Eventide
Chapter II
As the sun's rays broke through the top of the forest, I was already dressed in my jogging attire. The monster growls loudly and disappears into the bushes. It is safe to go out.
My father is still out of it, most likely from the booze. Without even saying anything to him or waking him up, I walk out of my house and jog to the backyard where the monster left the grass wounded. It doesn't take long to fix the grass, all I need to do is making sure the dirt is covered with grass and my father will never find out. He has never been one to admire the garden and therefore never noticed the damages from the monster.
After fixing the grass, I jog around the neighborhood, meeting dog owners walking their dogs and old women and men in their robes taking their mail from the mailboxes. The sun keeps rising as I return to my home and quickly gets ready for school.
My father woke up and he isn't pleased at all, the hangover killing his head as he makes a hot cup of coffee when I leave the house. The bus stop grows larger and larger and the students living in my area are already waiting for the bus to come. It doesn't take long for the bus to come and pick us up and unfortunately, I'm the last one walking inside of the bus, leaving the chance of sitting alone a perfect zero.
Sometimes I really wished that Tsubaki could take the bus with me instead of that blue-haired monkey she calls her boyfriend to pick her up for school every morning. It would have been nice to have a friend on the bus, then again, it would make it easier for her to find my home. I couldn't risk that.
My eyes wander in search of an empty seat. My eyes find the first available seat beside a guy who doesn't even seem to notice me on my way to sit beside him.
"Excuse me, can I sit here?" I politely ask and smile toward him in hope of getting a good answer. A lot of guys going to Shibusen High are idiots, hopefully he will be nice.
Our eyes lock. He has blue eyes, the magical blue of a tropic ocean. His gaze sends shivers down my back and my fingers tingle with familiarity. I'm sure I haven't seen him before, at least not talked to. Maybe I have seen him in school but I never acknowledged his presence, but that still doesn't explain why I feel like I have met him before.
"Sure." He smiles politely back at me. That is the first time I notice his pierced ears filled with silver rings. "I'm Hiro. Hiro the Brave." He offers me his hand as I take a seat beside him. What's up with the weird name? It is just as weird as Death the Kid.
"Maka Albarn." I grab his hand and shake it. His grip is firm and his fingers are bony. "Have we met before?" It slips out before I even have the time to consider it. "I mean, I have a feeling like we have met before." I quickly release his hand and fists my red skirt in embarrassment. I shouldn't have asked him that.
"I don't think we have met before. This is my first day in Shibusen High."
Wait. Now? In the middle of the year?
He chuckles. "I know it is weird to transferee in the middle of the year, but I didn't like my last school so I transferred here. I have heard some great things about Shibusen High." Oh man, I'm so easy to read. Did he just say he heard great things about Shibusen? He must have heard that from teacher who turn a blind eye to everything. Shibusen High is far from being a good school. Half of the students are failing their classes and every day there are at least five fights. Heck, I'm the top student just after a few tests, instantly I got higher grades than any other students in the school.
The bus stops in front of Shibusen High. "I will see you around Maka." He smirks wide and flashes his white straight teeth. He turns away and disappears in the sea of students walking up the stairs to Shibusen High.
It didn't take long before I grabbed my school bag and followed the sea of students. The stairs were long and just walking up those stairs would make your thighs burn and shape your bump.
When I reach the end of the stairway, the day turns from okay to bad because my ex I dumped the night before, waits for me at the top of the stairs. His eyes wander from every blond in the crowd and I know he is searching for me because Jaqueline is a brunette, not a blond. I gasp loudly and I duck when his eyes start wandering toward me. The people around me give me weird looks as I walk. I keep walking while I keep ducking and fortunate for me, he doesn't notice me. As soon as I get inside of the school, I straighten my back and walk with my head high. It doesn't take me long to find my locker and I hum happily as I open my locker. Quickly I put my things inside and take out my books for my first class.
"You know you won't get rid of me that easily." As I close my locker, I jump up and through the ceiling in surprise. Beside me stands my ex, grinning that awful grin of his. That damned sexy grin. "Just ducking in a crowd won't be enough to shake me off."
I roll my eyes at him. "Soul. Go away. I don't want to see you. We are done. Go back to Jaqueline since you two seem so close." I push through Soul, roughly walk into his shoulder and heads toward my classroom. My heart clenches with pain and I feel like I want to cry again. It is foolish of me to feel this way since we weren't together for long and I never knew him really.
To my disappointment, Soul follows me. "I'm not going to leave you." I avoid his eyes as much as I can. "I know I screwed up, but I want you to know I will always be there for you. Just give me a call, I will come to your house in the middle of the night if you need me." Night. My house. No, that won't ever happen. The monster will be around and kill him off before he can even utter a single word.
"You were never there for me when we were together. Why should I believe you would be there for me now?" I walk inside of the classroom and successfully cutting Soul off by slamming the door after me.
When I take my ordinary seat beside Tsubaki, I see Soul looking inside of the window of the door. He looks at me, with the same boring facial expression as always before he look away, like someone had called his name, before he disappears.
"What was that about?" Tsubaki asks while she looks at me. "Are you and Soul arguing?"
I shake my head and put my things on the desk. "Yesterday after he stood me up, he told me he has been cheating with Jaqueline multiple times. So I broke up with him."
Tsubaki gasps loudly while she covers her mouth with her hand, her eyes are wide with shock. "What? You are kidding? Right? Soul wouldn't do that! I can't believe he would do something like that!"
Soul has a gang. That isn't a secret. Tsubaki's boyfriend, Black*Star, is in his gang and surprisingly, she and Black*Star never had this problem. Black*Star always showed up to their dates and didn't keep any secrets from her. They were like any other couple so how come Soul and I never was like that? They were in the same gang so shouldn't he care about his friends just as much as Soul?
I roll my eyes. Of course. He had lied to me so he could go to Jaqueline's house and fuck her. The only regret I have about Soul is that I didn't break up with him earlier.
The thing I never understood was why Tsubaki did and the others in his gang know Soul so well? They seemed to know him inside and out and I barely even scratched the surface of the mystery of Soul, and I had been his freaking girlfriend!
"Just drop it Tsubaki. He confessed he had been with her. I'm happy it is finally over." No, I'm bitter about this that my first boyfriend proved to be a cheater and an asshole. I couldn't believe I was with that kind of a person. "The relationship had been sour for a very long time. He stood me up on many dates and we were never even around each other except for the breaks in school, sometimes not even that. I didn't even know him. Every time I tried to get to know him, he passed on the question and turned it toward me. I can't be in a relationship with a stranger."
"Come here." Tsubaki says with her arms open and I find myself hugging her back, taking in her camellia perfume. "I know it must hurt. Ending a relationship that way must hurt, but listen to me. Soul wouldn't cheat. I don't know why he did it but―"
"No!" Instantly I'm out of her arms and I glare at her. "I can't believe you! Are you seriously going to take his side when he is the one that cheated on me!" I grab my stuff roughly and I feel tears prickling in my eyes. "I can't believe you would stab me in the back like this!"
"Maka―"
"Save it!" I yell and I have successfully drawn the attention of the class that is inside of the classroom. I find myself taking a seat at the back of the classroom, far away from Tsubaki as possible.
Tsubaki looks sorrowfully at me with regret in her eyes. I can't bend now, I need to stand strong because I'm mad at Tsubaki for supporting that cheater instead of her own friend. Sure, they had been friends before Tsubaki even met me, but she is my only friend and I could have used her support right now.
"Everyone." The teacher walks inside. "We have a new student in our class. You can come inside and introduce yourself."
My eyes widen when I catch sigh of the blond hair and blue eyes of Hiro. He confidently smiles toward me while he shoves his hands into his pockets, like a certain cheater I know. "My name is Hiro the Brave."
"Okay, Hiro, you can take a seat and open your textbook at the page 109. We will continue where we left off." Marie, our English teacher says.
I'm not surprised when Hiro takes the empty seat beside me, smiling wide toward me. "Told you I would see you around."
I find myself smiling back at him, the familiarity making my spine shiver. It feels good having Hiro around. He isn't a friend like Tsubaki, but it feels like he is something. Just someone to be able to talk to even though it isn't my problems, it feels amazing. Talking back and forth with him about the assignment and the text we had been going through, it felt good. It ended more like I had to explain every little part of the literature since he couldn't see the hints and loopholes in the text. He wasn't really a bookworm like I was, but it was okay since he was genuine and open about who he is. Being around Soul and never really knowing what was going on, it was a totally change talking to Hiro. I was kind of surprised at how much he shared about his passed school and about a fight about one simple pencil that had gotten him and the other guy expelled from his former school.
I giggle while I cover my mouth. "That is a very silly way of getting expelled. Starting a fight because of a pencil is ridiculous!"
He chuckles while he twirls the pencil between his fingers expertly. "Yeah, it was, the pencil kind of was the only gift I ever got from my father before he abandoned me and my mother. It is quite precious to me and I fear that I will lose it."
I stop giggling and my eyes lock at the blue pencil with the pink eraser at the top. "Is that the pencil?"
Hiro nods. "Yeah. I always take it with me wherever I go."
It amazes me how open he is about that. I know I wouldn't be able to talk about my mother without feeling the weight of guilt burden my shoulders. I would end up crying and it is better to keep it in the dark where the monster hides. No one would ever understand.
"What are you afraid of?" Hiro suddenly asks with curiosity in his voice.
I stiffen and the monster outside of the window appears inside of my mind. The image of my mother's dried blood on its claws and smudged around its mouth. "What my fear is?" I question stupidly.
"Yeah, you know my worst fear, so why not tell me yours. Life is all about give and take, right?" He is right. Life is about giving and taking, that was why my relationship with Soul ended because I was the only one giving and Soul was taking everything. He never gave something back.
"I guess." I sigh heavily, our assignment completely forgotten. "You have to promise not to laugh, okay?"
"Promise." He says quickly.
I gulp loudly and I feel a little nervous. I hadn't even admitted this to Tsubaki or Soul. He would be the first person. "I'm afraid of the dark."
He raises his eyebrow. "The dark?"
I blush and try to avoid his judging eyes. "Yeah, I guess I never got over the fear when I was younger. It has always been there with me."
"You don't need to be embarrassed." He puts his hand on my shoulder, successfully attracting my eyes to his blue orbs. "Everyone is afraid of something. Being afraid of the dark is actually very legit." He turns more serious as his smile drops and so does the happy spark in his eyes. "I mean, you never know what dangers that come out in the dark and disappears with the sun. Am I right?"