The young boy sighed heavily and sat back in his chair, combing his brown hair with his hand. He looked at his reflection in the mirror, noticing the sad eyes in it, which always took on such a mood when he could be alone for a while. In the presence of people and cameras, he pretended to be happy, when in fact his soul was suffering. The body was a mask under which he hid his true emotions. No one knew what the boy was really struggling with. No one knew his situation. Everyone thought he was the happy man he presented in front of the cameras and in publicity photos. However, his feelings kept changing, as he could only feel true happiness for a moment, and then dark nightmares came over him again, reminding him of his painful past.
His face took on a forced smile as a young woman entered the room. She washed off his makeup, which he needed for the photo shoot, and meanwhile greeted the girl, who entered the room without knocking.
Naomi, with a stunned expression on her face, took a seat next to Alex and carefully looked at her reflection. She corrected her hairstyle, which had been ruined by the wind on the way to the building, and fixed her gaze on her friend, who looked bored.
- Tired? Was the session that exhausting? - She asked to break the awkward silence.
- Yes," he answered briefly, falling asleep in his chair. - That's why talk to me because I'll drift off shortly. You can tell me the biggest nonsense, but don't let me squint even for a moment.
Naomi knew about his nightmares, but he never revealed more to her regarding his past, which led to the nights that brought him the most suffering.
- Then why don't I start with how the driver left me in the middle of the street, adding insult to injury, and went on his way? - A smile appeared on Alex's face. Naomi always managed to revive him, even if to others she was a witch with whom no one could get along.
He was the only one who had this ability.
*
Mark, after leaving the house, sped up his steps when he saw the girl who had followed him intrusively the previous day. He didn't know what was in her head or why she was acting like that, but he preferred to stay away from her.
He looked over his shoulder when he heard her running after him. The teenager caught up with him and, keeping pace with him, smiled cheerfully.
- What do you want? - he greeted her in an unkind tone, wanting her to give him a break. However, she was not about to move away from him.
- You're going to the bus stop, right? So I want to go with you. I don't think it's any problem that I'm trying to get close to you?
- Why would you want to get close to me? There is nothing special about me to attract you," he declared nervously, almost running to the bus stop.
- Stop, handsome neighbor," she said with amusement in her voice, grabbing his arm. Mark stuck a nervous look at her as she forced him to rest for a moment. - You have a pretty face, and I like pretty people. I hope we will become friends," she replied simply, extending her hand to him.
The boy looked surprised. This girl frightened him more and more, but after thinking about it for a while, he extended his hand to her, which she immediately shook.
- I'm Samantha," she declared. The brunet scratched his head, looking uncertain about his acquaintance with this strange neighbor. - And you are Mark," she added, showing her teeth in a wide smile. - In the evening I met your mother in front of the house, so I asked her about you.
The boy took his hand from her grasp and discreetly hid it behind his back so she wouldn't touch him again.
- Let's go to the bus stop because the bus will run away from me. There is not much time left. - After these words, he moved ahead, and the girl again kept pace with him. She continually showered him with questions and brought up strange topics, to which he tried to answer her. However, at some points she irritated him terribly, so he asked her to tighten her lips and keep quiet.
Samantha attended a different school than her neighbor, but unfortunately, she commuted on the same bus, which was inconvenient for Mark because he couldn't study in peace before class because her mouth wouldn't shut up. She would wind up on every subject, and was thus very disruptive.
*
Alex took his seat behind the wheel and buttoned up the sports car, wanting to be home as soon as possible to rest. He buckled his seatbelt and pressed his hand to his chest, anxiously looking into the windshield when he saw a girl in front of the hood. He slapped her hands on his car with a mad smile on her face to alert him to her presence.
Jessica was the last person he felt like seeing at that moment.
He wanted to pass her, but she wouldn't let him, so he let go and let her come to the door and take the passenger seat. She got in and threw him a chastising glance as he drove out of the parking lot without a word.
- Won't you say hello to me?
The gray-haired man gave her a sidelong glance, and his face took on a shade of grimace.
- You persistently got into my car, so I don't feel the need to express a desire for any conversation with you. Even if it should be a silly "hello."
- So you prefer to pretend that I'm not here at all?
He didn't answer. He entirely ignored her.
- Do you think I'm stalking you? Would you like me to give you a break?
- You happen to be the least of the problems that plague me, but you make me feel unnecessary anxiety.
Jessica fixed a disgusted gaze on him, expecting him to retract those words, but nothing of the sort came.
She snorted under her breath and, assuming an offended expression, crossed her arms over her chest.
Alex stopped at a red light and leaned on the open window of the car door with his elbow, looking wearily at the people who were hurriedly crossing the lanes.
He massaged his neck and surreptitiously glanced at Jessica, who tightened her lips in anger.
- Don't sulk because that won't change my mind about what you did. Remember that it was you who messed up, not me," he declared.
- After all, I explained to you that I was forced by the manager to attend that meeting. - She tried to explain herself, but the robed man was still not going to forgive her. Eventually, she was crossed off the list of people he trusted.
- And you made out with a rich guy because it was also an order from the manager that you couldn't ignore," he sneered, feeling like laughing at the stupid things she was telling him.
The girl straightened up in her chair and, clasping her hands on her leather purse, couldn't stand it and shouted:
- Stop!
Alex, without any protest, pulled over and, without honoring her with a glance, waited for her to leave the car.
She thought he would play nice and not let her get out, offering to at least drive her home, but she was disappointed again.
- I hoped that things could be good between us, but you're an asshole who doesn't appreciate women. If you really had loved me, you would have forgiven me for this stupid stunt," she said in an upset voice.
- Was there ever any talk of love between us? - he asked mockingly, showing his teeth in a smile that caused a faster heartbeat in most girls in the country. - I don't have the time, much less the head, for any kind of relationship. It's not for me. Currently, the most important thing is my career," he informed her.
- Then why the hell did you bother me! - She raised her voice, mirroring him with furious eyes.
- We met as friends who slept together out of boredom. We both didn't mind, so I don't understand your indignation," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
- So, if we were just acquaintances with privileges, why are you now reproaching me for some rich guy groping me? - She looked at him with such a gaze as if she wanted to x-ray him through. She completely did not understand his feelings.
- Because I don't like it when someone touches the same thing as me," he replied brazenly, and the girl murmured. This was not the answer she expected. This was already the height of everything. - It disgusts me.
Jessica blinked her eyelids, trying to chase away the tears. She would rather not cry in front of him. She wasn't going to give him that satisfaction. He was an asshole you should stay away from, and her mother always told her not to shed tears over a boy who wasn't worth them. She was right because Alex was exactly that kind of guy.
Without a word, she got out of the car, slamming the door in farewell. The gray-haired man pelted her with a gaze full of hatred because he cared more about this car than she did.
She put her glasses on her nose and ran to the edge of the sidewalk when she saw an oncoming cab. She hoped no one recognized her.
*
Mark breathed a sigh of relief when he left the school finally able to breathe fresh air. He had had enough of putting up with the teasing and crooked looks of other students who teased him at every possible opportunity. He would have been happiest to lock himself in his room and not come out for the rest of his life.
Why did all this happen to him?
He never blamed his mother for the poor life they led, but many times before falling asleep he dreamed about this: what would it have been like if he had been born into a rich family? Would he be more confident in himself and his abilities; how would he feel if everyone at school liked him, and he was one of the popular students?
Heading to the bus stop, he looked over his shoulder as he passed two girls who said something under their breath and giggled. Mark was so oversensitive about this that it seemed to him that everyone was mocking him, considering him a walking misfire.
Even if they were girls from another school who didn't know him and were charmed by his looks, he couldn't accept that they could be serious.
Mark lifted his backpack over his head as he felt raindrops falling from the sky. Within a brief moment, it had fallen hard, and he sped up his step to get to the bus stop faster.
People were hiding under the canopy, waiting for the bus. The boy squeezed in between them to avoid getting wet, and glancing at the time on his cell phone, he eagerly awaited the bus.
The commute home was tedious as usual. The brunet stared at the windshield, watching the falling drops.
He hated the rain.
This dismal weather reminded him of an incident he experienced as a child. It was a painful memory in which he hated his peers for the first time.
He got off at the bus stop, but did not go in the same direction as usual. His mother informed him that he should have a hot meal out on the town, as she had something to take care of and might not be back in time to cook him dinner.
The boy took out from his pants pocket the small amount of money he had saved over the past few days. It wasn't a large amount, but enough for him to buy Chinese soup to eat.
As he crossed the threshold of the store, a bell sounded in the room to inform the salesmen of a new customer.
Mark bought a warm meal and sat down at an oblong table that was located by the window. Watching the people moving along the sidewalk, he pulled the hot noodles into his mouth, savoring the taste he loved so much.
He looked with more interest at the person who parked in front of the store with a squeal of tires. With glasses on her nose and a scarf that covered half her face, she ran into the store and looked around the interior with panicked eyes. One bookcase caught her attention. She headed in that direction, so Mark focused on his food.
Her strange behavior did not interest him at all. He had seen many girls behaving peculiarly.
Straight from the checkout, she ran to the table where the teenager was sitting. She carelessly threw down her purse and opened the glue box with hasty movements, looking visibly upset.
The boy glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, furrowing his brow as he noticed that this urgency was a broken nail. She was trying to glue it back together at all costs, which amused Mark in his soul. However, he was not one of those people who showed after themselves how much they were amused by other people's behavior.
If I had such problems, he thought, pulling another portion of noodles into his mouth. The agitated girl glared at him out of the corner of her eye, as his slurping further irritated her.
- Do it quieter because in a moment I'll use this glue on your mouth so you won't open it again," she said in a raised voice. - That it also had to happen to me just today," she added, nervously glancing at the silver watch.
- The more glue you apply, the worse it will look," he declared, looking at her clumsy attempts.
Naomi didn't like the fact that some high school student in a uniform was giving her attention regarding what she was doing wrong.
- Shut the fuck up, kid," she cried out through her teeth and cursed loudly as she squeezed too much glue out of the tube. In an act of desperation, she didn't think about what she was doing and wiped her fingernail on Mark's shirt.
The brunet put down his food and looked with wide eyes at the scorched stain in his clothes.
- You destroyed my uniform.... - he declared in a worried voice.
What should he do now? After all, he could not afford to buy another one, and teachers paid attention to the neat appearance of students. Besides, he couldn't become the laughingstock of his peers again, who would start calling him dirty.
Naomi ignored his pretensions about the ruined shirt and started waving her hand, hoping that the glue would dry faster, and the nail would not look so bad. In less than an hour she had a meeting with people in front of whom she had to appear perfect, and currently the nails was her biggest concern.
- What are you going to do with my shirt that you destroyed? - Mark stuck a furious look at her because she had added more problems for him through thoughtlessness.
- Kid, I don't have time to talk to you about the shirt now. You will buy a new one. I'm in a worse trap," she declared in an irritated voice, not looking at him at all.
Mark got up from his chair, ready to yell at her because he had no intention of incurring additional costs.
- Why should I buy a new uniform when you were the one who destroyed it? - His voice was gentle, but everything was boiling inside him. He didn't have the courage to yell at her in front of the other people who were hanging around the store.
The girl only now saw his face and froze.
He had been sitting with his back to her the whole time, so she hadn't paid much attention to him. Now that he stood in front of her, she had no doubt that it was him. This was the second time she had seen him. The first was in the lanes, and now she had a chance to have a word with him.
She took her glasses off her nose and carefully scrutinized him with her eyes. She swallowed her saliva harder when she realized she was not delusional. He was actually here. He was standing in front of her and talking to her.
Could she have been any crazier?
- Will you answer for my uniform? - he repeated the question, and she put her glasses back on her nose. She nervously reached for her purse from the table and, without looking away from him, watched the lips with which he spoke to her.
Those lips, went through her mind, and before she knew it, she bit her lip.
- Ah, your uniform. - She shook off the obscene thoughts and pulled out a business card with the address of the agency she belonged to. If it had been an ordinary teenager, she wouldn't have given a damn about him and what he would do with his damaged uniform, but when she realized it was him, she longed to meet him again. After all, this was no ordinary coincidence. Something unusual was happening, and she couldn't ignore it. - You can find me at this address. Only a few people get this business card from me, so you can get in without any problems. Say you're looking for Naomi, and the next time you meet, I'll give you the money. Calculate every penny," she declared, staring at him like a picture. Her glasses could hide her dreamy gaze.
When she shook herself off, she glanced at her watch and realized that she had very little time left before the meeting. Without a word, she ran out of the store, and Mark watched the unfamiliar girl until she disappeared from his sight.
He figured she was more bizarre than he was, but he had to get his money back for the destroyed uniform. Although he was afraid to go to the place alone, he intended to use his new neighbor to accompany him. He needed a person with whom he would be more comfortable. He hated running errands like this, and Samantha could finally be useful for something useful.