Aiden jumped when he heard the door close, sliding out of his corner to peek out. No one was in the room so why had someone looked inside? Sighing, he slowly got to his feet and pulled his frayed backpack onto his shoulders. Pushing open the door, he nearly tripped over Alex's legs as he turned to head down the hallway. "Oh, uh, sorry," he said quickly, taking a step back so he wouldn't step on her.
He'd never seen her before, and he thought he'd remember if he had. She had fiery red hair, and her green eyes were staring at him. Her full figure and soft curves would've easily gotten her in with the popular crowd; she was sure to be noticed by the jocks at school too especially with that leather ensemble she was wearing.
She immediately leapt to her feet, beaming. "Hi! I'm Alex!" She thrust her hand out for him to shake. Where the heck had he been hiding? I just checked that classroom, she wondered.
He stared at her. "I-I... uh," he looked behind him as if expecting someone else to be standing behind him before turning back to look at her, "you're talking to me?"
Frowning, she lowered her hand to put both hands on her hips. "Well, who else would I be talking to? The rest of the school's at lunch."
"I... I don't know," he admitted, cheeks flushing. "Uh, I'm Aiden."
Her smile returned, and she lowered her hands. "Hey, Aiden. I'm new here. Just moved into town. Do you think you could help me find my classes?"
"I... guess," Aiden said, taking the paper she held out. Her schedule was identical to his. "Oh, uh, we have the same classes."
"Great! So, can I just follow you around all day?"
"I... guess?" Aiden mentally kicked himself. He sounded like an idiot, repeating himself like that. Handing Alex back her schedule, he headed for the next class on the list--English.
"So, I take it your not a big fan of cafeterias either?" she asked, falling into step beside him.
"I don't eat lunch."
Her eyes widened. "Why not?"
Let's see... Because my dad rarely buys food? Because anytime I do try to pack a lunch, he ends up taking it to eat for himself? He sighed. "Never saw the use. I just eat breakfast and dinner." That was a lie, but he wasn't about to tell her that. When he was lucky, he could get breakfast.
When they reached the classroom, Alex settled herself in the seat right next to his. She had no pencils, no notebooks. She didn't even have a backpack on her. Aiden momentarily wondered why this girl had come to school so unprepared then realized she'd just moved here. She might not have even had the time to get supplies yet.
"Here," he said, passing her an unused notebook and a spare pen. "You'll want to at least look busy in this class," he murmured.
The teacher was already writing on the whiteboard. Every class session began with a journal entry, and there would be hell to pay for any student caught not writing. Setting down her pen, she walked back to her desk as students began to scribble away. Usually the prompt was just a quote or a short question. Aiden couldn't help thinking that today's quote was quite ironic for his life--"Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.", a quote from Oscar Wilde. He wondered briefly if Oscar Wilde would think his life was important and that someone actually did need to talk seriously about his life.
Still, he scribbled away, and he could see Alex doing the same out of the corner of his eye. After only a few sentences, Alex set down her pen and leaned back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest. Aiden was still writing. Sighing, she leaned forward and scribbled a quick note, ripping the paper out of her notebook. She passed it to him when the teacher wasn't looking. When Aiden unfolded it, the paper had only one question: So, do you think you could show me around town too? Aiden inwardly groaned, folding up the paper to think of how to answer it. This was going to end badly for him...
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