Yay~ After the somewhat success of my last short fanfiction, I decided to write a new one. Only this time it has more than one chapter. I got the idea when I listened to Howie Day's song "Collide," but somehow the plot when in a completely different direction, so here it is~ I hope it makes sense, my writing style is kind of rushed sometimes. But I hope you enjoy it! Also, please excuse typos and mistakes; I just finished this chapter before work, so I didn't have time to look it over!

...

The boy had his head buried in that textbook again; always studying as if his life depended on it. I never quite understood Arthur Kirkland. He showed up in our class one day as if he'd been here his entire life. He sat in his seat, not bothering to look around at the others around him as the teacher introduced him to the class. He never really spoke, or showed interest in doing so. He was just… there. So, why is it I want to get to know him so badly? He looked ordinary. He acted ordinary. Yet, when I looked at him I felt as if I were only seeing the cover of a great book. However, I never went up to him out of the blue. I was afraid my buddies would all laugh at me for talking to a nerd, you know? As fate would have it we ran into each other in the hallway one day… literally! However, that's where it all began, the unusual turn of events.

I was just minding my own business, chatting with one of my friends at my side while walking down the hallway to my next class. I was so elated at our conversation that I had barely noticed the blonde step into my path. "Hey Al! Look out!" my buddy shouted by my side a second too late. We must have collided quite hard, because I fell back with the wind knocked out of me. The clatter of books and the flutter of papers filled the air as everyone fell silent and stared. My glasses had slid down my nose, making the world before me blurry, but as I pushed them back up to my face I saw him before me, Arthur Kirkland. He gazed at me with wide, green eyes, and I gazed back. I lay on the ground for a few seconds more, my cheeks burning in embarrassment under the gaze of so many classmates. However, he did not seem to be fazed by it at all. In fact, he had already gathered himself together and was starting to pick up the books and papers he had dropped.

"Dude, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you!" I gasped dramatically as I scrambled to sit up and help. Arthur merely brushed me off with that always blank expression. "It's fine," he stated. It was the first time I had heard him speak. His voice was smooth and coated in a British accent. He didn't look at me, but I could still see his forest green eyes that seemed to be lost in another world. By now, everyone in the halls had continued on with their day, even my own friends went on without me. So, I was left by myself with Arthur. Despite his words, I helped him gather his papers. He didn't seem to mind, that or he just didn't want to say anything about it again. I was about to hand him the stack of papers, when I took notice of a fairly large bruise on his forearm. My stomach churned uncomfortably. Did I do that?

"That bruise looks awful! Man, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" I wailed out. His eyes shot open wide as he brought his other hand over the bruise quickly. He looked terrified, the first real emotion I had ever seen on him. "I-It's nothing, really. I've had this bruise for a while now, I just fell down the stairs," he stammered nervously. His sudden outburst caught me off guard. I found myself staring at him, blinking slowly; I had no idea how to respond to that. Quickly, Arthur grabbed the papers from my hand and rose to his feet, gazing down at me as if I were a ghost. "Thanks," he said quickly, and then he turned to leave. Without thinking, I reached out my arm to him.

"W-Wait!" I called out. Arthur stopped and looked back at me one more time, and it was then I realized I had nothing to say. I stammered a bit unsurely until I finally figured something out. "How about I buy you a burger? To make up for this," I offered. Arthur furrowed his brow at my offer. "No need, really. It's fine. It was just an accident," he retorted. After that, he trotted down the hallway. I leaned against the locker with my hands over my head in frustration. I probably sounded like an idiot to him. I had barely noticed I was the only one in the hallway, when the bell rang. I was late for class, but somehow I could really care less.

I didn't forget my offer, and by the time lunch came around, I intended to do it whether he liked it or not. I ordered my usual food from the cafeteria, only I added an extra burger. I ignored the strange look from the lunch lady and turned to look for Arthur. Luckily, he was sitting relatively close to where I was, all by himself. Strange, he was never with anyone. I began to wonder if he even had any friends. He seemed more secluded than anything, and that part of him made me feel bad. I approached his table. Arthur himself had been facing the opposite direction. I stopped behind him. "Hey, can I sit with you?" I asked in my usual booming voice. He jolted and spun around, eyes like green fire. "Bloody hell, you scared the crap out of me!" he hissed.

I dropped my tray of food on the table beside him and took my seat. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to," I murmured. Arthur sighed and went back to eating his food. "What do you want?" he asked coldly. His eyes refused to look at me as he spoke. I held out the burger toward him with a fairly large smile on my face. "Here! I know you said I didn't have to, but I felt bad, you know." Arthur gazed at the greasy burger; his face didn't look amused in the slightest. He grumbled under his breath incoherently before he actually spoke to me. "You didn't have to," he insisted sternly. His voice didn't sound grateful like I'd imagined, but rather annoyed. I gazed at the table. "I wanted to," I sighed lightly. Arthur groaned quietly under his breath. "Alright. I'll eat it later," he snapped as he took the burger from me. My smile from earlier returned.

"But no more favors!" Arthur added quickly. I blinked slowly at him in confusion. Why would I owe him more favors? I nodded, and proceeded to eat my lunch. Arthur was a nice kid. Though he looked mean and scary, he really was polite and friendly. It's a shame he never talked to anyone. He could make so many friends easily if he's just stop being so shy. I took a big bite from my own burger and glanced over at Arthur just in time for him to speak. "Aren't you going to eat with your friends?" he asked; though it sounded more like he was trying to say 'Why are you eating with me?'

I shrugged and frowned deeply at my food. "I just thought you'd want some company." Arthur looked as if he were about to speak, but he didn't. He merely raised a thick brow at me as he continued to search my face for something to say, and then he returned to eating whatever it was he had brought for lunch (I really can't tell what it is.) As he brought his food up to his face to take a bite, his jacket sleeve dipped down and I caught a glimpse on the bruise. Just looking at it made my arm hurt. The thing was completely black and blue; it looked as if he had painted it on himself.

"That bruise look painful. You must have fallen really hard," I commented. The look of horror from before returned to Arthur's face as he whipped around to glare at me. His eyes sparkled in panic and his mouth gaped open a little bit. It almost looked like he was trying to be mad that I was poking around something personal, but I couldn't shake the fact that he actually looked like a mouse being cornered by a cat. Quickly, he caught himself and returned to his neutral self, but that didn't keep me from giving him a concerned glance. "Yea, I did," he said as he cleared his throat. Arthur went back to eating, refusing to look me in the eye as we spoke. His gaze seemed to be lost in another world entirely.

"You ok, dude? You look terrified," I felt the words escape from my throat. Part of me wished that I hadn't said anything, but at the same time I felt like it was the right thing to say. Finally, after a moment of nothingness, he turned his gaze to me with a small, fake smile. "Well, who wouldn't be terrified after an experience like that?"

His answer was good enough for me, but little did I realize how much he had really fooled me. It never occurred to me then, but what he had said was about something else entirely.

...

"Hey Arthur!"

The boy glanced over at me from behind the textbook from the seat beside mine. For now, the teacher was done with her lecture on the Civil War, so she gave us some free time to chat amongst ourselves. However, Arthur went to his usual habit of reading the damn textbook again. "Do you play any sports?" I asked, trying to create some small talk. All my usual buddies had been entranced in their own conversation, leaving me with some free time to talk to Arthur again.

"I used to play football," he answered blatantly.

I titled my head slightly as I looked his body up and down. "You don't look like a football kind of guy," I commented. He furrowed his brow at me. "Excuse me, soccer. I always forget you Americans have to be different," he scoffed. "You're not American?" I asked with a small gasp. Arthur shook his head. "No. I'm from Britain, I moved here not too long ago," he retorted. Well, I guess that would make sense since he had a British accent.

"I've never really played soccer," I stated.

"And?" he challenged with a less-than-amused glance in my direction.

I felt a small stab at my heart. Man, he can be really cold when he wants to be. I fidgeted nervously in my seat.

"I was just trying to make conversation," I mumbled. He didn't say anything back. He merely watched me with those mysterious green eyes as if he were waiting for the next crazy thing to come from my mouth. However, as he gazed at me, I caught notice of a small bruise on his face next to his ear that hadn't been there the day before. My blood ran cold. He couldn't have fallen down the stairs again, could he? What was it with him and bruises? I don't know, maybe this was just a coincidence. They're just bruises; everyone gets them every now and then, so why do they worry me when I see them on him? Maybe it was because of his more-than-dramatic reactions yesterday when I mentioned them. The look of terror he gave me will never really go away in my mind.

"Are you going to keep staring at me, or are you going to say something?" Arthur's voice snapped me from my thoughts. I didn't realize I had been staring at him this whole time. I coughed nervously into my hand. "Sorry. I was just thinking," I stammered. Luckily, the bell saved me, dismissing class. I scrambled to leave the room after saying bye to Arthur.

Maybe the second bruise was just a coincidence. Maybe I'm over-thinking this whole thing. For now, I just let it be.

...

Over the next few days, Arthur and I became a little more acquainted with each other. In History, I would try to talk to him. I thought that maybe he could use someone to talk to talk to. Over these few days, he seemed to be his normal self. The bruises subsided for the most part, except the nasty one on his arm. However, he never seemed to care much about it, so neither did I. Arthur has been more open to me since we started to chat as well. Our conversation have been longer, (I remember one conversation where we argued about the pronunciation of 'herbs' for at least 45 minutes. It was actually pretty fun.) To top it off, he actually seemed to look forward to our conversations.

However, all of that changed Friday.

It started out like every other day. I woke up, went to school, and did my work (Or tried to at least.) Nothing really seemed out of place, but there was this weird sense inside me from the start I couldn't quite put my finger on. Everything was normal up until History class. When I arrived, I noticed that Arthur was not in his seat. How weird, he's usually the first one in here. I took my seat hesitantly, wondering if something was wrong. He could just be sick. He even said yesterday that we wasn't feeling too well. Yet, this feeling inside me started to grow, this odd, uneasy feeling that left me lightheaded and dizzy. All the tension in my body started to build up, begging me to bolt out the door and search for him. What if something was really wrong? What if he was hurt, or worse? My head spun with thoughts over my new friend until his familiar figure stepped into the doorway.

I let out an enormous sigh of relief. Yet, through my relief I failed to notice how distant he looked from reality. He almost floated over to his desk with uneasy steps. His green eyes, usually sparkling with life, were dull and shadowed. His hair was a mess and overall he just seemed… different? What's the word I'm looking for? He stood beside his desk and gazed right through my soul. "There you are! You scared me half to death! Where have you been Arthur?" I blurted. He didn't answer me. Instead, he took in staggering, heavy breaths. With him this close to me now, I could see sweat gathered on his face, and his entire body trembling. Something was not right.

Somehow, I knew my instincts were right all along. I sudden pang of anxiety hit me as I spoke again. "Arthur? Are you okay?" Suddenly, his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell limply to the cold tile flooring like a puppet that had its strings cut. Immediately, I leapt to my feet.

"Arthur!"

(a few moments later.)

I sat on the opposite bed to Arthur in the nurse's office. He had regained consciousness just in time to refuse being taken to the hospital, insisting he was fine. The teacher told me to take him here immediately, and I wasn't about to leave his side until he was well enough to go back. He had been over-heating, so the nurse had removed his shirt to cool him down. I couldn't help but to feel sick, for he had cuts, bruises, and bandages all over his torso. If this was nothing to him, than I was the president of the United States! How he could call something like this 'nothing' was beyond me. For now, the nurse left us alone in this little room to tell the ambulance that everything was fine.

"Are you going to tell me?" I asked sternly. To me, something like with was serious. There's absolutely no way that this was just an accident. Arthur refused to look at me. He had his arm folded stubbornly as he glared angrily at the wall. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it," he grunted. It was the same damn answer every time. "Is someone bullying you? Was this really just an accident? C'mon, tell me! This is serious!" I argued back. "I said it's nothing! Just fucking drop it!" he snapped. His gaze flickered over to me, blazing in anger. However, something told me we wasn't really angry with me. I sighed deeply. Nothing would get through to him. As far as I'm concerned, I was probably just another nothing to him as well.

Arthur continued to glare at me, every second his tense face softened up until it returned to the neutral expression it always was. It made me kind of sad that he still didn't see me as anything more than just another classmate. I tried so hard to become something like a friend to him, but obviously it was going nowhere. "Why?" he asked suddenly. His voice caught me off guard, as did his question. I gazed at him with innocent eyes, waiting for him to continue. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed shakily before continuing. "Why do you hang around me when we are both so different?"

Well, that was an easy question, but for some reason I had a difficult time answering it. It was because we were opposites. His personality intrigues me. He's so mysterious and quiet, and he likes to listen to what other people have to say (I think.) Whereas I like to talk… a lot. I am loud and boisterous, and possibly a tad annoying at times. I'm not afraid to speak my mind, or to be a little nosey. Nor am I afraid to hide something. Everyone who's anyone can tell you everything about me, but Arthur is something different. He's like the mystery novel with no name or description, and the only way to know everything about it is to get inside. However, there is a lock on his book that won't allow that.

"You're just nice," I said. It was a simple answer, but it meant everything in the world to him. "You don't make fun of me, or tell me I'm annoying even if I am," I continued, merely speaking off instinct. Arthur's face relaxed at my words as if they had reached his heart.

"Besides… how can I leave you alone when you're obviously hiding something from me?"

Arthur's expression went back to being a tad pained, but he said nothing the rest of the time we were alone.

When the nurse returned, she told him it would be best to just call his mom and go home. At the suggestion, Arthur's eyes widened. Though at the time, I never really thought much of it. He hesitantly agreed, and about half an hour later he left to go home. He had been quiet, and his face was as white as a ghost's. However, being the unobservant guy I was, I failed to notice these keen characteristics that somehow led to an unusual turn of events.