Sparkle Baby, Shine

The messy bun on the top of her head flopped as she walked quickly down the hall, three text books and a notebook hugged tightly to her chest. She kept her gaze cast downwards on the ground, watching the way her floral plimsolls moved over the dingy, speckled floor tiles. She could feel the knot on her head loosen as it bobbed, stray strands of hair falling and framing pale face. The dark colour of her hair contrasted in such an interesting to way her porcelain skin and her light, greenish eyes. With her long, dark eyelashes and the freckles on the bridge of her nose, she wasn't something you saw every day. She was such a natural beauty--One most boys her age hadn't learned to appreciate yet.

It was okay, though. She didn't really need any boys in her life. It was her senior year in high school and she wanted all of her focus to be in her studies, so that she could get into a good university. She wasn't quite sure what she wanted to be yet. Maybe a doctor? She had taken all the proper classes to get into medical school. Lawyer? She could be if she wanted, but she knew that she wasn't aggressive enough. She could go to school for anything if she wanted to, she just wasn't quite sure what her thing was yet. She almost wished she had spent more time analyzing who she was and reading books about self-discovery rather than taking all those night school courses for the last three years. Maybe then she'd know.

She was also a very shy girl. Very insecure. She had no idea how she would even handle attention from boys. When she'd sit on the floor by her locker, eating her carrot sticks and doodling in her notebook, she'd watch boys and girls interact. She's seen the way the boys had made huge productions of asking girls out, getting everyone's attention so that they could watch them have their moment. The girls merely blushed and they giggled, but if it were her? Oh my, she would probably burst into tears and switch schools the very next day.

She just wasn't ready for boys yet, she decided. Maybe when she's completed her post-secondary schooling and started working her first career for a couple years, then she'd give it a try. If not, she didn't really mind living alone and traveling for the rest of her life. Actually, that didn't sound bad at all. She would just live alone with her books and maybe a couple cats.

She could hear people moving around her, strolling around the halls and walking toward the cafeteria. She knew she should probably look up and watch where she was going, but she was far too busy jotting down an epiphany she had just had in the corner of her page. She shoulder made sharp contact with another's, and she bounced back a bit, all of her books and things falling onto the floor. Two strong hands steadied her by her shoulders and she huffed, looking up to see that they weren't even looking at her at all. He picked up her books from the floor for her, handing them off and uttering a soft, "sorry," all while keeping his gaze fixed on the petite brunette at the end of the hall waiting for him.

She wasn't mad. Really, she was used to it. While he barely acknowledged her existence, he actually made an effort to catch her before she fell and then he apologized and picked up her books. She could tell that this boy had a kind enough heart from that reason alone. Most people would have just kept walking. And really, looking at that girl waiting for him at the end of the hall, who really could pay any attention to her? That girl waiting for him was stunning. Really stunning. She almost forgot what her own name was when she looked at her.

Alex rubbed his sore shoulder tenderly as he continued moving down the hall. He regretted not making any eye contact at all with whoever it was he had bumped into, but it was too late now. Plus, Ashlynne was waiting for him, so he walked faster. When he was standing before her, he took note of the height difference. Ashlynne only came up to about his collar bones in height, but he didn't mind. In fact, he found short girls kind of cute.

"Hey Al." She grinned at him.

"Hey." He smiled crookedly, pecking her lips. One thing he didn't like about Ashlynne was that she always wore gooey lip gloss and Alex was always left wiping his mouth with the back of his hand after they kissed. As he gazed down at her, another thing he noticed that he didn't like about Ashlynne was the fact that she tried to hide her freckled skin with foundation. She was born with russet-coloured hair and heavily freckled skin--Alex found it very sweet and thought she was prettiest in the ninth grade when she kept her hair and skin natural. However, after taking a ginger joke made by one of the football players to heart, Ashlynne insisted on dying her hair dark brown and wearing make-up to cover her spotty skin. She was still beautiful, though. It may not have been completely natural, but he couldn't deny that she was beautiful.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and lead her to the cafeteria, looking through the sea of several hundred rowdy high school students to find the table where his friends were sitting. He found them when one of them stood on his chair, yelling Alex's name loud enough to be heard over everyone else.

However, on the other side of the school, the only sounds to be heard were her plimsolls scuffing against the teal carpet and her books as she dropped them carelessly on the faux-granite table top. The librarian looked up from her book to scowl at whoever was making the commotion, but her face softened when she realized who it was. They exchanged warm smiles before going back to their reading.

This was what she liked. It was quiet in here. There wasn't any food being thrown or silly drama going on inside the library. It was just her, Miss Darling the librarian and her books. She was comfortable and that was most important to her, because there weren't many places where she felt comfortable. She wished she could hide in there for the entire day, but alas, when the little hand reached the twelve and the big hand reached the six, the clock would tick and the bell would ring. She would have to go back into the noisy halls, shoulders bumping her and people stepping on her heels as they tried to walk through her like she wasn't even there.

It was okay, though. She had learned to accept the fact that she was invisible.