Step Ten ~ Ignore Your Problems

Alice POV

Days passed in a blur; Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

I saw him again, but he made no effort to approach me. I saw Stacey too, but she'd obviously decided to let this slide, for some reason, as she didn't do anything.

The weekend passed without any excitement, and then Monday rolled around again. And that was when it all happened, like a morbid repeat of last week.

It was lunchtime, and I'd sat back in the cafeteria for the first time since that day. It turned out to be a mistake. A big mistake.

He started walking in the direction of my table, a tray of food in his hands, and stood beside me. "Do you mind?"

I stared at him. Don't bolt. Don't do it. Don't run away.

He seemed to take this as an invitation to sit down, forcing me to dig my fingernails into the underside of the table just to keep me from running out of the room. I watched him, trying to figure out what he was going to do next. He offered me a smile, "I'm Jasper."

I waited, expecting him to ask why I ran off the other day, or why I was blatantly ignoring him right now. But he didn't, he just smiled at me and looked at me expectantly. What was he waiting for?

I decided the best thing was probably to just ignore him. Maybe he'd think I was weird and just go away.

So, I went back to my notebook, adding to what looked like a bleeding woman. Pleasant.

"Can I see?"

I'd almost forgotten he was sat in front of me. My head snapped up, and I slammed the notebook shut. No way in hell was anyone seeing what was in there!

The bell rang for the end of lunch, and I shot up from my seat. Turning on my heel, I walked quickly away from him before he could say anything else. Why had he spoken to me again? It had taken all my willpower just to stay in my heat with him near me. Couldn't he just leave me alone?

I didn't go straight to class, but I took a detour to the bathrooms instead. I needed to relieve some stress, and I knew one quick fix that always worked.

Jasper POV

Another letter came through, and it broke my heart a little more.

Anybody reading this?

It happened again. It's happening too much. It shouldn't be this often, but I can't help it. I need it.

He was there today. It was too much. I pushed myself to stay, but it was too much. It wasn't my fault, I needed to do it. I needed to get the stress and pain out, so I cut again. Not badly; two short cuts. They'll be fine. It's not anything to worry about.

It's not.

Forgive me.

Alice.

I folded the letter neatly, and placed it in the drawer beside the others. I'd said I was going to help this girl, but what had I done to help so far? Nothing. I didn't know who she was. All I had was a name.

Alice.

~o.O.o~

Alice POV

The next day, he tried again. He sat opposite me at lunch and tried talking to me whilst I ignored him. This time, it was a little easier; I knew what was going to happen, and that made it less intimidating. I still didn't like it, and it still made me want to run as far away as I could, but it was easier.

Wednesday came around and he sat down with me again. He asked me questions; Was I interested in art? What subjects did I take? Was I part of any of the school clubs? They were simple enough questions, but still he got no answers. That didn't stop him, and he was there on Thursday lunchtime too. By now, I'd learned to drown out his voice and become absorbed in my drawing instead, hardly noticing his presence at my table.

Friday was exactly the same - it was becoming a normality for him to sit with me at lunch and talk aimlessly as I ignored him. What did he want? I had to wonder. Why was he doing this? Trying again and again to get a response from me, when it was obvious he wouldn't get one? No one had tried this hard with me since...well, ever.

But unless I wanted to speak up and ask him - which I didn't see happening any time soon - I was just going to have to wonder what his reasons were.

Jasper POV

I watched the girl with interest as she made her way across the school parking lot. All week I had been sitting with her at lunch, and she still hadn't uttered a single word to me. At least she hadn't run away this time.

Why did she ignore me? What had I done to make her act that way towards me?

I grabbed my bag and began following her out of the school gates. I was going to find out what her problem was, and I was going to do it now.

She walked down the main road for a while, before cutting down a residential street. I followed her and soon caught up with her. "Hey, wait!"

She didn't make any effort to stop, so I called out again. Slowly, she turned around - as if unsure if I were talking to her. When she saw me, her eyes grew wide and fearful, and she looked like she might take off again at any moment.

"Wait!" I said, before she could run away, "I need to talk to you." She only looked more scared at this. "What have I done to you?" Now she looked curious, "You ignore me, you run away from me, you look like a deer caught in headlights every time you see me, so what did I do?"

Alice POV

I stared at him. What was happening?

My legs twitched, my body longing me to run away and escape. My hands flicked at my sides, desperate to inflict some kind of pain on my body that would distract me from this situation. My eyes darted around, looking out every possible escape route even though I knew I wasn't going to run away. Something in my mind was forcing me to stay routed to the spot. What was it he'd just said about a deer in headlights?

He was looking at me expectantly, "Well? Are you just going to ignore me again or are you going to answer me?"

How could I talk to him? How could I talk to anyone? My body was screaming at me to run; feeling trapped like a gazelle in front of a hungry lion.

"I've been talking to you all week!" He said, "All week, and you haven't even said one word! You've not even told me your name!"

My name. He wanted my name. I was pretty sure it had been forgotten by most people at our school. The girl without a name, the one who lingers in the corner unnoticed, the one who sits alone. Well, who used to sit alone. Until him.

"Well?" He said, staring at me, "Are you really not going to answer me?"

Why was he even trying? Why was he doing this? Didn't he understand that I didn't want to be here?

"No?" He asked, "Jesus Christ, you won't even tell me your name?"

My lips twitched, urging me to just tell him. But I couldn't. I couldn't talk to him, I couldn't tell him my name. Wrapping my arms around myself, I dug my nails into my skin, trying to get away from this horrible situation. The battle in my mind was raging; one side saying that I should just tell him my damn name, the other side saying that I needed to get away from this situation, now.

Jasper POV

I almost let out a sigh as I turned away from her. Why was she like this? Why couldn't she just talk to me? I'd only been in the town a few weeks, what could I have possibly done to make her act this way towards me?

At the next words out of her mouth, the puzzle fell into place and everything starting making sense.

"Alice." She said, her voice barely above a whisper, "My name is Alice."

Before I say anything else, I want to apologize for taking soooooo long to update! I've been super busy with my other stories :(

But, that aside, what do you think? Jasper finally knows who she is!

Review! :)