My Crooked Perfection

Rough day.

That day at school was... Weird. 

I was right about half of the small town population ditching today, because there I sat in home room with four out of twenty people filling the rows of desks. 

I sat in the corner and doodled in my normal spot, day dreaming about open fields of wild flowers and the ocean as I pretended to listen to the teacher who continued to drone on and on about who knows what. 

And that's pretty much how my day went. Short, simple, normal, all the way up until my Literature class. 

What do you know? I thought to myself as I walked into the classroom. Alex Mitchell is the only one besides myself who made it into school from the party. He sat in his usual seat, in the back of the classroom, which always irritated me because I loved that spot... 

"Alright class, today we were going to give our presentations, but seeing as there isn't a whole lot of people here today, I've came up with another solution," I heard a sigh of relief echo through the class, probably because who wants to stand in front of a group of high school kids? 

"Today we're going to be learning about ourselves, and each other, yes? I want you all to come up with fifty questions you would ask someone you don't know at all. You have thirty minutes, this is not a group assignment, so please, I expect the room to be silent," 

I finished quickly and continued to read the book I picked up. 

"Alright, now, you're going to get with a partner and you're going to ask them all fifty of your questions," 

And before I knew it, everyone else in the class had gotten with a partner and I locked eyes with... you guessed it. Alex Mitchell, the asshole who stole me seat. He gave me this smirk, as if he was expecting this to happen, and I watched him get up and slide into the seat directly infront of me, sitting in the seat backwards so he could see me. 

"You're looking beautiful today, considering what happened last night,"

I turned away, my face flushing with embarrassment or anger, I couldn't determine. "Just answer my questions," I mumbled under my breath. 

"Only after you answer mine, princess," He gave that stupid annoying smirk again. I swear I could've punched it right off his stupid face. 

He... he did have a nice face though... high cheekbones, beautiful blue eyes, perfect lips, dark hair that swept over his forhead but I could just barely make out a scar that ran through his left eyebrow. The tattoos on his neck and chest stood out from above his white V-neck shirt, and I almost couldn't take my eyes off of them for a moment, the color swirling around his muscular... 

I mentally slapped myself as I forced my eyes away. "Don't call me princess, please," 

He shrugged. "Suit yourself, princess. What's your middle name?" 

"Leanne," 

"What's your favorite animal?" 

"A wolf," 

"What's your favorite kind of music," 

"I don't have one,"  

He paused and looked up from his paper. "What do you mean?" 

"I mean, there's no way to pick a favorite kind of music. Every genre sets it's own mood, and really it would just depend on how I felt, if I had to pick a favorite," I explained further. 

"Well, then tell me what you're feeling right now," 

I thought for a moment. What's the first song that popped in my head? 

I could here the lyrics to one of my favorite songs swim around in my head. 

So send the pain below... 

I send the pain below... 

Much like suffocating. 

"Rock," 

"Why?" 

"Because..." I paused, looking up at him. "Why are you so interested?" 

"I just am, princess," 

I clenched my fists. "My name is Casey," I told him. "Not princess. I'm one of your groupie bitches, so lets just get this assignment over so we can go back to not knowing each other. Okay?" 

"Casey, I think you told me something that you don't remember telling me," 

I looked at him. His normal, asshole ish smile was gone and was replaced with a serious look, almost slightly worried. 

"Are you okay?" He asked. I didn't know how to answer him. My mouth hung open for several moments, trying to remember how to form the words "I'm fine," but my mind wouldn't bring the words to my lips. 

Suddenly the bell went off, shaking me from my trance. 

"Alright guys, those papers are due tomorrow, and completing them is your homework, everyone have a nice rest of the day," 

The classroom was already empty by the time I got my hands to cooperate and shove everything in my backpack. I sighed. How was I supposed to get this done by tomorrow?

Debating on making up the answers, I was about to shut my notebook when I realized there was a number wrote on the top of the page, in careful handwriting, almost calligraphy, with the words Call me princess scrolled below the digits. 

I tried my hardest to quit seething as I walked to my locker. I pulled out my phone as I collected my heavy jacket and slammed the locker closed, on my way to my usual afterschool destination; the town library.  

~

The hours always tended to blur together when I came here. 

This was the only way I could truly ease my mind, although I was getting paid for my time spent there. I was the assistant librarian, although Marie, my boss, said I was tether to reality because quite often I'd find her drifting about, in her own little world of whatever she was daydreaming of, before I'd come and snap her back to reality and she'd say "You've done it again, Casey my girl," And continue running zigzags across the library, trying to keep the little thing in order. 

She was honestly the closest thing I had to a mother... 

But today, she was the one snapping me out of my thoughts, as I sat behind the counter, drawing small designs on the back of my hand with a sharpie. 

I often found my mind wandering to places I didn't even want it to be. A certain dark haired individual wouldn't leave my mind, his words in class running through my head long past when the conversation had taken place. 

"Dear, where's your head off to today?" Marie asked, placing a hand on my shoulder and causing me to jump. "Is there something on your mind?" 

I debated telling her, the whole situation and the odd vibes I gathered from the whole thing, but decided against it. 

"No, not really, just tired," I answered. 

"Well, here," She took my name tag from my shirt and put it on hers. "I'll fill in for you for the rest of the night," 

I smiled at her. "Thank you, MarieCasey," I mocked, reading her name tags. "But honestly I need the hours really bad. My car payment is due and I'm not sure if I'm going to have enough for it, the water bill was bad this month and... 

"Come on, dear, go on, I'll clock you out when I leave," 

"Are you sure?" 

"Of course, run along and get some sleep, okay? And keep your phone on you. Who know's who walks around after dark," 

And with that, I walked home.