Periclum (old version)

Chapter 10

She was staring at him.

Watching. Observing.

She was watching every inch of him, closely— how he just laid there so peaceful without a care in the world. Without the care of what he just had done. He just laid there, back against the bench with one foot on it and the other one on the short grass. He laid there with that stick between his fingers that poured out smoke to his lips, puffing out smoke from his pink lips before he dropped his arm sluggishly to his side.

She watched him doing that movement more than once.

She was wondering.

She was wondering what he was doing, what he was thinking. She looked up to the blue sky he has been staring at this whole time she had noticed him lying there. She was wondering what was so interesting about that blue sky he was watching. After all, it was just that boring color blue like everything else.

She was interested in knowing what he saw in that sky, why he was observing it so intensely. Not leaving an ounce unwatched as he stared brown against the blue. Never leaving his eyes from that sky. Never.

What was so interesting that he could watch that color forever? Without a break? Just watching. Just like that. No break.

That left her wondering.

Perhaps he found it calmly or maybe peacefully. Perhaps that color left him also to wonder why it was so interesting. She wouldn't know what it was. You simply couldn't just read his brain like a magazine and you simply couldn't find out what went on in his brain. You just couldn't. No one could.

In a world so exposed, it was a wonder how he could maintain his mystery.

And that's what made her keep watching. She bit the inside of her cheek as he raised his tattooed hand again, closer and closer to his lips before the stick finally met them, and then he took an inhale. She watched him puff out the smoke from his lips, his strong jawline moving, and then her jaw dropped down when a puff of smoke in a form of a ring escaped his lips that raised in the air.

She watched it in awe.

Woah...

The ring disappeared eventually as she withdrew her gaze back at him. She gripped the railing to the stairs at the entrance of the school. She was supposed to go home. The school day was over but she couldn't find herself walking home when she saw him there, all alone lying on the bench connected to a table.

So she hid.

Behind the railing that didn't exactly make her invisible and watched him. Maybe she looked like a freak. She wouldn't know, but no one was there except her and that handsome guy a couple of feet away from her, so she should be cool, right? Right.

She didn't know how long she stood there. She didn't know how long she watched him, hands tightly around the railing, causing her knuckles to become white and cold and that heavy backpack she had around her shoulders. She should be walking home, get rid of that heavy burden of books on her shoulders, or maybe just simply take it off but somehow when her gaze locked on that special guy she felt like she was out of space, floating in some kind of imaginary place peacefully and she felt her heart become warm. She didn't want to get rid of that feeling... so she kept watching. And because he was just so beautiful to watch.

Did he know he was that beautiful?

Was he aware of the stares he got? Including hers?

Did he even know every time he walked into the school everyone seemed to drop what they were doing and just took their time observing him?