First Impressions


Summary: When he first looked into her hazel eyes, he felt something new. When she looked into his lavender eyes for the first time, she felt some kind of safety. Set pre-despair.


Today was the first day of high school, and Mondo regretfully found himself stranded there early. There was the hall monitor outside, his face pinched with determination, and he was standing stiffly upright like a piece of cardboard.

Mondo sighed. Stuck early at school with a bunch of losers, he thought ruefully. What a first day. Why the fuck did I get here early, anyway? Being late would have been much better than being stuck here with that creepy kid outside.

He had his feet up on the chair in front of him, and his hands behind his head. Luckily, the class was empty. But even if it wasn't empty, he still wouldn't have had anything against putting his feet up, however disrespectful the teacher or the disciplinarian kid thought it was. He was that much of a delinquent. What would they do about it, anyway? Probably send him out of class. The worst case scenario was getting sent to detention. To tell you the truth, he didn't have anything against that, either.

Ah well, might as well catch up on sleep while I'm stranded here.

His eyes were half-closed and he was on the verge of nodding off when he heard a small, uncertain voice.

"...Excuse me."

He lazily opened his eyes a bit to see a girl with short brown hair enter the classroom. She was tiny and very pale, and was dressed in a dark green blazer and a puffy brown skirt. She was carrying what seemed to be a laptop case.

Mondo just stared at her as she walked quietly to a table at the front of the classroom. No one said anything, and she kept her head down all the while. She was certainly the shy kind of person.

And then she shyly brought her head up. For a moment, their eyes met - Mondo's lavender ones and her huge hazel ones.

Being the shy girl she seems to be, she quickly looked away, a blush slowly creeping onto her cheeks. Her steps got faster until she reached the table nearest the window, where she sat down and opened her laptop.

Mondo was a gang leader, and he usually had no time for mushy thoughts and fuzzy feelings. However, even he couldn't lie to himself about what he was thinking then.

Damn, she's cute.

-MONDO-


-CHIHIRO-

There was a story behind every shy girl. And the story behind this girl called Chihiro Fujisaki was a terrible one.

...Chihiro stared at her laptop screen, at the lines of codes snaking across it. She had a program to finish, and she couldn't afford to dawdle. However, she found herself paralyzed.

Who was that person? she thought. He looked m-menacing and scary.

Although she was physically there, mentally she wasn't. She found herself straying back to her middle school years. She was reminded of those boys. Those boys who turned her middle school years into a living nightmare. She remembered how she would walk down the school halls in fear, and how she would duck behind a bank of lockers whenever one of them walked by. The sigh of relief when she managed not to be seen. The sob of terror whenever they did see her. Although she never saw them again after she graduated, they had left her some souvenirs: the nightmares, of course, and a few insistent bruises that just wouldn't go away.

Will high school also be a nightmare? she wondered. Will the person sitting in this room with me become one of them? He certainly seems to be the type to be a delinquent. I mean, his pompadour and the way he's sitting...

She forced her pale fingers onto the keyboard, as if to push herself to start typing. It didn't work.

Chihiro felt her neck burning, as if someone was staring at her back. She lowered her head so that her bangs covered her eyes, then secretly turned her head in the direction of the only other person in the room.

Mmaaaybe not so "secretly".

She was right - the pompadour-haired guy had been staring at her. He was still staring at her for some reason when she sneaked that not-so-secret look.

Again, for a moment, their eyes met - Chihiro's hazel ones and his lavender ones.

Chihiro was about to turn away and try to keep from looking again when suddenly, he gave her a small smile. Of course, she couldn't help but smile back. And just like that, it was as if a huge burden had been lifted off her back.

No, she thought with a smile and a pleasant blush.

She had a feeling that this guy was different.