Sunday morning, Draco sat on the bench at the only church Forks knew. He was surrounded by people of an age much greater than his - spare a few kids and a teen or two. He didn't understand why Ms. Doyle had forced him there, nor did he care to dig any further into the subject. Instead, he simply slumped into his seat, raged that he even had to listen to this squib. Dumb world. He hated being surrounded by so many┘ humans. Even without his magic, he felt much greater than any of them. But one person had still begun to enter his thoughts far too often for his taste.
"Stupid muggle girl." Skye Brooks had pressed on in Draco's mind since Wednesday afternoon when he'd been forced to return her jacket. They had until Monday to finish the project they'd been working on, but not a word had been spoken between the two partners since that same Wednesday. In class, Skye now made an effort to sit a bit farther from Draco, but every once in a while she'd still feel his eyes burning in her direction. Draco had not expected to have anything in common with the muggle girl - or any muggles, really. But seeing how her father treated her hit close to home.
Despite his power and wealth, or perhaps because of it, Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, had always seemed less than satisfied with his son. "You're acting far too young; too weak; too stupid; a disgrace; unworthy of the family name," was all Draco heard. If it had any effect on him, Draco never expressed it in public. But deep inside, he knew the pain of not being good enough even for his own father.
Draco turned just as the congregation stood to sing a hymn. He did not bother to stand - again, he neither understood nor wanted to take part in any muggle activity. However, as he turned slightly towards his right, a girl seemed to stand out in the crowd: Skye.
She was on her feet, singing with a smile plastered on her face. Despite the fact that she was a pretty average girl at Forks High, Draco had never seen her genuinely flash her teeth and smile - at least not like this. Her essence seemed to radiate throughout the room. He nearly slapped himself: looking at a muggle girl was completely not in his nature, unless he was planning on saying something incredibly rude or simply using her in an attempt to show the feeble mindedness of the muggle race, particularly the females.
Draco couldn't pinpoint what caused her to seem so different that day at the time, but he would understand in time. It was just one of those things his mind wasn't open too (and there were many of those things); it was something he needed to be shown. But at the moment he knew none of this, and likely would not have cared. Instead, he remained on his bench and silently tried to block everything out. He simply needed to concentrate on passing a year of muggle high school and going back home where things could be normal. Normal. Or at least as normal as he ever allowed things to get.
"And now, you may be dismissed. May God's blessing follow you home, and may the words of today remain with you. In Jesus name we pray, Amen." With the closing words, the service was over! Draco was free: or so he thought.
Ms. Doyle didn't seem in any hurry to leave. She stopped and spoke quietly with a few other woman. Though she still appeared to be a woman full of hurt and sadness, something in her eyes seemed at peace. She surrounded herself in "friends" and kindly conversation. Draco found this the best opportunity to simply get out of the crowd and somewhere away from this crowd of humans. Standing beneath a rather large tree - not uncommon in the Forks landscape - he sighed. How on earth was he going to stay sane here? These muggles were already getting to him┘ and by muggles, he knew he truly meant Skye.
And then Skye exited the church. Her eyes still seemed to glitter and she was surrounded by an aura of.. beauty. Her father was not around; Draco realized that he hadn't been in the church either. He didn't pay much notice to it. Skye was dressed in a flowing salmon colored dress, reaching just about to her knees, that swayed in tune with her hair in the cool autumn breeze. She looked like she could be standing in the scene of a movie.
She stole a glance at Draco - then realizing it was him, quickly turned away. Draco stared on a bit longer. Silly girl, he was sure she'd be like any other: easy to trick. Perhaps he'd mess with her a bit someday. As long as he didn't do anything that'd get him any serious attention.. It'd be fun. However, as he snapped back into reality, he realized that his chances of doing any such thing were much closer than he'd anticipated.