Chapter 2

~Zayne Beckett~

It's been long days, and for some reason, I felt intimidated. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something has been constantly bothering me. I still managed to do my work well and I focused on my research, but other than that, I couldn't focus on anything.

For instance, Mom asked me to do normal house chores, such as washing the dishes. I was so oblivious to the fact that I was using hot sauce instead of dish soap. I was also asked to make up my bed when my mom walked in. Stupid me heard her say to take out the sheets and pillowcases to wash it. It wasn't my intention to smear butter instead of jam on my bread too, but that worked out in the end.

Even in school, I had tried to get into my locker, but my combination wouldn't work. It got me pissed, but then someone else gave me a weird look and opened the locker. I realized that it wasn't my locker at all, as I was in the wrong hallway.

I was really distracted by something, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Was it my research on jobs? I remember I recently searched up jobs and found an entire page filled with thousands of careers. Just scanning through the page was tedious.

Eventually, I reached the end of the list, but I hadn't really seen anything that caught my eye. It was great that every job had descriptions about it, though. I could've gone through every one of the professions in my free time and decide what I'd want to do by the end of the year.

But my career choice wasn't what I was distracted about. While I walked around school, I felt paranoid. For what? I had not one clue. It was daunting to not know what I was scared about.

Then it hit me. I had nothing to worry about. Why was I worrying about something that was not there?

That is until I got a glance at Aurora in the halls.

She strode with grace in every step, her long silky hair flowing with every motion, the dead blank stare she gave as she moved through the school with a purpose. With everyone around her, giving a quick and admiring look at just her alone, my paranoia came back. I felt defensive as she walked near to me and as soon as we locked eyes, I glared at her.

I glared at her.

Yes, I knew I was the one who was wrong in the previous situation. I thought she would've had a cold gaze on me. To my surprise, she didn't, and it hadn't seemed like the situation bothered her. Maybe she did have better things to do other than linger on something in the past.

Aurora was a strange girl already, and she was the reason I was feeling bothered. The annoying question still remained; why was she the reason I was feeling bothered? Was it my habit of being rude to the new kids that she was disappointed in? Why would she care about that anyways?

Carter and Nadia explained to me that Aurora was in a few of their classes throughout the week. I hadn't told them I knew she existed, as that would've brought up a topic I didn't want to talk about. I'm also pretty sure Carter would've said something out of the way, so I didn't risk it.

They kept talking about how kind, intelligent, and even fun she was. Nadia had said that she was very respectful to everyone, and I had little to no doubt about that. Even Carter was going on about sweet she was, offering to take him and his friends for ice cream. Sure, it seemed like she had liked Carter, but he explained that Aurora made it very clear, in the kindest way possible, that she wasn't interested in a love relationship.

Carter's words, not mine.

Having my best friends go on and on about how an amazing person Aurora was made me feel even more guilty than I actually was. In fact, since Aurora arrived, I haven't really been myself a lot. Though, I'm certain that's obvious by now.

There was something about her that made me a different person. Was it her eyes? Her hair? Her kindness? Her gestures? Why did one girl have an effect on me? How did she make me a different person? I laughed at myself wondering why was I stressing about something that shouldn't even happen right now in my life.

A girl.

"Hey Zayne," Carter called as I walked to my last class for the day. "Do you need a ride home? I'm leaving school early. My dad wants me to run some errands for him before I come home, and I think it's going to rain later."

Carter was my usual ride home whenever it rains, but I still had a full class left. "Nah, I can't leave early. If it rains, I'll just call my mom."

He nodded and left as we say our goodbyes and I head off to class. Usually, it would've been humiliating to say I'd call my mother to other people, but it's Carter. I knew the guy since grade school. Nothing's wrong with telling him that.

Geography was fairly easy to focus on, and it even gave me some time to figure out my next move. Unfortunately, Nadia hadn't come to school that day, so I couldn't talk to her about it during class. It was very difficult to make my decision, but it soon became clear to me that I should just drop it on the whole.

Sure, it would take a while to get over the guilt thing, but it will be over eventually. Over time, I'd forget about her. I'll be my old self. It would be as if nothing changed.

Oh, who was I kidding? Her pink hair was noticeable from a mile away. I couldn't forget about her even if I tried.

At the end of the day, I stood outside of school as the rain poured down from the dark sky. I was upset because I didn't have an umbrella, and I had to call my Mom. If I did, I would've had to go with her to pick up my little sister from elementary school. So I did the smart thing and waited a bit before I called her.

While I was waiting for her to arrive, I felt at ease watching the rain pierce the ground, as if it was penetrating it. I held my palm out and looked up, feeling the pain from the tiny droplets. It was almost like needles dropping on my hand at sixty miles per hour. But the sight of it made me clear my mind completely.

I got bored pretty soon. While I rubbed behind my aching neck, I saw a temporary flash of pink from the corner of my eye. Immediately I thought it was her. My heart skipped a beat as I froze in one spot. I tried hard not to look at the source. Otherwise, the guilt would've overthrown me.

But I just couldn't keep my eyes away. I had to look at her beauty at least one more time to settle it.

She pulled out an umbrella from her bag, opened it up and began to walk off. Only then had I realized I had a voice.

"Aurora."

She stopped at my subconscious call. What am I doing? Aurora turned around, her hair flying with the drizzling wind. I kept my blank expression, not showing that I was panicking for some reason. "Can we talk?"

Aurora gave me a confused look, but then smiled and walked toward me. "Hi, Zayne," she greeted. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked in her sweet small voice, making me feel the most guilt I've ever felt.

My eyes were trained on her with a loss of words. There was no doubt she was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen, and that was most likely the only one who made me nervous. Who wouldn't be nervous around her?

"Thank you... for," I took a deep breath before continuing, "um, you know, that day..." It was as if I was trying to sell her my soul. Just saying that one sentence was so difficult to get out, and I knew I couldn't turn back. "I... I uh... didn't thank you for... that...so... yeah, thank- thank you... again..."

My heart was racing a jaguar at this point. Never in my life had I done something like this to someone whom I don't even know personally. It was new to me, and I had no idea how to control it. It was all down to Aurora, who hesitated to respond.

Every agonizing second passed had slowly filled my chest with some kind of weight, causing me to weigh down in guilt. If she didn't accept my apology, I would've felt worse. Hell, even if she did accept it but not forgive me, it would've haunted me for a while, I was certain.

To have someone this beautiful hold a grudge against me was not something I wanted this year. Her perfectly pink lips were parted so slightly, it got me feeling numb again just resting my eyes on her. Just her standing there made me think over and over, how could she be real?

"I'm sorry... for not thanking you earlier." Maybe I should address my habit with the new kids too since she seemed upset about that. "And... for um, my stupid choice of words the other day." Did you have to say stupid? She probably already thought you were stupid, I told myself.

Her violet eyes lit up as the corners of her lips turned upward and revealed her perfectly straight teeth. Whatever was inside of me just melted into a lake at her pretty smile. "It's okay, I forgive you," she said.

It made me happier than a starved dog with a chicken bone. Had it always felt like you've earned the trust of the world when someone forgives you? That doesn't happen at all in my case. Sure, if it's from a pretty girl, then it would've always felt like that. But her, she wasn't just a pretty girl.

I tried to keep my flat expression but I couldn't help but flash a smile. Hers was contagious it seemed. It was so relieving to know that I could've felt better from then on out. No worries, no guilt, no burden.

"If you don't mind me asking, how are you going home?" she asked.

"I'm waiting for... someone," I responded before clearing my throat. "Are you going to walk in the rain?"

Aurora kept her warm smile, gazing into my eyes. One way or another, I felt uncomfortably entranced by hers. She was different, mysterious even, and I was interested in how.

"Walking in the rain is relaxing, in my opinion. Even without an umbrella." She walked off a little before turning to look at me once more. "By the way, there was an extra umbrella right behind you."

Naturally, I turned around and see a black umbrella, leaning on the wall near the doors, just waiting to be used. Of course, I felt like a complete idiot. When I turned to explain why I didn't use it, she was already gone.

◇◇◇

Later that day, I felt much more at ease. Knowing that Aurora had forgiven me was enough to let me have enough sleep. I could've easily focused on my goals again, all while living my life as it was. Everything was back to normal.

I got ready to sleep, got in my bed and looked at the ceiling, waiting for my eyes to close down on themselves. Instead of feeling heavier, they felt lighter. I laid there for who knows how long, thinking about her again.

Her appearance was permanently drawn into my brain. I couldn't think about anything else. My thought then replayed all our encounters after she ran into me. When I remembered her forgiving me, a smile crept up on me and caught me off guard.

I shoved a pillow on my face and groaned. What was wrong with me? I had something else to think about.

My goals, I thought. I began to mentally list my goals for the year. First, there was finding my career path. I had already started on that. Even made a dent in the list. Although, I wasn't sure that being an able seaman or anything abrasive was my kind of work.

Second, there was making new friends. I had forgotten about that goal for a while. That was when I got out of bed and immediately wrote down what I wanted to achieve throughout the year. I stuck it on the wall behind my laptop so I would be reminded of it every day.

I got back in bed and went over it. I recited it over and over, deciding to write down any other goals I had randomly thought of. Thinking about the second goal made me wonder too.

How was I gonna get new friends?

Maybe Aurora could've helped with that. But did she want to be my friend? I couldn't force someone to be my friend. Can I..? No, that wouldn't make them a true friend. And I wouldn't want to settle for less than true friends.

I came to the decision to start with Aurora. She would be a good start, but I needed to take things slow. We just recently cleared up some things, and I had the feeling she still held a grudge against me.