For Worse Or For Better

Chapter 05

    Blair's words echoed through the quiet room, hitting her own eardrums as if someone else had spoken them. Her voice sounded foreign, yet the same to her. To an outsider, she sounded confident and sure of herself, but she felt like she was speaking for the first time in years and, looking at him, she felt like she was small. 

    "About what?" He finally answered her, sniffing as he ran his hand under his nose. He didn't look at her and if he hadn't responded, she wouldn't have even been sure he knew she was standing in his doorway at all, which was almost offensive. 

    "Right." 

    She leaned her head, resting it on the doorframe, wondering if he was going to invite her in. Instead, he stood up, seemingly forgetting about the actual drugs that were out for anyone to see but, as she still noted, there was no one else for what seemed like miles around the two of them. 

    Butterflies hit her stomach as he finally turned to face her, fiddling with the keycard in his hands. Her eyes pulled down, taking in the length of his fingers. It took all it had in her to not bite her bottom lip as she watched him flip it back and forth. When her eyes returned to his face, he was looking back at her with an unfaltering gaze. 

    "I'm Harry."

    "Straight to the point, Harry." She straightened her posture, wanting to take a step towards him, but she stayed in place. "Blair." 

    "Blair." He repeated her name, breaking his gaze for a split second. And then, quickly, in one stride, he stepped closer to her. There weren't many times that Blair needed to tilt her head up to look at anyone, so the action felt foreign to her, but if she'd kept her gaze straightforward, she'd be staring at his neck. His neck, that she took quick notice of, that looked like he was straining himself as he leaned his head down, getting close enough that she could feel his breath on her face. 

    Her breathing hitched. 

    "Get out of my room, Blair." 

    The slam of the door in her face, startled her, as she stumbled backwards. The whole exchange had been less than a minute, but it seemed like it was slow motion. He'd barely said anything to her, and when he did, he was shutting the door on her, so quickly that she'd almost gotten her hair stuck in it as she jolted back. 

    She should've been pissed. If anyone else had done that to her, she'd be knocking the door back down and spew venom at them with her words, but she found herself smiling. The way that her name had sounded rolling off his lips so smoothly and the way he maintained eye contact with her had shaken her to her core. For someone that, as rumors had told her, didn't talk to anyone, he'd introduced himself to her before kicking her out and she wondered if he was even half as interested in her as she was in him. 

    Stumbling back to her room, she kicked off her shoes and climbed into her bed, pulling out her book from underneath her pillow. It was a habit she'd had since she was a kid, keeping her current read under her head as she slept. When she was younger, back when she stilled lived with her parents, her mother had told her that keeping it there would guarantee good dreams and Blair had believed her. Through the drunken fights and the smashing of glasses, Blair would close her eyes and dream of her book as she fell to sleep at night. 

    It was the only thing that she kept from her mother. 

    The next morning, Blair woke with the sun shining through the dusty windows of her dorm room. She'd almost forgotten where she was until she saw the other bed across from her. With a groan, she pulled the book off her chest and tucked it back under her pillow. She hadn't even remembered being tired or falling asleep, but she couldn't have been out for more than five hours. A fact brought to her by the clock on her phone. 

    "s**t," she muttered as she flew off the bed towards the bathroom. It was her first day and she was already running late.

    The makeup she'd worn the night before was smudged around her eyes. She flew back out of the bathroom towards her suitcase, digging around for a towel to scrub the black away with. Once it felt like she'd wiped away all the skin around her eyes, she pulled her hair back into the quickest bun she could manage before shedding her clothes. 

    She didn't care about dressing her best to make a good first impression. Instead, she grabbed an oversized t-shirt and jeans and tugged them on, keeping the same socks from last night under her boots. Most of her effort went into finding a random body spray in her bag and dousing herself in it since there was no time for a shower and out she went, grabbing her bag in a hurry as she left. 

    Although she had no idea where she was going, she followed a flow of students who were also leaving their rooms to head to the main building. Her eyes scanned the crowd for a familiar face, and she quickly recalled Cas's room number. Blair nudged another student out of the way as she pushed towards the blonde's room, quickly pulling on the door to yank it open. 

    Empty. 

    "Fuck."

    Throwing the door shut again, Blair fixed the strap of her bag on her shoulder as she trudged forward, feeling like a fish lost in a school that wasn't her own. Literally.

    "Blair!"

    Her head swiveled at her name as she spotted Cassidy behind her, smiling as she strode towards her with some of the friends from last night. As nonchalant as she felt about this girl when she'd first met her, she was actually happy that someone was making an effort to help her out. She knew if she really wanted to, she'd be able to manage without her, but it was easier this way. 

    "I've got your schedule from Tomlin. I forgot to give it to you yesterday." She handed Blair a crumpled piece of paper, looking sheepish. "You're with me for most of the day, except for English." 

    "Great." Blair took the paper, shoving it in her back pocket as they followed the herd forward. 

    "You remember Gunner, right?" 

    Blair looked to the guy Cas walked with, recalling his face from the night before. Wouldn't have been able to pick him out of a lineup without the refresher from Cassidy though, but she nodded. He grinned at her, and that she didn't return. He was cute in a babyface way, despite the scruff he sported in an attempt to make him look older. The one thing he did have going for him was that he was built, which wasn't something she typically found attractive, but it gave him that push from cute to hot. At least to other girls, probably. 

    She took notice how chatty the other teens were with each other, Gunner throwing his arm around Cas as they walked and she wondered if they were a thing. She'd have to remember to ask Cassidy about that later.

    The morning passed by quickly, bringing her to her first class on her own. Her and Cassidy parted at the door of the classroom with Cas promising to come back to get her to show her the way to the cafeteria. In the meanwhile, Blair strutted into the classroom confidently. She'd always felt right at home in a room full of strangers. The stares from the other students didn't bother her as she found a seat towards the back of the room. Just because she didn't mind people looking at her, it didn't mean she didn't want to just get the day over with peacefully. 

    She hung her head down, hoping this wasn't the fourth time she was called out for being new. It always felt like some shitty dating show when she had to introduce herself to a room full of kids who couldn't give a s**t about what she had to say, no matter how interested her summer was or what her favorite color was. Luckily, the teacher looked just as disinterested as she felt. 

    Resting her cheek in her palm, she doodled in her notebook until the final bell for class rang, signaling the start and the teacher started speaking, right on cue. English was actually a subject that Blair was interested in, so she zoned back in, putting her pen down as she looked up, paying attention. 

    "Miss Knox, you'll want to borrow someone's notes," the teacher called to her, settling his attention on her for the first time in the entire hour. She rolled her eyes as she stood to collect her things, startled as something slapped down on her desk. 

    A black notebook. 

    Before she could look over to say thank you, as if she was going to, he was already heading out the door without so much as a glance at her. 

    Harry Kilroy.