You delicately chewed on your kiwi flavoured lolly and moved it to the other side of your mouth as you walked down the hallway. It was currently the only thing keeping you from biting the edges of your fingers from your nerves.
Mark's words never left your mind. It's not that what he said necessarily hurt, but it was more of a concern. You were worried about him. He seemed to be having a difficult time, but your mother had told you several days ago to never let anyone suffer alone, no matter how much they said that they didn't want it. You didn't have to be overbearing. All you had to do was just be watchful of him; make sure he didn't get into trouble, and when he finally asks for help, you can provide it for him.
Though, as you opened the door to your history class, you were greeted with threatening shouts and screams coming from Mark's once vacant seat.
"Stop wasting my time!" He screamed, a loud ringing noise resonating through the room. The girls standing around him cover their mouths in shock as the sound died off and he sat back down in his seat. Some of them were even crying at his behaviour. Amy stood in front of the male and yelled back at him, taunting him to continue his screaming match.
The door shut behind you, the sound echoing through the hall. It caught the attention of both Mark and the girls around him.
Aside from Amy's angry strides towards you, something else caught your attention. As Mark stood, he didn't have a frustrated, solemn look like he once did, but his eyes were filled with nothing but hate and anger. His skin looked a little paler than usual, and you wondered if he had gotten enough sleep or not, but since there were no bags underneath his eyes, you somewhat doubted it. Also, he was looking awfully fancy today. He was wearing a grey, long-sleeved button up and had a tie around his neck. He was wearing tan khaki's and a pair of black dress shoes as well. It seemed like a very unusual outfit for him to wear, but you were snapped out of your thoughts as Amy had lessened the distance between the two of you, so you didn't have much time to think about it.
"What did you do to him?!" She shouted, fists clenched at her side. Not wanting to get into a confrontation, you sheepishly hugged your history packet that you had finished, in hopes to ask the professor some questions about it.
"I-I didn't do anything..." You weakly defended, not understanding why she blamed you for his new, aggressive behaviour.
"Liar!"
She pulled up her hand and quickly - also harshly - connected it with your left cheek. With the momentum and pain she produced, you were forced to fall onto your knees and drop your packet, scattering the papers everywhere. Your sucker also fell out of your mouth, making you even more agitated as it laid on the dirty floor. You looked up at her as you rubbed your cheek, an angry glint in your eyes.
"Well, would you look at this. Ms. Little Goody-Two-Shoes has already completed her assignment?."
She reached down to grab one of your papers, but unlike your high school bully's, you weren't afraid of her. You shot your hand out to hers and grabbed her wrist, stopping her movement.
"You're going to be making a mistake if you do that." You warned, earning an unsure chuckle from her as she looked into your threatening eyes. She stood back up and huffed, walking back over to her girls.
You sighed as you picked up your papers, their locations changing because of the air conditioners blowing throughout the room.
As you picked up a piece, you felt a uneasy, lingering presence develop around you. You looked up and your eyes were greeted with those of the stoic, pale face of Mark. He stared down at you, not making any movement as he kept his hands in his pockets. Up close, you also realized that Mark had something that looked a little like eyeliner around his eyes, which brought out a little more color into his eyes, but still, he showed no emotion.
"Well, are you going to help me or just stand there?" You asked, the edges of your words sharp and bothersome.
He smirked at you, not saying a word as he walked back to his seat and sat back down. You glared at him, partially not believing that he decided not to help you. That usually wasn't like him. Hopefully, this was just a defense mechanism and not something that you would need to worry about.
He sat in his seat, listening to the intriguing mumbles coming from your mouth. He stared down at the table in front of him, tracing random patterns in it delicately with his finger. He loved the feeling of the smooth table against his fingertips.
Someone called out to him, forcing him to begrudgingly look up. Amy hesitantly looked at him and waved, but after a couple of moments, noticing that his neutral gaze never faltered, she put her hand back down and quickly turned back around in her seat, the uncomfortable edges of his new persona biting at her.
His attention then diverted from Amy to a sudden movement he saw in the corner of his eyes. You had gathered up all of your papers, threw away your lolly and sat down in your seat, being careful to be quiet to not attract any more unwanted attention.
But you had already captured someone's eye. The way that you could become so threatening and clever was interesting to say the least, but you were also so kind and caring. Although you put your foot down when you needed to, you still had a gentle, passive way about you. Why was that? And why did you not retaliate, as you had every right to do so?
The male sitting in the desk rested his head on his knuckle, propping it up. He stared at you for a little longer, studying the way that you hurriedly retrieved your items out of your bags and how you tucked your hair back behind your left ear and leaned down to continue your work.
Feeling a pair of eyes watching you, you turned around to find the source of your discomfort. Your eyes met with his once more, but you noticed that they weren't filled with hate and anger, but with intrigue. Comforted by his change in attitude, you waved at him with a smile on your face. In response, he nodded his head at you, never breaking your gaze. Soon after, the professor walked into the room, causing you to look back towards the front of the classroom. You were happy with Mark's sudden change in behavior, and you were hopeful to talk to him after class, if he would allow you to do so.
But there was one thing that you - unfortunately - did not know.
That wasn't Mark.