2 Part 2: Second Meeting, Probably

"You ready?" Miriam is standing in my doorway looking as perfect as ever. She looks fresher now that her cold is gone.

I stare back at the mirror. The bruise on my right cheek is barely noticeable by now. I missed a whole week of school because I didn't want to show up looking like I got abused at home. Miriam also missed a whole week of school as well because of her cold.

I untie my ponytail and brush my hair down. "Ready."

"Haven't seen you with your hair down in a long time." Miriam smiles and hands me my backpack.

"Yeah, I don't like how it gets all over my face, but I'll have it down for the next few days until this is all gone." I put my hair behind my ear to show Miriam my barely noticeable remain of a bruise.

"I'm sorry--"

"It's not your fault." I cut Miriam off. I know she feels responsible for what happened. "I was just unlucky." I flash a smile, trying to make a joke out of it.

"Alright." Her voice is just as weak as the smile she's trying to put up. "I'll drop you off today."

I nod. Our school are in different directions, I didn't like driving so I usually just ride the bus to school. Miriam have morning duty so she's driving to school to get there early, and occasionally she would drop me off.

"I made breakfast." Miriam hands my a bagel wrapped in two layers of napkins from the driver's seat. "I know you don't eat in the morning, but I just thought you should eat something today."

I take a bit of the bagel. It's kind of warm. "I heated it up for you." Miriam explains.

"Foods taste so weird in the morning, even with sugar sprinkled on it."

"It's just your taste bud, Micah. You should try eating more in the morning, maybe that'll change it."

I shake my head. "I will never get used to it. This bagel feels like brick." I take another bite and look out the window, we're already here.

"You don't have to come pick me up later." I tell Miriam.

"Ye ma'am." I hear Miriam says as I close the door behind me and watch her drive off.

It's just another school day, except that I have a ton of homework to turn in because of the week I missed. Miriam helped me with study over the week so I don't think I missed much, not that I'm worried about it anyway. I have math in the morning, it's not ideal but at least it wakes me up everyday.

People are walking by as they normally do which make me less anxious. There once was a girl who suddenly didn't wear glasses to school one day and everyone was making a big fuss over it. I was nervous people were going to start whispering that I have my hair down today. I guess I was worried for nothing.

"Excuse me." I say, approaching my locker. Out of all the lockers to be standing in front of, it just has to be mine. "Excuse me." I say again, louder this time.

"Micah?" The boy turns around. His hand reaches for my face and I flinch back. The boy put his left hand on my shoulder to stop me from stepping back and his right hand hand reaches for my ear. "Sorry, I just want to see something."

I watch from the corner of my eyes as he places my hair behind my ear. He pulls his face closer to mine. I feel his hand on my cheek then his put his chin on my shoulder.

"I knew it was you." The boy says. "I'm sorry."

With both hands I push him away. "What is this about?"

"Last week, you know...I'm sorry." The boy nervously rub the back of his head to which I recognize him as the boy in the black T-shirt from Miriam's club gathering. "Everyone kept calling you Miriam, but I knew it was you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but you're in the way of my locker though." I knew I recognized this guy from the gathering, I just didn't know he was from my school.

The guy's personality suddenly changes. "So, what's the story?"

"What story?" I open my locker and throw in my biology textbook before grabbing my math textbook.

The boy pulls out his cellphone to check the time. "There are seven minutes left before class starts, just enough time for you to make long story short."

"Don't you need to go to class?" I blurt out.

"We have math together?" The boy gestures toward the closed door a few feet away from my locker.

"Well, I got to go to class." I close my locker after making sure that I have everything I needed. "I got missing assignments to turn in."

I make my way to the teacher's desk to turn in last week's homeworks. "Glad you're back." Mr. Cox saids, turning the pages of my packet. I smile the smile I practiced this morning without saying anything.

Only during class did I find out that his name is Lucas. I don't usually pay much attention to the people around me nor could I remember names. I'm forgetful. I suppose he stands out a little bit to me. I touched his blood and he apologized.