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Hayden winces as he strolls through the hallways, the shrill school bell ringing loud and clear as it signals the end of classes for the day. His ears are overly sensitive when it comes to the sound of the damn thing, having been interrupted one too many times whenever he spends last period hiding away in the library, engrossed in another book about conspiracy theories or Greek mythology. It's the one thing that's capable of cutting through the thick and pressing silence of his favourite place and he hates it.
He continues walking, navigating through the throng of students that are now crowding the halls, all eager to get home. His head is held up high with an air of confidence, but his stride is relaxed, as if he's got nowhere in the world to be. Of course, he knows exactly where he's meant to go.
He's going to see Eileen, in the simplest sense of the word.
A smile tugs at the edge of his lips as he turns left at the end of the hall, despite previously heading in the opposite direction since that's where his locker was. He'd broken his usual routine just so he could pass by her locker and see her flustered, her raging blush never failing to take over her pale face - which of course, embarrassed her even more - whenever she caught sight of him.
He always found it kinda cute actually, which is probably why he kept going to see her at the end of the day. It was different from the cheeky, annoying and sometimes unnerving flirtiness that other girls often dished out just for him. He rolls his eyes just thinking about it and speeds up his space. He can see her fiery red hair from down the hall now, which covers her face as she grabs binders, notebooks and scraps of paper from her locker. He suspects she has a lot of homework, which comes as a surprise for him since they share most of their classes and he doesn't remember having a heavy workload today.
He decides that he'll break his new routine again and actually start a conversation with her, instead of just walking by, shooting a smile in her direction, then leaving her to deal with the effects of it. But before he gets to Eileen's locker, someone blocks his way.
It's one of them; one of the flirty girls who show an attention-seeking amount of cleavage, wear pounds of obnoxious makeup, and have absolutely no shame when it came to flaunting themselves around boys. Hayden doesn't even know her name, nor does he care to try and remember.
She's a brunette, quite petite but with so many curves that most people suspect she's gotten some sort of surgery. She smiles sweetly, staring up at him through her thick, false eyelashes. She's suggesting something about going out, possibly to a nice diner or to watch the new rom-com in the theaters. All the while, Hayden's aware of how she's constantly inching closer, her manicured fingers caressing his wrist almost casually.
It ticks him off quite a bit, but he doesn't know how to kindly tell her to go away. Instead, he pastes a false grin on his face, then glances away from her to look for Eileen. He notices her heading towards them, backpack slung across her back, and books in hand. Hayden's surprised when he realizes he wants her to be walking to him, but instead, she walks right by.
There's a small smile on her face, as she mutters under her breath, "Sorry, you missed me." Her tone was playful, maybe even flirty, but Hayden thinks it suits her.
"No, I don't think I did," he murmurs in reply, but Eileen is already gone.
With a rushed goodbye to the Barbie doll in front of him, he turns swiftly on his heel and hurries to catch up to Eileen. He doesn't know what it is about her that intrigues him so much, but a real conversation between them is long overdue.
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