When the Dark Meets Light

No Foul

   I  had always remembered it as a gloomy place. Never knowing when the real hatred would kick in from my peers. But I was a senior in my last month of school and I wouldn't really miss it. All those kids were urged to be perfect and do everything they could to be perfect. I never understood the appeal of wanting to be seen. And that's exactly why people hated me. I was odd, never fitting into the norm of what was called school.  I suppose I was the only one to see it for myself. High school was a place that nobody wanted to go to unless you were the teacher's pet. Or you could just be the person who actually wanted to learn. Now that was odd.

     I opened my locker to put my books and such in. Heading for my next class, I slammed into the very person I did not want to bump into as I was turning the corner. Rick Monroe. Although everyone called him Ricky. He had been my tormenter for my whole four years of this hell.  I immediately averted my gaze down to the books that had fallen all over the nasty muted brown carpet of the hall.  Just waiting for the insults and belittling that would surely come from his mouth. But he didn't say anything. I could feel his eyes peering down on me as if he were thinking of what to do. 

"Sorry." He said with a hit of genuine apology in his tone.

"It's fine, I bumped into you." I said, still looking at my scattered books on the floor. 

"Here, let me." he said as he stooped to pick up my books from the ragged ground.

   I could not believe what was happening at that moment. I was more waiting for him to pick them up and throw them or something, but he didn't. He handed me the books carefully and looked at me with an odd look in his eye. I stared at him in complete disbelief. What was he doing this for? Were his friends waiting somewhere to pull a prank on me or something? I was half expecting for his friends to come out and shoulder-check me or something along the lines of that. But they didn't.  What was going on right now?

My gaze met his and for a moment I could see real pain in his eyes. I could not yet decipher what that pain was. But I almost felt bad for him. I turned quickly on my heels and made my way to Chemistry.