Strawberries & Cigarettes

Chapter One

Chapter One

A slight girl with corn silk hair stands in front of a dresser, studying an object set upon it.

The object is a music box.

Her wide hazel eyes examine every visible surface, ridge, and brushstroke as she does every morning. Once satisfied, the girl takes four deep breaths.

One...

Two...

Three...

Four...

It is then, and only then, that she can go to school.

It is one of her many routines.

Her routines keep her sane.

Leighton observes the clean-cut suburban neighborhood through the spotless pane of glass that is his car window. Boys with their sagging pants and girls with their tote bags and colorful flip flops trek their way towards the direction of the local high school. He's been waiting for Charlotte for quite a while now. What was taking her so long? Glancing in the rearview mirror, he sees Ella staring out the window in boredom.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Charlotte apologizes as she climbs into the car. Her perfume permeates the air and attacks Leighton's nose in a sickly sweet punch. While he wrinkles his nose in disgust, Charlotte quickly pecks him on the cheek, oblivious to his reaction to her overwhelming scent. She leans back and furrows her brow as her eyes scan his face.

"What?" Leighton raises an eyebrow at her scrutiny.

"Oh, nothing, it's just... you're wearing your glasses." She opens her mouth as if she wants to say something else, but thinks better of it and closes it back.

"I always wear my glasses." Leighton replies, starting the car. He backs out of the driveway and onto the road.

"How about those contact lenses I gave you last week? Did you lose them?"

"No, they're just uncomfortable." Leighton states blatantly.

"Ah."

"Why?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing." Her tone contradicted her words. However, Leighton didn't sense this and the rest of the car ride was filled with the soft murmurings of the radio.

Once at the campus, Leighton got out of the car first, then went around and opened Charlotte's car door and took her bag in addition to his because that was "what good boyfriends do." So he was told.

At once, Charlotte flocked to her social circle with Leighton standing behind her, coolly detached to the conversation, yet involved enough that he wouldn't be mistaken as a loner. Leighton never really had friends; he wasn't that social of a person. The only things he liked to talk about were things he had interests in. And most people weren't interested in absolute convergence or principle quantum numbers. Thus, he stayed to himself.

Setting Charlotte's bag down, Leighton reaches into his back pocket, unravels the wire from his iPod, and sticks the ear buds into his ears. Charlotte stops talking and glances over at him with a slight frown.

"Babe, where are the new headphones I got you for your birthday?" She asks gently.

"Oh, they were too bulky and I prefer earphones anyways," Leighton murmurs, already lost in the words of J.D. Salinger. His words clearly upset her, but she puts on a fake smile and replies with an, "Oh," then returns back to the conversation she was having with a girl with wine red hair.