Speechless

Alphonse was surprisingly having a very good day.

At first period class, as he entered the classroom feeling more free and graceful than ever, he realized Luis’s girlfriend was absent. That’s good, he thought, smiling and taking his seat. That way I won’t have to watch him hang around such a…bitch. It was all he could sum up to describe her. He’d always known Cynthia to be a stubborn, selfish, popular little mean girl.

Alphonse actually knew Cynthia way before Luis ever caught sight of her. He was the one who introduced them…and now he was deeply sorry for it. Luis was like a little puppet for her; strings and brainless and all. Almost everything good about Luis was because of her. She brought up a new light in him that Alphonse hadn’t seen in a long while since they were kids. However, so was everything bad about him. Which was what Alphonse called “puppet strings attached to love.”

Glad he can take a break today, he thought.

The first few hours of that day were considerably fine, since he was smiling more than usual. Even some of the cheerleaders caught a sight of him and began whispering among themselves, like some kind of secret boy-crush meeting.

At lunch was when his whole happiness was turned upside down. Because that was when he saw her.

“Hey, Al!” Luis called from his table, gesturing to him to come and sit at their usual table.

Today he couldn’t refuse, seeing as he was in such a good mood. As if nothing could spoil his day. So Alphonse went with his lunch to their table and sat next to Luis. Most of the popular kids were there, except a few jocks were missing.

“Where’s Will and Francis?” he asked unconsciously. He blinked twice and added, “They’re always here for lunch.”

Luis looked at their empty spots and shrugged. “I saw them go with Perry and the others in the auditorium, but that’s about it,” he told him.

Alphonse nodded and left the subject alone. There was something strange of not having two or three dumb jocks sitting at their table and saying stupid jokes or trying to get a date out of a defenseless cheerleader. Or another good looking piece of meat, as they call some pretty girls.

A sound abruptly interrupted everyone in the cafeteria to silence. There was an uneasiness in the air and everyone was looking around for what had caused it. Everyone except the dumb jocks barging through the door with a slender figure held captive.

“What are they doing?” someone-a girl asked.

It was a good question, that Alphonse was already asking inside his mind. What were they doing? It was probably another one their stupid pranks, which they pulled on either a weak boy with a small shred of strength and a whole bunch of brains, or a poor defenseless girl who was just caught in the middle of planning.

This was much worse than Alphonse imagined.

After minutes of staring at the odd group at the door-a bunch of jocks surrounding one nervous figure-he could almost make out a face. Alphonse already knew the idiotic bunch’s names. There they were, Will McNally, Francis Gerard, Perry Hall, Steven Robinson, Jose Torres, and a two others Alphonse didn’t care to recognize.

But between them… It couldn’t be… It wasn’t possible…

It was very possible. Even as Alphonse fought the possibilities, he knew. He was certain. There was no mistaking that lovely face, those deep, ocean-blue eyes and that long fall of beautiful, silky black hair. It was her, the knot in his stomach told him so.

The poor defenseless girl caught in the middle of their juvenile pranks-juvenile, but nonetheless cruel-was none other than Alphonse’s secret interest.

Raven.