I used to have a life. Hopes, dreams, a plan for my future. That all changed on the day I met Her.
It was my senior year, and she had just transferred in. I glanced up as the door opened, 15 minutes after the bell rang, to see long, black hair, streaked with a shocking pink, a black fish net shirt over the grey tanktop, and a pair long, ratty, ripped up jeans over the faded Converse Chuck Taylors. Her faced was painted dark, which offset her beautiful, deep blue eyes, and I was startled when I heard her pop her gum in her mouth. The teacher introduced her, but I'm afraid I was too busy staring to have caught her name, and he assigned her aseat. Unfortunately enough, right next to mine.
The rest of the day was the same way. She showed up in almost all of my classes, and was always assigned an empty seat near mine. I don't think I actually learned anything that day. As I sat there, pretending to read, I kept on stealing glances at her. Once, I caught her looking back, and her eyes widened a little, before turning back, and angry expression, but a pink flush to her cheeks. It was then that I decided to talk to her after school. As soon as the final bell rang, I ran outside to find her, but a couple of other guys beat me to the punch. I walked a little closer, waiting to see if they would leave so I could talk.
She looked away from the big one talking. "Go away," she demanded.
"C'mon, babe, don't be like that. Every girl in school wants to go out with the Blake-man," He replied. "Don't you want the honor of being the girl with me?" He finished, and I stepped forward.
"Hey, Blake!" I yelled, not understanding what was going through my head at the time. He turned around, confused by my voice, but grinned as soon as he saw it was me who called out.
"Hey, loser! Don't tell me you honestly thought you had a shot with my girl?" He asked.
"You heard her. Leave her alone." I growled, while internally, I was screaming at myself. He was a jock! I was a science fair kid, I couldn't stand up to him.
He stepped closer, towering over me, as his cronies moved to box me in. "Oh?" He intoned. "And how are you gonna stop me?" He asked, his grin widening.
Suddenly, he crouched forward, eyes squinted shut, his hands cupping his groin, as he fell face-first into the dirt, revealing Her. She quickly jumped over his prone figure and grabbed my hand, pulling me with her as she ran from Blake's crying form.
Once we reached the park, several blocks away, we started to slow, and I glanced around warily, to see if any of them had followed. She stopped and leaned forward, placed her hands on her knees and quickly caught her breath, panting deeply, eyes closed, before I witnessed those perfect lips shape into a proud smile as she stood back up. She whirled on me quickly, and just as quickly, gave a once-over, as if sizing me up. "Thanks for the help back there. Those guys just wouldn't listen to me!" She exclaimed, a bright full smile on her face as she brushed back a loose strand of hair. She recognized me, then, and her face changed to one of confusion. "Wait... You're that guy who was staring at me all day..." She intoned. "So what, are you the school's creepy stalker guy, or did you have a different reason?" She joked, grinning coyly.
"N-no! No, I'm not some creepy stalker guy," I stammered out, embarrassed, to which she let out a small, delighted laugh. I gulped, feeling like I needed to clarify. "I'm just... Well, I think you're really... cute... and all..." I murmured, my words fading into almost nothing, while my mind was racing a million miles a minute. Had I just...?
"What?" She asked, not having heard my mumbled proclamation, as my face turned a bright red.
"I said... I think... I think you're... Cute..." I reiterate, gulping nervously. Would she accept it? Shoot me down? Heaven forbid... Laugh?
"Awe... That's so sweet..." She crooned, a bit patronizingly, before continuing. "But you don't want me. As soon as I find who I'm looking for, I'm leaving; and not just the school, but the town, and most likely, the state, too." She stated, before looking a little abashed. "Sorry," She said apologetically.
I just stared at the ground for a second longer, before looking up. "Ok..." I replied, crestfallen. I needed to change topics, and quickly, and decided to latch onto something she had said. "So who are you looking for?" I asked.
She turned to look off in the distance, a wistful smile on her face. "I don't know yet. But I'll know him when I see him." She replied.
The next few days were pretty uneventful, and it wasn't until that Friday that anything happened.
Friday started like any other, wake up, shower, dress, eat, and then school. The norm. How was I to know that my life would change forever?
After school, I hung around, hoping to walk her home again, but Blake and his quote-unquote friends showed up first. "Hey loser, I hear you've been walking home with my girl? Didn't I tell you she wasn't interested? So stay away from her." He stated.
I sighed, hoping I could explain before he resorted to violence. "Blake, look, we're just..." I got out, before he cut me off with a fist in my gut, and I doubled over. His friends grabbed me by the arms and lifted me back up, holding me in place.
"I don't care what you think you are to her, piss-face! You stay away from her!" He yelled, delivering a right hook to my jaw, splitting my lip open. I slowly turned back, glaring at him in hatred. I was getting fed up. The least I could do was refuse to give him the satisfaction. "Don't look at me like that, ass-fag!" He complained, delivering an uppercut with his left, causing my head to snap back. My head wobbled a bit with dizziness, before I looked at him again. "You got something to say to me, punk? Say it!" He yelled. I slowly shook my head, then glared at him. I had had it with his bullshit, and if the teachers weren't going to do anything about his "roughhousing," as they liked to put it, then fine. I had no problem letting myself be the so-called sacrificial goat. I thought, if I can goad him into hurting me worse, maybe they'll finally have to do something about it. So I spat blood in his face.
"Fuck you," I declared. His response? Much simpler. He slammed his fist into my temple. As my vision faded to black, though, I saw his expression change from victory, to confusion, and then to fear, as he started batting at flames on his arm. The flames seemed to spread to cover him, then, like with a mind of their own, quickly leapt from him to his friends, who had dropped me to the ground and stepped forward. My vision faded out completely as I blacked out at that point.
I woke up about an hour later, and who was kneeling over me, but Her? I slowly stood up, ready to nurse my head, when I realized that it didn't hurt. So I reached up to touch my lip, and found that somehow, it was healed over as well. Looking down, I saw that my clothes were singed, charred black in areas, and of course, that happened to be the one thing I clung to "What happened to my clothes?" I looked around confused, before looking back at Her, and saw the slightly worried look on her face. "What happened to Blake and his cronies?" I continued. I looked around again, and realized: I'm on the other side of the school now. I spotted a few blackened spots in the grass, like fires had been put out, still smoking slightly, like it had been recent.
"After I grabbed and moved you, the ambulance came and got Blake and company. Their bodies were covered in second-degree burns, which is what makes this hard, but... you're going to have to leave the city... and... you won't be able to return for a long time... a year, at least. But, good news, I spoke to my Instructor, and he said we can spare enough time for you to change into something less... well, less burnt. I guess that means you can tell your parents goodbye too... if you want," She explained, before she dropped her head, looking guilty. "I'm sorry," She finished, voice dropped to nearly a whisper.
A/N: First story, and I'm sorry for the abrupt chapter ending, I had a little more, but lost it somewhere along the line, so I'll have to rewrite it when I get time