'You're so... pretty.' He pulled my hair making my head tilt back and I looked at him with little emotion on my face. That's always how I'd been, no emotion on my face, just beauty, that's what I'd been told at least. But I feel so much, all the time, but it's hidden behind a wall that I can't tear down, because it was built from such a young age. 'Such a pretty face, and yet you never smile.' He said softening his hold on my hair and letting his hand slide to the side of my face to cup my cheek as he looked at me firmly, a concerning look covering his face. It was interesting, I was never able to mimic things like that. His thumb pushed my lips open and he pushed it inside my mouth, running it over my tongue before removing the didget and pushing his lips against mine, tongue invading my mouth.
'Lincoln.' I whispered, my body was hot and I wasn't sure if I wanted him to keep going or stop. I turned my face away but he didn't like this, he shoved me back and I fell, tripping on a stray root and I fell on my ass.
'You think you're better than me Asher?' He stepped over the root and the moonlight chased the shadow on his face away revealing a large scar that ran across his eyes, like a pale super hero mask in contrast to his olive tanned skin.
I looked at him with large eyes. The scar had cause his eyes to turn a bright blue, they used to be a dark blue when we were younger, but he moved away and when he came back they were like this.
'Lincoln.' I whispered once again and he grit his teeth before tugging his hood over his head and stalking off back towards the footpath he'd dragged me from. I laid back and looked up at the treetops. I ran my fingers over the woodchips and took a deep breath before getting up and heading back to the path myself. Our small town was surrounded by woods, we weren't a big town so we didn't have a proper mall, we did have a diner and a general store, but if you wanted big brand shops you had to head to the next town over nearly two hours away. The high school was like any normal school, we actually started school tomorrow, it was my senior year this year and I'd worked so hard into getting a scholarship and early admittance to college next year. I'd find out soon, I'd applied for early entry to college, because of my high IQ I also took a lot of my senior classes last year so I didn't have much to do this year.
'Hey kiddo, it's pretty late, where have you been?' I looked at my dad as he walked in from the back yard, beer in hand, he smiled at me encouragingly.
'I ran into... someone.'
'Oh? A friend?' He smiled looking surprised. I looked down and swallowed before walking further into the house and into my room. I showered and got ready for bed, making sure that everything was ready in my bag for tomorrow.
'You're not still studying are you kiddo?' Dad asked leaning against the door and I shook my head. This made him laugh. 'You know China, that office girl from work really likes you, she's about your age, she's always going on about how pretty you are. You definitely got your looks from your mother.' He smiled sadly at his feet and I paused, my fingers frozen, I took a deep breath and quickly zipped my bag up. 'Anyway, maybe you should ask her out? I'm sure she'd say yes.' I shrugged, I didn't really want to, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings. 'I'll see you tomorrow night when I get back from the mines. I love you, have a good day at school.' With that he left me alone once again. My dad worked in the mines as a coal miner, my mum died when I was younger so it's just him and me, I try and do the best I can so he doesn't have to do a lot when he gets home.
I lay in bed thinking about what the hell happened in order for my old childhood friend to kiss me. It was a normal day like any other, I went to the library, sat in my corner on the second floor that was reserved for quiet study when the school was open, I read this great book about the last remaining heir and how she'd had her memories taken by 'god' blah blah blah, arranged a marriage with a man she barely knew but knew he would help her people, ended up falling in love with him and together they over threw her uncle who had killed her family because he had a massive sister complex for her mum. After I finished the book I realised it was nearly five, dad liked me home by five thirty latest and the library closed at five anyway, so I headed home when I noticed someone in a hoodie walking behind me, my heart rate picked up but I continued on home until the buildings on my left turned to trees and I was pulled back inside the tree line. I struggled a little and that caused the hood to fall revealing Lincoln. Our mums had been friends from high school all the way through college and they even got pregnant at the same time. So Lincoln and I grew up together, he was very sporty, he played little league when he was five and mum and I would go and watch his games.
'Did you see Asher? Did you see me throw the ball?' Lincoln ran up to me and grabbed my wrists tightly. I was a little panicked, he'd always been quite a boisterous kid where I wasn't.
'I saw, I saw.' I said and he grinned.
'It was pretty cool right? It went really far! You think it was cool?'
'Y-yeah, cool.' My mum grinned down at me as I looked at her.
I wasn't sure if I was saying the right thing, at the time I didn't socialize with a lot of people, Lincoln even got mad sometimes when we were in the first grade and another kid would talk to me but he would just push in and spend time with me. Then his dad got a transfer, he was a police officer and they had to move away, Lincoln threw an absolute fit on moving day and I remember him looking at me with a really determined look.
'You're going to remember me right? Right Asher?' I remember looking at him with confusion before saying; 'Why would I forget you?' He then started crying again and his dad picked him up and they left, they moved a real distance away so we couldn't see each other often and we were too young to make phone calls or anything so we didn't speak again. But tonight, when he shoved me up against a tree, his hood fell and I stared into his blue eyes, the pale twisted skin around them making the blue almost crystal like. The only things he said to me were that I was pretty, my face heating when I remembered him saying it, my hand reaching up to tug at my hair slightly but it didn't feel the same. I don't know why he said that I think I'm better than him, maybe his scars over his eyes make him insecure?
I fell asleep thinking about it, about him, and soon I was woken by the alarm going off on my side table and I sorted myself for school. I showered and put deodorant on before pulling a light blue long sleeve on and jeans, I put on a jade pendant necklace my mum gave me that was bound and dressed on a black leather cord before putting some wax in my hair and pulling my bag on before going down stairs to get breakfast and make lunch. I didn't like buying lunch even though dad said I could if I wanted to. Mum used to make me lunches plus the cafeteria food at school wasn't always the greatest. I ate my toast and put my lunch in my bag, grabbing my keys and locking the door on the way out, shoving them into my bag and starting the walk to school. It was only a ten minute walk and I saw a lot of the kids that lived in the area walking to the primary school with their parents or older siblings before they came to the high school.
