I sat on the bench on the side of the gymnasium of the school about nine miles away from my house. Music pulsed loud and hard playing some new upbeat tune from one of the stations I hated. No, this wasn't my school but I was allowed to be here, of course that didn't mean I wanted to be here. I sighed, resting my head against the cold white stucco covered brick wall wondering why I let my aunt weasel me into this...
"Hey, you wanna dance?" I looked up to see a, much older, tall brown haired boy standing in front of me smiling. His teeth were impossibly white and he had his hair up in spikes with the ends bleached to off white blonde, and he was wearing a dark blue tuxedo.
"Uh, not really." I bowed my head in a quick bob and then returned the smile tentatively. "thanks."
"Whatever," he stopped smiling and shrugged, walking away and going to the next girl.
Pursing my lips and wanting to escape this personal hell, I got up and grabbed the front of my long peach colored dress so that it wouldn't be dragging as I escaped the room.
Damn I wish I wasn't so short— "Oof."
I'd run into a wall, or that's what it felt like at least.
"Sorry, I didn't see you there."
Awe great another guy.
"Oh no it's my fault I wasn't," I looked up and paused for a long time. "Uh, looking where I was going."
Heat started to crawl into my cheeks as I took in the tall white haired Asian boy standing in front of me, His hair was up in a pony tail behind his head and it still unbelievably came down to his lower back. His bangs were cut with a small gap parting them in the center of his forehead and hanging just above his eyes. His eyes!
His eyes were a shade I'd never seen before, bright amber. And he was still looking at me... because I'd been staring for the past three minutes with my mouth hanging open.
"Oh, oh my god I'm sorry for that I space out sometimes because I'm an idiot!" I bowed twice and ducked away so I could get away faster.
Shoot shoot shoot why would I do that!
Making it around the corner I ran into yet another person. Shit.
"Hey watch where you're going!" This guy was a white haired Asian dude too! What the hell is with this school. He was almost as short as me and his hair was fluffy and wild looking but fell over his shoulders and his bangs were messily cut and hung just above amber eyes that were the same shade as the other boys. "Oh it's just a kid, sorry."
"This is just too weird," I darted around him and went into the first room that came up.
Thankfully I made it into a bright, quiet, and empty room.
Looking around I spotted jars of yellowish liquid with plants floating in them. Each jar was labeled with the name of the plants and there was another glass cupboard lining the wall under the shelves of plants with little lizards and snakes also floating in yellow liquid and bleached out.
Bunsen burners were on every black topped round table in the room as well as a metal trey and a sink. Well, I'd found my way to the science lab.
Not caring that it was filled with creepy dead things I pulled my bag from around my shoulder and fished out my iPod and book. I turned on piano music to play through the headphones and put it on as loud as possible so that I would be able to hear it without having to wear the ear buds because they hurt my ears. Making sure no one was looking for me, I pulled out a chair, opened my book and started reading.
"What book are you reading?"
I jumped once and turned around to see a rather large kid wearing a hoodie writing down mathematical equations all over a fat five star notebook.
Settling down, I grabbed the book and held it up for him to see.
He looked up, his large dark blue eyes looking from my face to my book and nodding before going back to his equations. As he moved his arm I noticed there was a large gly scar on it whe the shirt had shifted and I could see his skin.
"Have you been here the whole time?" I asked, not wanting to bother him about the scar but wanting to start conversation nonetheless.
He looked at me again, and I noticed his face was long and he had black hair under that hood. His ears were pierced and gouged but not that much, as well as he had another scar on his upper cheek.
"I was in here when you got here," he said finally. "I was surprised you didn't notice me."
"Why didn't you say something I didn't mean to ignore you," something about him made me smile genuinely and I got up to sit next to him, placing my iPod on the table and pulling my book in front of me, going back to reading,
"I've read that book." He said, looking at it. "You're just getting to the part where she finds out her actual brother is a part demon?"
"Yeah," I breathed, pulling the book to my chest. "To be honest I've read this book before but there's just something about reading that's better than real life. It's my escape."
"You remind me of the girl I like," he blushed once and then looked back down at his notebook, hastily scribbling out one of the three line theories and starting again.
"That's so sweet." I blushed a little too and smiled. "What's her name?"
"Kagome," he breathed. "But I haven't told her yet so you can not tell anyone!"
"Don't worry I don't go to school here so you're in the clear," I smiled again and went back to my book, for some reason I couldn't stop now. This kid just had some kind of aura that was radiating sweet. "Besides, I'm not the kind of person that likes to go around talking to people about stuff like that."
"You sound like a nice girl, it's too bad you don't study here," He looked up at me from under his hood and a smile tugged on the corner of his mouth again. "It would be nice to have more nice girls around."
"You really are a good guy, I hope this Kagome girl knows that." I looked over his paper and realized he was writing down theories on creating medicine using snake oil and various herbs. "Are you going to study to become a medical scientist?"
"Ah, I don't have the kind of money to pay for the schooling." He closed his notebook and I read the name Jinenji scrawled in his handwriting on the front. "Besides, I'm planning on helping my mom in her greenhouse when I graduate. Ah but you don't want to hear all that..."
"No it's ok all of this sounds really neat and I've liked talking to you, it's not something I can say for a lot of people because mostly they go on about selfish things." I said fast, trying to encourage him.
"I'm just a little uneasy because you're being nice to me, not many are." Jinenji said, shifting in his seat and finally making me realize the body language he was using. He was nervous.
"Well, I like you, you've been being nice to me therefor I'm nice to you." I shrugged. "I can't dislike someone who's given me no reason not to."
"Right," he said finally, relaxing a little. "So did someone ask you to the homecoming?"
"Oh no," I waved my hands in front of me. "I'm here because my aunt is a sub here and she was told by the principal she could bring me to the dance if I wanted, I'm home schooled."
"Do you live with your aunt? Oh, I'm getting a little too personal huh?" He looked back down again. "Sorry."
"Oh no, you're fine. Jinenji right?" He looked up at me when I used his name and smiled. "Yeah I live with my Aunt Kaede, she's pretty awesome but she talks weird and sometimes she says phrases that sound more like riddles and she gets really hard to understand."
"You mean the substitute science teacher? I know that woman, she's my favorite teacher even if she is a sub." Jinenji physically looked a lot happier now that he knew I was related to one of the teachers he knew. "She knows a lot about botany!"
"Yeah, she's pretty great." I agreed.
