It had been a week since the incident with Veronica. I had managed to chase Piper as far as the carpark before losing sight of her amongst the sea of cars.

A few other strange things have happened since then; exploding lights, a flooded bathroom, haywire drinking fountains, doors & lockers spontaneously slamming shut.
But like the exploding food everyone managed to brush it off, after all the school was old so by logical reasoning, prone to drafts and faults. Besides everyone knew the food they serve in the canteen should have exploded a long time ago.

We were currently sitting outside in the carpark, waiting for school to start. The weather had been so nice this morning I had opted to walk to school rather than ride my motorbike.
Since nothing could separate Finn from his bike, except for maybe a girl, his ride was parked around the side of the school. Starling had decided to walk as well, most likely to gather her thoughts before she stepped through the school gates.

It was fortunate James and Seth had driven to school though, as we were now lounging on the hoods of James 4WD and Seth's jeep, talking about nothing in particular. I had joined in at first before becoming lost in my thoughts.
I couldn't help but think there was something more to these accidents, I couldn't seem to brush them off like everyone else.
Piper had stayed low and gone unnoticed for the most part over the last week, the only time I saw her was in class and whenever we had a study period or break she would seem to disappear.

'Damn it!' Once again my thoughts had led me to thinking about Piper. I had never thought about a girl so much before in my life. I mean sure she was beautiful, even with her unusual eyes, they only enhanced her beauty. She was also so mysterious but somehow I knew neither of those reasons were why I was thinking about her so much.

"Hey buddy! You still with us?"

I turned my head to see everyone looking at me. "Uhh yeah, sorry Finn. You were saying?"

He rolled his eyes "Never mind that, you've been spacing out all week, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine guys." I flashed them my most reassuring smile.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. "We're worried about you Aerrow." Starling said with a frown.

'Gee I must be spacing out more than I thought for even Starling to be worried'
"It's just been a bit hectic at the gym, there's a tournament coming up soon, Blister and Burner want me to enter on behalf of the gym but I'm not sure I'm up for it."
James spat out his drink, and unfortunately for everyone it landed on Seth.

"EWWW! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY VIRUSES CAN BE TRANSFERRED THROUGH SALIVA!"

James ignored him. "You can't be serious Aerrow! You're the best at Sky Fu in the state! And probably the country! Why wouldn't you enter?"

I shrugged "Well I'm still thinking about it, can we please just drop it?"

I felt bad for not telling them the real reason but technically it was the truth, the tournament had been on my mind lately whenever Piper wasn't and I just knew they wouldn't understand my fixation on a girl I barely talked to once. After all, I barely did.
"Okay Aerrow whatever you say." And with that James turned around to apologize to Seth since he was still grumbling in the background.

Finn suddenly sat up straight. "New girl! 3 o'clock!"

My head snapped to the right, and sure enough there Piper was, walking towards us through the car park. She was pulling out some books from her satchel and not looking where she was going, seemingly absorbed in her task.

I saw her heading for the exposed boot of a car sticking out onto the road but before I could do anything to warn her, she walked into it, sending both her and her books sprawling to the ground.

She quickly pushed herself to her knees and started to pick up her scattered books. I heard people laughing and looked behind me to see a group of kids pointing and laughing at Piper.

'Jerks! How would they feel if it was them people were laughing at?'

Apparently Starling had the same line of thought. "Hey douche bags! Why don't you find something useful to do instead giggle and snort over stuff that doesn't concern you!"

I didn't turn around to see their reactions, after all I had been on the other end of Starlings lectures one time to many. I pushed myself off of the car and walked towards Piper who was still picking up her books.

I kneeled down beside her and started to help her pick them up.
We continued in silence until all the books were in our hands. Piper rose to her feet, so I quickly stood as well.

"Here." I handed her the books and she gently took them from my hands.

"Thank you."

It was the first time I had heard her speak, or at least in such close proximity. Her voice was gentle and soft and sounded like music, I let it wash over me and felt a big smile spread across my face. I probably looked like an idiot.

I shook my head "Uhh yeah. No worries, happy to help."
'What the hell? Happy to help? I am such an idiot'

I watched as she tried to avoid my gaze and noticed her lips seemed to be set in a firm straight line, for some reason I wanted to see her smile and be the one responsible for it.

"I should thank you for last week as well, you didn't have to do what you did, so…Thank you…Again."
I smiled again, something I couldn't seem to stop doing. "Your welcome."

I realized she was about to walk away but I didn't want our conversation to end. "I'm Aerrow." I quickly spat out.

"I know." She replied, ducking her head.

"Oh.. Of course you do. It's just that the only time we've ever met, you were being snarled at by an air-headed groupie. Not the fondest of memories I'm guessing?"

The corner of her mouth quirked up. "Not really, no."

"So how 'bout a formal introduction?"

Her eyes met mine for the first time during our whole conversation. Unlike the last time the peculiar colour of her eyes didn't cause me to flinch, without the initial shock I found myself instead intrigued by their intensity.

"Okay." She replied, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I held out my hand "Aerrow Lightclaw."
She placed her hand in mine and it took all my effort not to display a physical reaction to the strange sensation my hand was feeling.

"Piper Crysola."
I shook her hand "Well it's very nice to meet you Piper Crysola." And this time when I smiled she almost smiled back, if the small uplifting of the corners of her mouth were anything to go by.

I looked down at our hands and almost let out a gasp, my expression must have changed though because she quickly dropped my hand. I looked up to her face but she didn't looked shocked or confused only wary.

'I must be losing my mind'
For a minute there I could have sworn our hands were glowing.

To distract myself from thinking about my questionable sanity I decided to try and show Piper I wasn't as weird as I'm sure I seemed right now.
"Well I hope you know not everyone at Greenborough High is as bad as Veronica, in fact if you ever have any questions just come ask me."

She looked relieved after I spoke, which I didn't really understand. "Thanks but I survived my first week, I'm sure I'll be fine."
From anyone else that would have sounded indifferent but from her it sounded as if she was reassuring me.

I glimpsed something falling from her satchel and quickly bent down to retrieve it. I examined it as it lay in my palm, it was a perfectly intact stargazer lily. I glanced up to see Piper's eyes darting between me and the flower.

"Here, it fell out of your bag." I explained.

I gently grabbed her right hand and turned it face upwards and carefully placed the lily in her palm.
I felt her gaze on me during the whole exchange, when I looked up she gave me with a small smile and in that moment I felt a warm feeling shoot through my whole body.

"Well isn't this sweet?" Our heads snapped in the direction that all too familiar voice sounded from.

I tried to keep my face emotionless in order to not encourage her. "What do you want Veronica?"

"Why nothing Aerrow I just was watching and was wondering why it was taking you so long to pick up some books?"

A frown formed on my face but before I could say anything Piper beat me to it. "I don't know why you're so concerned about my books, I would have thought there'd be more interesting things to catch your attention. After all academic is not a term that seems applicable to you."

Veronica's eyes narrowed "Be careful what you say bookworm."

"I prefer being a bookworm to someone who doesn't look like they've read a book in their life."

I knew now was the time to intervene. "Okay well now that you've exchanged pleasantries, I think it's time to walk away Veronica."
Veronica's gaze snapped to mine, seemingly shocked I would stand by and let Piper insult her.

Veronica turned back to face Piper and glared at her murderously. "You are so pathetic you know that, making an idiot of yourself in order to gain male attention, just how many guys were you planning to reel in with that technique? You're disgusting you weird eyed freak."

*FWOOOSH*

Car alarms were going off all around us and peoples schoolwork was flying everywhere, the crowd which I hadn't notice form around us quickly scattered after their notes and assignments.

That wind had come up out of no where and I quickly glanced at Piper to see if she was okay only to see her wide eyed and clutching her books to her chest. She must have felt my gaze because she glanced up at me.
"Are you alright?" I asked. She opened her mouth to answer but the bell rang out shrilly, cutting her off.

She quickly glanced around before locking her eyes with mine, I was transfixed with her sunset irises and almost missed what she said.

"I need to go, I don't want to be late…. It was nice to meet you Aerrow but it's best you leave me alone." With that she turned around and strode towards the building doors.

"wait…" I whispered, only to lose sight of her in the crowd swarming towards the school entrance.