Escape

Chapter II - Walk (Then)

The first week back was absolutely crazy. Applications for on-campus jobs, homework, unpacking and fraternity and sorority parties all vied for their attention. Louis and Daphne were excited and sad at the same time to start their last year. And Hannah, Liam, Niall and Zayn were more than thrilled to not be freshmen anymore.

Before the week began, they looked at their schedules and realized they could only have lunch together on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Little did they know one particular Thursday would forever change all of their lives.

"Lou, I forgot a knife. Could you get me one, please?" Daphne looked at her grilled chicken and wondered how she would cut it with just her plastic fork.

"Here, use mine, Love." Louis smiled as he knew that wouldn't fly with her. She wasn't a germophobe but she wasn't friends with them either. "Just kidding. I'll get you one."

"G'Day, Daphne, oh, fair maiden!" Liam sat down at the table with Zayn following. Their last class was English Literature and they were still in Shakespearean character.

"Why, hello, thou good prince. And Zayn. How goes it?"

"Oh, it goes jus' swell." Zayn rolled his eyes as he speared his fork into his spaghetti.

"You should've seen him in class, D. He walked up to the white board and- and toilet paper was stuck to his shoe! It was great." Liam covered his laugh as it was a little too hearty.

"Oh, knock i' off, L." Zayn smirked to himself thinking that it was funny, but it would've been funnier had it been Liam or anyone else for that matter.

"Here you go, Love." Louis returned with a pristine knife for his lovely girlfriend. "Oh, hello, guys!"

"Hey, Lou-."

"Top o' the mornin'. Oh, it's afternoon, isn't it?" Hannah smiled and sat down at the end of table with Niall.

"Hello, you two. You missed it. Zayn had a funny incident in our Eng Lit class." Liam patted his shoulder just before he told them and they all started laughing at Zayn once again. Zayn was a good sport, though.

As Hannah's laughter faded, she turned her head and someone caught her eye. He was sitting at a two-person table. Alone. He placed a napkin over his lap then peeled back the plastic wrapper off a straw. He carefully stuck it through the apple juice box and bent it at the perfect degree. He laughed to himself when the straw flipped back up and then he fixed it again. The boy cut his slice of pizza into a few bites, then stacked those pieces on the fork and ate them, giving a little nod.

Hannah smiled. Who eats pizza like that? The boy's gaze didn't leave the area around his table. Hannah knew by his mannerisms something was different about him. Not bad, just different. They were four tables away but Hannah could tell.

"Hannah. Hannah? What are you doing? What's so interesting?" Niall bumped his elbow into her arm before he took another chip from his nachos.

"That guy over there. He just looks, I don't know, not sad, just-." Hannah saw him around campus that week but didn't talk to him. It wasn't that she was mean, it was that their paths didn't cross. "Have you seen him before?"

"Nope. Must be a freshy." Liam sat back in his seat, grateful he wasn't a freshman anymore. Awkward was his word to describe it. As he remembered that year, he became more interested in their new topic of discussion.

"I saw him in here on Monday, oh and yesterday eating alone." Louis crossed his ankles underneath the table as he watched the boy. Louis and Daphne were seniors so there was no reason their paths would need to cross, except if they wanted them to. "I feel kind of bad for him. I think he's, you know-."