Air Catcher

I Want to be Known by You

Alyx's pov

"So what is your natural hair color? I've never seen it the whole time I've known you." I asked one of my best friends, Merritt, as we walked down the dim high school halls.

She looked up at me and rolled her eyes. "You mean the whole one year? Wow Alyx, we practically grew up together!"

"Mere, you're avoiding the question."

She smirked. "I know."

"Hey! Slow down your titan legs!" Mere and I turned around to see our other best friend Hannah speeding towards us, short indigo hair flying.

We were the only girls in our class that had unnatural hair colors. Hannah and I had just gotten our hair dyed for the first time, but Merritt had had vibrant purple, teal, and pink hair since the day I met her. I ran my hand through my hair self consciously. The majority of my long hair remained its natural shade of ebony, but towards the bottom the curls turned teal. I personally loved it, but whether that was true or not I felt like people stared at me all the time for it.

"Hannah, do you know this one's natural hair color?" I asked, jabbing a finger in Mere's direction.

The shortest girl thought for a moment. "No, no I don't. What is it?" She looked at Mere.

Merritt rolled her eyes again, but said nothing.

"Heck, I know Gerard's natural hair color, and he's gone through a ton more dye than you have." I pressed.

"Oh look, its my class! See you guys later." Mere turned into a classroom I didn't notice we were even close to. The first week of school was always a bit off anyway.

"Love you!" Hannah called to our friend.

"Love you too!" She called back.

"Bye loser!" I yelled at her.

She waved the back of her hand as she walked away. I could practically feel her smirking.

"How's Patrick?" I asked as Hannah and I continued to walk.

Her face lit up. "He's pretty good. We're going to hang out after school today. I'm really excited."

"That's awesome!" I smiled down at her. "You'll have to tell me everything, you know that, right?"

"Of course."

After Hannah turned off to her classroom my head instinctively angled down and I watched my feet as I walked alone. As I neared my class, someone bumped into me. My books would have fallen out of my arms if I hadn't been clutching them so tightly. I glanced up to the boy on my right, scowling.

"Sorry." He said quietly and sped up to walk in front of me. I tried not to roll my eyes as he entered my class.

'Great.'

I took a deep breath, straightened my glasses, and followed him in.

Tyler's pov

I was already in a seat in the back corner of the class when the girl walked in. It was the third day of school and I had already almost knocked someone over. What a great start. I had noticed her in the class, but never really said anything to her. If I was being perfectly honest I had spent at least one period trying as hard as i could not to stare at her hair. It was really pretty. It kind of reminded me of Josh.

She walked down the aisle and picked the only open seat. A seat right next to me. Awesome, I love awkward classes. We sat in silence for a few minutes, the air thick between us. I stared determinedly at the front board, but out of the corner of my eye I saw her frantically sketching something in her notebook.

"Hi."

My head jerked in her direction and I nearly fell out of my seat. I didn't expect her to talk to me. When I righted myself I noticed she was trying not to laugh, silver eyes shining.

"Sorry about the hallway, I should have been watching where I was going." She said as soon as she wasn't shaking with laughter.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry. It was my fault." I said.

"We'll share the blame then." The girl chuckled. "My name is Alyx Hunter." She smiled weakly.

"I'm Tyler Joseph." I responded.

"So... um... I don't know... what do you like to do, Tyler?" We both cringed at her question. It looked like neither of us was very good at talking to people.

I thought for a minute, trying to think of a way to make this not so awkward. I smiled, a light bulb practicality appearing above my head. "Eat Taco Bell."

She laughed, making me smile wider before quickly hiding it.

"I can respect that." She grinned.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Alyx's pov

Dang it. He was cute.

I shuffled down the hall on my own and sat down in the corner my friends and I had claimed as our lunch spot by the cafeteria. I got out my lunch and started eating, barely noticing when Mere and Hannah sat down next to me.

I tended to be a little boy crazy every now and then. I hated it, but I couldn't help the fact that I'm a hopeless romantic. Considering I just discovered this guy existed today I forced those thoughts out of my head. Way too early for those. Still, I couldn't keep my thoughts on track very often.

"Alyx?"

"Yeah?" My head snapped up.

"You're being scary quiet. Is everything OK?" Hannah asked.

I felt my cheeks heat up a little, trying to get rid of thoughts of soft but short brown hair and dark chocolate eyes before someone discovered them. "Yeah, just tired."

Hannah gave me the concerned mom eyes, but didn't press.

"So, I met this guy on the first day." Hannah and I both turned to look at Merritt. Mere looked up with guilty mismatched blue and green eyes. "His name is Josh and the only reason I didn't tell you guys is because I know you both and I swear we're just friends."

"Tell us about him!" Hannah pleaded. I nodded in agreement.

"Alright." Mere sighed, pulling at the sleeve of her flannel.

My thoughts wandered to Literature right before lunch as Merritt talked, thinking over my short conversation with Tyler and what the heck I was supposed to think about it. I wished I had my guitar to distract me. By the end of my analysis I really only learned one thing: I wanted to know him better.

This part is a bit cringy, I know. I promise it gets better.