Behind Our Backs

She gasped... How could he? Did he not just say, minutes before, that he loved her?

As Evaline looked through the slit in between the door and she had seen something she would NEVER have expected to have seen. Dylan.... Dylan and a girl were kissing in the empty classroom. So that's where he had vanished to... He lied. He said he loved her and then lied so he could leave her and cheat on her with some girl she didn't even know the name of. Poor Evaline was completely heartbroken. She loved him for a while, like most girls at school, and she thought that he ACTUALLY loved her back.

Evaline closed the door quietly as a tear glided gently down her cheek. She backed away from the door and started to run back down the hallway. She didn't know where she was going and she didn't really care. She just wanted to put a lot of distance between herself and Dylan.

Suddenly a thought from her dark side came to her... She couldn't though.... Could she? You know what? Who cared? That's right, no one. She would do it anyways. She just needed to find the perfect place so she couldn't be disturbed...

Evaline wiped the tears off of her tear stained face as she marched towards an empty class room. She walked in, approached the teachers desk and grabbed the long, silver scissors from it.

She pulled up an empty chair and sat down, spreading the blades of the scissors apart. Could she do it?

She turned her arm so her wrist faced the ceiling and she put the blade to her skin below the joint of her wrist. She sighed deeply... She was just about to do it when:

"Don't!" Evaline looked up. The stranger! He was standing in the doorway. His bright blue eyes were filled with fear as he walked in, closer to her.

He bent down and took the scissors away from her. "Don't you dare do that. I've tried it before, it might seem like it's the right thing to do, but after you do it, you're disgusted with yourself and overall, it doesn't help!"

"What? I can do what I want! Give me them!" She demanded. And so her devil side had come out... She didn't care that the stranger was talking to her. If she wasn't so grief stricken, she would've been excited that he was here, but now, she just wanted to be left alone and do whatever she pleased.

"No." He said simply, brushing his black hair out of his eyes and throwing the scissors across the room.

Evaline started to get up so she could race and pick them up, but he stopped her by pinning her down on her chair. He was incredibly strong for such a skinny guy.

"Let me go!" She protested, struggling against his grip.

"No, not if you're going to take those scissors and cut yourself," He said. "I saw what your date and that girl were doing and I get it, it hurts, but this is not the way to go."

"Why are you helping me?" she asked, still struggling. "I don't even know you."

He looked her in the eye. "Maybe, but, I know YOU. I know you're the pretty, popular girl at this school and you wouldn't normally do this to yourself. This guy isn't worth it, you deserve better... Please, just don't deal with this situation like how you were. Like I've said, I've tried it before and it doesn't help."

She stopped squirming and calmed down. "You used to cut yourself?" She asked.

He sighed and closed his eyes. He bit his lip piercings nervously. "Yes... I used to... Sometimes I still do."

Evaline sat up straighter in her chair. "Why?"

"Why would you care?" He asked bitterly. "You're the popular at school, you're not supposed to have anything to do with me."

"I know, but please? Tell me." Evaline said.

"Fine, it was because I hated people calling me name's because of the way I dressed and the music I listened to! I hated people thinking that I was weird! After a while, I got fed up with people tripping me in the hallways, so I tried to do something about it. It was stupid... But once you start, it gets kinda hard to stop, I just couldn't take it anymore!" As he neared the end of his sentences, his voice increased in volume. Finally, he looked back up at her.

"I don't think you're weird because of the way you dress," Her temper had gone down and she was returning to normal again. Now, she wanted to know more about this stranger. "I like your clothes. I think you're style's really cool."

He seemed taken aback to her complements.

"I... Well, thank you," he grinned. "That means a lot. Especially from a popular."

Evaline smiled.

"Just don't do it ok? Please don't do it." He pleaded.

"I-I... Thank you for stopping me..." She said awkwardly.

"No problem." He smiled. He stood up and started to walk towards the door.

"Wait!" She said.

He turned around.

"Don't go yet! Do you... Do you wanna talk for a little bit?" She asked tentatively. She had grown fond over his presents for the last few minutes.

He seemed to think for a few moments, "Eh, why not?" He agreed.

He drew a chair from a desk near by and sat down in front of her.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Haven't you heard all the rumors?" He asked surprised. "I'm the new 'emo freak'."

"No," She laughed. "I meant your name. What's you name?"

"Oh! Greyson! I came to Pine Wall a few days ago." He smiled, holding out his hand to shake.

"Hello Greyson, I'm Evaline." She smiled, replicating his. She took his hand, shaking it politely.

"I know, everyone talks about you." He rolled his blue eyes.

"Everyone talks about me?" She frowned.

"Yeah, but it isn't bad. Apparently you're really nice. Now that we've finally met, I can see that," He said, "Oh yeah!" He added. "Thanks for helping me with my books in the hallway... No one else seemed willing enough to help me pick them up."

"Oh, you're welcome!" She said. "It was my fault anyways, I bumped into you."

Silence for a few moments.

"Y'know, people like you never helped me before," Greyson said thoughtfully. "I mean, most popular people would have laughed at me or made me drop my books again."

"Yeah... Some people at this school are real jerks." She admitted.

"But, I've noticed you hang around with these jerks?" He asked observantly.

"Yeah," She sighed. "I do... I can't stand some of them though. I just act like I do."

"Why?"

"Because..." She explained. "I've made myself popular somehow and I don't want that to change. If I didn't act like I like some of these people and like what they like, everything would go down the drain. I'm not an ego freak, but you have no idea how good it feels when someone wants to sit with you! How someone always wants to be by your side!"

"You're right, I don't." He muttered, playing with the snakebites on his lower lip.

Evaline's eyes widened. She had just insulted him! How could she be so stupid as to let that tiny little comment escape her mouth?

"I didn't mean it like that! I'm so sorry!" She apologized. She sighed again, frustrated with herself.

"It's ok," He smiled faintly. "It was an accident. But, it's true, I don't know how that feels. No one has ever wanted to talk to me before, and most DEFINITELY not someone like you. The jocks and all the pretty girls have NEVER said as much as 'hi' to me. Actually, I don't think any of them have EVER said 'hi' to me."

"But why?" She asked astonished. "You're so nice and friendly! Anyone would want to talk to you!"

"Yeah, well, I guess it's because they think I'm weird, like everyone else." He said, looking down and breaking their eye contact AGAIN. "The way I dress and what makes me, me, always scares them off. That, and the fact that they wouldn't be caught dead talking to anyone that wasn't in their social league... It would make THEM unpopular."

Evaline thought of something that had happened earlier that day.

"He's new," She remembered Lila saying darkly in the hallway after she helped pick up Greyson's books. "Just forget about him, he's an emo freak. No one popular would want to hang with him, he hangs out with all the Goths..."

She was right... No one popular would want to hang out with him, but Evaline did! If she was seen with him, that would be the end of "popular". She didn't want that to end, but she ALSO didn't want this friendship (or whatever this was) with Greyson to end. Maybe she could see him secretly, without anyone knowing?

"I know what you're thinking, and I get it." He said, reading her mind. He flipped his hair out of his eyes. "Tomorrow, just pretend that you don't know me, that you've never seen me before, that we've never had this conversation. Ok? I don't want you risking your reputation just by saying "hello" to me on your way to class. Just ignore me, and I'll ignore you."

"But I WANT to hang out with you. You seem really nice." She protested.

"I-Uh... I want to hang out with you too, but you can't be seen with me at school." He said.

"Then can we hang out after school?" She asked, excited.

"Sure, if you really want to," He smiled. "I think you're the first person who ever asked me that while being excited at the same time. I think you're ALSO the first and last popular to ever ask me that question."

Evaline blushed and heard the music stop. Was it 10:00 already? Grayson seem to notice this too. He got up and pushed his chair back into it's desk.

"Well... I've got to get going." He sighed.

"Me too... I was supposed to go with Dylan but..." She died off.

Evaline got up off of her chair too and walked towards the classroom door with him. There weren't any people in the hallway, so it was safe to walk with him.

"Yeah... There isn't anyone here, I think everyone went home already. Do you want me to walk you home?" He asked tentatively.

"Sure." Evaline smiled.

They walked together down the hallway, past the gym and out the school doors. Evaline noticed that Dylan's car was still there. Was he, perhaps, looking for her?

She sighed... What was she going to do tomorrow when she saw Dylan in school? Breakdown and cry? Get mad and slap him? She didn't want to hurt him... Even though he had just recently cheated on her, she sill loved him. Maybe she'd just talk to him and see if what she saw was the truth.

She and Greyson walked out of the parking lot and down the street. Again, there was no one to see them together. The road and sidewalks were completely deserted.

Suddenly, she got another question forming in her head.

"Why were you at the dance anyway?" She asked, looking at him. "It didn't look like you were with a girl."

He laughed. "Why would a girl ever want to go to a dance with ME? Of course I wasn't with a girl! I just wanted to go and see if I could find any friends. I doubted it, but it was worth a try. Different school, different people. But, I knew that you were coming too and... I wanted to, kind of, get to know you better... You were nice to me in the hallway and I heard good things about you. Even if you were popular and that I probably had no chance, I thought I'd give it a shot. I didn't think you'd be interested in getting to know me though. The best outcome that was planted in my head was that maybe you'd talk to me about something stupid with me for a minute or two and then walk away. But, I guess I was wrong."

Evaline smiled and they turned a corner, reaching the end of school property.

"Actually, I wanted you to be here. I was just surprised that you were. I wanted to get to know you too, I'm always curious about things."

They walked down the road in silence for a few minutes, turning down Evaline's street.

"How did you know where I live?" She asked puzzled. "I never told you."

"What? This is the street I live on, you live here too?" He asked.

"Yeah, you see that house with the yellow siding?" She pointed towards her driveway.

Greyson nodded.

"That's my house." She smiled. "Where do you live?"

He pointed a finger at the house across the street to hers. "I live there! I guess we're neighbours!" He laughed.

"Good, now we can talk more often." She suggested.

"Yeah." They walked up Evaline's driveway and stopped at her front door.

"See you tomorrow?" She asked expectantly.

"You will, but you're not supposed to talk to me right?" He questioned, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

"Right..." She frowned.

Evaline opened the door to the house and turned back to wave. Greyson waved back, turned around and ran down the driveway, up HIS driveway and into his house, his long black hair flowing behind him.