At her fifteenth birthday's sundown, Marben found herself running down an unknown sidewalk, looking for the ball one of her new classmates had accidentally tossed over the surrounding wall; she hadn't even been in the new School for an hour yet and was already getting into trouble, sneaking out unsupervised and without permission. As absorbed as she was on acting quickly - otherwise she would have ended up getting detention on her very first day - the girl could have never even imagined it, but the day was about to take an unexpected turn by giving her the most thrilling and simultaneously dangerous birthday present she had ever received.
Turning a corner, indeed, Marben got suddenly lost in the green eyes of a boy who was standing on the sidewalk: he smiled kindly at her, and she straight away felt like her heart was skipping beats.
"Hey. Looking for this?" he casually asked, alluding to something held in his outstretched hand. Marben forced herself to lower her eyes and noticed it was the little ball. She then looked in the boy's eyes again and nodded, giving him a half grateful and half dumbstruck smile.
When he turned to hand the globe over, the girl reached out to touch his hand, instead; none of the two broke the contact, although it made the boy flush a bit and his smile become a little dazzled, Marben noticed with a heartthrob as she laughed softly in delight, tilting her head to the side. She opened her mouth to say something, coming slightly closer to him, and...
"NUMBER FIVE!".
The boy startled and quickly turned. Following his gaze, Marben saw a man and a group of teens standing on the other side of the street, looking their way; the man, brandishing his walking stick like a scepter, took a few steps toward them and raised his chin, the sunset light reflecting on a monocle Marben wouldn't have noticed otherwise.
"Shit!" the boy spat, suddenly withdrawing his hand. "Sorry, I gotta run".
Marben almost failed to catch the ball.
Ruffled, she tried to think of something to say to hold him back, but words eluded her. In the batting of an eye, the boy had crossed the street.
Passing in front of the man with the monocle, he threw him a look of challenge to which the man reacted squaring his shoulders. Unbowed, the boy gave him his back and followed the teens at the top of the queue who had resumed walking in complete silence; Marben felt like her feet were glued to the ground, and stayed put for a long time, watching the group disappear even after the green-eyed boy, sending her one last curious glance over his shoulder, had disappeared from her line of sight.