Inferior: Draft 2 [ON HOLD]

Two

Finally. My stop. I stand by the doors and the subway slows to a stop. I'm the first off the subway when the folding doors open. I step onto the platform and break into a jog, heading towards the stairs. I head up the stairs and step into the sunlight. I squint for a moment, swaying on the concrete like a blade of grass in the wind. I begin to fall back when I feel a hand on my back, holding me up. I jerk away, scared and shocked, as I turn around to see blonde hair and pale green eyes. I turn back to face the direction I need to go and run off. I see the faded red façade and sigh. That was weird. I jog to my first hour. It's the first day of the new school year. And I'm sitting at a table. Alone. Like usual. I pull my hood farther forward so that it covered more of my face. I move to rest my head on my forearms when I remember. Right, yesterday was cutting day. I sigh and set my head on the table instead. The teacher starts the lesson and about 6 minutes in, a blonde, jade green-eyed boy rushes in. My first impression, He's the boy who caught me. He has pale/tan skin and rushes out an excuse, "I'm so sorry, the bus was late and then I had to get my schedule and...". Mrs. Oliver cuts him off.
"It's fine, and it's your first day at Hillridge High! What's your name?"
"Jayden Larson."
"The only available seat is next to Lexis, in the hoodie back there." She casts him a sorrowful look, which he ignores. He walks up to my table and sits down next to me, only a few inches separate us. I hide my face in my hood. Jayden pokes me.
"What?" I ask, irritated. He points to Hannah and Meg and their group.
"They're laughing at you."
"I don't care." He stands up, walks up to them and says something inaudible. The gaggle of girls raise their eyebrows. They're astonished that Jayden talked back to them, probably. He says something else to them and then walks back over to me. He has a big grin plastered on his face. My wrists itch, begging me to cut. I tell him, "I'm going to the bathroom." He nods and I stumble to the biggest stall and get to work on my arms. After a few minutes of work with the razor blades, I have a few dozen shallow cuts from my elbow to my wrist. They are perfectly horizontal and match up nicely. I pull the gauze from my bag and tape up my arms. Then, I slip back into my hoodie and move unnoticed out of the bathroom, back to class. I slide into my seat and Jayden glances at me for a moment before returning to his work. I slip out a piece of paper from my tattered blue paper folder and grab my pencil, scratching out the answers to the questions on the board at record speed. This assignment was way too easy. I sit back after about a minute. Jayden just stares at me. I quickly cover up my face with my worn hoodie but he moves it back, getting a better look at my face. I look down, embarrassed. All I can think is that if he knew I cut, he would be 50 miles away by now.