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Michael Clifford shuffled his beat up black converse down the empty school hallway thinking about being somewhere far better than where he was. And where he was, was school. It was his fifth day being late to classes due to pleading his mother through tears to let him stay home. But she would refuse to let her son miss a day of education, though he would make a compromise to only skip first period trying desperately to ovoid Luke Hemmings.

Luke Hemmings, or the reincarnation of the devil as Michael would say, bullied him more than you could ever imagine. In fact, it seemed as if he woke up everyday solely to make Michaels life a living hell. He started being a problem freshman year of high school and just like a sweaty gym bag smell he stuck around up to senior year. Even though he's been around for four years now, the worst thing Luke has ever done to Michael was just last week, and he'd rather not remember it.

Instead of wasting anymore time thinking about Luke Hemmings, he decided to go back to his dream world only he could see. But his perfect paradise was whisked away by the sound of a bell ringing, he gasped and stopped in his tracks. Classroom doors flew open as herds of high school students flooded out like rushing waters ready to sweep Michael away like a piece of drift wood. He gulped and pressed the book he was carrying tightly against his chest.

" watch it " a tall boy snapped at him as he bumped him from behind. Michael observed the boy was wearing a football jersey, typical he thought, filling the mold of the classic meat head jock.

Michael backed against the lockers aligned along the wall and watched the traffic pass him by. He knew he'd have to step out and get to class at some point, but the safety of the sidelines were so inviting he'd rather not leave.

As the murmurs of conversation became less dense, he decided to walk away from the wall and into the walkway. Just as he stepped out he was nudged by a person walking by. He quickly looked to his right to see the vision of beauty he always imagined in his daydreams.

Her long flowing golden brown lochs cascaded down past her shoulder and ended in a curl, she looked at him with her sparkling green eyes that were a few shades bluer than his and had seen more happiness than he could ever imagine. Her lips parted temporarily to form a single word he would remember forever " sorry " she had said as she bumped into his shoulder, passing by in the over crowded hallways of their school.

Michael felt her brush against him for one second and instantly he could feel the blood rush to his cheeks and tint his porcelain skin a rosy pink. He slowly brought his lips to form a small closed mouth smile to express the momentary happiness he got from her acknowledgment that he existed. And even though she was far off down the hall to her next class, he still day reminisced about what had just happened.

His concentration was broken by a sudden shout of exclamation " Michael! " he heard someone yell from behind him, knowing it was one of his friends he turned around with a stupid smile of affection.

The dark haired boy who had called him scrunched his face up in confusion " what's with you? " he asked, walking closer till they were an appropriate conversations length away.

" she talked to me Calum " Michael replied with a sigh, flashing back to the exact moment she spoke to him.

" what did you say? " Calum asked, surprised he had human contact with someone not in his friend group.

" well..nothing.. "

" nothing? Mike you're so quiet, speak up " his friend hit him on the shoulder playfully.

The words hurt him more than the physical contact " I'm not quiet, I'm just creative " Michael defended himself.

" what's that supposed to mean? "

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