A.N. Iggy's name in this story is Isaac. In case you couldn't figure it out… Sorry for the slow update. Sue me.
He looked up at me and raised his eyebrows. And I did the same. He picked his backpack off the floor and slung it over his shoulder.
For a second I was worried he was going to go away. I don't know why I wanted him to stay here. Maybe I didn't want to be alone. But that's impossible. I love being alone.
Instead of walking out of the heavy wood doors of the library, he walked to my table and sat right across from me. I pretended not to notice.
Another weird thing: I felt my face grow hotter. Oh my god. I was blushing. I'm Max. I never blush. I especially don't blush because a boy shows me attention. So I was I blushing when a boy-one I have never interacted with in my life-simply sat down in front of me?
He didn't notice though. He was just studying in his book, completely ignoring me. I was grateful for that, though. I didn't want him to see me staring at his overgrown hair. In my defense it was an interesting color. It was a mix between light brown and red, very confusing. And his eyes, although I couldn't see them anymore, were such a pale blue. They were almost clear. And I didn't realize until just now when he stood up how incredibly tall he was. How had I never noticed him this much before?
"Cut yourself?" He mumbled, not looking up from his book.
What the hell?! He couldn't have been blunter! But he didn't say it rudely. He said it like he was genuinely curious- I couldn't hear him very well. He was muttering, after all.
"Yeah. You?"
I just surprised myself. I actually answered.
"Yeah." He said.
I didn't know what to say next. I'm not good at human interaction.
He looked up at me, his hair flipped to the side so I was able to see his eyes.
"Really… Let me see." He said after the long silence.
This snapped me out of my trance.
"What? No!"
"Well," He sighed. "You either drew three black lines on your arms because you're an attention whore or because you knew no one would know what it meant anyways. So…"
I raised my eyebrows. "Good theory."
For some reason I did as he said and rolled up my other sleeve. Several thick red lines crossed with thin white ones.
"Wow," He muttered, impressed. "You have a serious problem. Those look pretty recent."
I blushed again and self consciously rolled my sleeve down.
"What about you? Attention whore? Or have you actually been on the website." I asked.
He grinned and pushed up his sleeve.
He had more scars than me, some looked older, though. A few rebellious ones went vertical, most went horizontal. None of them crossed.
"I have a thing for straight lines." He explained.
The bell rang and we both packed up our things.
I was already at the door when he was just barely leaving the table.
"Wait," He said as he caught up with me. "We have the same class next, right?"
I thought for a moment. "Actually- I think we have all our classes together."
"Cool. We should walk to art together." He said.
I must have frowned too quickly.
"It's okay. I know we both don't have any friends. So who's going to judge you for walking with me?"
"I don't care if anyone judges me." I said quickly and coldly. "And why would they judge me for walking with you?"
He rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty observant. I don't know if you've been able to figure it out, but people aren't exactly fond of you. That's okay, though. They hate me even more."
I rolled my eyes back and we walked to class together in silence.
I noticed that Isaac was definitely bold, even a little rebellious. I'm not saying that I care what people think of me, I just don't bother to do anything. I'm not much of a fighter. I'm quieter than that.
Walking into the art room was never a good experience. People were allowed to talk and have fun, sit wherever they want. It's pure torture for me. I always sat in the corner of the room though, working quietly. It's better like this. If I don't pay attention to anyone, they have the common decency to not talk to me.
Isaac on the other hand…
He's like me. He also sits in the corner, working quietly. But right now I really wished we had assigned seats. Not only did he walk in with me, but he sat right next to me.
Not that people care about us. At all. But the two loneliest people in the world in the same place at once? It's enough to cause commotion. No one said anything directly to us. But I know people noticed. After all, that's what people do. They're cowards. They notice things, talk to their friends, laugh about things. It's all good fun.
"What are you doing?" I asked Isaac.
"What?" He asked innocently.
"You know what." I said, not looking him in the eye. "I already know they're talking."
He shrugged. "I don't know why you care so much. It's not like you have any friends to impress."
Mean? Yes. True? Yes. But when he said this… It sort of ignited a spark in me. Why DID I care so much?
I worked on my project. This class was so free formed. The assignment for this week is to draw and paint something fitting the criteria written on the white board; organic shapes, neutral colors, things of that sort. You walk into class and do your work while Ms. Norse sits at her desk and reads. Doing your work isn't required, actually. You just can't be loud enough to the point where the people in the classroom next door have to walk over and complain. You also can't fling paint at each other. That rule comes up a lot. You just have your work completed and well done by the end of the week.
I couldn't focus. First of all, someone was sitting next to me. I could literally see him next to me. And he was there willingly. Dylan didn't count. He's just a horny teenager. Parents don't count either, they have to see their kids. Isaac was literally sitting next to me with his own free will. Like, if I stuck my hand out to the side I could touch him. Very creepy, I know. I just couldn't beat this information into my brain.
The whispers weren't helping with my concentration, either.
One girl, Alyssa, was talking to her boyfriend Brad. They weren't speaking meanly, so to speak, but… I didn't like them noticing.
"Wow. Looks like Knight actually made a friend." Brad muttered.
"Shut up," Alyssa said, playfully hitting him. "It's cute."
"Yeah," He sighed. "I guess. I was starting to feel bad for them, being alone all the time…"
And that was the end of that conversation. Not all of the others were said so nicely. No one actually yelled something to us. No one said anything too loud. They're cowards, anyways.
"Look," Brook hissed to Corbin. "Losers found love."
He snickered. "Well, no one else would touch them. They might as well touch each other."
I tensed. I wasn't the only one listening on their conversation.
"Want me to kick some ass?" Isaac whispered jokingly.
I couldn't help but smile. I shook my head.
"You don't talk much, do you?" He asked.
I shrugged. "I used to. I don't really care anymore."
He smiled. I noticed my hand had just been sitting on the table, useless. He squeezed it, causing me to blush again.
A/N: Ok, I think I need to clear up a few more things in advance. First, this part of the story is a little heartwarming to me. It reminds me of the time when real life Isaac and real life Max were first starting to build a friendship. This is story takes place before I even met real life Max back in London, and she gave me permission to write this.
Also, Isaac really was this straight forward when they first met. He was relatively flirty and was honestly that blunt about her scars. THE HAND SQUEEZE was probably not meant as a romantic gesture. No, but it was the beginning of a friendship.
These two honestly didn't have any friends. Those nerdy kids (yay nerd pride) had each other. These two LITERALLY didn't have anyone. This isn't an exaggeration. I can't stress their loneliness enough.
The creepy brother is real. Honestly, he really is cute. And it may just be my ADHD but real life Max is pretty, too. So I never understood why everyone rejected her so much. I guess she rejected everyone else and they just returned the favor.
Okay, last thing before I get a lot of reviews about how Isaac should be Fang, not Iggy. There are a lot of reasons for this. First of all, real life Isaac actually did have really pale blue eyes like Iggy. He was tall and thin, too. I get how Fang is supposedly the emo one, but I don't want to make this a Fax story. If you think hard about it, Fang would be accepted greatly in school. I specifically remember him making out with a girl when he went to school. "Isaac" fit Iggy's character much better.