She had lost herself in her thoughts again while gazing out the window, not being mindful of the tapping she did with her pen on the desk.

She had attended an extra lesson which seemed to drag on. She felt her energy drained from the day itself and wished it would get done already.

Most students were gone now and she was among the few that still remained. Just this once, she wish she had missed this lesson.

She let out a breath as she watched activity happen outside, from cars driving past and people walking in pairs, to others minding their own business, everything seemed better inside than outside. She let out a heavy sigh, watching the outside activity. Life seemed to happen outside her school, more than inside her class. Cars were driving past while people walked in pairs, and others minded their business.

She shifted slightly on her seat when she noticed something from across the street. A figure stood leaned against an old truck, that seemed familiar to her and was facing her direction.

She didn't want to assume much but the longer she stared at the figure, it felt like the person was looking straight at her.

Her heartbeat began to pick up pace, sweat dripped from her forehead and her eyes widened as an overwhelming amount of emotions took over her mind and body.

She couldn't tear her eyes away from the window or that person.

She should have looked away but couldn't.

Something held her back from doing it and the more she stared, fear seeped into her system bit by bit.

Question after question circulated in mind.

'Was it really him?'

'Had he finally returned to punish her for leaving him?'

No, he was gone. They told her that he would be gone for a long time and that she was safe.

There were times where he haunted her dreams and she wished that her experience was nothing more than a made up imagination, unfortunately it was her past. She felt the worst whenever those nightmares had their way and she felt her control slipping.

'No, it can't be real.' She shook her head, trying to fight back all these troubling thoughts.

'No, I need to get out of here. I can't be here any longer.' She thought.

The bell finally rang, startling Kate. She shot to her feet and hurriedly gathered her staff in her arms before dashing out of class. She felt her feet move in an insane amount of speed, her heart almost beating out of her chest. As more troubling thoughts overtook her mind, her feet quickened.

She earned herself a couple of glances from a few students, which didn't affect her much due to amount of emotions that she tried to keep under control.

When she felt that she could finally continue on, she made her way to the next hallway, the last one where her her locker was. Unfortunately, this time she bumped into someone which almost made her drop her things. She felt a splash of water on her shoes and bit on her clothes.

Her face warmed up in embarrassment when her eyes glanced up and realised that she had bumped into the school genetor.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She blurted out.

The man didn't say anything but continued on cleaning the floor as if nothing happened. Shame filled Kate at that moment and she wish she could do something, to prove to the man that this was an accident. She watched him helpessly, not knowing what else to do. She had added more work for the poor man and that made her sad. When the man moved closer to wipe more of the spilled water, she made sure to move out of the way, not wanting to cause anymore trouble for the man. His worn out cap was lowered low and hid most of his face and she wasn't able to tell his expression.

" Please, let me do this, it's my fault." She said, making an attempt to fix her wrong but the man held up his hand.

She took that as a sign to not stop and not overstep.

She had done more than enough and didn't want to upset the man, so she apologised once more before walking away.

She glanced over her shoulder once more at the man before she continued her way, until she reached her locker. She felt even more drained, her emotions were all over the the place and she didn't like that very much.

' What is wrong with me?' She thought or more like she criticised herself.

Her earlier behaviour was just too much, she felt that she needed to stop overreacting about every little thing, even when there was nothing to worry about.

A message beeped through her phone, interrupting her thought process.

' Meet me at Carlos P.' This was the message she received

..................

"You're really good with your hands Max," Julie complimented.

"Well they've got to work for something." He responded with a teasing smile. "Alright, I'm done." He wiped his hands on his cloth.

"Really?"

Max nodded, taking a sip from the soda that Julie had offered, when she had asked for his help with her car.

" That's great, thank you so much." She sounded both excited and relieved to hear the news.

" No problem." He said as the headed outside.

It hadn't been long since his return, not to mention working, but he feelt right at home.

He'd been feeling good for a while now and he desired that feeling to not remain a little while longer. Things were looking up again, something he had never thought would happen for a long time.

He took a good look at Julie and found her quite attractive, which was something inherited. He could tell that her entire family had good genes, Kate was a good example of that.

" I thought that I would to leave my baby here for some time."

" Good thing not much had to be done and now you can take her home."

Julie smiled at that.

" I'm just grateful that you were here and you spared time for me."

" We have a happy custormer, that's enough for me. Anyway, we aren't that busy, so perfect timing."

Julie's phone beeped, receiving a text from her cousin.

" Is there something wrong?" Max asked when he noticed her frown as she looked at her phone.

"Its Kate, she said that she would be early today."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Hmm, I don't know, she almost never misses work." she let out a sigh, " you know what, I'll check with her once she gets home."

Hearing her say this, did something to his heart. He didn't know what to make of what he had just heard, he didn't want to worry for nothing, so he settled for believing that nothing was serious.

' Kate must be feeling tired, that's it.' He thought.

"So can I ask you something?" Julie asked.

"Sure."

" I know this might sound out of the blue, but do you write?"

" Write?"

" Yeah, like poety and stuff."

"Not really, why?" He frowned a little, wondering why such a random question.

"Okay, let me explain. I happened to notice a very beautiful short poem on your dresser a while ago. I know I had no right to ------"

" Its okay," he silenced her rambling, seeing no need to explain any further.

" I'm sorry, its just that it was hauntingly beautiful."

He understood what she meant. Her take on the poem felt somewhat refreshing to hear.

"So did you write it?"

" No, someone gave it to me."

"Must be very special," she said.

" Yeah, she is." A fond look took over his face and Julie noticed that.

" Is she still around or she is -------"

"She's still around." He said but this time, he sounded more guarded.

' Was it forbidden to mention her?' Julie thought.

Her curiousity had increased this time and she pushed even further, with her questions.

" Do I know her?" This next question was voiced with hesitation.

Max thought long and hard.

He had to becareful before he answered, because what he said next had the potential to mess things up for him.

He didn't want that, when he had already gained new friendships Julie and Kate.

He couldn't lose Kate.

"No," he lied.

" Oh, well I hope I can meet her one day and compliment her on the amazing poem."

" I'm sure she'll appreciate that," he forced a smile.

His forced smile was met with her own forced one. She couldn't shake off the feeling that Max was hiding something.

His change in demeanor from the laid back Max, convinced her very much.

'Who was the mysterious girl with the beautiful poem?' This was in Julie's mind as she drove home.

.........................................................................

Max has taken a liking to Kate and her siblings. He sees a friendship developing but it seems like he got all edgy on the mention of the poem.

And Julie is quite curious about everything?

Do you think she might share this with someone, possibly Kate? 👀