⭐️ starstruck

🩶 lone - 1

"Used to being alone and bored"

—🩶—

Kanaka basked in the remaining traces of sunlight as she sat lone in the corner of her high school's courtyard, watching the sun set. Goosebumps rose on her pale skin as a tender breeze drifted by, leaves dancing in satisfaction upon feeling their familiar friend. She spotted a few blue jays in the distant treetops, twittering cheerfully in the shifting, shadowed foliage. The serene music emitting from her dark gray headphones relaxed her tense shoulders, contrasting from the backbreaking posture she had in her classes hours earlier.

The sky was a beautiful shade of magenta and amber as the sun completed its slow descent. Although she felt cold in her short-sleeved uniform, Kanaka felt more refreshed out in the open than she did in the bustling school. Throughout the week, a barrage of tests had mercilessly assaulted her left and right. Kanaka regretted not studying, and cursed her past self for her overconfidence. But unfortunately, she couldn't change the past, as badly as she wanted to.

This was a pleasant way to unwind, though; with how slow nature was, there was much less to process and pay attention to. The teen closed her eyes and took a deep breath, a soft cloud of mist appearing as she exhaled.

Kanaka leaned back against the sturdy wooden bench, which felt oddly comfortable in the moment, and fluttered her weary, half-lidded eyes shut. Another gust flew by. She didn't have time for these loud worries. The world had already silenced.

"What are you still doing here?"

Well, good things can never last, can they?

Kanaka jumped a little, not expecting to hear the familiar, inquiring tone of voice so suddenly in the midst of her alone time. Well, all her time was alone time, technically. She quickly took off her headphones as they found a comfortable spot on her neck, the music automatically turning off. Her aureate eyes darted toward the janitor's questioning gaze. Guessing from the way he looked at her, she couldn't make up another one of her infamous excuses for the third time this month.

The schoolgirl opened and closed her mouth, unsure of what to say. The janitor continued to give her a judgmental stare that had become a signature of his as she stood up and resigned with a sigh of defeat, "I'll go."

The older, black-haired male seemed to smile a bit in satisfaction, "Good. Now, don't let me catch you after hours again, or else I'll have to report it. We've been seeing more kids trying to cheat by attempting to snatch up answer sheets."

"I can't blame them," she muttered under her breath with a roll of her eyes.

"Hm? What'd you say?"

Kanaka glanced over at the man for a moment. She then sighed and replied, her voice a hint irritated. "You know I wouldn't do that, right?"

The janitor smiled. "While I may know, the teachers might not," he said, affectionately rustling her tidy tan hair. "Now, run along." Kanaka huffed, quietly grumbling something under her breath but not fighting back. The friendly blue-eyed janitor is the one person Kanaka ever held a semi-decent conversation with. Though, that was mostly because he repeatedly told her to stop hanging out on campus after school, which she begrudgingly listened to. Seeing her almost get lost in thought again, the janitor made a shooing gesture to her before getting back to work.

Kanaka merely rolled her eyes as she turned and walked away, silence trailing behind her. Now this was better. It's not very necessary to make friends or get close to someone. Talk to people for—well, long enough—and eventually, the world would go quiet again, one way or another. So, she just removed that first step. Silence didn't make for bad company anyway.

As she climbed over the courtyard's fence and exited the school's campus, dusting herself off, she looked up and found herself meeting someone's wide azure eyes. She blinked in surprise. A lot of people seemed to want to surprise her today, Kanaka dryly observed as she examined him. Oh, a classmate in her grade. He's sort of popular, isn't he? What was his name... Aiden? Anyway, she swiftly noticed that the brunette was just as surprised as she was.

Right..

She had climbed the school's seven-foot tall, chained fence, which was a security measure to keep people from getting either in or out, with absolute ease. Not to mention, way after school had ended for the day.

Letting out a small sigh, she awkwardly glanced away for a moment before shrugging and starting to walk off. Whatever daze or trance Adam was going through quickly ended as he looked towards her, startled. He then started jogging to catch up. "Hey, wait up!"

Kanaka continued to walk.

Letting out a puff of air in disbelief, he finally made his way beside the teen, fidgeting with and tying his crooked hoodie strings. "What were you doing back there??"

Her golden eyes once again seemed to analyze his cerulean ones. His hands froze, and before he could speak up again, Kanaka bluntly stated, "Hanging out in the courtyard. Is that all you jogged after me for? Considering I was obviously ignoring you, I thought it would be something more important."

The dark-haired male was momentarily stunned at this, his hands dropping to his sides. Before she could try escaping again, he sputtered out quickly, "What's your name? I'm Akarui."

"Ohhh, I knew that." The schoolgirl let out a small scoff at his panic, turning away and murmuring hesitantly, "Kanaka." She then started to walk away again.

Akarui stood there for a moment, simply watching as she walked off to who knows where. Despite his shock at her utter disrespect towards him, he couldn't help but feel a bit curious. How could someone be so brave as to shoot him down and dismiss him that quickly? How could someone be so distant to one of their classmates?

Akarui shook his head, chewing at the nubs of the battered strings his light gray hoodie held. "Kanaka, huh?" he echoed to himself as the ends of his mouth twitched upwards.

He would remember that name.

—🩶—

The color gray "has a calming, unemotional effect and can be somewhat draining on its own..."