Night Life

Chapter 2

I wake up with fresh bruises and scrapes in various places, but this is nothing new. I have a few on my high cheekbones and a few on my arm and one on my knee, so it could definitely be worse. Has definitely been worse. Time to get ready for school and today I stick the landing when I roll out of bed.

Walking into science class, I come out of my earbud-induced fog. Something's different about the seats. Someone's in my spot and when I tell the teacher this, she points to the back lab table.

"You're with the new kid now"

I'm not sure if I'm ok with this. My old lab partner was smart enough to keep up with me and left me alone when I needed it, and I'm about to consider arguing with the teacher when I realize that the bent-over blonde head looks strangely familiar. I just can't quite pin it down. I walk over and set down my bag and take out my binder. I decide to get to know my new lab partner before I flat-out refuse to sit with them. "Hey. I'm Marly," I say.

"Hi," he mutters, glaring at the bellwork in front of him. "I'm Heath-"

And then he looks up, and electric blue eyes looking out of a very familiar face meet my bright green ones. My eyes widen in recognition, and so do his. I can't breathe, and I freeze, and out of habit all my senses go on high alert. It's him. It's the boy that I see every night and have for years. I know every inch of him, have wrestled with him and kicked and scratched and punched him anywhere and everywhere I can reach. It's my sparring partner and he's right in front of me.

"You! It's you!" he gasps, and then suspiciously he says "Hold on..." and then he reaches out and pokes me. Right in the cheek.

I jerk back, staring at him. I reach out and poke him back on his cheek, in the same place he poked me. His skin is warm and soft and tan, and so very real. He's actually here. He's right here in my school. All this time spent looking for him and he pops up right in my science class. I let out a small, half-stifled laugh, clapping a hand over my mouth. "It's you. You're... you're my lab partner."

He stares at me for a few seconds, and then bursts out laughing at the same time as me. The teacher glances back with amusement.

"I suppose you two are getting along well?" She questions.

"Yep," Heath manages to gasp out between laughs. "Turns out, we already know each other."

"Oh yeah. We go way back!" I choke out, and start laughing all over again. I don't think the teacher quite gets it, but she goes back to grading papers, and Heath and I begin to calm ourselves down. I keep stealing glances at him to make sure he's still here, looking away when he turns to do the same to me. I can see him doing the same thing out of the corner of my eye.

I finish my bellwork, handing it to the teacher. I flop back down in my seat and Heath looks over.

"Do you think you could help me with this? We didn't really cover it yet at my old school," he asks, not seeming embarrassed in the least with asking a girl for help, like most of the guys at my school would be.

"Yeah, no problem!" I grin happily, pleased to be asked for help. Nobody else in any of my classes bothers asking me anything, figuring, I suppose, that the loner in the back of the class doesn't pay enough attention to anything to be of any help. It's oddly nice to be considered like I know something for a change... although, maybe not so odd as I had thought in the first place. He is fairly attractive. Tall, strong- I know that for a fact, from our frequent hand-to-hand matches -, slim, with dirty blonde hair. But his eyes are what make him really stand out. Big, especially for a guy, and an intense electric blue that draws me in. I blink, realize, I've been staring for an extra second, although he doesn't seem to mind, and turn away to hide the blush creeping over my lightly-freckled cheeks. "Okay, so what part are you having trouble with?" I ask, hoping my voice seems as normal as I'm trying to make it appear, though beneath my facade my heart is beating harder than normal.

"Almost all of it," Heath jokes, giving me a knowing half-grin. I fight off another blush. Why am I blushing so much? That's not the kind of person I am, all girly and hormonal. It's not like he's the first guy I've noticed in that way, or talked to. He's just the first guy I've done both with. And, really, the only person that's shown any interest in actually talking to me in years, girl or guy.

"Well, we have some catching up to do then," I inform him. "We've been on this unit for like two weeks already."

He rubs a hand over his face. "Jeez. How am I supposed to get all that caught up in just one class?" And then he's quiet for a few seconds, thinking. "Hold on. Let me see your schedule?"

I nod, fishing the crumpled paper out of my bag. "Sure. Here."

Heath winces when he sees the state of the page. "Wow. What do you keep in that bag?"

"Oh, just about everything," I smile wryly. Even when I was younger, when I still had friends, I was well-known for carrying a lot of stuff around. I had reduced the amount of things I carried but some of the basics stuck around- a hairbrush for taming my wild hair, a book at all times, my pocketknife, and a water bottle. Not to mention my homework folder and various binders.

"Well, it looks like we might not have to play catchup in just this class," Heath says. "We have almost every class together, except for math and tech," and I can't help but be a little bit happy about this.

Happy.

I haven't been happy because of another person simply being in the same room as me in years. Not since I've had real friends instead of only people that were just kinda there. I couldn't help but wonder if that's what Heath and I were- "friends". It seemed at once like a word too strong and not strong enough. Was there a word to describe us? A word that tied in all the nights spent so close to each other with the fact that neither of us really knew anything about the other, other than our weak defense spots and our specialized fighting moves.

I, however subconsciously, made plans right that instant to change that fact.