Bound by surprise

Chem lecture

The heavens were crying.  She let the water hit her skin, fall down her cheeks in elegant tear - like trails.  The water stung as the temperature dropped further.  She was empty - Mundus drained her.  It was cruel cold and biting.
Hayden walked by her side with his shoulders hunched and his face directed to the ground.  His hands were stuffed into his pockets and the water droplets falling from his hair created a steady rhythm for her to walk to.
Her shoes were fabric and she lacked the effort to protect herself from Mundus at that moment.  Her feet squelched with each step, lost completely silenced by the sound of Hayden's boots heavily falling on the slippery pavement.

The large building that lay ahead grew progressively larger with every step and something knotted in her stomach.  The anticipation was causing her either anxiety or excitement.
Invisible hands pulled  the knot  tighter.  He was showing her what he could - helping her adapt and preparing her if she could not return - she was deceiving him and lying and leaving information he would never find to float tauntingly out of reach.  How could you tell someone you only just met that you had doomed them?

Hayden walked into the building, trailed by his ghostly acquaintance.  The bustle of crowds around him had only just began to disperse upon his entry - he wasn't late.   He walked through the labyrinth of hallways, careful not to lose his shadow, as he made his way to the lecture hall.

He fell heavily into the seat between two of his friends, Mark and Katrin.  His satchel was flung out in front of him and both his battered notepad and overstuffed pencil case made their way out.
"Alright?" Mark asked in his usual thick Scottish accent.  He had the same colouring as Niyah (he also wasn't very much taller) - Hayden realised - and had opted for similar fashion that day with a large t-shirt akin in both colour and design to Niyah's tunic.
"Yeah." Katrin agreed " Are you okay?  You're never late." Her girlfriend made a little grunt of agreement and stared at him with fiery eyes.
He laughed.
"Thanks for the concern - Kat, Mark, jeez Jo, stop glaring -but I'm fine, just overslept is all."
"If you're sure." Jo conceded,  her mono-lidded eyes softening slightly behind her glasses.
"Of course I am."

Niyah watched the interaction - both impressed by and scared of Hayden's ability to lie.  Another thing she noticed was the two girls to Hayden's left holding hands.  People were more accepting of ethnicity and sexuality apparently.   The other boy - Mark - looked as though he could have descended from her people and the knot was pulled even tighter as she thought if what it would be like if  he could see her and she could talk to him.

As the loud bustle that filled the hall quieted and a man came into view - official and stern looking with a furrowed brow and thin glasses - she tried to ell herself she had not done much. The same fate would have come of him should he had been unable to see her and died - so why would she feel guilt? But - of course - not knowing that you were missing something that you never received was better than thinking that you would be receiving that same thing but having it be held far out of reach. She was taunting him and it seemed mean. She had been on the receiving end of abysmal treatment for years, that was what had forced her to pledge to herself that she would never be on the opposite end of such treatment. She was betraying herself and lying to him.

Looking at Hayden as he sat to her side, looking intently focused on the man as he spoke with his right hand scribbling notes in chicken-scratch on his notepad and his left one, plastered and forcing his hair to one side of his head, she felt wrong. She felt disgusting.

Determined to distract herself, she attempted to listen to and absorb the lecture. She wasn't expecting to struggle to such an extent as she did - she wasn't expecting Hayden to be as intelligent as his obvious understanding of the scientific babble she could hear echoing around the lecture hall indicated. Really she would have thought she would have learned not to use appearance as a way to judge character. It was just, the devil - may - care way he dressed and the disinterested way he carried himself and the way he didn't quite know how to control his limbs and when to duck his head, he had seemed goofy and fun - she assumed he'd be of less than average intelligence. But no - she was the lost one - Mark looked as though he wholeheartedly agreed with her unspoken sentiment, however.

Finally the babble was silenced and there was the loud noise of hundreds of notepads being snapped shut sharply in near - unison. Hayden shoved his stuff back into the satchel - eyeing a hole in the corner of the worn leather - and stood. he noticed, with some amusement, that he was the tallest person in the hall. he checked to make sure Niyah was with him as he left, he didn't want her to be violently catapulted towards him by the invisible thread that tied them together - he sincerely doubted that it was the most enjoyable of experiences.

He shuffled his scuffed boots from the hall and congregated with his friends outside, stretching with a satisfying pop coming from his shoulder. He made his way to the drinks machine - grabbing a plastic cup full of water - before becoming part of the ongoing conversation.

"Man, can I borrow your notes? There's no way in hell that I'm gonna pass this test if I only have mine." Mark asked him casually, his own water swaying in his hand and dripping onto the laminate floor - earning him a glare from the woman at the reception that he chose to ignore.

Jo snorted. "Is that because your notes are non existent?"

"Oh Jo - you know me so well!" He squealed falsely. He approached her as if he were going for a hug and she pushed him away with an open hand, palm first and by the cheek.

"Shut up shorty!" she managed to say through her laugh.

"Don't be like that! The best things come in small packages, ya know?"

"You keep telling yourself that." he huffed, settling into a slouch that made him appear even shorter "Well, I gotta slide. See ya." She departed swiftly after planting a kiss on Katrin's cheek. Katrin scowled as she tried to rub away the bright red mark Jo's lipstick had left. Eventually she realised that she was only smudging it and settled for pulling her ash blonde hair over the stain on her tan skin to disguise it.

"Well," Hayden began "Forget Joe, we've got somewhere to be." He slung his hands into his pockets and made his way out of the revolving doors, crushing the now empty cup in his hand and tossing it into the bin by the receptionist's desk.