Give Me Anything

I felt a chill run up and down my spine as I stepped into the cool October air. Yes, it was October already, and the cold wind was less than forgiving this morning. I pulled my hood over my head, my hair still damp from my morning shower, and I trudged into the school, my feet dragging behind me the whole way. I know it's been said in every unoriginal and uninteresting way as possible, but god, Mondays were just awful. My head still pounded from lack of sleep and nutrition, and I could feel a scratching in my throat as I swallowed. And just what I needed was to be sick right now.

For once I was glad to step into the school, because at least here I wasn't at the mercy of the freezing fall winds anymore. I really hate living in Maine sometimes.

"Hey Ben!" as I turned around I felt a sharp pain shooting through my neck, the jab of a hard elbow hitting a few inches below my right ear. I watched as my books fell to the floor, along with the rest of my lanky, long limbs. I grumbled as my face made contact with the hard floor, and I watched helplessly from the ground as Corey and his friends laughed and joked their way down the hallway. I pushed myself up so I was sitting on the ground, my hand involuntarily rubbing my neck as I did so. My eyes seemed to glaze over, a usual reaction I had developed to help ignore the snickers of everyone around me, and started to gather my books into a pile in front of me.

A slender, tan arm reached out to a few of my papers, which had scattered across the corridor, and jumbled them into a neat pile for me. I purposely avoided eye contact, because I knew that they could only have one of two expressions: amusement or sympathy, neither of which I wanted anything to do with.

"Thanks," I mumbled, and attempted to pull myself back up to my feet. My arms felt sore and bruised from falling, and my legs didn't seem to agree with what my brain was telling them too well. A body had kneeled in front of me, the body that belonged to that outstretched hand, and a pair of warm green eyes met mine.

"Are you okay?" there was no pity in her voice, just genuine concern. It would have felt 10x greater though if she hadn't whispered it, or if she hadn't looked around first to see if people were still looking. It made me feel like she was ashamed to care about someone like me.

"Fine," I sighed, "and thanks." I took my papers from her and piled them on top of my books, being extremely cautious to avoid all eye contact as I did so.

"Alright," I could see her long brown hair sweep around her shoulder when she turned in my peripheral vision, and I assumed it was clear to look up. My luck, it wasn't.

Her back was mostly toward me, as expected, but she had hesitated to look back just as I lifted my eyes from where they were focused on the floor. Aleta's emerald eyes seemed to catch my gaze and hold it there, no matter how hard I willed myself to look away, I just couldn't. My stomach sank and my pulse accelerated, but I think the most enthralling thing about this whole situation was her look of curiosity. For once I didn't feel like a victim or a joke, I felt like a real person to her.

Eventually she broke off our stare, and turned back away from me. I let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding as I watched her walk away, my brow involuntarily pulling together in confusion.

"Hey, what happened?" warm fingers touched my neck, where an inevitable bruise was already forming, causing me to jump slightly. A small smile had formed on Mya's face from my startling, but it didn't last long as she started to once again examine the wound on my neck.

"Eh, it's nothing," I lightly brushed her hands away and headed down the hall, the sound of her sneakers squeaking loudly on the floor as she tried to catch up with me. It took her a few seconds, considering she was a mere 5'2" and I was almost 6'3", I could cover much more ground much faster than she could.

"Whatever you say," she had learned not to push me about things like these, she knew there was nothing I'd want to talk about less. I got through most of the day unscathed, only a few snide comments between classes from a few of the jocks, but those meant little to me. I was much more interested in my confrontation with Aleta this morning. Why had she hesitated before walking away? Why had she even bothered to stop and help me in the first pace?

These thoughts seemed to dissolve from my mind and were immediately replaced with worries of a Physics test I had forgotten about next period as I walked into my film class. I planned to study a majority of the period, we hardly learned anything in this class anyway, and sat down to my assigned seat.

"Shit," I mumbled as I realized I had left my Physics book in my locker, and stood up to walk out the door when I collided with someone.

"Where do you think you're going?" I inwardly groaned at the sight of Ms. Larson, and politely asked for a bathroom pass. It seemed she had some sort of a Napoleon complex, because she was very short and young she felt she needed to control everyone and everything. I figured being quiet and submissive would keep me on her good side, for now at least. She handed one over to me, and I quickly grabbed it, a little too quickly, and rushed out the door. I made sure to take my time getting to my locker, taking the long way there, and even made a stop at the bathroom before walking back towards the classroom.

"Ben?" a smooth, soft voice called to me, and I had to clench my hands into fists to stop the shiver that ran across my body at the sound of my own name. Why all of a sudden were we having so many encounters? I could go days without even noticing Aleta, so why today does it seem like I can't get away from her?

"Yeah?" I tried to keep my voice as steady and confident as I could, but standing in front of someone like Aleta just made me feel so insignificant and small. I felt like a child around her.

"Why aren't you in class?" It took her awhile to say anything, but when she did her question only confused me further.

"Why aren't you in class?" Trust me, that question probably looks and sounds much more demanding to you than it actually was when the words left my mouth.

"Touche," I could hear a soft rumble of laughter in her throat, and the corners of her mouth pulled up into a small smile. "Well, I guess we mine as well skip together, right?" Initially, I thought she was joking and began to smile, but the straight expression on her face told me otherwise. Her hand reached out and her fingers wrapped around my wrist, warm in comparison to the cool metal of her many rings.

"What? I'm not... I wasn't skipping, I was just.." It seemed my efforts had gone to waste, because no matter how much I tried to convince her otherwise, she continued to pull me towards the door without even acknowledging my protests. Not that my arguments were very convincing, or even remotely persuasive, I still found it slightly unsettling how easy it was for her to get me to do whatever it was she wanted.

"Do you have a car?" I quickly shook my head no, hoping she would take that as a good enough reason to go back inside. I didn't want to skip, I had done that enough Sophomore year, and it had gotten me into more trouble than I needed. The last thing I needed was for my parents to think I was ditching to use drugs or to drink again (in reality, I was much too shy to even try asking anyone for anything like that, I mostly used that time to read or just walk around town).

"Don't lie to me," I sighed in defeat. She was stubborn, I had learned, and when she got an idea stuck in her head, she seemed to stick with it no matter what. Honestly, I found her determination a little frustrating.

"It's over here," I had to jiggle the driver side door until it finally popped open (it wasn't exactly a 'new' car, if you could tell) and reached for the spare key in the glove compartment. Probably not the smartest idea to leave the door unlocked with the key inside, but honestly what person would steal a green 1997 Honda Civic, with almost 160 thousand miles on it. Especially when there was a brand new BMW in the spot directly to my left. I put the key in the ignition, but didn't start it yet. And as I turned to meet Aleta's eyes, I prayed to God or Jesus or whoever to change her mind, but I knew it was all in vain. She was already seated in the passenger seat with her seat belt on, a serene expression on her face the whole time. She was waiting for me, because she knew she didn't need words to convince me. In the short time we've known each other, with limited interactions, she had already learn how to manipulate me with nothing but her expressions. I would normally be embarrassed by something like this, but is it really that shameful when she's already got the entire school wrapped around her finger? It seemed inevitable.

"Where are we going?" I turned the key, hitting the dashboard a few times until the engine finally caught and the car came to life around us.

"This thing," she looked around the car briefly before bringing her gaze back to me, an amused expression on her face, "is a real piece of shit, isn't it?" For the first time, without even realizing it, I let out a laugh, a real laugh, and threw my head back against the head rest.

"Yeah, it is," I had turned back towards her again, and made no move to remove the smile from my face, "my parents thought it was more important to go on a cruise to the Caribbean over the summer than to get me a decent car." I shook my head, allowing my black hair to fall in front of my face. "Without me, by the way."

A small giggle escaped her lips, "That's terrible."

I shrugged, "Eh, It could be worse. I mean, at least they didn't make me pay for this one all on my own." She nodded, but I could tell her attention was elsewhere as she started to fiddle with one of the rings on her finger, and I took this as my opportunity to really look at her. Looking at someone when they know you're looking at them can be an entirely different experience from seeing someone when they're oblivious. She wasn't paying any attention to me, so for once I could see her without her barrier, her mask. Not that this meant I thought she was fake at all, because we all put on a cover when we know people are looking. She was staring intently at her hands, a small, so small I almost didn't think it was there, smile on her lips. I don't even think she realized it was there either, but I could see the thoughts running through her mind in her eyes. At first they were warm and happy, but they suddenly turned much darker as her smile disappeared. I had never seen that look on her before, I wasn't even sure was it was at first. Anger? Or, regret, maybe. I wasn't sure.

"Take me..." her eyes rose up to meet mine once more, the upset look from before mostly gone by now and replaced with her usual calm expression. "Take me to your favorite place." I simply nodded, the exact image of the area she was describing already coming to my mind just from those six words.