Alicia Wayne didn't see that troublemaker kid Heath until the middle of third period on Wednesday in Professor Locklear's lecture. He came in somewhat quietly with his head down his golden wavy locks obscuring his face. He was immaculate as always, clean and smelling of expensive cologne.
Not that she cared, of course.
"Would you like to share with the class why you are late?" Professor Locklear stopped Heath with a hand on his shoulder.
"Do you really want to know? Or should I just take my seat and shut up, without causing a scene." Heath whispered to him low, showing his heavily bruised face and cut on his lip that had almost healed.
"Ahem, have a seat Mr. Napier. Please refrain from being late again."
The class whispered and tried to look at him, but his long locks prevented them from seeing his horribly bruised face.
Heath answered the questions he was asked, didn't act up or be disruptive, no crude or sly remarks came from his mouth.
For once he was a normal perfect kid, and somehow that made Alicia uneasy.
Alicia found him again by the wall, smoking again, holding a cigarette between his index and middle fingers, the other writing something on a notepad.
She approached him, even though he had a tense 'leave me alone' vibe that you could cut with a knife.
"Heya Sweet Cheeks, come to visit little ol' me again?"
Heath showed a hint of a smile from behind those shadowing waves of gold. He didn't raise his face, but he at least had the decency to let Alicia take his attention.
He pulled a long drag from his cigarette, holding it in before exhaling through his nose.
"It's Alicia. And you know why." Alicia looked up at him and shifted her books in her arms.
"Of course, how could I forget such a beautiful name as yours?" Heath commented, still writing down something.
"Heath!" The boy in glasses from last week almost skipped/ran to Heath, giving a shy wave to Alicia as he passed.
"What's up Jo Blow! How's it hanging? Someone givin' ya trouble?" Heath offered a fist bump to which little ol' Joseph had to jump to meet. He really was just a tiny thing.
"N-n-no Brian has-hasn't bothered me since." Joseph stuttered.
"Good. Dick deserved what he got. So, uh whatcha doing?" Heath asked, raising the cigarette to his lips.
"Heath." Alicia warned.
"Fine! Ugh… Fine." Heath snapped before lowering his voice, crushing the half smoked cigarette down on the wall with the force of the strike perforating the paper and crumbling extinguishing the ember
"I apologize for my temper."
Alicia was surprised by his shockingly sincere apology.
"Yeah, um it's okay. Just no smoking, or sitting on the wall again, okay?"
"Yeah… Yeah." Health reluctantly agreed, although he was really feeling uncomfortable.
"Look Joseph, I'll check you later man. Doing anything later?" Heath asked the French fry, gathering up his few papers.
"Um after class I'm walking into town to get my glasses fixed. Then l'm not doing anything." Joseph responded, a little unsure as to why Heath had asked.
"Alright, well I'll go into town with you. We can hang out or something." Heath said jumping down, the force blowing up his previously shadowing hair revealing the healing lip and nasty bruises.
"What happened Heath!? Do I need to report someone?" Alicia gasped in shock but also in pity.
"Yeah what happened Heath, was it because of me? I'm sorry…" Joseph adding in solemnly.
"Nah dude you're good. Beautiful, no need to worry. This happened a while ago. Y'know, there's always gonna be another person bigger and badder than you. I just got cocky at the wrong person. Now, I will talk to you laters Jo Blow, have a wonderful lunch Darlin'. I'll meet you on the wall tomorrow. I, on the other hand, gotta turn in my homework from today and the missing assignments from last week. See ya."
Heath didn't bother hiding his face from those two anymore but did shake it a bit so that it cover his face again from peering eyes as he jogged out the courtyard and towards the classrooms again.
"Excellent work, Mr. Napier. I didn't expect you to finish your missing assignments so soon. You did miss a considerable amount of content. Do you understand the concepts?"
Mr. Locklear said as he took the homework Heath handed him.
"Yessir. It was easy enough. Thanks… For accepting my work." Heath muttered, scratching his head, face obscured.
"I'd like to talk to you about your… Injuries." Mr. Locklear asked worryingly. Heath Napier may be a disruptive disrespectful boy, but his injuries made him worry about the boy's well being and home life.
"Everything's fine Mr. Locklear. Just a fight I got into, outside of school, of course."
"Regardless, in school or out, you need to be more careful, Heath. You need to learn which battles to fight for, and which ones you need to sideline. I'd prefer you avoid all fights, of course."
"Yessir. May I be excused?" Heath asked politely, shifting the single strap of his book bag on his shoulder. "I just have other work to turn in… Like Bio, Math, stuff."
"Erm, of course, Mr. Napier, although I severely advise you go see to the infirmary."
Heath gave a single nod and walked out the door.