Aurelius

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Isn’t it strange sometimes when nature has its way of talking to you? I mean, the next day I felt like crap. Inside and out, no way out of it. And just as I stepped off my porch guess what came sailing through the sky to land on my nose.

Rain. Or maybe it was tears, tears from some higher body that sailed through the clouds.

But I’m guessing it was just rain, because soon there after a loud crack of thunder pounded through the sky and the clouds lit up with lighting.

I sighed and hurried along, pulling my hood over my face and tucking my books in my sack of a purse. The little gold coins on it jingled as I jogged, and I prayed the water wouldn’t spill through my chucks as the puddles suddenly got deeper and more numerous.

By the time I made it to the large patio of a front the school had my ankles were sore from the dodging of puddles. I looked around, beneath my sheepdog bangs, for a place on a bench to sit and wait for school to start. But, alas, the only one that was totally free of people was sitting in the rain.

So I found a free patch of wall inside the lobby and sunk to the floor. Clutching my purse to my chest and my hood pulled over my face. I let out a loud sigh and at the moment I didn’t care who heard.

A few girls shifted and giggled together to my left as another busload of people came into the lobby. I peaked up through my bangs and hood to watch them. Since you’re probably wondering how I keep people from noticing my strange eyes my hair is almost always permanently parted so that my left eye is hidden by my hair. I was actually given the options of an eye patch and sunglasses, but I didn’t like drawing that much attention with such flashy things.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mac looking my direction. I hadn’t noticed him coming in, but his hair was laid down by the weight of the rain and his hoodie looked damp on the shoulders. He smiled and twitched his fingers in some sort of wave.

I suppose he noticed the puzzled look on my face because he quickly trotted over in this leisurely way that plainly said he loved being in the center of attention. I clenched my hands on the handles of my bag. I did not expect this.

“Hi there,” he said calmly as he noted the many eyes on us. I could feel the small hairs on the back of my neck stand on end at the sheer attention.

“Hello?” I replied. I really didn’t want to talk. Hell I didn’t even want to be noticed, I just wanted to exist peacefully on the fringes of everyone’s view.

“I haven’t gotten to introduce myself, I’m Mac Rayburn,” he said as he shoved his hands into his pockets and slouched back. He looked like a cat that’d just caught the mouse.

“Albina Richards…but you already knew that,” I blurted almost venomously. I instantly looked away. How stupid to bring up the past. And how ironic to comment on it.

Instead of a witty comeback Mac just threw back his head and laughed. I stared perplexed, as did most of the crowd.

“Ha wow, you really are a riot you know?” he said and ran a hand through his heedful of curls. I tweaked an eyebrow and stared at him incredulous.

“I am?” I asked.

Staring down at me he gave a large grin. “Course!”

I didn’t know what to do to that kind of response, scratch that, any kind of response. His eyes seemed to glitter with mischief, something that I had sworn off of for life.

“Well I just wanted to introduce myself, and hey if you ever need someone to talk to I’m here. See you around Alby!” he said and walked over to the bench he had previously been on to suddenly be flanked by the younger boy who stared over at me with large, round eyes. I had to turn my view from them to the bag in my lap.

Art class sucked.Mac talked to me, heck he even sat beside me. But Steph did everything in his power to act as if I didn’t exist. Which for almost anyone else I would have been pleased with but something in me wanted him to notice me.

“So?” asked Mac as he flicked clay at me. I brushed it off my cheek. Caught up in my musings I hadn’t heard his question.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked, trying hard to pay attention to him and sculpt at the same time.

He didn’t seem too offended that I kept falling off into space. “I asked what your favorite band was.”

“Oh, um…” I truly had no idea, sure I listened to music and all but I didn’t have an iPod or anything. I was a mixture of too poor and too scared I suppose. Music tends to make visions and such more frequent and painful since the songs were usually full of emotions. “I can’t say that I have one, I’m not too big into music.”

He looked genuinely surprised at that answer, even Steph twitched to his right out of shock. Mac glanced at the boy but then turned back to me, his eyes held a deep curiosity.

“So you don’t know bands or anything?” he asked and then his eyes flicked over me rather rashly, “I expected with your clothing you’d be into indie or something.”

I won’t lie, I was somewhat put down that he was only looking at my clothes, but I pushed that aside, “Indie?”

Mac cracked up, something he did quite often I learned and slapped his knee before realizing he just smeared clay all over his dark wash denim pants. He then began cursing and trying to remove the stain by rubbing harder. Rolling his eyes Steph handed him a wet paper towel snorted in repulsion. Mac simply grinned and whispered something to him that made him turn his face far away from us.

“You really live under a rock don’t you?” he asked as he worked on removing the stain. I stared down at my disfigured cup.

“Yeah I guess you could say that,” I replied.

Giving up on the stain he arched his back in a lazy motion and put his hands above his head, I watched him out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t realize someone else was watching me.

“I guess it’ll be our duty to educate you,” he said casually and cracked his neck in a soft pop.

“What?” both Steph and I said at the exact same time. I locked eyes…eye with him and was slightly put off he was the first to look away.

“What do you mean, ‘what?’” said Mac astounded towards Steph. Steph said nothing but grunted and went to wash his hands. I watched him go but then looked back to Mac, who was oddly staring at me.

“Is there something wrong with me?” I asked, even though it was a really stupid question.

“Ha, other than you not knowing what Indie is?” he joked, and his eyes softened, “Nah, he’s just sore about yesterday. He’s a secret keeper if you know what I mean. Hates it when his business is out and about.”

I smiled a bit, pleased that Mac had the guts to confine in me something his friend obviously didn’t want me to know. I suddenly felt like someone was on my side.

“Thanks for letting me know Mac,” I replied softly. I vaguely wondered how this guy could have gotten the school reputation as a pothead. He sure seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.