Melting Hearts | ✓

s h i v er ║i

 

s h i v e r ║i

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The school grounds were already a hearty blur at eight o' clock that morning. A wave of browns, dark purples, blues and blacks. The ground was a disappointing white accompanied by the thick, cold air. People bustled by stiffly in their new coats, boots and hats. Others ran shakily complaining that they hadn't known it would be this cold.

I stepped slowly, invisibly. My tiny feet crunched into the ground, the wet snow seeping into my thin Tomms. I clutched my books to my chest and they slipped against my new knitted mittens.  My scarf had been  pulled tightly around my neck by my mother and I prayed it covered my crimson cheeks and nose. The wind seemed to blow right through my tiny figure, I wished to be even a small bit bigger.

I didn't dare look up at the people who passed me, but I knew they were there. I heard their happy conversations and felt their warm cinnamon breath. A cup of Starbucks flashed past me, followed by a slouchy brown leather purse. I hugged my own stitched messenger bag closer to me looking upward only to see how close I was to the front steps. A dark mess of curls, green eyes and a camera met my quick eyes. I jolted backward, surprisingly not bumping anyone, and locked my eyes back on my feet.

"Excuse me?" The green eyes put a cold hand on my shoulder. I felt pins and needles cascading down the length of my arm as I thought of slapping his hand off of me. My eyes crawled up and looked at his again. I felt a stinging in the corners of my eyes as we stared.

"What?" I asked, surprising myself with speech. Though, it wasn't much of speech because of how shaky and timid it had been. Green eyes had heard me though and his eyes looked down at the camera he held as he removed his hand from my numb shoulder.

"Can I take a picture for the school paper? You look very festive in your scarf." He wondered. My heart thudded inside. If people saw me in the paper they'd know who I was. People would look at me every time they flipped aimlessly through the stack of junk that is our school paper. My lips formed something that resembled an N, but I couldn't bare to continue. My feet took flight and I sped past him. His arm snapped back and barely brushed my mitt-ed hand as I ran.

"Wait-" He tried, but I was already half way up the staircase.

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"Astrid!" Macy's cold clouded voice brought my frosted brain back to reality. We were in third period, Academic English. It had been my favorite class because there were only five kids that qualified to be in it, meaning less people I could embarrass myself in front of.

There was my life-long,and only, friend Macy, a sour girl with the nicest manicure called Quinn, the odd smart jock Tyler and one of the most annoyingly smart people I've ever met, Abigail. It was only the fourth month of school and this was the only class I felt comfortable in. Obviously I barely spoke a word, but I didn't sit there stiff as a board.

"Yeah?" I whispered back. Macy's muddy brown eyes trailed to the insane,the bald and the old, Mr. Wades. He was fixing his thin glasses on his face and clapping for our attention. Macy quickly whispered to me before slumping back into her desk behind me.

"I heard he's got awesome news." She winked.

I straightened my knit sweater, the one with the deer on it, and crossed my arms. Mr. Wades began with his usual inspirational quote, something I quite looked forward to.