The Boy in Black

1

He noticed her on day one of his own personal hell. He noticed her slumping back in her squeaky chair a few seats in front of him after seeing a red D marked on her test paper.

He watched as she stared at the letter as if it would somehow magically turn into an A, and he chuckled lightly to himself while shoving his paper with his usual red F and personal note from the instructor telling him to stay after class for not circling a single answer.

How could he though? How could he possibly work on pointless assignments while the girl he would fall in love with sat just a few seats from him. That was a a few months ago, though. And ever since then he found an interest in watching her. It happened fast, too fast. It gave him whiplash at how fast he felt his heart beat for someone other than himself.

"Mattie, would you read the first paragraph for us please?" Mr. Hopkins had asked her as the boy in blacks eyes shifted to the girl wearing her usual oversized tee, leggings and chucks.

That was the first time he had ever heard her name. And with a quick search, he had found her full name: Mattie Noelle.

He would dream of that name. He would even whisper it to himself as he looked through his window as she danced to the music that her mother would have a panic attack over if she had seen her innocent daughter dancing to it.

Her innocent daughter. He laughed at the thought, remembering the way that she'd explore her body under the covers almost every single night. He memorized the way her cheeks would turn pink when she would touch that certain spot, he memorized the way she looked when she moaned, lips parted and eyebrows scrunched together. The way she-

"Jaxson Maddox, head up please." He heard Mr. Hopkins ask while tapping his pointer finger upon his desk. Jaxson rose his head up seconds afterward, and pushed his messy black hair up and off of his forehead as he noticed the class looking in his direction.

"What?" He snapped at his classmates, feeling the hell within himself instantly extinguish as he caught sight of Mattie Noelle softly smiling at him. He swallowed his fear and grinned in her direction, causing her cheeks to flush and head to turn back around towards the front of class.

He knew then that her eyes were green. Green became his new favorite color.

"Cool it, Maddox." Mr. Hopkins mumbled in his direction just as the bell rang, addressing that school was finally over.

He loved hearing that bell, he loved it because it meant that he could go to his house with the large oak tree in the front that covered the sun, leaving the darkness to cover him at all times just like he wanted it too. Just like it was meant too.

Jaxson's parents were deceased, leaving his well to do uncle to pay the bills each month without even having to live there. Jaxson hated him, but needed his money so he could stay under the roof of the dark house to look at the girl that he loved each day.

He watched Mattie as she scrambled to pick up two thick textbooks on her desk, but failed as one of them slid from her fingertips and onto her foot. Jaxson was quick to stand up as she let out a soft yelp, and the sound broke him silently.

He bent over, picking the book up and placing it back into her hands. He was hesitant to look at her from this close, for he was afraid that he would fall from being too weak at the knees. As she thanked him with pain still laced in her voice, he gave in and looked up into her deep emerald eyes that reminded him of the leaves from the oak tree at his home in the summer.