It was a school day like any other school day to him. Michael had resigned himself to stop hoping for anything good. It was a normal school day. A day in which the arbitrary bounds of normalcy felt corrosive, agonizing, minimizing. Until she walked in.

His eyes shot wide as his blood began to pump through his veins and made him itch inside his clothes. As he listened to the sound of her heels as they approached, he scraped his brain for the proper thing to say to her. She liked him, right? That's what last night was about. And his mom ruined it. But he would fix it. This time he wouldn't let her get in their way. Michael felt a bead of sweat begin to trickle down the side of his head as she drew nearer.

"Uh, hey, Jasmine. Um, about last night," he stuttered excitedly. He felt the wind she left in the space behind her as she passed him by, not even glancing his way. Her expression was bitterly cold, and her eyes were pointed. In an instant, she had isolated him, exposing him to all the others to be the lost, lonely, broken being he was afraid he was, and now, without all hope, he would always be. The one person he thought could change that had discarded him, in an instant, as if he was trash, meant to be dumped out and incinerated. All at once, she had done that to him, and now he was burning and she wouldn't even watch the flames.

The halls were much emptier, even just thirty minutes before the first bell. He chased after her up the stairs to the computer lab on the second floor. The lights were off, though the entire room was enveloped in a blue aura from the dozens of lit computer screens that weren't turned off the night before. Michael reached out to twist the knob. As soon as he pushed the door open, his eyes searched for her.

"Hey, sorry," he stammered. "Did you wanna be left alone or?"

"It's fine, you're not breaking any rules by being here," she coldly answered without even looking in his direction.

"Oh, okay," He crept in, drifting in the space between two rows of computers, awkwardly attempting to measure the proper distance to keep from Jasmine. He didn't dare get too close, as he just assumed that by now, she already thought he was a total creep. Finally, he pushed forward, reaching for the chair just beside hers.

"Hey, about last night," he began, but to his shock, Jasmine sprang up and began to briskly gather her belongings and log out of her account.

"Jasmine?" he whimpered.

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Michael, it's fine." Her voice was icy and monotone.

"But..."

"You're just a little boy, after all. You're not a man. And you can't protect me." She moved past him, and her words had left him paralyzed, too afraid to chase after her now.

He listened to the smattering of clanging lockers and other students outside clamoring as the sound seeped through the cracked door she'd opened.

"Goodbye, Michael," was all she said, and then she was gone.