I crunched my cereal in silence, just staring at him. "So," I started, "what year are you?" I took another bite.
"I'm a sophmore starting tomorrow." He said. he was playing with the string attached to his hoodie.
"Oh, me too." I took another bite and swallowed. "So is the highschool big?" I asked.
"It's the biggest one around." He said.
Another second of awkward silence later, he said "Hey, I think we got off on the wrong start. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just curious." He looked sincere. I don't know how many times people had given me a second chance. I guess it was time to give someone else one.
"Just forget it happened. Why were you so curious though?" I was curious myself.
"Umm, well, there are these girls at my school. They are, well, for lack of a better word, bitches." He snickered. "That's how all the girls are around here, bitches and backstabbers. I wanted to see if you were different." He looked out the window above the sink.
"So am I different?" I asked.
He turned so I could see his face fully. "Hell ya." He smirked. I laughed, so did he.
"Okay, I'm done with my cereal. Is downtwn close to here?" I asked, wanting to get out of the house badly.
"It's good ten minutes.C'mon I'll go with you." He led me to the front door and we walked outside. "Car or feet?"
I looked up to the sky. It looked like it might rain again. "Umm, let's take the car." I thought for a moment, thinking about what my father might say if we took his car. "Do you have a car because my dad will be pissed if we took his." I said, knowing it was true.
He dangled some car keys in front of my face. "Of course I do. Follow me." I followed him to his two car garage. The garage housed a big red Jeep.
"Ah, so this is your car. It's quite red." I said. THe metal outside of it was glossy smooth.
"Red happens to be my favourite colour. Here you go madam." He went to the passenger side of the car and opened the door.
I almost said that was really corny, but didn't since I'm trying to be nice. "Thank you kind sir." I took his hand, which was held out so that I could actually get up into the car. That's just how big it was. I laughed and so did he.
He ran around the car and hopped in the driver's seat. "So do you want the scenic route or the quick one?" He asked as he started up the car.
"How about the scenic route. It's near the forest, right?" I had to make sure that it was so that if I saw a ghost I could run in there and talk to them. It made things so much better.
"What's with you and forests?" He looked over at me. His eyes were green and his dark brown. His eyes seemed tinted with something I can't name, but whatever it was it made them inviting. He rested his head in his hand on the counsel in between our seats, his other hand was one the wheel. Occasionaly he would look over at me with those deep green eyes. I'd break the gaze and lower my head to hide my blushing. We came around a bend, and all of a sudden a deer came rushing out of the woods.
"Duck!" yelled Alex as he swerved to miss the deer. I could feel we had gone off the road before I even looked up. The smooth pavement went to rough grass and uneven earth. The car came rolling to a stop.
Alex's hand placed on my back to keep me down. I slowly looked up and looked at Alex. He was breathing heavily and staring at me with concern filled in his eyes. "Are you okay?" I nodded and asked him the same question.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He scanned me looking or every cut and bruise possible. I took his face inbetween my hands and lifted his eyes so they could see mine.
"Listen, I am fine." I said. I searched his face for any recongnition of what I just said. "The question is why did the deer come out of nowhere and was it being chased?" I looked into his eyes and said " I'm going to search the woods. You can either came with me or stay here. Which one is it?" I unbuckled my seatbelt. I started opening the door when Alex caught my wrist.
"I am not letting you go out there alone." He said very seriously.
"Then come on lets go." I loosened his grip and slid my wrist out of his grasp. I slid out of the Jeep. I walked around it and met Alex at the back of the Jeep. "Okay we hafta walk about 100 feet back to the bend. That's where the deer came from." I started walking. It took a second for him to catch up. He held my hand and squeezed it, but didn't let go.
"I'm coming with you." His smile was sweet and tender. It reminded me of William. I turned away so he couldn't see my eyes water with tears. One trickled down my cheek, I tried to catch it before Alex could see it. Oh, dear god, I miss him so much! Oh, I miss Ivy so much! The tears came rolling from eyes. I slowed to a stop and looked away once again.
"Rose, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" He turned me so he could see my face. He wiped away my tears, and looked at me with concerned and worried eyes.
"It's nothing. You just remind me of someone, that's all." I turned my head away again, or tried to. Alex wouldn't let me.
"Are they from were you came from? Is that why you're crying?" He held me close to him. His embrace was warm and comfortable. I could feel his heartbeat through his tear soaked shirt. It was beating rapidly.
"Yes," was all I said - it was all I could say. I didn't want to know how I got here. how I got to this point, the point of crying. I never cry, never. I didn't cry when my mother commited suicide, I didn't cry when my father turned me to the dark after I told him my secret. Ever since my father decided to move I've cried. How could I cry over a stupid thing like this? How? I've been through worse stuff than this and I didn't cry, so why am I crying now, in a stranger's embrace, crying my eyes out because he LOOKED like someone? I don't know.
My crying slowed to just sniffles and soft sobs. I pulled away and started walking again. Alex was at my side amd holding my hand. I kept it close. We came around the to where the came out of the forest. This time by which the deer was already long gone.
Then I saw him.
He was transparent.
He was tall.
And he was dark.
"Oh, dear god," Alex muttered.
