Violet

Six

The week had gone by fairly quickly and before I could blink, I was registered for school and had new clothes. It was now Friday around lunch time and I am currently sitting under a tree on the school campus. I was beyond thankful that I packed up leftovers from the dinner my mother and I shared last night. I sat thinking of the warmer weather today had while I slowly ate what little food I had brought. It was slightly warmer today than most of this week, only reaching sixty-five degrees but I gave a frown as a cold wind blew almost knocking over the half empty soda can I had neatly balanced on my maths textbook. 

Other students were scattered about here and there, some talking and laughing loudly, others huddled together for warmth while they ate. I stared longly at the groups of friends wondering if I would ever be lucky enough to make a friend myself. Quickly snapping myself out of my trance, I pulled my phone out to check the time. With another fifteen minutes left of the lunch period, I finished up my meal and prepared to gather up all my belongings when the sound of leaves crunching could be heard to my right. I glanced over, thinking nothing of it, when my eyes were met with a blue pair that belonged to a boy, slightly taller than me, with short brown hair. He had come close enough so I could hear him and I watched in nervous silence as her crouched down in front of me with a smile on his face. 

“Hello, my name is Elliot Riddle, what’s your name?” He questioned. 

He seemed to ignore my discomfort as he made himself comfortable on the ground in front of me. I made a noise in the back of my throat, caught somewhere between annoyance and surprise. 

“My name is Violet.” I replied lowly, making sure to keep my eyes on him. He gave a soft smile at my answer. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Violet. I saw you sitting here alone, I was hoping you would let me sit with you.” He spoke with a friendly smile. 

Slowly, I gave a small smile in return. Making friends here would be nice. I could, at the very least, be kind to him and see where it leads me. 

“How old are you?” I questioned as a full blush made it’s way to my cheeks when I realized what I had asked. 

“I’m sorry, that’s probably very rude.” I tried to cover up my question but Elliot simply let out a laugh. 

“It’s okay, I’m nineteen, and you?” He questioned me back as he pulled a sandwich from his bag. 

“I’m eighteen. Are you graduating this year?” I asked the next question as a way to make small talk, trying to be discreet as I checked the time on my phone. 

“As long as I pass my classes.” He spoke up between mouthfuls of food and I couldn’t laughter when I noticed a stain now forming on his cheek. 

“What’s so funny, Vi?” He asked with a mock frown and I decided not to bother telling him about the food stain. 

“Nothing is funny at all Elliot.” I answered him as my laughter died down. 

“Well, fine then, keep your secrets.” He replied with a mock scowl. 

“You’re going to be late to your next class if you don’t eat quickly. I need to start walking that way.” I spoke up as I pulled myself to my feet. 

The cold from the ground had seeped into me at this point and I began shivering. 

“Eh, it’s not a good sandwich anyway. My dad made it for me as a way to reminisce on my childhood, between you and me, I’d rather skip the reminiscing if it means I don’t have to eat badly made sandwiches anymore.” He spoke up followed by a short laugh. 

I smiled at him in response as he stood with me. We moved in sync as we deposited our trash in a nearby bin, me trailing slightly behind him as we made our way to the doors of the school. 

“What class do you have next?” He asked once we made it inside the warm building again. I shivered once more was my limbs finally began to warm up. 

“Um, I think I have literature, or it’s history. Let me check.” I spoke up as I pulled out my phone once more. I quickly pulled up the most recent picture I took of my schedule and showed it to Elliot. 

“Looks like I have literature this period. My schedule says it’s in room 204.” I spoke quickly as I put my phone away again. Hoping it wouldn’t take me long to find room 204 before I was considered late. 

“Ah, I have that class as well, come this way.” Elliot spoke up and as I turned and looked at him, intending on following him, he did a little dance move as he shuffled down the hallway, causing me to laugh very loudly and unladylike. 

When he finished his dance move he slowed down his walking until he was beside me and softly threw an arm around my shoulder. 

“Don’t you know, we are going to be the best of friends.” Elliot sung the statement in a high pitched voice and I chuckled as I nodded my head enthusiastically. 

“Uh huh, sure we are.” I replied as I softly shoved his arm off of me in a playful manner. I liked Elliot. He came across kind and funny. 

“Ugh, how dare you not accept my love!” He mock yelled at me as he gave me a practiced sad face. 

“Awe did I hurt your feelings?” I questioned and watched as he nodded his head up and down. 

“I am so sorry, my love!” I giggled out as I threw my arms around his shoulders. I could hear Elliot open his mouth to speak but before he did his whole body stiffened. I silently stepped back to give him some space and when I looked at his face it looked as if he had mentally zoned out. 

“Stupid Violet, he didn’t ask you to touch him.” I chastised myself under my breath as I waved my hand in front of his face, hoping he wouldn’t be too upset at the contact I had made. 

“Um, I’m sorry for touching you. I didn’t realize it would be a problem.” I apologized but was met with silence. 

When no sound was made I glanced around the hallway, wondering if anyone else was noticing this but I froze in place once I realized the hallway was empty. 

“s**t, I am probably late.” I mumbled more to myself than anyone else. 

“You won’t be late, we have another two minutes before the bell signals us late and our classroom is the second door on the right.” Elliot spoke up out of nowhere, sending my heart racing in my chest. 

“Jesus, what the hell?” I questioned him with a worried frown. 

He made no mention of the strange encounter that just happened as he continued leading us to the classroom. I wanted to ask him if everything was okay and if his zoning out happens to him often but before I could he shot me a megawatt smile and stepped towards the door to the classroom. He opened the door slowly and made a hand motion for me to follow him inside. 

“Come on, let’s get inside before we get yelled at by Mrs. Stuart.” He spoke up in a hushed tone then remained silent once we entered the classroom. 

I was so mentally distracted by Elliot’s weird zoning out situation that I froze on the spot two steps inside the classroom. All eyes were on us, I could feel my hand start to shake slightly, a nervous twitch, thanks to my anxiety. I consciously moved my right hand to my back pocket, hoping to hide the twitches. 

“Elliot, I was beginning to think you would be absent again today. It seems you brought a new student.” Mrs. Stuart spoke up with a nasally tone to her voice and held out her hand for me to shake. I found it odd but shrugged it off as I took her hand in mine. 

“What’s your name dear?” She asked politely and I gave a small smile at her kind tone. 

“This is Violet.” Elliot spoke up for me. 

“Yeah, what he said.” I piped in so as to not appear rude or mute. 

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Violet, I am Christina Stuart but you can call see Mrs. Stuart. We don’t have assigned seating in this classroom, however, there is a rule that if you sit by your friends but you are not getting any work done I will move you to another location in the classroom.” Mrs. Stuart spoke with a soft authority, it made me think she had been teaching for years. 

“Now, why don’t you and Elliot take a seat, I will get you the books you need.” Mrs. Stuart spoke quickly and efficiently while Elliot led me to two desks side by side towards the back of the room. 

I took note, as I walked, of some fifteen or so students. My anxiety seemed to calm once we were seated, now that we were no longer in the spotlight. When the silence in the classroom continued to stretch by minutes after Elliot and I had taken our seats, my anxiety seemed to grow. 

“As I was saying class, this year we have two books I am assigning you to read. The first one we are going to start with covers mythology. Can you guys guess which mythological creature we are going to study?” She asked. 

It took a moment for a student to speak up but finally, one did. 

“Ah, Ms. Amelia?” Mrs. Stuart asked. 

All eyes turned to Amelia. The girl had shoulder length red hair, tied off in a ponytail. She wore skinny jeans and a hoodie that looked to be two sizes too big. 

“Vampires?” She asked with a slight tilt of her head to the side. 

“No, sorry not this year, anyone else care to take a guess?” Mrs. Stuart asked again. 

I felt Elliot nudge my arm slightly. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“Do you think Jesse is single?” Elliot asked quietly as he motioned towards a boy sitting a few desks away. 

I tried to keep a straight face as I gave him my response. 

“Maybe? Why don’t you ask him?” I asked in a whisper. 

Elliot gave me a sour face in response. 

“Girl that big delicious man would devour me whole if it turns out that he’s straight.” Elliot’s response caught me off guard, causing a small giggle to escape. I did my best to muffle the sound. 

“I bet you’d like for him to devour you whole.” I whispered back to him. He shot me a sly grin as Mrs. Stuart spoke up from the front of the classroom. 

“This year we are studying the history of Lycan’s. We will be doing a project on this topic but for the remainder of this class period everyone is to research as much mythology as you can before the bell signals. You make work in groups or pairs but make sure to be researching something.” Mrs. Stuart spoke up. 

Once she was done talking, everyone began branching off into different groups. Silently I looked over to Elliot. My anxiety had spiked at the thought of him picking a different partner but was instantly relieved when he gave me a soft smile.