3

Hayley's POV

I ran frantically across the hallways, desperately searching for the exit door. ANY exit door. Earlier, I had managed to drop all my binders on the ground and of course everything in them had scattered all across the floor. Yay. By the time I was done putting everything back in its place, I was already late. And now I was lost.

"That's it," I thought sadly, defeated, "I will miss my bus for good this time." I had been close to missing it several times before, but this time it was happening. I would have to call my mom, she'd get angry and give me a long speech about responsibilities and blah, blah. I'd rather she gave me a map.

Suddenly, after strolling through the now empty corridors of that maze for ten minutes, I noticed a small figure curled up in a corner between a locker and a wall. I could tell it was a boy, and he seemed rather upset… Actually, he seemed completely broken down. His head was buried deep between his legs and his hands were shaking harder than mine had in chemistry half an hour earlier…

And then it hit me. That long-ish blond hair, that red shirt I had spilled "toxic chemicals" all over! It was Ramsay! Despite my shock at that discovery I still thought of how nice it would be to know his name and not have to call him "Ramsay" all the time like we were secret agents or something.

I considered turning back and pretending I hadn't seen anything. He didn't seem to notice me anyway. But I couldn't. It broke my heart to see someone I knew—even just a little—break down like that. I was a sensitive girl, ok? Besides, it wasn't like I didn't have time, now that my bus was long gone.

I slowly walked up to him, trying to be as silent as possible. Finally, when I was about five feet away from him, he looked up. I noticed for the first time the color of his eyes—bluer than the sky. They were filled with tears, but also with hatred and anger.

"What the fuck do you want?" He didn't sound as tough as he might've hoped he did.

"I uh…What's your name?" Ok, that was a stupid thing to say, but I really wanted to know and I couldn't find anything better.

He raised one eyebrow in confusion. "What's it to you?"

"I'm just curious…"

"Go away," he snapped, hiding his face again.

"But—"

"It's Josh, ok!?" Again, he looked up at me like he was about to jump at me and grab my throat. I gulped.

"Ok… I'm Hayley." Ugh, I sounded like an idiot, making acquaintance with a guy who was bawling his eyes out in the middle of a deserted hallway way too late after school.

He sighed. "Great. Now can you leave?"

I frowned. "Sheesh, why are you so…" I stopped myself before I said something I couldn't take back. "Fine," I muttered before turning back and walking away.

Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the damned exit door.

Josh's POV

I watched her walk away firmly and calmly. I felt a bit bad for acting like an asshole, but what could I do? Tell her my feelings? Ha, yeah right. Like she could ever understand. She was just another perfect little girl with perfect friends and no horrible past. Those were all the same, American or Canadian.

Besides, it was all her fault. If she hadn't splashed me with that stupid blue shit… But who was I kidding? None of this was her fault. It had all been an accident, and any normal person would have taken it lightly without acting like someone just died. Even I would have taken it lightly if Mrs. Crow-face hadn't half ripped my shirt off in front of the whole class. But I wasn't exactly normal.

I buried my head between my knees again and stared at the floor. Why had I been such a dick to Hayley? She was the first person to actually talk to me nicely since I'd moved. For a second she actually seemed to… care. But I guess I had ruined that too. Fuck. I was the biggest fucking idiot out there. Why had I even been born?

After a while I decided I should get up and go home before my mom started worrying. I checked my watch. Six thirty. "FUCK!" My voice echoed off the long walls of the hallways. I hadn't noticed time passing so fast. My mom had probably already called the police.

As I rushed to one of the payphones outside, I almost forgot my reason for being sad. Despite the intense panic invading my mind, it was still the most beautiful moment of the past few hours. But ya know, stuff like that doesn't last. Pretty soon it all came back to me and it took all my will to not curl up on myself again and sob like a little girl.

But I kept on walking.