New Faces

Of all the classes that Sierra had to endure, biology had to be the worst. She had a handful of reasons why she hated it, but it all boiled to three main things:

1. An hour spent listening to scientific crap was an hour wasted.

2. The sight of guts and blood and all those bodily organs always managed to have her on the brink of throwing up.

3. He was there.

The third reason was the worst of all. It was bad enough seeing him along the corridors, but spending a whole hour beside him was pure agony. Those tattooed arms, those sharp cheekbones, that smell of sweat and city air, that tousled brown hair that seemed to fall right into place, those icy blue eyes… she hated everything.

Each step to the Biology lab was an agonizing one. It seemed to take forever to get to the lab, even if it was just a few steps away. A tight knot formed in her stomach. She prayed with all her might that he decided to skip class today. He always managed to skip classes at least four times a week.

She peeked around the classroom door. Her blood turned to ice. There he was. David Strauchman, in all his annoying perfection, staring innocently outside the classroom window. Thank you God.

She walked to the table she shared with Dave, willing her knees to stay in place. She sat on the stool, slipping a bit on the edge but managing to catch herself before she fell flat on her butt. No one seemed to notice. She straightened herself, taking her books out of her bag, only to meet the bright blue eyes of her seatmate.

For a second they were locked into each other's eyes. He was staring at her blankly, but the depth of his eyes seemed to pull her in, drowning her in icy blue. It took every bit of her will to glare at him. She would never be his captive. Never.

Dave finally broke his stare and looked back outside. A huge wave of relief washed over Sierra. Finally, peace. Her glance shifted to the quivering pencil to her left. It seemed like he was sketching something. Trees, a small clearing, a curving road, some houses. She looked up and realized that he was sketching what he was seeing outside.

She looked back down and her eyes widened. It never hit her until now. His sketch was an exact replica of what was outside. The details were so precise, the positions were so exact. He even managed to get the little animals that weren't so easily spotted. Why must everything he do seem so perfect?

Her eyes strayed upward and she jumped when she found him looking back at her again. His eyes were questioning. Sierra felt herself freeze.

"Can I help you?" he asked in his low, gravelly voice. Something in the back of her neck prickled.

"I, uh…" she stammered.

David looked down at his sketch and smirked. "Good, huh?"

"Excuse me?"

"My drawing. It's good, isn't it?"

Sierra's temple began to pulse in annoyance. If there was one thing Dave wouldn't change about himself, it was his cockiness. "Well I wouldn't say it's good."

Dave chuckled. Sierra ignored the bell-like sound. "Quit lying to yourself. I saw your eyes widen."

"Well, what if they widened because of how horrible it looked?" That was an awful comeback, and she knew it.

Dave leaned close to her, his face just inches away. Sierra urged her heart to keep a steady pace. "Normally when people's eyes widen over an artwork as impressive as this, it wouldn't be out of disgust."

"Alright, class! Settle down," called the biology teacher, Ms. Asher, before Sierra could react. She felt the strong urge to leap into the air with joy. Saved by the teacher.

"Today," continued Ms. Asher "We will be studying the process of mitosis. I will be giving each table one microscope and four slides, each depicting the stages of mitosis. Please take care of the materials."

"Whoa," said Alex (Gaskarth) in wonder as Ms. Asher placed the microscope on their table.

"Dude, dude," said Travis (Clark) "Check out how big my fingerprint is." He stuck a finger under the lens.

Alex peered into the eyepiece. He laughed. "DUDE! This thing is wicked! Your fingerprint is HUGE!"

"Boys!" scolded Ms. Asher "If you break that, you owe the school 20 dollars." The boys didn't seem to hear her.

Dave pushed the microscope to Sierra. "Ladies first."

Sierra decided there was no point in arguing and took the microscope. She peered inside the eyepiece. "Prophase."

"You sure about that?"

"How can I not be sure? I'm the one looking at it!"

Dave took the microscope from her and looked. He smirked. "It's metaphase."

Sierra glared at him again. "That is definitely not metaphase. That's prophase. I'm positive."

"Sweetheart, you're mixing it up." Sierra felt herself twitch. The nerve of him calling her sweetheart. He pushed the microscope back to her. "You see how there's a line in the center of the cell? Those are the chromosomes lining up. That's metaphase."

She peered inside and he was right. There was a line in the center of the cell. She looked back up at him and narrowed her eyes. His smirk widened.

"Well, well, well," she said snidely "You think you're such a genius, don't you, smart-ass?"

He shrugged. "Only trying to correct your wrongs, darling."

There it was again. The name-calling. "So what? You're calling me stupid?"

"Not stupid. Careless, mostly."

She'd had enough. Her hand shot into the air. "Ms. Asher!"

"Yes, Sierra?" replied Ms. Asher.

"Can I switch partners please?"

"And why would you want to do that?"

She pointed accusingly to Dave. "He's annoying me!" Dave bit back a laugh. She didn't know how childish she sounded just then.

"Well, sweetie. That's the way life is. Sometimes, you just have to get along with the person you're paired up with to make things work." She turned around and returned to whatever she was doing.

Sierra shot a glare at Dave. He wiggled his eyebrows, his lips curling into a cheeky grin.

"You heard her," he said, cheekily. Sierra decided that there was nothing worse than that handsome face contorted into something she would like to punch the life out of.

~~/~~

Sierra took deep breaths as she strode down the corridor. Of all the biology classes she'd been to with him, that one had to be the worst. There was no way a boy could be that unbearable.

However, there was still that odd feeling tugging at her heartstrings. The feeling of enticement. Somehow, amidst that great annoyance, she felt….enticed? She mentally smacked herself. Enticed? How could she be enticed by that wretch? There was nothing enticing about him. Well, maybe his eyes….and his smirk…but still!

She was ready to hurl herself headfirst into the nearest wall when she heard voices ahead. They were loud and harsh. She looked and saw a group of guys, kicking and yelling at something. She stepped closer and saw that they were kicking a young guy a little bit older than she was. He was curled into a ball, protecting himself against the blows.

"Faggot!" shouted one of the guys, planting a kick into the guy's stomach. The guy cried out in pain.

"Your mama should've had you aborted!" jeered another. They continued to kick and spit at him. She thought she saw tears running down his face.

Rage boiled inside of her. At that moment, she completely forgot about biology class and started thinking of ways how to kick those bullies' butts till next week. She stomped toward them, anger coursing through her blood.

"HEY," she shouted. The bullies stopped kicking the poor guy and faced her.

"The hell do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

"Teaching that lowlife where he belongs," said the first guy, pointing ruthlessly to the guy curled up on the ground.

"And you think you're going to teach him by kicking him to death?" she said menacingly "How about how I teach you something about respect?" She curled her hand into a tight fist.

The guys laughed. "You can't beat us," said the second guy "You're a girl!"

Sierra cracked her knuckles. "Do you wanna hear about the last guy I beat up?"

The guys looked at each other like it was a joke. "Sure. Let's hear it."

"The guy had to skip school for two weeks because I punched his nose all the way in. He had to undergo five operations just to get it out."

The guys continued to laugh, but it had a tinge of fear. "Yeah right. And who's this?"

"Chislett."

The guys looked shocked. "N-no way," said the third guy incredulously "That's why his nose looks so messed up now?"

"Yep. His nose will never be the same again."

The guys looked absolutely terrified. "Let's get outta here guys," said the first guy and they all hurried away from her. Sierra smiled smugly at her handiwork.

She approached the guy curled up on the ground and touched him lightly. He flinched.

"No, no, it's okay," she said soothingly "I won't hurt you. I'm here to help." He didn't stop trembling.

"It's okay," she said reassuringly, stroking his bruised arms gently "They're gone. You're safe."

The guy slowly sat up and hugged his knees. Sierra tilted his chin up to look at his face better. She almost fell back with surprise.

He had the face of an angel. It was almost painful to look at. Every feature on his face was made into perfection. It was the most beautiful face she'd seen in a long time. But his eyes were the saddest things she'd ever seen. So much pain and suffering. Even his perfect face held traces of the abuse he suffered.

"What's your name?" she asked softly.

He swallowed. "William," he said, his voice quivering "William Beckett."

Sierra took his bruised hand gently. "Come on, William. Let's get you some help."

~~/~~

"I'm sorry," said William, holding an ice pack gingerly to his face "I didn't catch your name."

Sierra smiled at him. "It's Sierra. Sierra Way."

William winced as the nurse treated his wounds. "Nice to meet you, Sierra."

"You know, I don't understand why those jerks were beating you up. People would kill to have your face."

William's bruised face flushed with embarrassment. "T-thank you."

"Don't mention it. So, what's their reason?"

William sighed. "It's…it's cause I'm gay." His eyes filled up with pain and sadness again.

Sierra's heart melted. She knew that he wasn't living a normal life. But here he was, being beaten up for being who he is. "William—"

His eyes filled up with tears. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't born this way. That I didn't have to spend every single day in fear or in pain. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I just died. I doubt anyone would care."

Sierra sat next to him and held his hand. "First of all, you aren't born gay. That's not possible. You only choose to be."

William's cast his sad eyes downward. "Oh…"

Sierra lifted his chin back up. "That doesn't mean people shouldn't respect your decision. You are who you are. No one should tell you who you should be." She stroked his soft brown hair and held his face. "You're beautiful, no matter what kind of person you are. You deserve to be treated right. And you're wrong. There are people who care about you. Your family. God. Me."

Tears trickled down his cheeks. Sierra quickly wiped them away. "Stop crying," she said softly "You're going to ruin your beautiful face." She smiled sweetly. "Smile for me."

Amidst the tears, William smiled a genuine smile. Sierra's grin widened. "Perfect," she said. She embraced him tightly, and he embraced her just as tight.

"Thank you," he whispered.

~~/~~

Not only was William gorgeous, but he was also really tall and lanky. He had one hand under a short stack of books and another holding tightly onto Sierra's. He still looked like a frightened mouse. A tall, lanky, angelic mouse.

Sierra laughed. "Would you relax? You're going to be fine."

William smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I'm used to guys suddenly popping up and beating the crap out of me."

Sierra squeezed his hand. "Don't worry. I'm right here. Just think of me as your personal body guard."

Just then, an idea popped into her head. Her face brightened up. "Oh my god."

"What is it?"

"You know the glee club in school, right?"

"Yeah…?"

"I'm going to take you there later this afternoon."

William's face flushed again. "But—"

"Trust me, you'll love it. You'll have the best time there."

Before William could reply, a force from behind hit him, spilling his books to the ground. A parade of guys cut through the both of them. The leader, who was responsible for spilling William's books, whirled around to face the two.

"Gabe!" snapped Sierra "What the hell is your problem? Would it kill you to say excuse me every once in a while?"

"Well maybe you should watch where you're going before you—" began Gabe when his eyes met those of the guy whose books he spilled. At that moment, he felt like he'd been struck by lightning. He'd only seen that kind of face in paintings…

"Gabe," said Travis (McCoy), snapping his fingers in front of Gabe's face "Gabe."

Gabe blinked and shook his head. "Um…yeah. Just watch where you're going next time." He turned abruptly and hurried away, his confused posse following him.

'Sorry about my brother," apologized Sierra, helping William pick up his books "He could be a real ass sometimes…"

"It's alright," he said, replaying the way he stared at him just then. He looked…mesmerized. Stunned. He almost looked…attractive? "I don't mind."

He didn't mind at all.