Oxymoronic

Act Naturally

Matthew sighed as she entered her high school, preparing for yet another day of absolute hell. Almost instantly her ears were attacked by the sounds of hundreds of teenagers greeting friends and discussing their weekends. Matthew felt as if she was being flooded with emotion as wave upon wave of anxiety crashed down on her, causing her to unconsciously slouch to make herself attract less attention. Her eyes searched desperately for a familiar face to help soothe her discomfort as she walked slowly to the cafeteria. She felt as if every person was looking at her and she could feel the traitorous sensation of chills running up her body. Taking a deep breath and releasing it she pushed open the cafeteria doors only to step back in surprise at the amount of noise coming from inside the large room.

She looked around to find the source of the noise to see that two kids were fighting. Her eyes widened at the sight, only for her to relax when she saw who it was. Miguel Fassbender and his best friend - he would say for life and death - Levi Jeger. The two were an unstoppable force and clearly close. One would think that they were a couple but the two denied it every time. It wasn't unusual to see the two fighting seeing as all of their arguments seem to end in this manner, and they argued often. So often, even the teachers gave up trying to stop their fights.

With a sigh, Matthew turned her head and went back to her task of finding someone she knew. She began to walk toward her usual table when she was met with a sight that left a sour taste in her mouth. Sitting at her usual table was none other than Kyra sitting on Sean's lap. She forced a tight-lipped smile as she walked closer, planning on greeting the pair. However, Matthew's plans were crumbled when Sean leaned down and kissed Kyra. 

Matthew's eyes widened and she bit her lower lip as her eyes began to sting with tears. She turned abruptly as she felt the bile crawling it's way up her throat.

You did this to yourself, she thought. You always put yourself in a situation like this. 

Her eyes fell on the floor, the only thing that seemed to be a constant in her life. No matter what happened nor what struggles she would be going through, the ground was always there. 

Due to the fact that Matthew's focus was stolen, completely captured by the tiled floor, she was unaware of a few major things happening around her. Number one being that the noise in the cafeteria went down significantly as Levi and Miguel stopped fighting one another. The second being that Kyra turned away when Sean tried to kiss her. The third being that an unknown bystander noticed Matthew's sudden change in emotion when the upsetting event occurred. The final being that Levi and Miguel were walking straight toward Matthew herself.

Thus, a miniature catastrophe occurred around Matthew. 

Matthew walked straight into Levi and Miguel resulting in Matthew landing on the floor and the unknown bystander- who was soon to be revealed as Markus Harrows- to rush toward her. Levi and Miguel stumbled backwards, however, the two were able to recover from the blow quickly. Matthew was not as lucky. Markus knelt down next to her with worried eyes. "Are you alright?"

Matthew groaned and reached up, using the stranger's shoulder to help get into an upright position. "Bloody hell," she mumbled. " What are you blokes made out of? Bricks?" She looked up at the two with squinted eyes, groaning as she moved her hand to her back. 

Levi chuckled and rubbed his neck nervously. "Sorry 'bout that. We should've been looking where we were going. Are you okay though? You took a pretty nasty fall."

"It was her fault too," Miguel mumbled to Levi, resulting in a smack on the back of his head.

Matthew could feel the adrenaline rushing through her blood, the epinephrine making her forget of her previous emotions.

"Sorry, you should be, knockin' me down like that."

Markus' lips quirked as Matthew mumbled at the two standing above them, adoring her accent and her voice and her face and just her. Some would say it was weird but Markus would call it to love at first sight. He sighed as he grabbed her hand and pulled her up with him. 

Matthew yelped at the stranger's action, unprepared for the sudden movement. She stumbled slightly, resting her hands on Markus' shoulders to regain her balance. Markus' face grew hot at the contact, enjoying the feeling of someone touching him voluntarily.

Markus Harrows was the school's outcast. A loner of sorts. However, it wasn't by choice. Sort of. People thought Markus was... easy. The way Markus would be so easily attached to anyone. The way Markus trusted so easily. It led to a history of being used. It took a bit of time, but soon he understood that it wasn't something he could avoid without avoiding others.

Eventually, after avoiding everyone, everyone started to avoid Markus.

"We really are sorry," Levi said, ignoring Miguel's grumbles.

Levi and Matthew continued going back and forth; Matthew being angry about being knocked down and Levi apologizing.

Meanwhile, Kyra and Sean started arguing, the result being Kyra stomping out of the cafeteria. This, however, went unnoticed by the group of four.

Matthew ran a hand through her short black hair, calming down slightly. Anxiety began to slowly crawl its way back into her body, making her stutter in her phrases and small fidgets to appear in her behaviour. "Just...w-watch out, okay?" Her words were quiet, almost lost in the sea of voices in the cafeteria.

Miguel's brows furrowed as the actions of the once loud, angry girl became quiet and uncomfortable. It was as if she had turned into a completely different person. Miguel moved closer, dodging Levi's hand that was trying to stop him, and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. He leaned down to match her height, watching her eyes as they moved to the floor to avoid contact. "What's your name?"

Matthew's face grew red as she mumbled her answer. "Doesn't really matter."

Markus looked Miguel up and down, preparing for the worse. Markus had met Miguel before, once. It was a rare moment when Miguel and Levi were apart. He was walking down the street when he had heard yelling from an alley. When he went to check it out he found Miguel beating the life out of someone. Markus had broken up the one-way fight just before anything...life-threatening could be done. Miguel had walked away without a word.

Miguel eyed the loner, remembering him. His eyes narrowed at Markus, in a curious way. He'd said nothing about what he'd seen in the alley that night, and had not confronted him either. A curious person. Miguel liked those.

"I like you two. You're different. Levi and I are hanging out after school today. Come with." Miguel always was a straight forward person, and that's exactly what Levi thought as he moved one of his hands to his forehead.

Matthew stuttered out something unintelligible, looking around at the three strangers. "I-I don't even know who you are! You don't even know who I am!"

Levi stepped in at that with a grin, wrapping his arm around Miguel. "I'm Levi Jeger, and this is my BFFLAD Miguel Fassbender. What's your name?" Levi trusted Miguel's judgment. If he thought someone was worthy of joining their friend group of two, then they were.

Markus bit his lip before reaching his hand out to Levi. "Markus. Markus Harrows." Levi grasped his hand and gave it one good shake.

"Pleasure to meet you!" His words were always cheerful and full of emotion, strongly contrasting Miguel's dull and almost bored tone.

The three boys turned to the girl expectingly. Matthew tensed, her cheeks warming at the attention.

"W-what?" She stuttered.

The three leaned forward, almost simultaneously.

Matthew sighed. She hated introducing herself. "Matthew Daniels," she grumbled, looking at the ground.

Miguel smirked. "Nice."

Levi laughed. "Very odd."

Markus smiled. "I like it."

Matthew groaned. "I have a class to go to."

With that, she walked off to Biology.