August, 30th 2019

The sun was high in the blue skies, with gray clouds looking to shield it away from the earth. The day was cool, the air crisp and her smile... not there.

Her steps were monitored, her thoughts occupied, her eyes not seeing. She was mindless, a walking droid going into a swarm of teenage gossip, hormones, rumors and deceit.

The news was lit on fire when word of the resident outcast release came sooner than expected. School had started back a day ago and everyone was buzzing. A buzz there, a buzz by the restrooms, a buzz by the teacher's quarters, a buzz in the halls where all the little flutter flies gathered. She was the only one not buzzing like a hornet this morning.

Silence blanketed the buzzing hallways and unknowing to her, everyone had frozen. She kept her slow pace, not caring to take on the people around her because they were all hypocritical sheep following the flow of the herd. Her footsteps were the only sound aside from the clicking of another persons.

Faces painted in terror and worry. No one dared move a muscle, maybe if they didn't move, they wouldn't be seen... Like a deer caught in headlights... they stood.

She didn't care; she was over all of it too much to care. A friend saw her approach and saw the arrival, blue eyes widened and shaky lips attempted to alert. "Stop," it whispered.

Different eyes judged; different mouths scowled. His eyes didn't care to look and his pace didn't care to slow. He continued through the path paved in the hall, head high, and face set. "Murderer," came a gasp.

Ignorance will be his bliss, ignorance will be his survival. His tall frame towered over the masses, his black hair slicked back to perfection, button-down crisp, eyes sharp, jaw set, head filled.

She was distracted by thoughts, by the news, by her peers, by the chat, chat chatter of the neighbors, the teens, the staff, the children... distractions are what distractions will always be... a state of unawareness.

A big hood covered her eyes from the sides, great as a shield from the bias, bad as an aid to save you.

Rushing to leave the home always came with our downfalls and unseen mishaps, like for example... poorly tied laces. With each step, it loosened, with each shuffle of her feet they got away from their bounds. Such silly things with a troublesome nature of causing accidental missteps or trips or falls...

In her haze of thoughts and jumbled reasons, her shoes decided to play a trick or two on her.

The clouds were gathering, and her laces were lengthening. One more step, and then the trick.

Her eyes went wild, her body didn't expect it, her feet prepared for it, her shoes laughed at it. A gasp from the unsuspecting hostess as the scuffed white tiles got closer to her brown eyes.

Sudden long arms extend, long legs stretching its limit, blue eyes worrying as his tall frame lunged forward.

With eyes shut and hands braced, she prepared. But with expectations ruined and heart pounding she—. "Huh!" her eyes shot up and they met with sterling blue eyes that made pale cheeks redden with something less than embarrassment, more than surprise.

Softening eyes—worry tattooed in them as he righted her, long fingers, warm hands on her waist, holding her as if she would make like a feather and float off into the unknown. "Are you alright?" concern riddled his vocal cords, and tainted his cheeks pink. The tinge of an accent graced her ears and threatened to claim her sanity.

The news, the neighbors, the teens, the staff, the children... Nothing said that a murderer could make your skin feel like a volcanic eruption on the brink of destroying your very sanity; no one said it came in a package wrapped up so neatly that the single strand of hair that had caught itself freedom would assault her chest with palpations that she didn't know could happen; no one said that her fingers would act against her body and gently brush against his soft creamy skin to smooth it back into place; no one said that her eyes would betray her and long to imprint the image of sheer beauty on her brain.

Hesitation became her, her body wouldn't move, the eyes wouldn't look away, his eyes wouldn't cease drawing her in and her heart wouldn't quit the suicide trip that it was taking.

A gulped struggled to get down her throat, silently wanting to choke her out of her daze, silently wanting to make her heart stop skipping rope with her beats. His eyes weren't helping and his hands weren't getting colder. The heat from where his fingers met her chocolaty skin burnt like ice meeting salt on flesh. Lips quivered with words wanting to be said. A hand rising, fingers trailing its fire along her skin as it lifted from her waist. Her lips part, a word wishing to come forth—«RING! RING»!

Ahh, saved by the bell, the crowds morphed into a swarm once again and the separation of him and her happened with watching eyes still watching and whispering words echoing the halls. Pink cheeks dimpled softly. "You should get to class."

Blue eyes looked away as his tall frame brushed by, his sweet aroma drugging her nostrils with him as he disappeared within the moss pit of teenage biases and hormones and rumors and conspiracy theories, and deceitful wrong wishes.

Falling into the hands of a guy wasn't ever plans made, but having it happen and having it happen before the entire student body was... troublesome. Here she stood, the image of a murderer permanently tattooed to her brain.

She turned, watching for an image long gone. Her eyes gazing at the fingertips that had touched his smooth forehead; the one that fixed his hair. Her senseless actions would be making a new news story for the student body to gobble up and throw at her like knives at a circus. She swallowed her heart which had climbed into her throat with intentions of choking her. "Fuck."