Danny Hacker.

Chapter 1: Walker.

"Ben Bentley?" I hear the teacher call out for attendance.
"Here." I respond before lowering my head down to my notebook.
"Ah hello! You must be my new pupil, Miss. Jones.. correct?" I hear the teacher say and lift up my head. I see a very thin girl with bleached blonde hair and slightly darkened roots standing in the doorway of the classroom. She was wearing a soft-looking mauve long sleeved tight sweater tucked into a pair of worn out mom jeans cuffed at the ankles. "Yes that's me" she said with a soft, gentle voice.
"Where should I sit?" She added looking nervously around at the class.
"You can take a seat at that empty desk there." The teacher pointed at the desk diagonal from mine.
She nods and takes the seat, setting her things under her chair in the process.
For the remaining time I couldn't help but stare at her. It was so hard not to, I had never seen a girl who looked that beautiful before. When the bell rang Shawn Bradley, a very popular football player, ran into her as he was moving down the isle-way causing her to drop all of her stuff.
"Oh my bad." He said in a cruel condescending way. "You should really watch where you're standing." He added with a laugh.
She watched him leave and then let out a sigh, bending down to collect her things. Everyone else had already walked out except her and I hesitated to help her, but finally got up the courage. "Oh.. thank you, you didn't have to-"no it's okay. Shawn Bradley is a jerk, I'm happy to help." I said cutting her off.
She gave a gentle closed lip smile and finished picking her things up.
"So what's your next class?" I asked as I handed her one of her folders. "I go to art class next" she said checking her schedule. "Hey me too I'll walk you there" I said giving her a smile.
When she walked down the hallway I never once saw her lift her head. Her eyes were locked on her feet.
Throughout art class the teacher marveled at her work. She had ended up sitting next to me and she did have a lot of talent with a paintbrush. The tables in the art room were big enough to seat two people and once we picked our seats, that was it for the rest of the year so I knew I'd have plenty of opportunities to talk to her.
"Hey.." I said leaning towards her a little, keeping my voice down so I wouldn't disrupt the class. "I don't think I ever caught your name."
She turned around from her painting and smiled.
"My name's Walker. And you are?" She asked curiously. "I'm Ben." I said smiling back.
"Well it's really nice to meet you Ben" she said not breaking her smile, she rubbed her hands on her pant legs and held one out for me to shake. I shook it back and replied "you too" and we both continued to paint.
_______
Mom woke me up the next morning in a hurry. "Wake up Ben!" She said loudly. "Mom it's Saturday there's no school today.." I groaned and shoved my pillow over my face. "Yes yes I know but I need you to grab a prescription from the pharmacy and I'm running late for work." She said ripping the pillow away from my face. "Okay fine I'm getting up" I whined and rolled out of my bed. I made myself a piece of toast and hustled outside, slamming the door behind me. I didn't have a car or a bike or anything like that so I always had to walk wherever I went but I didn't mind it that much. After I got my mom's medicine from the pharmacy I thought I'd go see my friend Ronnie Underwood who worked at the Grease Garage. It was this old car shop that the kid loved to go to because it was filled with old fashioned rusty cars and he had a thing for that. As I walked I passed storefront after storefront and would often peek inside to see if anything stuck out to me. Across the street from where I was standing there stood the brightest little store in the whole stretch. While the other stores were bland grey, black or sometimes dark green colored, this one was yellow with greenish blue shutters on the windows and an orange frame around the door. The actual door was painted with flowers because it was a flower shop. The building used to be boring like all of the others until like a week ago when it just randomly changed. I watched as the door opened and was surprised to see Walker step out. She yelled something back in and then shut the door behind her. She had a basket of flowers in her hands and I watched as she hooked it onto a pale blue bicycle leaning against the building front. I watched her pedal down the sidewalk and wondered where she was going. I decided not to follow her because I didn't want her to catch me and think that I was stalking her or something. So I set off for the Grease Garage which was just around the bend.
"Aye Bentley! How goes it?" Ronnie said as I walked into the garage. "Sup Ron." I replied looking around. I've never really talked much so I usually give short answers to people.
"Check out this sweet piece of metal I picked up from the junkyard last week!" Ronnie said excitedly.
"Yeah that's great." I responded, very unimpressed.
My focus turned to the opening of the garage. I could see the yellow reflection of the flower shop in the storefront windows nearby. I sighed and said "show me more Ron." Doing my best to distract myself.