean he could go all soft on them, even if she was pretty.
He yanked out a black hooded jacket and shoved it on quickly, pulling the hood over his head to cover his face and eyes, shuffling around in his pockets to find his iPod where he'd left it, in a secret compartment inside the jacket which he'd created himself so that he could drown out the background noise when he was concentrating on his drawings.
"Matt what's wrong?" She asked, concern all over her face. She went to touch him but he moved out of the way faster than she could probably process. "Matt?"
"Kristen just go. You shouldn't make friends with me." He shuffled through the songs and put his earphones in his ears, turning the song onto the lowest volume so that it didn't hurt his ears but drowned out the surrounding noise, including her voice to a slight degree.
"Why? Matt..."
"Kristen." He growled and glared at her. She stepped back automatically then held her ground.
"I can be your friend if I want to."
"Don't hang around with me." He grumbled, not caring how rude he sounded. He really didnt care about what she thought of him. It wasn't going to make any difference to his already terrible life.
"If you like." She shrugged and glared back. They stared at each other for a moment and then Kristen relaxed. "Please, let's not fight. I've only just started this college and you're the first student I know. I don't want bad memories."
Matt narrowed his eyes more and, perfect timing, the bell suddenly rang, causing them both to jump. He quickly shielded himself again and moved back into his original position. "We should get to class."
"Yes." She hesitated for a moment then began walking slowly towards the tall wooden door. Matt waited for a moment before following with large steady strides, over-taking her in a mere few seconds.
Once inside, Matt became invisible to the eyes that touched his skin. He shivered his eyes and closed them only half way, twisting behind one student after another, anything to get away from Kristen and anyone else who wanted to notice him. He didn't want someone hanging over him all day. He was supposed to walk around alone. It was safer for him and for her if they went their separate ways and, to be honest, Matt had no problem with this whatsoever. He didn't need company to survive his time in classes.
He noticed her expression turn confused as she looked for him but he didn't wait for her to see where he had gone. He swiftly squeezed past several more students, moved to the nearest classroom door, prised it open as quickly as he could and slipped inside into a dimly lit empty classroom.