Bruised

04.

The next day, Lucas Morton wasn't the only boy waiting outside of her school.

Nyra was busy with some kind of music practice, so Natalie was alone, making her way to the school gates when she saw him.

The first warning sign should have been the crowd of girls blocking the exit—more than there were yesterday when Lucas was alone. But Natalie's thoughts were deep in the assignment she'd received last period, and so she didn't notice until she'd reached the edges of the crowd and her eyes met his.

Leon Hughes, waiting outside of her school gates.

The pair leaned against a car together like something out of a fashion magazine. Except they weren't models, and they weren't wearing high end brands—they were just a pair of teenage boys in wrinkled uniforms, their ties missing, and blazers long gone.

Natalie froze.

He hadn't noticed her yet. No, he was busy scrolling through his phone. Lucas, beside him, chatted eagerly with the girls around them.

Natalie couldn't help but feel a little relieved. At least it was Lucas giving them attention, not Leon—but she quickly banished the thought for her mind. She couldn't let herself get excited; let herself start imagining impossible scenarios that would get her hopes up all for a fantasy.

She took a moment to stare at him from far away. She'd never seen him like this before—outside of his school, in the sunlight. Surrounded by girls she'd grown up with.

She'd never seen him with a girl in general, and Natalie was once again reminded that she knew nothing about him. For all she knew, he could have a girlfriend already. He could be here for her.

His bruises had faded, only slightly, and he'd removed the band-aids from his skin, exposing his scabbed cuts to the air. Natalie thought she could remember every curve, every brush of skin she'd felt while dressing those same wounds less than a day ago.

Another thing she noticed—he was popular. Popular, like the main character of a cheesy teen flic. If she didn't know better, she might have thought he were a celebrity.

The girls around him seemed to gravitate towards him. While Lucas was the one talking to them, their eyes seemed to flitter towards Leon, their smiles growing each time they peered at him, as if hoping he would be peering back.

He never did. His eyes were fixated on his phone, and Natalie's relief only grew.

Lucas spotted her first.

His eyes seemed to drift over the faces of the girls around him, almost scanning, searching, until they landed on her. Slowly, the corner of his mouth lifted, and his elbow twitched, digging just barely into Leon's side. So slightly that Natalie wouldn't have noticed if she wasn't so tuned into him.

Leon certainly noticed.

Instantly, his eyes shot up to hers.

Natalie's heart throbbed so heart, she thought she might collapse. The two stared at each other for a moment, until he pushed off the car and stepped forward.

Her stomach sank.

He wasn't going to talk to her, was he? Not here. Not in front of everyone.

She threw a worried glance over her shoulder, her eyes landing on the window that she knew led into the principal's office—her dad's office.

She had to get out of here.

Ignoring his sharp gaze, she tucked her chin and pushed past the edges of the crowd, hurrying down the road.