Over the next two months, with each passing day in one another's remembrance, every second spent together, every text exchanged, every call made, Cerise knows she's irrevocably drawing closer to Devin. The changes she finds in herself are subtle - at first, she only discovers that she likes his company, very much so; then, she realizes that she, in fact, craves his companionship for many reasons, one of them being that he makes her feel protected. When with him, she knows she is safe from Christian, and Loralie, and Elijah, and every other person who has, at some point in her life, hurt her physically or emotionally. Devin's bad repute and given how he had broken Elijah's nose, add to those events the distasteful rumors about him being some kind of teenage gang leader, people tend to stay away from him and consequently, maintain their distance from Cerise as well - something she'd wanted from her schoolmates all along.

It is only natural that the two's friendship and closeness attract their schoolmates' attentions. Cerise initially worried about that, but seeing how Devin was - and still is - least concerned, she, too, has started paying it less and less mind. Eventually, it all fades to the backdrop of everything else, and now, she cannot care lesser about what others think of her and Devin. They don't matter, like Devin keeps saying.

Cerise is convinced that the more time she spends with Devin, the better her day seems to get. It might just be her imagination, but she welcomes that notion with open arms for she hasn't been this happy and free in a very long time. Of course, things at home remain the same, with Christian's temper and his habitual use of his daughter as his punching bag, with Jenny utilising her stepdaughter as some sort of maid, but none of those get to Cerise as much as they used to. She hardly cares nowadays, and she longs to go to school or for her guardians to get caught up with their immensely busy schedules, just because those are the blessed times she gets to spend with Devin.

In all the time the two spend together, Cerise - more often than not - finds herself admiring the littlest nuances of Devin Jameston. The soft curve of his lips, slightly darkened because of his dependence on cigarettes; the curl of his eyelashes and the shadows they cast on his cheekbones; his beauty, to her, is poetry writ by Calliope. Then, there are those other instances she is rendered fascinated by the grace of his long fingers - pulling out a cigarette from his pack and flipping on the lighter, fidgeting with his pen throughout English class, drumming a secret tune.

Even now, as they sit at the bleachers ensconced in the lovely weather, tutoring each other to spend the free periods profitably, Cerise's attention keeps moving - a nomad traversing from the autumn sun catching his messy, brunt hair and alighting it in an aureate translucence, to the light stubble he has grown, and his childlike wonder every time she simplifies the language riddled with metaphors and hyperbola and other poetic devices and explains to him what the author is trying to vaguely convey in the poem. She tries her best to mask her distractions under the pretenses of either looking past him as she 'thinks' or being engrossed in reading through the verses' lines to properly explain to him their meanings.

When done with the last verse in the chapter, Cerise shuts the textbook and says, "there, all done. Your turn."

"Hmm," he mumbles, bringing out the school's prescribed Calculus textbook. "Okay, did you do the sums I gave?"

"I did," Cerise says, "I could only solve four of them though, the fifth one..." She rummages around her satchel, looking for the notebook she had designated for these very tuition sessions. Once found, she opens it to the required page and hands it to Devin. "I tried to solve it so many times but I'm just... just stuck..."

At her defeated tone, Devin pats her hand which she left lying on the small space between them. "Don't be so glum," he tells her, "you solved four out of five of the toughest, which is great progress considering I've only taught you for like... what? A month?"

Cerise smiles at him, suddenly shy. "You have been a great teacher."

"Well, it's mutual effort," he counters, "because you're a great student."

Cerise thinks the intensity of his stare will bore holes right through her own two eyes, but then Devin turns his attention to her notebook, thankfully. He goes through her solutions attentively, giving her the opportunity to take in all the fine details about him and emboss them into her memory. She is riveted by how he can just sit there, reading and being menial, and yet, make her come to terms with that peremptory truth which always lingers at the back of her mind - the fact that her feelings for him are transcending mere material infatuation. Her feelings are encompassing a greatly emotional attachment with and a strong affection for him.

And she doesn't know how to handle said feelings.

"You were so close," he abruptly says, nearly startling her.

"Huh?"

"Your approach is correct and so is your progression about this, but then, you go on and make a silly mistake right here," he taps a spot on her solution with the pen, "do you see your mistake? It's pretty simple."

It only takes a little time for Cerise's observation to catch where she was going wrong. "Oh... shit." Embarrassment creeps into her, seeing how unimaginably silly her error is. "God, I can't believe I made that same mistake over and over. Dammit."

Devin must have noticed her faltering confidence, because his tone is uplifting and reassuring when he speaks. "Hey, don't let one mistake bring you down like this," he says softly. Cerise wonders if he is referring to things other than just her mathematical faux pas, but then he adds, "I mean, I'm so proud of how intelligently you tackled these other integrals. You should be, too."

Grateful that he is still busy looking over her notebook, Cerise feels warmth perfuse her heart, then come burgeoning in a bloodrush so strong that she can feel her it prickle underneath her skin. "Thanks."

Devin nods.

They spend the next hour solving a variety of integral equations. Equations far less complicated than the emotions that find root in Cerise and have already started building a stronghold.

***

"That's enough studying for today," Devin declares, closing the textbook on Cerise's lap. "You won't retain much information if you keep pushing yourself like this," he explains when she looks at him in confusion. "Our mind's got a saturation point beyond which excessive working only causes more harm than help."

"What?" Cerise says, grinning. "So, now you do Psychology one-oh-one?"

Devin chuckles. "Absolutely. For cutting time, I read through a bunch of books written by people who think they've got the human mind all figured out."

"Right..." Cerise says, still smiling lightly. Devin loves her smile; he's loved it for quite some time now.

They remain quiet after that. The lingering silence isn't heavy or uncomfortable to Devin, on the contrary, he loves Cerise's silent company as much as he loves their talking and animated discussions. He loves her timid and demure, or excited and energetic. Just like he is with her personality, he loves other features of her - her dark, ebony eyes are just as mesmerizing with or without the occasional kohl accentuation; her long, silky tresses add to her beauty when in plaits, or when pinned up in a bun, or even when left open. There are so many things which he loves about her that he keeps losing count.

As he looks at her beside him, part of her face hidden by her hair, Devin suddenly realizes how thankful he is for having Cerise in his life - more than anything else. While people leave him to his devices, she sticks to him; she helps him with studies, she devotes her free time to spending it with him, she doesn't judge him, she accepts him as he is - even with his habits. She doesn't look at him like the others do, like he's a landmine - ready to explode, to destroy everything in his vicinity.

On impulse, Devin reaches forward and brushes the locks of her hair behind her ear, causing her to look at him questioningly. "Nothing," he says with an indifferent shake of his head. "Just wondering when we'll get free periods together again," and he feels compelled to clarify, "so that, you know, we can complete the course of Math and English... and move on to World History."

"Um..." Cerise tilts her head back to look at the sky, drawing Devin's attention to the graceful arch of her neck.

Swan neck, he thinks.

"Don't we have State Level Football Championships coming up?" she asks, letting her eyes slide close.

"Yeah," Devin says distractedly as his eyes rove her peaceful expression and admire just how delicate her features are and how effortlessly beautiful she is, as a person, as a soul.

"So..." Cerise slowly opens her eyes to look at him. "We don't get mere free periods, we get free days."

Caught dead by this innocent, fragile radiance she exudes as she concludes, Devin only manages to smile back. "That's--" he starts.

She fills in, "a really needed break from school."

"Yeah, it is."

The sounds of hickory leaves, dry, dead, and falling in the breeze, fills the hush that has blanketed them again. The day is pleasant and wonderful; there are a lot of beautiful things around him, Devin notices. The clear sky with the occasional fluffy, white clouds adrift, the hickories draped in their brightest of yellows and richest of reds, the critters at work and hustling in preparation for the oncoming winter - but none of them hold his attention as much as Cerise does. Just sitting there with a contended smile playing at the corners of her small mouth, she captivates him like Wonderland did to Alice. And he's falling deep into the rabbit hole of adoration for this lovely girl he had only wanted to have fun with. He wonders how it got to this. But Christ, with the way Cerise is, it feels like this was inevitable all along. It's the most beautiful inevitability that Devin could have asked for from life.

Soon, too soon for Devin's liking, the bell goes off and it is time for the two to go back inside. As he gets about gathering his things, he notices that Cerise makes no move to hurry. Instead, she drops her face into her palms, letting out a frustrated sound. "God, I don't wanna go back in there..."

Sighing, Devin puts his Calculus textbook into his backpack and admits, "neither do I, but we have class..." At that moment, an idea takes shape in his head. Turning to Cerise, he asks, "Cerise Jane Miller, have you ever sneaked out of school?" Her doe-like eyes widen, and she shakes her head slowly. His face already sports his reckless non-smile when he proposes, "I think it's about time I sneak you out and take you to celebrate your exponential progress in Calculus. What say you, yay or nay?"

While he was telling her his idea, Cerise's emotive veneer went from worry to curiosity to sheer excitement - her unwitting expressiveness endearing her to him even more. She laughs his beloved laugh, then imitating his tone, "I say yay to escaping this academic prison for a celebration of progress." However, her smile slips into a slight, contemplative frown. "How the heck are we gonna get past the Admin Office, the guard, and the groundskeeper?"

"Who says we are going out front?" A titillation, an anticipation fills Devin's system. "We'll take a hidden exit out back, like... like ninjas."

"Like ninjas?" Cerise echoes, laughing again.

"Uh-huh."

Five minutes later, Devin is leading Cerise through the thin strip of the autumnal hickory forest to the fence on the other side. Crouching at a certain place, he pulls at the mesh, revealing the wires to be broken there. He squeezes through, holding the fence open for her. After she comes out and is standing beside him on the sidewalk, brushing herself off, she queries, "now what?"

"Now, I'll take you someplace you can live a little," he replies with a wink.

Cerise looks ahead, a determined expression taking over. "I'd like to live a little..."

"Alright, then." Devin starts on a leisurely pace towards his frequented club, motioning for her to follow. "Let's go."

***