Yellow

6

-Day 16-

Hazel. As soon as I've closed my locker there is nothing but the colour hazel, directly infront of me, staring at me. To be more precise, it's her who is staring at me. And I'm staring back at her, plunging into the hazel of her eyes, floating on the hazel of her eyes and getting carried away by the hazel of her eyes. "Hi", she says, still looking up at me. I must be about a good head taller than her, but me being really tall, I'm already used to people looking up at me. I clear my throat. "Uhm", is all I manage to get out so I clear my throat again and I can already sense my face reddening. "Hi, I guess?", I finally say and kind of lean against my locker, forcing myself to relax. She's just a human. And human's are okay, right, Art? "Yesterday, when I was sitting in bed drinking a cup of tea, I felt the urge to ask you how you were doing. So today, when I finally crawled out of said bed, I decided I would go ahead and ask you how you're doing!", she explains with a loud, confident voice. Normally, I don't like to surround myself with loud, confident people, but she is okay. Strangely, she's even more than okay. I like her being confident and not too shy to talk to me. Actually, I'm really glad she had the guts to talk to me because I certainly wouldn't have been brave enough to talk to her, totally out of the blue.

"Alright, I'm quite good today, astoundingly. And you?", my voice is a little shaky, she probably can easily tell how nervous I am to be talking to her. She begins to explain to me how happy she is to be talking to me and how her day has been up to now. Talkactive is definitely an adjective I'd choose when asked to describe her. "By the way, what is your name?", I interrupt her at some point a while later when we're already on our way to the main entrance of the school. We've decided, or I should better say, she has decided that we should go outside into the fresh air instead of always being inside. I'm supposed to be learning something about Hitler and the Nazis in Germany right now, but I'd probably do anything to be able to spend some time with her, so I just follow her. "My name's Alice. Alice like the one who visited Wonderland, but I'm not as cool as that Alice", she replies, pushing the doors open and leading us into the open space.

It's almost noon now and I have spent the whole morning inside, trapped under neonlights and cold stares of my classmates. The sky stretching out far above our heads is surprisingly blue and I start to really appreciate the fact that our school is mostly surrounded by woods and meadows. I used to hate my town, being so small and rural and all, but I realized just how much nature and peace I really do need to have around me. "And what about you?", she suddenly interrupts my thoughts and there's a small hint of shyness in her voice, unsettling me. "I'm Arthur. Just Arthur, there's nothing interesting behind it at all.", I answer honestly. My parents once told me that they simply liked the sound and spelling of my name and so they chose it, instead of naming me after their favourite singer or author or something. "I'm sure there's a interesting story behind your name! There's always an interesting stroy behind every name there is and ever was, even if it's not at all connected to yourself but to an other Arthur, in your case.", she smiles and her whole face immediately lights up, as though a little lamp insinde her head started to shine. It just might be one of the most beautiful sights I ever had infront of me.

We spent a whole hour sitting on a bench under a huge tree with yellow leaves and I actually smiled maybe once or twice. She did most of the talking, asking me questions about my favourite bands and books and artists and in return answering the same questions for herself. I just leaned back and watched the clouds pass by, studied her face and nodded whenever needed.

Right now, I'm standing in the driveway to our house, my bicycle still leaned against me because as soon as I got here I felt the sudden urge to write everything down. After said hour spent talking and talking and talking, she at some point checked her clock and jumped up and told me she had to go now, her family was apparently waiting for her and she waved and then vanished to go and find her bike. So I got up too, unlocked my bike and turned around the corner just in time to see her cycling farther down the street. Her hair was blowing in the wind like a dark cloud and her red pullover seemed to shine even brighter against all the other people walking down the street wearing mostly black, grey and brown. Sadly, I had to go into the opposite direction since our house was still further out of town.

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Even my father, who normally does not talk to me very much, noticed how different I am today. He just now asked me why I was in such a good mood and I smiled and shrugged, not knowing either why exactly I was so happy.

And even now, lying in bed and listening to calm music that always makes me kind of sad, I'm still feeling easy and simple and free and not heavy or dark or confused at all.