Neither of us is perfect

Chapter 1

Before

The corridor floor was patterned and the walls vibrant, just how almost any cliched elementary school's corridor looked like. At the moment, it was the sort of empty that's right before the kids burst out, engulfing the peace with their tumultuous selves. Like the calm before a storm. In fact, if you stood there, you could hear the buzz behind the doors as the kids waited for the familiar music to their ears, also known as the school bell, to ring. And finally, it did, leading to the swarm of shouting, dancing kids to rush out, replacing the empty corridor with their empty classrooms. Well, all except one. Save for a more petite dark-haired boy who was crouched under the table, hands over his ears, and hoping that no one had seen him. As the ringing faded, he slowly crawled out from under the table, hitting his head in the process.

"Ouch!"

"Are you alright?"

His hazel eyes widened at the unexpected voice and he whipped his head in the direction it came from, making contact with another pair of eyes. Chocolate brown eyes that belonged to a girl who seemed to be a little taller than him and was apparently in the process of coming out from behind a chair. The boy watched as she made her way to him, holding out a hand to help him up.

"That must have hurt. You're okay, right?"

The boy nodded, taking her outstretched hand and getting up. On seeing him nod, the girl suddenly smiled at him. And oh it was one dazzling smile. To the boy, such smiles were a rare sight and it felt like sunshine and rainbows and daffodils and all those other things that a smile shouldn't feel like, but it did.

"I'm glad! I'm Mia by the way."

"Dylan", The boy replies with a soft smile. They both stood there for a while, seemingly having forgotten the reason why the classroom they were standing in was empty. Until the girl's stomach grumbled and she remembered what they were supposed to be doing. 

"Ahh I forgot! we'll run out of time to eat! Come on we'll have to run to the cafeteria now!" 

She pulled on his sleeve, trying to drag him to the door but for some reason, he remained in place which made her stop and look at him quizzically. 

"Are you not hungry?" she asked, tilting her head towards him.

"I- I am but it's noisy there and...it scares me a little." The boy flushed at his confession and stared at the ground. The girl simply let go of his sleeve, letting her arm drop to her side as she seemed to think for a bit before her smile returned. 

" Okay, wait here," she said, dashing out of the room leaving the boy alone.

A few minutes later, she came back with two boxes and juice packs in her hand. 

"I'm sorry it's not on a plate. I was afraid I might drop it so I asked the lunch lady to sort of pack it," she said in one breath. Why and how the lunch lady obliged was a mystery to the boy but he still took one of the boxes and started eating while the girl sat in front of him and did the same. For most of the conversation, the boy was relatively silent but the girl filled the air with light chatter, asking him random questions. It was weird but even though this was his first time talking to the girl, he still felt as if he'd known her for years and gradually, he started to open up and contribute to the conversation too.  He was like a flower, quiet and soft and she was like a ball of sunshine, under whose rays the flower bloomed.

Not anymore.

~~~~~~~~~

Dark hair, hazel eyes, soft smile. His eyes twinkle as he laughs and it sounds melodic, like-