the quiet ones

Chapter Two

Chapter Two ~ What

Remember: "Don't judge a book by it's cover"

Its 7:00am on a cold Thursday morning in December. After I shower, get dressed and eat my breakfast I rush down to the bus stop. I wait and wait and wait, it feels like a hour or two when its only about 10 minutes. Excitement and nervousness slowly seep into my body as I see that big familiar yellow bus coming down my street. Im excited to finally talk to this mysterious girl and find out what's really going on, but I'm also quite terrified as to what I might find out. What am I saying she's just a normal girl with some troubles at home.

After a long boring bus ride I finally get to school. I forgot to mention that the town I live in is mostly full of high-school drop outs so you can imagine what our town looks like. Old rundown businesses, lots of alleyways, sketchy stores with owners that look like they've been in a bikers gang for half their lives, and barely any sign of life except the one little park our town has behind the big Walmart on Rongden Street. Anyway, I arrive at the school parking lot and as I walk down the long dirt path heading to the main entrance just as I suspected.. there she was. Her head burried into a little book I could barely make out the title of ..."Trapped.....something...something...life?". As I got closer I could see more clearly of what she and the book looked like. This was the actual first time I've ever been so close to her so I never really knew what she looked like until now.. 

 She had long bluey-black hair, brown eyes and the fairest skin I’ve ever seen. She was very skinny and average height. She seemed normal to the naked eye except there was a small scar on her left temple. It didn’t look to serious, to be honest it looked like Harry Potter’s scar except it was less lightning bolty shaped and more frowny shaped. As for the book it looked very old, maybe 100 years? Who knows, but the title I could read more clearly. On the little black cover it read as followed.. “Trapped for a hour or trapped for a lifetime?”. I wondered what it could be about, possibly about a bad relationship? Or maybe trapped in a boring routine or bad habit of some sort? I couldn’t wait to find out.

 As I got about 5 feet in front of her she lifted her head up and looked at me with a facial expression which clearly meant “What are you doing here? And what do you want?” then after about three seconds of this confused face she grabbed her book and bag and ran away.. I just stood there like an idiot watching her run away. Finally after I realized what just happened I was angry for a brief moment but then I remembered she does have some issues and is probably very shy. So I decided to let her go..for now..

 After first and second period were over it was finally time for lunch. Right as I entered the cafeteria I saw her grab a carton of milk from the vending machine then make her way outside near the big oak tree by the playground. I decided to follow her. This time I would be more cautious so I wouldn’t scare her away this time.

 Before I headed outside I decided to grab a bag of bbq chips from the vending machine hoping she would be willing to share them with me to maybe break the ice between us.

As I grabbed the bag of chips from the bottom of the vending machine I heard something behind me. it sounded like a little girl screaming. I quickly turned around and saw nothing.. literally nothing. No people, no chairs, no nothing. I started freaking out. I had no clue what was going on. I closed my eyes really tight then let out a loud scream. When I opened my eyes everyone in the cafeteria was staring at me, some were laughing. They had no clue what just happened and neither did I.

After everyone calmed down I quickly walked out the door and made my way towards her. This time she was already looking at me, she knew I was coming towards her and by the look on her face she could tell what just happened. 

I walked up to her, tears were sliding out the corners of my eyes but I didn't care. I finally reached her, I was standing right in front of her. There was a weird sort of feeling when I stood next to her, it felt like a heavy dark feeling. I ignored it.

We both stood there, not saying a word, just looking into eachothers eyes. Finally after about a minute of the awkward silence she spoke..

"Hi..?" she said in a confused tone.

"Hey I'm Aurora!"

"Uh.. h..hey Aurora I'm..i'm Hannah"

I could tell by her body language and the tone in her voice that she was both surprised and terrified that someone was actually talking to her. 

"Want some chips?" I said, with probably too much enthusiasm.

"Uhm...n...no I'm good ..thanks."

"Oh. Okay. Are you new here?"

"No..I've been here s..since grade 9." She said while stuttering

"Oh cool me too!"

"Mhm..."

I was starting to loose her interest. She continued reading. I so badly wanted to just come out and ask why she always looked so sad and what happened to me in there but I knew I couldnt do that. So as my brain and mouth were in a fight on what to do next I stupidly blurted out..

"So hey why do you always look so like upset?.."

"....."