Not the girl next door

Repeat

My alarm goes off at 6. Like everyday, teeth, get dressed shoes and run. Only difference about today was being able to make more noise and not walk around on egg shells because my dad left for work, he’ll be away for 2 weeks. I run my usual route, past the fire station and past the school and like everyday I sprint past the cemetery. Today for some reason I ran extra fast, so fast in fact that I didn’t notice someone running straight at me, before I know it I’m flying to to ground, it takes me a few minutes to realise what just happened, i slowly start standing up reaching for my air pods which are on the ground, I pick up my phone only to realise the screen is smashed, I then feel someone’s hands under my arms lifting me up. “s**t, are you ok? You should really look where you’re running” takes me a minute to realise William is standing in-front of me still holding me up. Confused I looked up at him and without meaning it I sound a bit annoyed when I ask him “what are you doing running here?” I start to dust myself off ready to walk away when he replies “I run here everyday, wow have you never noticed me run past you?”

Slightly embarrassed to be honest, I knew I was a focused runner but never thought I was blocking out people that much.

“Anyway sorry I bumped into you, see you around” I said and continued my run. I walked home still thinking about what just happened, and as I showered I tried hard to get it out of my head, also because I had grazes on my hands and knees that burnt under the hot shower. The day was pretty uneventful, Abel was away today and I missed him. I walked to my last class of the day Biology, as soon as I saw William I remembered he was my lab partner. I sat down hoping the class would start so we would have to talk.

“Ok class today I will be handing out lab assignments, this will count for half your grade and it’s a partner project” announced my once favourite teacher.

“f**k” I thought.

Mr white walked around handing out the outlines, once we got ours William and I exchanged awkward looks, I grabbed the outline and started reading it, I could feel William scoot closer to look when suddenly the bell rang.

I packed my bag and walked out the classroom, “so, when do you want to meet up and plan the ass..” I stopped William before he finished his sentence, “ look I’m happy to write an outline and then we can split up the work” before I could finish William replied “I don’t work that way, I need to get a good grade, I’ve slipped up all year and I intend to put the work in, so when do you want to meet?” I looked at him quizzically, “umm let’s talk tomorrow yeah?” I said rather awkwardly as I walked away.