Rips your heart out and leaves you bleeding with a smile on your face.

The man hit the pavement with a loud thump, It caught me off guard so I took a step back and looked up with shocked eyes at my hero. In front of me stood a tall, awkward boy, with hair that covered one half of his face. What my regular group of peers would call 'emo'.

"are you alright?" he asked, slowly taking a step towards me. He was well over a foot taller than I, but I wasn't intermediated by him as I was with the man who had just tried to assault me.

"yeah, I-I'm good thanks."

"My names Mark." he said holding his hand out for me to shake.

"Melissa, call me Mel though." I took his hand nervously and flinched at how warm they were. Quickly I pulled my hand back and shoved it in my sweater pocket.

"Wanna go for a walk, and get away from this creep?" he looked down at the now unconscious man laying on the ground at our feet.

"Sure." I replied, laughing and stepping around the body so I could get to Marks side.

We walked quite a ways, in a comfortable silence.
he seems like a pretty cool guy. I wonder why I haven't seen him around school. I thought to myself.

"So, You go to Red Bank High?" I asked, breaking our silence.

"Yeah, I do."

"Ooh, well how come I haven't seen you around?" I asked in curiosity.

"You probably do, I just don't stand out much. Y'know?" he let out a long breath.

"Well then, sit with me at lunch tomorrow," I smiled "technically today." we both laughed.

"Sure, I'd love to." he smiled.

"Well Mark, as much as I've enjoyed spending time with you I have to go home if I want to make it to school tomorrow." I laughed and turned around and started walking away.

"Wait, I'll walk you." he said, grabbing me by the wrist.

"OK." I smiled

We continued our walk with him still awkwardly holding my wrist. Once in front of my house I gently pulled my arm out of his grasp.

"This is my house." I said, letting my arms fall and slap against my legs.

"Ooh." he sounded disappointed.

"I'll see you later on today." I smiled and turned around, and for the second time today he stopped me by grabbing my wrist. He pulled back with a gentle but strong amount of force. I went back and fell into his chest. With his free arm, he slid his warm fingers under my chin, forcing me too look up at him. I looked into his eyes for two split seconds before his lips came crashing down on mine.

I pulled away, and the kiss ended just as soon as it started. My stomach felt un-easy and my sight was getting fuzzy. I felt a warm liquid drop roll down my cheek slowly, as I remembered about meeting Dalton.