(A/N sorry for not mentioning this earlier, but Y/N means "your name")
You slid into your seat quietly, careful to not disturb Amy and her crew. They seemed distracted by talking to one another and looking at the entrance periodically.
Your guess was that they were looking for Mark.
They had been doing the double-take for a couple of minutes now, but still no one had showed up like they had hoped.
Something told you that Mark wasn't going to be here. He was a very responsible kid and what not, but something wasn't settling right with you. Something told you that he was affected by the strange man that entered into your apartment not too long ago.
Regardless, you had decided to keep yourself relatively collected until you saw him. It would only be questions from there, however. You needed to know certain things that he may have an idea about. He has lived at the apartment complex longer than you have, so maybe he would know something. Something like, was there any way for the doors of the apartments to be unlocked without a key? Was there any security in the building? How were the law enforcement in the area? Sure, you got a nice guy to come check things out, but are they all that way?
Another one was, has he been involved in anything illegal? It sounded dumb, but there was every possibility that he was into drugs, judging by his paranoid nature.
The more you focused on your questions, the more you confused yourself. There was no way that your neighbor would have had a part in this. He was just a kid. Like you.
Your attention was brought back to reality when several of the girls seated in front of you gasped and giggled with joy. Knowing what their happiness stemmed from, you turned around to look towards the entrance.
In all of his glory, the person whom you believed to be Mark, made his way down the steps. Today, he wore a grey, long-sleeved button up and some black jeans. It was a bit more casual than the day prior, but compared to your yoga pants and T-shirt, he was way over dressed.
The girls were still startled by his outburst from before, so they stayed seated, but made it known that they were excited to see him as they began to whistle and cat-call.
But he did nothing. Didn't even look at the girls. He just kept his eyes solely focused on the steps beneath him.
As he walked, something about him caught your attention. It wasn't anything bad, per say, but something irked you.
The way that he was walking with such authority intimidated you, but he wasn't looking back at you either. So, you had plenty of space to eye him. The shape of his physique, the way that he was staring down at the ground with such happiness, yet he looked as if he would be able to scream at someone in the next moment.
Suddenly, memories of the day before seeped through the cracks of your mind. Your heart rate increased, and you looked back down at your desk in fear.
'Pink shirt..'
That was the one thing that you distinctively remember. He was wearing a pink, long-sleeved button up shirt. The tint was so blandly obvious in your neutral apartment, that you wouldn't have been able to forget it. Knowing what Mark was wearing yesterday, you hesitated.
'Did.. Mark?...'
You sat still in your desk, not daring to move. You could feel a threatening anxiety rush through your veins. Did Mark have something to do with this? If so, why? What had you done that would make him do those things to you?
If it was him, he apparently had the power to paralyze you. It didn't really make sense, but you felt as if things were starting to add up. It had to be him. Who else would it be?
Your anxiety was now replaced with anger. You pushed aside your thoughts about his otherworldly abilities and took a deep breath before turning towards where he had sat the other day.
You were met with confusion, as the seat was bare; empty.
You heard a squeak come from the chair to your left where you weren't facing.
"Are you doing alright, (Y/n)?"
Your heart virtually stopped and forced itself into your throat as the voice rang out. A familiar ringing sound could faintly be heard, but there was no way to pinpoint exactly what the source was. Of course, you had a theory, but you would save that for later.
You turned towards the call of concern and were met with a worried, pale face sitting next to you.
He looked a lot different than he did yesterday. He seemed to have gotten more pale now, and you could feel a chill rush across your skin as you looked at him. Quickly losing courage, you decided to fake a smile.
"Oh, yeah. I'm doing just fine." You replied quickly, hoping to end the conversation there. Luckily, he seemed to not be as talkative today, so you thanked the heavens for that.
But, there was still something that was nagging at you. Why did he look so different? What was the reason behind his new skin tone? Sure, people can lose their color when they get sick or whatever, but his skin was practically grey. Was he alright?
The ringing in your ears got a little bit louder, making you instinctively flinch away.
"What's wrong?" Mark asked, the ringing getting a bit louder.
You moved your hands over your ears and clenched your teeth together in pain. This noise was starting to get annoying very quickly. It had now lost it's fearful touch, and now was becoming plain, old distasteful.
Suddenly, as fast as it came, the sound had completely disappeared. You un-clenched your teeth and removed your hands from your ears slowly, still on guard. You looked over towards Mark, who had his attention on someone else, a seething gaze towards Amy, who had gained enough courage to get up and come to his desk. She held herself up by putting her elbows on the desk and her head in her hands.
"So, Mark. How about you ditch this idiotic, pathetic excuse of a girl and come hang out with me?"
'Rehearsed.' You commented to yourself, battling away the self-conscience issues that were beginning to build up from her insult.
Mark gave no response, but continued to challenge her with his deadly glare. You could feel the tension increase as Amy forced herself up from off of the table and made eye contact with you.
You cowered at her stare. Not because you were scared, but because you really didn't want to deal with useless drama this early in the morning. It always ended up making your day worse.
You were more scared of the man sitting next to you, to be honest.
"Why is she special?" Amy asked, pointing a delicately slender finger towards you.
Mark still did not answer, but had now gotten up out of his chair with his fists implanted on his desk as he stared her down, baring teeth brightened by the school's false lighting.
Amy walked in front of your desk, her finger now pressed against your forehead harshly. Her fake nail dug into your skin uncomfortably, but you decided to take it.
'Eventually, a bully will lose interest.' You told yourself.
"She's not prettier than me. She's not skinnier than me. She's no where near better than me!-"
Her words were cut off as Mark's hand hit hers roughly, her finger now off of your head. Still feeling pain, you reached up to the place where her finger was, and felt a wet substance come in contact with your finger. As you expected, you pulled your hand away to find that the liquid was red.
'Perfect. That's going to leave a scar.'
"How dare you lay a hand on me!" Amy yelled as she grabbed your hair and pulled you up out of your seat. You gripped onto her wrists, but that didn't stop the girl from pulling. You could definitely feel you hair giving resistance, but that didn't make it any less painful.
"Get off of her." Mark's voice rung out making Amy's grip loosen. She was fearful. Who was this new person inside of the Mark that she used to know and love? Where had the light gone?
Mark grabbed Amy's wrists and jerked them off of your hair. He then pushed her, causing her to collide with the chairs and desks on the next step below. Quickly realizing what was about to happen, you touched Mark's shoulder delicately to try to get his attention, but he only shot you a glare. Though, that glare was enough for you to remove your hand from his stature.
Obviously not done yet, Mark made his was to where Amy was laying. She was trying desperately to get up, but she didn't have anything to help her out. So, he stood in front of her, his hand pulled back into a fist. Amy knew what was about to happen, so she begged for him to mercy her.
This was getting out of hand quickly. Why was Mark so drastic with his punishment? A push would've been fair, but now he's just lost his mind.
Without any hesitation, you ran in between Mark and Amy, making him stop his action in order to keep you unharmed. He looked at you, confused as he saw your eyes gloss over.
"Stop!" You shouted, hoping that it would snap him out of it.
Fortunately, it worked. Mark reluctantly drew his hand back and walked back to his seat just in time for the professor to walk in. Luckily, you had already helped Amy out of the 'hole' she had been stuck in. She stared at you with bewilderment, but soon joined her friends, and they conversed quietly to one another.
As you walked back to your seat, 'Mark' couldn't help but watch your every move. You walked feebly. If someone would run past you, you would surely be knocked over. You were so cowardly, but in a way, so courageous. He was having a hard time believing what he was seeing, but he wasn't complaining. Of course, he still had many questions and didn't understand certain actions of yours..
But you were exactly how he imagined you'd be.