When Sunrise Comes

Chapter 2 - Jaiven

He sat down with his back to the wall and put his head into his hands. This boy, I have no idea who he was, had captivated me. He was getting bullied by Michael, Kade's best friend when they interrupted me on the roof. I had no doubt that the rest of the football team had probably helped by the looks of his bruised face and arms.

I don't get why though, this boy was built well, like someone athletic. He seemed confident enough until he found out who I was, probably that I had dated Kade. He seemed to be a quick thinker as the once again perplexed look appeared on his face as he thought through something. He was rough around the edges but I could tell there was more to him. His barriers seemed to be built high, no doubt from some traumatic experience in his past. If only I had a penny for him to spill his thoughts.

I walked over and sat down next to him, sinking to the ground with only a few small inches between us. He flinched away, and I noticed something under his arms. I quickly grabbed one of his wrists before he could react and pulled it towards me, looking at the overlapping scars on his arm. He ripped his wrist back from my grasp, wrapping his arms around himself effectively concealing the all too familiar scars. A cold expression settled on his face as he looked away.

I sighed wrapping my own arms around myself shivering slightly as the temperature continued to drop. The warm fall days gave way to chilly nights this time of year. I glanced over to the boy to see him staring out to the sunset just as it's rays slipped over the horizon. I was dying to break the silence but didn't dare for the sake of his wavering personality to go rock solid.

We sat in silence as the light disappeared soon replaced by thousands of stars. I saw the boy relax out of the corner of my eye as he stared at the sky above us. The sound of my stomach growling sliced through the silence and I winced as my face flared red. He couldn't see me all that well in the darkness but I felt exposed all the same. I saw the boy turn towards me in my peripheral vision and stare at me for a while. I flinched when I felt him move his hand towards his pocket. He reached in and grabbed something before holding his hand out to me.

"Here" his deep voice rumbled breaking the awkward silence I had been drowning in.

"What is it?" I asked warily taking my hand out of my hoodie pocket slowly.

"Just take it" he insisted, annoyance lacing his tone.

I reached my hand out towards him and to my surprise he dropped a plastic bag of cookies in my open palm. I only grabbed one since we were going to be up here all night. They were just plain chocolate chip cookies, but that was my favorite kind. I slowly ate the cookie and I could feel the boys eyes on the side of my face as I ate.

After I finished I handed the bag back to the boy and he slipped it back into his sweatpants pocket before settling back against the wall wrapped in his own embrace. We sat in silence for a little while later before I couldn't take it and had to ask some of the many questions floating about in my head.

"What is your name?" I asked him my voice coming out in a loud whisper.

"Miles" he replied without looking my way.

I thought through all of the people that I had met ever since I had started dating Kade. He was very popular and I had been a nobody before we started going out so I was not used to all the attention and drama.

I didn't remember meeting anyone by the name of Miles nor had I heard Kade say anything about anyone named Miles either. Let's be real though, I wouldn't have forgotten if I had met Miles before because he was quite attractive among all of the attitude, bruises, and cold exterior. I had heard Kade and the football team refer to him as 'the reject' or simply 'him' and 'their little friend'. They tried to keep it hidden from me and it was one of the little things I found out about this afternoon from the solace of the roof. I had watched Kade and his friends bully Miles from the roof, disgust running through my veins. I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it before.

I glanced over at Miles to see him with his head tilted up even though his eyes were closed. There was some dried blood that had run down the side of his face from the medium sized cut that was half hidden under his dark bangs. His hair was in a curly mop on his head, and the dark color stood out against his pale skin. Under his closed eyelids was a set of gorgeous green eyes that had a strong wall built behind them.

His eyes were framed by long dark eyelashes that brushed against his pale cheek bones. His jawline was well defined, and aside from the cut on his face one scar stood out. It was thin and more defined running from the left side of his temple all the way down to the middle of his cheekbone.

He was wearing a black t-shirt that had the adidas logo on the front, with his hands tucked into his sweatpants pockets in order to keep them warm. The dark pants clothed his legs and his feet were clad in a pair of expensive Nike shoes. I would know because Kade had the same pair which he bragged about endlessly. His feet were stretched out in front of him and his ankles were crossed, only a few inches from my own legs.

I just couldn't seem to place the reason that he was being picked on by Michael. He looked like he could put up a decent fight but the way he had curled up in a defensive ball confused me. He had acted as if he had just given up and didn't have any dignity left. A thought struck me, because whatever Michael has to do with something Kade does too, and generally that means the whole football team did as well like I had seen. Which would explain why he didn't put up much of a fight against any of them, but why would Kade dislike him enough to have the whole football team bully Miles?

He looked like an athletic guy, not a nerd which were Kade's usual victims to verbally tease. Also he didn't come off as the overly arrogant type. It would either be that he was jealous of Miles, it was something that had lasted years, or it was something very personal. This was a whole new level I was not expecting Kade to be hiding. Anger flared in my veins at the disgusting people in this town.

"Miles?" I called not sure if he was still awake or not.

"Hmmm" came his quiet reply.

"Why was Michael beating you up?" I asked curiously, unable to help myself.

"Well I don't really think that is something you want to know about no matter how much you think you need to or want to" He answered with no emotion present in his voice.

"Why?" I wondered out loud.

"Because, you haven't been here long enough to know town history and it is a long story anyways" he explained.

I hated that he wouldn't tell me partly because I had only moved here with my father a year ago. A part of it also might of been that he was worried whether I would tell Kade or not, that wouldn't be a problem any more since we had broken up earlier that day. Something Miles may not even be aware of, however the rest of the school knew as it took place in the cafeteria at lunch.

"We have time" I said gesturing to the fact that we were locked on the school roof and no one was coming to get us anytime soon.