Her eyes were facing forward, but they weren't watching the board, not the way her hand held her pencil unmoved above a blank page. She wasn't here, but she also didn't leave. His eyes were soft, as they side glanced every so often to peek at her grace, at the pace of her blinks, as she zoned.

He hadn't expected to be welcomed back and hadn't expected to catch his eyes caught on someone as charming as her. He came back for the sake of his stability; he needed a steady pace before he fell into death's embrace. His thoughts ran too chaotic for him to catch, his heart beat too fast for him to breathe, his eyes saw too much for him to sleep, his body moved too fast—until he lunged. Her, in his arms; in his eyes, her skin searing his fingertips with its heat... Her cheeks red, her pupils blown, her breathing shallow... what had she thought of him, of the title hanging over his head waiting to strangle him with *justice*.

The eyes were trying to sneak a peek at him, they were trying to see more, get more, hear more, and learn more. He sighed, then raised his hand. The class fell into a silent default. The eyes were penetrating, the teacher was stone-faced. "Yes, Cillian."

His voice spoke the answer to theirs—and the teacher's amazement, he was as right as he could be. "Correct... do you want to show us how you came up with the answer?" with eyes unwavering, and heartbeat calm, he rose. Their eyes rose, her eyes followed suit, as her jaw took the opposite direction. His strides were smooth and confident, he radiated poise, and he was shocking in all his stunning glory. His hand took chalk, his fingers worked the board, his eyes ran over the equation, the jaws all dropped, the eyes all faltered, and the murmurs all began.

*"He's that good?"*

*"I didn't think he was smart enough."*

*"Of course he is, he committed murder and isn't in jail."*

*"Is he cheating?"*

*"Why did he come back?"*

The buzz, buzz, buzzing, the hornets, the wasps, the bees were back...

Cell phones beeped, where text messages vided, and papers passed, as eye contacts formed stories... no lie, yes rumors, the snapping of cameras, the gasping of math nerds, the oohing of teen girls, the muttering of hormone enraged jocks. The class was in chaos. She was the eye.

His fingers stopped and the silence swam back in, it tangled around the room, threatening to strangle the words of the mouths that dare utter it. He turned back, eyes lacking, a smirk on his lips, he dusted off his hands, as he explained the answer. Eyes marveled... fear? No, he wasn't smart, he wasn't this good!

She observed the madness, took in his class, the wolf being tempted and the lamb being scared. He didn't pounce, he didn't chase, and she didn't run. She didn't escape; she didn't long to remove his image from her brain. She didn't long to not be drugged by his voice, she wanted to know, wanted to see why he was who they said he was if he was. She didn't want to believe their lies, no more deceit; she wanted to hear it from the lion's mouth.

Wanted to believe that what they all said was just fearful lies for sheep who couldn't come to the conclusion that someone born within the blood of the bad, could be good.

If she had to blindly fear him, she rather unknowingly care for him. She wanted to show compassion to the beast, to see his true meaning from under the wolf's fur, she wanted to shed the eyes of the sheep so she could unravel his mystery and hear the truth with her own ears even if it means the truth is what they all said.

His words ended and his match back to her resumed. A quirk of his pink lips, his nose piercing glinting in the bright fluorescent lights of the classroom, since the clouds hugged the blue skies away and darkened with ominous intentions.

Arlo's eyes greeted him with a blink of approval before he sat beside her once again. Dare she speak to him, her mouth argued with her brain, they took knives, swords, guns and—. "Show off." the mouth won.

His lips moved, growing into a smile that was enough to make her heart swallow gasoline and eat a lit match. She burned from within as redness consumed her cheeks.

His aroma thickened, his blue eyes brilliant, his face closer as he leaned in. "Did you understand it?"

She nodded, not too fast, and not too slow. "Yeah."

"Then it was worth it." she heard herself gulp while blue eyes as blue as the skies before the clouds, watched her with intent. She rose her hand.

"Yes Arlo."

"May I use the restroom?" a single nod, followed by a hurried leave, no bag left behind, no intention of coming back in mind.

She took off, running, running from the madness; from her heart that wouldn't stop racing 200k; from her mind that didn't understand the word erase; from the thoughts thinking of Cillian. Arlo ran and ran all the way to the girl's locker room where she skidded to a halt and gasped for sweet sanity to embrace her again.

Why was the image of him playing on her mind like a broken record, why was his voice permanently printed onto her eardrums, what was his smirk becoming her favorite facial expression, why were his words to her an indication of confidence? Why did he do that? Why did he draw attention to himself, why did he make them question him further, why did he do the question just for her? Why was he talking to her? Her, her of all the people, so what if she fell into his life, he had lunged into hers? Why wasn't he the one here, freaking out; hyperventilating; stressing out; panicking... Why wasn't he acting the way so many had accused him of acting? Why was he kind? Why was he...? Why was he...? Why was he nothing like they said he was?

She looked at herself in the full length mirror. "He's innocent."