I was walking to school the next day and something keeps telling me that today is gonna be a bad day. Yesterday was good and all, but I bet it was just a one time thing. When and how should I pay her back?

"HEY, A*S CLEMENCE!!"

I turned to look who called me but then a huge water balloon was thrown at me, making me clothes wet. I looked up and saw Terence and his gang passing by in their sportscar.

"What's the matter, Clemence? Did we make you 'wet'?" Terence said, laughing.

"F*#K YOU, A^*HOLES!!" I shouted, showing them my middle finger in anger.

I don't think they heard me as they speeded away. I shivered because of the cold water and I held my arms close to my chest to warm myself. At least it wasn't coloured water like last time.

Terence is the popular, rich kid in school who is an a*^hole to everyone. He also dates Bria. It was completely obvious that she despises him but since he's an idiot, he doesn't know. She could just break up with him but I wonder why she doesn't.

I sneezed because of the cold and the cool wind was just making things worse. I'll definitely catch a cold.

I somehow got to school, shivering all the way and I went to the washroom. I took of my shirt and squeezed the water out of it. I should've done this earlier.

A guy entered the washroom with a huge glass jar with black water and a messy palate in hand and smiled at me. I didn't smile back and instead I continued what I was doing. He poured the water in the jar into the sink.

"What's with all those scars?" he asked, looking at my chest with concern.

I glared at him. "Why do you care?" I said, coldly.

"No, it just..."

"Looks scary?"

The guy remained silent. "Sorta," he said. "You're Ace, right?"

"Yeah," I said, wearing my shirt.

"My name is Jonathan Blackwood," he said, smiling at me while cleaning his painting palate. "I'm from the art club, as you can see."

"Right," I said, leaving the room. Why was he talking to me? Was it because he saw my scars? Not that I care.

I went to my locker and saw it was all messed up. Why am I so unorganised? I sighed and began to arrange the things I stuffed in there.

"Hello again." I turned to my right and saw Jonathan smiling at me.

"You trying to stalk me?" I asked, bluntly.

"Nope. This is just my locker," he said. "I'm new, in case you're wondering. Joined three days ago and you, look like an interesting person."

"Interesting? You barely even know me!" I said, angrily. "What do you want? Lemme guess. You're pretending to be nice to me and then, you're gonna beat me up?"

"Woah! Woah! You're reading the whole situation wrong! I don't wanna bully anyone. Wait, do people here bully you?" Jonathan asked.

I looked at him suspiciously. "What if they do? It's not like you can do anything about it."

"What if I say, 'I can'?" he said, smirking at me.

He had black slicked back hair and dark violet eyes. He had a black tattoo of a vine of fern around his neck. He seems strange but he gives off friendly vibes.

"Um... I better go. Class is about to start," I said, taking some books from my locker and walking past him.

"Alright. See you later, Ace," he said, smiling.

I went to maths class and the first thing I did was resting my forehead on my desk. The teacher came in and began teaching but I didn't raise my head and the teacher didn't bother doing anything about it, which is really nice of her.

I felt a pencil, gently poke my back and I leaned back on my chair to look and saw Jonathan, sitting behind me.

"What?" I asked, annoyed.

"Just wanted to say, 'Hi'," he whispered, smiling.

I groaned and went back to my old position. I fell asleep after a while and when I woke up, I noticed Jonathan, sitting in front of me.

"Oh, you woke up," he said.

"Sh*t. I fell asleep," I said, groaning.

"We have P.E. right now," he said.

"That means I can sleep some more. Good night," I said, resting my head on the table.

"You don't do sports?"

"Correction. I 'can't' do sports," I said.

"Oh, okay. I don't like it either, so I guess I could bunk like you," Jonathan said.

"I'm not bunking. I have permission, while you don't," I said. "Get lost. You're just wasting your time here."

"I'd rather get my time wasted with you than the others," he said.

I raised my head and looked at him with a serious look. "Are you trying to flirt with me?" I asked.

"Oh no! Does it sound like I am?" he said, innocently.

"Yes, it does," I said, annoyed.

"Look. You seem like a nice person so I just wanna befriend ya, that's all," Jonathan said.

I remained quiet. This is frustrating. But.... why? I bet my time with Bria was just a one time thing, which I'm sure she won't look back on. Should I befriend this guy? As my mom said, I shouldn't let fear control me from what I wanna do.

"I'm gonna go for a walk," I said.

"Huh?"

I stood up from my seat and began walking to the door and just when I noticed he wasn't following, I looked back at me.

"Aren't you coming?" I said.

Jonathan's face lit up with a bright smile. "Sure!" he said, happily walking to me. "Let's go!"

He walked beside me as we walked down the empty corridors. Jonathan was glancing at me every few minutes but I didn't care. We were quiet the whole time and then I heard fast footsteps, coming behind. I turned and saw Bria, speed walking towards us with a really scarily angry look on her face.

Jonathan's eyes widened and she punched him on the face, knocking him backwards.

"Hey! Hey!" I said, shocked. "Why'd you do that?!"

Bria glared at me and looked at Jonathan. "Why are you with Ace?!" she asked in a threating tone.

Jonathan smirked, rubbing his jaw where he got punched. "Why do you care?" he said.

"Answer me!"

"Wait! He was just walking with me," I said.

"Can't you walk with someone else?!" Bria shouted.

"You two know each other?" I asked, confused.

"He's..."

"I'm her brother," Jonathan said, quickly. "Cousin, actually."

"Oh..."

Bria looked his tattoo and clicked her tongue. "Didn't bother hiding that?" she asked.

"Why should I?" Jonathan said.

Bria sighed deeply. "I give up. Anyways," she said, "why aren't you both in P.E.?"

"Shouldn't we be asking you the same?" I said.

"I'm bunking," she said, pointing to herself, "and from the looks of it, you are too."

"Correct," Jonathan said.

"Oh! I nearly forgot," I said, remembering that I had to pay her back. I took my wallet from my pocket and began count the amount I have to pay back.

"Woah, woah! It's okay! You don't have to pay me back!" Bria said, waving her hands in front of her.

"Still," I said, handing it over. She took it but she looks guilty. "Okay, then. Have a nice life."

I turned around and continued walking down the corridor. I didn't wanna talk to her. I don't wanna get bullied by Terence. Jonathan followed before saying something to her.

"Why'd you pay her?" Jonathan asked.

"We went to restaurant yesterday. I didn't have money then so she paid," I said, looking at my feet while walking.

"Oh." He ran towards the vending machine. "Want something? I'll treat ya."

"Sure..." I said, hesitantly. I watched him get himself a packet of cookies.

"So what do you want?" he asked, smiling.

"That," I said, pointing to the chips packet inside. He handed it over to me after he paid for it and I took it, giving him a small smile. "Oh ho~ Ace Clemence can smile?"

"Shut up," I said, looking away.

I opened it, ate a chip and gave some to Jonathan. We continued walking and we had each other's snacks as we did.

"Ace?" he said.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you mind if I ask, why you can't do sports?"

I looked down and let out a sigh. "I have a weak heart," I said. "I might actually have a short lifespan and such. But there are some people who lived till their 60's, I don't know. I'm scared though."

"When death comes, you just have to face it, right?" Jonathan said.

"Yeah."

"I'm glad you told me 'cause, if something happens or-"

"It's alright," I said, interrupting him on purpose.

"Let's, uh... change topic. You don't sound pretty happy talking about this."

"Okay."

"Do spend a lot of time with Bria?" he asked.

"No. I just meet here in the library after school every day."

"Gotcha. What's with her and that jerk, Terrence?" he asked.

"They're dating," I said, annoyed by the fact. "Bria doesn't even like him. I guess she's too kind to break it up or something."

"I hope she gets rid of him. It's not good for her to keep that guy close to her like that," he said.

"I agree."

I felt weirdly comfortable around him, kinda like how I felt around Bria. They gave out the same friendly vibes which makes things really comforting.

"Where were you before coming here?" I asked.

"I was in Thailand," he said, smiling.

"You came here 'cause your parents got a transfer or something?"

He nodded. "Yep. Thailand is good. I kinda miss the place."

"Do you speak thai?" I asked, giving him a challenging smile.

"Not entirely. My parents and I used move a lot, so now, they decided to stay here."

"You went to other countries too?"

"You have no idea, how many places I've been to," he said, smirking.

****

Jonathan told me a lot of stories about the places he's been to and just listening to them was so interesting. I always liked listening to stories as much as I like reading. His stories were infinite yet so mesmerising.

"Wait, so the school had students from different countries but you were the only one with purple eyes?" I asked, having a doubt in one of his stories.

"Yep. Everyone there had brown eyes and a few had hazel eyes as far as I know. The girls there were flirting a lot. A lot! It was so annoying!"

I laughed. "But have you dated anyone?" I asked. His smile faded. I shouldn't have asked that. "I-I shouldn't have asked. You don't-"

"I did," Jonathan said, "but I left like the coward I am."

"I'm sorry," I said, not entirely knowing what to say during a situation like this.

His gaze was lowered as we walked on the pathway. He brought his hand to his neck, where his tattoo was, and had a sad look on his face.

"You okay?" I asked, concerned.

Jonathan quickly lowered his hand and forced a smile. "I'm good," he said. "Which one's yours?"

"That one," I said, pointing to my house.

"Alright then. I'll be off," he said.

"Yeah. Thanks," I mumbled.

"For what?"

"For today and those stories."

"It's the least I can do for a friend," he said, ruffling my hair.

"Friend?"

"Yeah! We're friends, right?" I froze. What does he mean? I barely remember the last time I had a friend. Wait, I never had one. Is this okay? Does it happen that quickly? "Perhaps I may have been a bit forward..."

"No!" I said, quickly. Jonathan gave me a confused look. "I, uh... don't know what friends do and all so, I hope that we can be good friends." I smiled brightly. "That is, if you wanna..."

"Of course! Why wouldn't I not want that?" he said, smiling.

"Really?!" I felt my face heat up a bit. "I didn't really expect that."

He chuckled. "Well, not everything goes as expected. I'll take my leave. See ya, Ace."

"See ya later," I siad, waving to him as I watched him run away in the distance.

I smiled to myself and knocked on my door. Today was a good. My mom opened the door, surprised.

"Why're you so early?" she asked, closing the door as soon as I entered. "Didn't you go to the library?"

Realization struck me. "I didn't go to the library?!" I said to myself.

"What happened to you, boy?" she said. "This is really unlike you!"

"I forgot, I guess," I said, slightly ashamed of myself.

"Okay then," Mom said.

"Aunt Hailey coming today?" I asked, walking to my room.

"About that, she left to Australia, for some reason," Mom said.

"Australia?" One of Jonathan's stories came in my mind.

"Yeah. I have to find someone else for you and-"

"Hey. You don't have to,"  I said, holding her arms. "I'm not gonna leave you like how Dad did."

Her eyes tear up. "How do I know you're not lying to me?" she asked. "Your dad said the same and yet he..." Her voice trailed off and she lowered her head.

"I won't do anything stupid. I promise. I'm a man of my word, ya'know," I said, smiling a bit to make her happy.

She wiped her tears. "Well, you learned from the best," she said, laughing. "Alright. If anything happens, if you want someone to talk to-"

"You'll be the first one I'll come to. No matter what," I said, completely her sentence.

"You better."

I laughed. "I will."

****

I smirked to myself as I watched Bria and Terence in the library through the window. Finally. That creepy introvert's not there. The new kid deserves a thanks for that. Now's my chance. Oh, I nearly forgot.

I took my phone out of the pocket and clicked a picture of Terrence with it. He looked sad as he read the book. It's sorta obvious because his relationship with that girl is horrible. That's the least of my problems. The only problem I have is that...

... Terence isn't dead yet.

-To be continued-

Jonathan Blackwood