Violet's hands were covered in ink. Her black fountain pen scratched notes and reminders into her skin. She doodled stars and moons which draped around her fingers and circled her wrists like bracelets.

inhale inhale inhale inhale inhale ―

"Miss Walters, I would like to know why you are so late," a stern voice asked as Sofia smiled, tugging her backpack.

"I'm sorry about that, Mr. Montana. I got caught up on my way here," she apologized. "I had to drop off my little brother to school before getting here."

Violet didn't even look at Sofia. She simply continued to press the pen into her skin further.

"Well, I'll excuse it this time. But do not be late again, understand Sofia?"

Sofia nodded and walked into the classroom and slid into the seat beside Violet. "Hey Violet," she greeted in a whisper.

Violet didn't really acknowledge her, only nodding her head in recognition. Her pen continued its assault on the small part of her skin which ceased to be hidden by the sleeve of her sweater. Violet continued to dig deeper and deeper into her skin. It burnt and stung, but to Violet, it was pleasure. She carried on, writing lines of poetry, quotes she'd heard someplace.

"Don't do that," Sofia said. She watched as the tip of Violet's pen marked her skin. "Doesn't it hurt?"

"It does," Violet replied softly. Part of her wanted to press harder and ink more meaningless words onto her skin. Part of her wanted to watch crimson droplets of blood drip onto the table.

Sofia reached forward and grabbed Violet's pen from her.

"Give it back, Sofia." Violet said, turning, bringing her eyes to meet Sofia's. That was the first time Sofia had properly seen Violet.

The slight curve in her nose which bulged outward. The dangling golden earrings which contrasted against her dark skin.The soft pink lips which were slightly chapped. Her thick eyebrows. Her jawline, sharp but soft and her defined cheekbones which shaped the structure of her face. She was beautiful, and without any doubt, attractive.

Sofia came to her senses. She didn't even know Violet, who was she to snatch her pen away? She handed it back to Violet. 

"Sorry."

Violet didn't say anything but simple took the pen and placed it back inside her pencil pouch. She picked up her textbook as Mr. Montana told them to silently read the chapter and then discuss it with their partners.

Sofia heaved a sigh and picked up her textbook. She'd only read the first paragraph and her eyes were already drooping. Sofia glanced around quickly, doing a scan of the room.

None of her friends were here.

No one to judge if she talked to Violet.

Sofia turned to the girl, "So, did you have a good weekend?"

"It was fine," Violet replied simply, not looking up from her book. She grabbed a highlighter from her pouch and started to highlight some sentences.

"Did you do anything fun?" Sofia persisted. She wasn't sure why she was pushing so much, but there was something about Violet which caught her off guard.

The sight of the note in her backpack came back to Violet. 

inhale

She shook her head the smallest bit. Sofia noticed. "Not really."

Sofia hummed in acknowledgement. She hadn't even scratched the surface of Violet's complex personality and for some reason, she wanted to go below the surface. "So, any hobbies?"

Violet's thoughts went to the notebook laying on her bed at home. The sight of the pieces of paper stored in the back of her closet flashed through her eyes. "No, not really."

"Oh."

Sofia wanted to know more. There had to be something Violet liked to do.

"You sure?" She asked. "Because that line on your hand says otherwise."

Sofia hoped she hadn't gone too far.

Violet's eyes snapped down to the back of her hand where she'd absentmindedly written something. 

Oh to be silent but screaming inside. Oh to be quiet but dying inside.

Violet shrugged. "I write poetry sometimes, not a big deal."

Sofia nodded. "Right, not a big deal."

Violet looked at Sofia for a moment longer and then turned back to her textbook, burying her face in the words.

Sofia, realizing the conversation was over turned back to her textbook as well. But she couldn't keep the grin of her face.

She'd learnt something about Violet Choudhary and that was a step she never thought she'd make.

Lunch rolled around and soon enough, Sofia walked inside the cafeteria. The room was already full and bustling by the time she arrived, her friends already seated around their usual table. It was the loudest table, Sofia thought.  It was where most of the football team sat, along with their girlfriends. But that wasn't all, the rich kids and the ones who always threw the parties were seated around the table too.

Sofia liked to think of them as the "Populars". Of course, she was one too but that was only when the mask was on.

The mask was always on.

Sofia sighed lightly and made her way over to the table. As soon as she took her seat next to Andrea, all eyes were on her. Sofia waved to everyone and as all the teenagers waved back, Sofia smiled again and looked down at her plate of food. 

Could she risk it?

Could she risk all her dieting, all her exercising and all the screams she'd received from her mother from not being skinny enough? 

Sofia sighed lightly, she couldn't. She twirled her fork around the pasta as Shawn Starr, captain of the football team and the boy whom Sofia's mother had said was a wonderful boy looked at her and raised an eyebrow. His wavy brown hair brushed against his forehead and he pointed at Sofia. "Are you not going to eat?"

Sofia smiled. "It's just a little bit of hunger. I could go a little while longer."

She continued to twirl her fork. Shawn cast one last glance at her and then turned back to his teammates.

As the chatter of the students became even louder, Sofia turned to Andrea.

Andrea was one of Sofia's best friends ― well, if Andrea would still be her friend if the mask ever slipped off. But, Andrea was witty, funny and out of all the "friends" Sofia had, she liked Andrea most. Her pale purple hair was always tied up in a bun, her blue eyes observant and gleaming. 

"Hey Andy," Sofia started as the girl in question turned towards her. "What do you know about Violet Choudhary?"

Sofia could see the girl over Shawn's shoulder, sitting in a corner of the large cafeteria, munching on a fry. Next to her was a boy who looked very familiar, but he was turned to Violet, so she couldn't see his face. The boy and Violet were sitting close together, shoulders touching. The boy looked down at the table and then looked up at her. He started to talk to Violet who was drumming her fingers against the table.

"Choudhary?" Andrea asked. "You mean the Indian girl who never talks a lot?"

Sofia nodded. 

"I don't know anything about her, Sofie. No one does, really. She keeps to herself." Andrea shrugged and went back to chatting with Isabelle.

Shawn looked at her, overhearing their conversation. "Why do you wanna know about her?"

Sofia shrugged, glancing behind Shawn's shoulder again. "Just wondering, I guess."