Him

Then, my eyes finally locked onto him. His long black hair was almost as long as mine. It stopped right before his shoulders and puffed up a bit, a fluffy amount. Touching his hair would feel like rubbing my hand on a cloud. I could see his bright blue eyes, so bright they lit up his face, they were like diamonds. Although I could see his hair and eyes, the rest of his face was covered in a black face mask. One of his endearing traits, he'd always wear a mask when upset, sad, or overall not in a good mood.

"If I remember correctly, he stopped wearing it a few days before homecoming, then rarely ever had it on," I thought, taking a step toward him until I saw the cloth of the mask moving. He was sitting alone on the edge of a table, another one of his traits, being a loner. I used to tease him about his tendency to ignore everyone, although he always had the same excuse. 

The more I remembered about him, the blurrier my vision got. Tears started forming in my eyes as I remembered more and more, including his death. *RING!* The homeroom bell, once more, snapped me out of my thoughts. He didn't know me yet, there's no point staring at him.

***

The first period went by fast, it was just an introduction and saying things about ourselves. But, as the second period came around, I halted before entering the classroom. I hated this period so strongly before, and for good reason. He was the only person who knew why. "I wish we had more than one class together, just have to make it until 3rd though! Then I can see him!" I convinced myself internally, taking a step into the class, only to see something surprising. Something that didn't happen last time. He had this class too, and his seat was right next to mine.

"What? How did this change?" I asked myself silently, before throwing down my bag and sitting beside him. At least I could know him earlier than last time, and we had this period together. "Wait, what if this is the period we know each other now? Instead of 3rd?" I asked myself, before dismissing the thought, either way, I'd be alright with him around.

"Xavier shut it," He whispered, looking behind, paying no attention to me sitting down. As he looked around, he stopped and looked at me. I saw a tiny flash of recognition flash through his eyes before it went back to normal. Curious, I started to speak to him.

"Have we met before?" I asked him, obviously we had, to me at least. Before he answered, I drew a breath and looked at him again. All I could imagine was pulling down his mask and admiring the boy I loved once more, but he didn't know me.

"No. You just look like someone I knew before, sorry," He answered, paying me no more attention as he opened a notebook and started to write in a language I couldn't comprehend. The letters looked like runes, but he'd never written anything like that before. Not that I know of.

"So, how's your morning going?" I asked, stopping myself from patting his hair. It looked fluffy, so fluffy. As he started to speak, I looked into his eyes. His bright, gem-like eyes. I could have stared into them forever, but again, he didn't know me yet.

"It's alright, how is yours?" He answered, meeting my gaze. He just looked at me, before looking down again and started to write once more. 

"That's good! Mine is alright too!" I answered, louder than I meant to. The teacher looked at us in surprise, before writing her name on the board and starting to talk about herself, what was allowed in the classroom, and going desk to desk to ask students about their summer.

I glanced at his ID as she walked around, and saw his grade was how I remembered it. 10th. "So, you're in 10th grade? I'm in 9th," I said, trying my best not to look flustered as his eyes looked into mine again. How badly I wanted to yank down his mask and look at his whole face, but not until he was ready.

*RING!* The second period finally ended, and I walked to my next class slowly, waiting for him. But he didn't follow the way I was going, he went down a different hallway. "No...Does he have a different class? How did this change?" I asked myself, slightly upset as I arrived at my next class, art.

When I opened the door, I saw him again, sitting at a back table alone. His hair was covering his eyes and he was talking to himself once more, like in the second period. "Hey! Nice to see you again!" I said cheerfully, as I walked up to him. He only looked at me confused and started to doodle on a sketchbook, so I took a seat next to him and waited for the teacher to start with him.

"I noticed, I'll ask in a moment. Calm yourself," I heard him whisper to his side before he turned to me. "Why do you keep staring at me like this?" He asked, looking at me with a focused stare. 

"Oh! I just really like your hair, what did you do to make it so fluffy?" I asked, using anything possible to get out of his questioning. He blinked, before going back to drawing, ignoring my question. "He probably thinks I'm a creep! Who says that after just meeting someone?!?" I yelled at myself internally, as the teacher started to speak.

"Chris! Stop drawing for a moment and pay attention, I'm trying to explain something," She said, pulling him away from his drawing. He only looked at her with a cold stare, his eyes reflecting only light and a dull glare. Before anything else was said, he recited her lesson plan and went back to drawing. Not even sparing another glance.

"Thank you, Chris. Um...You can keep drawing, just keep paying attention?" She said confused, and I sat there stunned as a small smirk became visible behind his mask. She continued speaking, explaining what we would be doing, as he nodded along and answered any questions she had to show his involvement.

"She's always been a nice teacher, so I'm not surprised he got off with this, but still!" I yelled inside my head, listening to him answer questions. He had never been like this before, he'd always just do as he was told.

As the class was dismissed, he walked alongside me to my next period, the fourth period. "The hell? 3 periods together? Including lunch?" I questioned, wondering if maybe the fates handed me a win this time around. "Maybe God wants us to get together again this time around?" I asked myself, entering the next classroom alongside him.

"Well, at least we get a lot of time together! But, how do I make us get into a relationship again? It took months for us to even be friends last time around! Maybe I just talk to him again?" I questioned, not paying attention as we arrived at the gym. "I wonder what else is different?"