He Was A Skaterboy | COMPLETE

five

It seemed as though Kiara had come to school the last couple of days with the weight of the world on her shoulders. Sure, she smiled and laughed when eyes were on her, but nobody saw the frowns and the exhausted sighs when she was alone. Her knuckles were now a funny shade of purple. Several of the teachers did question her and she shrugged it off as a 'pianist's hazard' with a charming smile and fluttering her lashes to her large doe like eyes. It seemed like she knew what she was doing as she redirected their attention to the class or another classmate.

Emre frowned, grinding his teeth as he silently watched Kiara trudge into school that morning. Her knuckles still a purple colour. He watched as she flexed her fingers and winced in pain at the action. What the hell kind of piano teacher bruises their students, he seethed, his hands fisted in his pockets. He continued watching Kiara, lost in her thoughts as she approached her locker. She'd had her hair messily braided to one side, draped on her left shoulder. Her glasses were perched on the edge of her nose as she walked without looking up. She'd worn her Chelsea boots, with tight dark washed denims, and oversized off-white sweater that reached the tops of her knees which surprisingly looked soft to the touch. Her cheeks and nose were flushed like she had stood out in the cold a bit too long.

He bit back a smile at her confusion as she checked and double checked if she had arrived at the correct locker as she adjusted the light grey backpack on her shoulders. She walked back and forth with a frown on her face, until she finally approached the flowers that were attached to the front of her locker with unsure steps.

He watched as the smile broke on her face as she picked up five long stemmed pale pink roses that were tied in twine. Her nimble fingers fiddled with the twine as she removed them from the locker bringing it to her nose. It seemed as though all the energy that she had lost over the past couple of days was recovered as she smelled the delicate fragrance of the flowers. Emre ruffled his hair, looking away as Kiara looked around the hallway no doubt trying to figure out who gave her the flowers as she pushed her glasses up her nose.

Their eyes locked as he looked up and, in that moment, he understood what it meant to have your heart skip a beat. It felt like his heart had skipped several beats as Kiara with her eyes alight with happiness, and smile curving her lips approached him with a spring in her step.

"Do you know who did this, Emre Ersoy?" she asked in a lilting, teasing tone. Her eyebrow arched as she tried to draw out an answer from him. Her eyes sparkling behind her glasses as she looked at him.

Emre smiled at the floor, avoiding her gaze. He shrugged his shoulders, trying not to give anything away. His eyes were drawn to her fingers that twiddled with the piece of twine that held the roses together. "Maybe you have a secret admirer," he teased her back.

"No, I don't want a secret admirer! Why does it have to be a secret? Is it embarrassing to be crushin' on me, the pianochick?" she pouted, making faces as she cradled the flowers close to her chest.

Taking a slow breath to calm himself, Emre looked at Kiara as she fussed over the roses. "You have any ideas who it could be?" he asked slowly, studying her reaction.

"Tsk...No," Kiara said, and continued coyly, "...but...I know who I want it to be from." Kiara bounced on the balls of her feet as she smiled brightly at Emre.