Haphephobia

Chapter One.

Getting dressed in the morning takes me forever, so I have to get up early. Then I carefully pull on my boxers, pants, tall socks (I can't let my ankles show- what if someone fell and grabbed me?), my turtleneck, then my gloves (long enough to cover my entire wrist under the turtleneck just in case it rode up at some point during the day). Then, I carefully slip on my shoes over my socks and grab my backpack.

With that, I head downstairs and duck out quickly to avoid my dad. He came home late again last night, and he's probably hungover. And in the mood to hand out a beating. Better to not see him.

***

School is hell, but it's a necessary evil for me. It's my ticket out, but it's also painful. All the people tripping over each other and putting grimy hands on each other, pushing, shoving, pinching, punching, it was all terrifying. I hate it.

But they know to avoid me too. Everywhere I walk they give me a bit of a bubble- not out of respect for the disorder, it's really just because they've seen me melt down too many times to want to deal with it. It's a small town, and everyone knows. I'm a part of Fisher's Creek just as much as anyone else is, whether I or they like it or not. The resident freak.

I make it to first period without any problems, sitting quietly in the back with nobody sitting around me. The four desks surrounding me are called No Man's Land by the other kids. Nobody sits there. I don't use them. But everyone knows not to sit there. It's dangerous. Dangerously close.

I'm ignoring the teacher comfortably, doodling in my notebook absentmindedly, when the buzz of her voice cuts off and I look up. She's talking to the Principal in the front of the room, and there's a new kid leaning against the doorframe.

My first thought is that he's so pretty. So pretty. I stare at him, drinking him in slowly. He's leaning there, perfectly still, but his eyes crackle and sparkle with energy, and his lips seem to be smiling without his permission as his brown eyes lock with mine. I stare back at The Brown-Haired boy, blushing.

"We don't have any open seats," says the teacher- I can't remember her name, and frankly don't care- in the front of the room. The principal scans the room with his eyes and sighs.

The boy looks at them like they're idiots and coughs, making them both turn to look at him.

"There are four open seats and this is the class I was assigned to. Can I sit?" His words aren't immediately rude but there's an aftertaste to them that makes you realize that he thinks they're absolute morons. I realize with a bit of a shock that he doesn't know.

Principal Harr stares at me for a second, and then addresses me, making the class stare.

"Noah, I'm having Leo sit there," he gestures to the desk on my right, and I sigh heavily.

"Fine." I snap, and one kid whispers to another, making them giggle. I blush angrily and look down as Leo comes to sit there, throwing a wink to a girl who has been staring the entire time, making her giggle and blush.

He looks so hot doing it, I want to punch him.

The teacher resumes talking and he sighs heavily, then looks at me.

"Hey," he says, and I was right about the energy in his eyes- it's in his voice too, like a little kid trying to be calm. You get the idea that he was that annoying kid at naptime who was playing with toys when the teacher couldn't see him.

"Hi," I mutter, my heart rate spiking and my mind starts racing with possibilities. We talked. Does that make us friends yet, can we be friends? I wish, but he's obviously going to be popular here and I'm.... me. The local freak. I don't get to have friends. Friends are for worthwhile people. I'm just a waste of space and air. The thoughts make me curl down a bit, running a gloved hand through my hair angrily. First period and I'm already miserable. Great.

"Leo, what do you have next?" Asks the teacher, and he shuffles a few papers, hesitating on one.

"Uh. English," he says, and I want to groan but I catch it.

"Is anyone going to english next?" I reluctantly raise my hand and she stares around the class for another option. There isn't though.

"Er... we can get you a map, perhaps, Leo, or something like that. Okay?" She asks, and I want to hit her too. Bitch. I lower my arm and try to pretend that my lip isn't quivering the tiniest bit. I take a deep breath and duck my head.

"That's okay, Noah can go with me," he says casually, but there's an undertone of something I don't understand. Almost pissed off, but not quite.

"I... Noah?" She asks, and I don't look up.

"I'll take him," I mutter, and then realizing she didn't hear me look up. "I'll take him."

She looks shocked and so does the rest of the class, staring and muttering. Eventually she nods, blinking fast, and Leo looks really pissed now in that weird way. Probably because he has to walk with me.

The bell rings and I shove my unused stuff into my backpack, then standing only to find myself surprisingly close to Leo.

I back up frantically, and he raises an eyebrow when I stumble a bit in the rush, but doesn't say anything.

We walk out quietly, me still a bit shocked at being so close to someone, trying to swallow the lump in my throat.

As we're going up the stairs, someone brushes against me, probably Jack, and I jump back, losing balance and falling down the stairs in a crash.

People are laughing all around me, and I feel tears start to fall at the embarrassment and pain. My neck hurts. It can't have been three seconds since Jack touched me.

Suddenly I notice Leo turning on the stairs, and when he sees me his eyes widen and he's quickly kneeling in front of me, his hands wrapping around my shoulders and pulling me into a standing position.

I scream and throw myself away from him, hitting my head again and this time I taste blood in my mouth, tears falling violently and my entire body trembling. Fear pounds through me and he looks confused until someone grabs his arm and pulls him away from me quickly.

"Leave him alone!" Someone warns loudly as I lie panting on the floor, curling up and trying to catch my breath- falling twice will do that to you. Not to mention touching.

"Leave me alone," I hear through the cotton in my ears, making me wince at the venom. Then someone is kneeling by my head, hands off, just whispering.

"Noah? Can you hear me?" I realize it's Leo and flinch.

"No. Leave me alone." I mutter, and he only chuckles as I slowly stand with a wince and Leo stands with me.

"Wanna get out of here?" He asks with a smirk, and I stare at him for a moment.

"Yeah. Yeah I really fucking do."