Danny Hacker.

Chapter 3: Careful When You Walker Home.

The next day when I walked to my seat I noticed that Walker's desk was empty. I didn't think much of it and started sketching in my notebook. I felt something hit the back of my neck and bounce onto the floor. Shawn was tossing crumpled up pieces of paper at me from his seat. I rolled my eyes and turned back to look at the teacher. She knew what was going on but it didn't seem like she was in the mood to be bothered by Shawn today so I looked back at my notebook. I noticed a shadow hovering over me and watched as a small hand collected the pieces of paper that surround my desk. It was Walker. She gave me a sympathetic smile and walked to the trash can by the teachers desk and threw them away. "Oh thank you Walker! You saved the janitor from extra work!" The teacher exclaimed with a smile. "Anytime!" Walker replied giving the teacher one last smile before returning to her seat.
I couldn't help myself from wondering, how could a person be so nice? I mean I've met nice people before who could still be hurtful at times. Heck, I like to believe that I'm a generally nice person, but even I have bad days. It seemed like Walker had never had a bad day in her entire life.
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I was excited when the weekend rolled around and jumped out of bed. I threw on a grey pullover, black jeans and my old sneakers and sprinted out the door. It was usually pretty hot around here but I wasn't a fan of short sleeves. As I got closer to the Grease Garage I slowed and looked at the flower store. Walker was painting more flowers at the top left corner of the large storefront window. Today she was wearing a tight fitted, light blue sweater, tucked into a short blue and yellow floral skirt and she had on white Keds. She was standing on a small stepladder to reach the spot she was working at. She honestly could have reached the spot if she wanted, she really wasn't that short. But I guess she wanted a better angle. I was surprised she was wearing such a nice outfit paint in, but alas she didn't spill a single drop. Her hand moved swiftly and steadily with each stroke, I was almost hypnotized until someone shouted "hey look girls, it's Bones Jones!" Followed by a fit of obnoxious girly giggles, broke me out of my trance. I watched as a group of about 6 or 7 girls from my school approached Walker. She stepped down from the ladder and gently set her paint and brushes to the ground. I couldn't make out what she was saying back to them but she still had the smile on her face. I could see the girls snickering and pointing at her body before strutting away. I watched at Walkers smile began to fade, her head and shoulders began to droop and she fidgeted with her fingers for a moment. Then she glanced around before climbing onto her bike and riding down through an alleyway. I thought I should follow her, she just seemed so down and I wanted to make sure she was okay.
I stayed pretty far back from her so I wouldn't spook her. As she rode, and I followed, I noticed her hair. Her roots were coming in a lot and they were very dark while the rest was bright bleach blonde. I had noticed her roots a little before but it wasn't until now that it hit me that she wasn't a natural blonde.
I looked up and realized she was beginning to slowdown as we approached a neighborhood. I decided to call out to her, it felt wrong following her without her knowing. "H-hey Walker!" I managed to push out. She pushed on her breaks and completely stopped at the entrance of the neighborhood and balanced her and the bike on her left foot. She turned to look at me and to my surprise she wasn't smiling—well.. she wasn't necessarily frowning either, but she had this strange blank stare on her face as if her mind was completely vacant. She swung her right leg off and applied her bikes kickstand before walking towards me a bit. "Are you gonna call me Bones Jones and laugh at me too..?" She asked, still holding that blank stare. It was strange the way her eyes pierced into mine without her face looking the slightest bit angry. "N-no.. actually I was just passing by." I responded not sure if I should walk any closer to her. And then like a light switch, it was like a toy robot, slumped over and powerless, being turned on again. I could literally see light grow into her eyes and color back into her cheeks and that smile that could make anyone's day brighter take its place back on her face. "Oh. I'm so sorry I guess I just had a bit of an off day. Please don't take my attitude personally!" She said with almost puppy dog eyes. "It okay I get those days too." I said flashing a half smile and shrugging. "Well my house is just a few houses down but you're welcome to walk with me the rest of the way if you'd like to." She said not looking away from my eyes. "Sure." I said as we turned down her road. Her neighborhood seemed so grey and colorless. In fact our entire town looked a lot like this. Our school colors were literally black and grey and I don't think I've ever seen anyone (besides Walker) ever wear bright colors. The closest anyone got to bright was forest green or navy blue. How could such a bright and lively girl live in a place like this? "Well this is me." She said, breaking me out of my thoughts. I looked up, shocked to see a large, dark, creepy house. It almost looked like something out of a horror movie. It was all the way at the end of the neighborhood, and it was pushed back very far as if it didn't want to be close to the other houses. While the other houses had yards of nice green, precisely chopped grass. Hers was surrounded by a field of tall brown blades. Stretching around the perimeter of the home was a tall medal fence that looked like it had pointy black spears on the top. She began fumbling with a gate attached to the fence until it opened with a slow creaking noice that gave me chills. "Thank you for walking me home Ben. I'll see you soon!" She called as she walked towards her front door. I gave her a shaky wave back to her before watching her disappear into the old, dark house.