Treat Me Gently

Chapter Six

Adam

I walked into the old brick building that I would soon become overly familiar with, holding my schedule in my hand to look for my first class.

I was walking closer to the lockers and kept glancing around the hallways to try and see the room numbers, but there were too many people walking past me preventing me from being able to focus. I continued to walk down the hallway, forgetting to watch where I was going.

"Woah," was the first thing I heard before looking up to see who I had accidentally bumped into.

"My bad man," I said as I looked up at a guy with dark hair and dark brown skin. He didn't seem to be mad which is what I was most grateful for.

"It's all good," he said immediately. "Wait, you're new right?"

"Yeah, Adam," I answered him, and just as he was about to say something else, two girls with their arms linked together walked past us, smiling and flipping their hair flirtatiously as they kept glancing back at me.

"Looks like you're going to be a new favorite around here," the guy chuckled after noticing what the girls had done. "I'm Aaron, did you need help looking for your class?"

"I think I do, I'll probably still manage to get lost in this little school," I chuckled.

"Alright, let me see your schedule," he said as he grabbed the paper from my hand.

He kept studying the paper as I noticed everyone around us grow more quiet. I looked around to see people whispering quietly to each other and looking in the direction of the entrance doors. I confusedly turned my head to get a glimpse of whatever had caught everyone's attention.

It was a girl.

She was pretty and short, with long and straight dark brown hair that almost reached her waist. She was looking around the school with a blank expression on her face. She didn't look excited, or sad, she looked lost, like she didn't know what she was doing here. But she clearly knew where she was going, she made her way down the hall, not saying anything to anyone she passed by, even the people who were waving at her, giving her hugs, and saying hello. She seemed to be really popular, but for whatever reason, she wasn't showing the same enthusiasm as everyone else.

"Who is that?" I asked Aaron not taking my eyes off of her as she continued down the hallway.

"Who? Oh... that's Ingrid," He answered me, his tone growing more serious.

"Ingrid," I let her name roll off my tongue, like it was a complicated word I was learning to pronounce for the first time, but completely unforgettable.

"Yeah, I'm surprised she's even here today," he said, looking in her direction with a sad expression.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"Well, Ingrid's twin sister, Isabella, passed away a month ago, from what I heard, Ingrid was a complete mess. She wasn't eating or sleeping, she ended up in the hospital a week after that." He explained sadly.

"Wow..." Was the only response I could come up with. "How did her sister die?"

"She uh..." He trailed off, like he didn't want to say the next part of his sentence. "She committed suicide."

I took in a sharp breath at his words, and looked back over at her with a sad expression as she disappeared into a classroom.

"She's strong, I'll give her that. I don't know that I could show up to school so soon after going through everything that she did."

"Yeah... That's a lot." I answered him softly.

"Okay, so this is Mrs. Quinn's class, right in that door over there." He pointed towards the same door that Ingrid had walked into.

"Alright, thanks man," I said to him, holding out my hand so he could shake it.

"No problem, hey listen, come sit with us at lunch."

"Cool, I will, thanks again," I answered him, making my way to the class.

When I walked in, there were already a lot of students piled in the classroom, some were surrounding Ingrid, but they seemed to get the hint that she didn't want to be bothered, because eventually, everyone went back to their seats.

I studied the room carefully, and started walking down the rows of desks, when I heard something fall in front of me. It was a pencil, and it was Ingrid who dropped it.

I almost hesitated to pick it up, like maybe bothering her with a dropped pencil was unnecessary, but in the end, I decided to pick it up anyway.

I gently tapped her on her shoulder instead of saying her name, so she wouldn't think it was weird for the new kid and a complete stranger to already know her name. She slowly turned her head in my direction, and looked at me with a confused expression.

"You dropped this," I said, feeling embarrassed at my pathetic attempt to talk to her.

She stared at me for a moment, a confused look on her face, probably wondering who I was since I was new to the school in a small town where everyone knows everyone.

Before, in the hallway, I could tell she was pretty, but it was nothing compared to looking at her up close. Her eyes are a light brown, and her lips are a light shade of pink, like you could tell just by looking at them that she had a kind voice.

She gently grabbed the pencil from my hand, and spoke two simple words. "Thank you."

And those words... from her voice, which was just as soft as I imagined it to be, was all I needed to hear to become completely intrigued by her.