Jane [h.s.]

one

Harry

He stood rocking on his heels with his hands behind his back, "Jane?"

The girl in front of him looked up with slightly wide eyes, as if he had woken her from some strange dream.

"Yes?" Her voice was soft and extremely timid compared to the other kids' that were running around the playground, giggling and screaming and he almost had to strain his ears to hear her.

Harry looked at her curiously, there was this weird look to her eyes that almost diverted him from asking the question that he had come over to ask her.

Jane was quiet and always kept to herself. Everyone had tried to be her friend at first, but eventually they stopped trying because, sometimes, she would start yelling at things that weren't there or just bursting out in tears.

At some point, everyone started to pretend that she wasn't there, except Harry. He felt bad that she didn't have any friends and he really wanted to know why she was the way that she was.

Childhood curiosity got the best of him today and he was going to ask her the questions that battered his brain day in and day out.

Suddenly, he was nervous. Maybe it was the way that she was looking at him like he was going to hurt her, or like he was some sort of science experiment. Or maybe it was because, now that he was looking at her, he noticed that she was really pretty with her light brown hair and the freckles that dotted her cheeks.

"I...uh...why don't you want any friends?"

Jane continued to stare at him for a moment before her eyes darted back and forth, like she was afraid that someone was watching her. Her hands twisted in her lap and her voice grew even softer, "Because I'm different."

Harry sat down beside her and looked down at his shoes, "Why are you different?"

Jane continued to look around nervously, her hands started to tremble, "I don't know."

He'd opened his mouth to say something along the lines of, "That's okay, I like different," but then she started shouting.

It started out softly, and rose to a crescendo in only a few moments.

"Stop it...no! Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!"

She was scaring him, but he didn't get up or move away. Their teacher had taken notice and was looking at the two of them with concern, but she only stood from the bench to get a better look before she decided if she needed to go over or not.

His voice trembled and he forced himself to ask, "S-stop what Jane? You're scaring me."

"Get away! Go!"

Jane screamed. Mrs. Hillary ran over and pulled Harry away from her without even trying to ask what had happened and without trying to help Jane with whatever was wrong.

"No! Let me stay! Help her!"

. . .

The pristine walls seemed to get further and further away the longer he stared at them. He'd been here a thousand times before, but nothing like this had ever happened until he saw the girl with the faded freckles and light brown hair from across the room.

Rosalie stared at him blankly and waited for him to say something. She hated to speak first and hardly ever did, and sometimes it wasn't even her that he was talking to.

He chose his words carefully, "Rosalie, do you know who that girl is, the one over there?"

His finger pointed to where the girl sat on the opposite end of the room and Rosalie's nearly gray eyes followed slowly. She stared for a moment before turning back around and shaking her head to affirm that she didn't.