Heart | N.H.

four - at twilight

Niall and I argued all the way to school. When he parked the car (exactly two minutes before school started, too, so we were pretty much guaranteed to be late to class) I attempted to storm off... only that was sort of foiled by the fact that we were both headed in the same direction. I also attempted to trip him, casually sticking my foot out. He grinned at my not-so-inconspicuous effort and said, "You're the clumsy one, not me."

I mumbled something unintelligble, hoping he would think I was calling him something horrible and cry all day. Then I stomped off to History class.

 Through some miracle, I actually managed to get through the day without getting into trouble, which put me in a relatively good mood. At least, until the bell rang. I got up to make a bid for freedom, remembered Principal's Norridge sentence of detention for this week, and promptly let out an unchecked, "Shit!"

"Language, Miracle!" a sharp voice reprimanded. I felt my heart stop, thinking that it was a teacher and that I was about to get expelled or something. Upon turning around, though, I found myself facing a grinning girl my age, a teasing twinkle in her eyes.

"Hey Annika," I said. "I appreciate the heart attack."

"Any time."

"I will now proceed to writhe on the floor and foam at the mouth till I die."

She sighed and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Miracle, if you're going to die, please do so calmly."

"Right. Sorry." I stuck out my tongue at her.

"Callie and I were planning to get some froyo after school. You up for it?"

"I can't. I have..." I hesitated. If I told her I had detention, I would have to tell her I skipped school. If I told her I skipped school, I would have to tell her why I did so. If I told her that, then I'd end up telling her about Niall. And I couldn't do that. Because for one, the entire story of how I encountered him was embarrassingly stupid, and Callie would never stop teasing me about it once she found out. Two, as much as I trusted Annika, I didn't want her to think less of me for this. I already wasted enough time thinking less of myself. "I have... nature club."

Wow. Did I get worse at lying each time I did it?

Annika frowned. "Our school has a nature club?"

"Our school has a nature club. We save trees. I mean plants. I mean, um, all sorts of botanical specimens. Like the prunus amygdalus. That's almonds. Fascinating creatures."

Placing a hand on my shoulder, Annika said slowly, "Miracle, almonds aren't creatures."

"Okay bye." 

No student ever ran to detention as fast as I did, I promise you that.

-

Detention was the stupidest thing to ever exist. I knew I wasn't the first person to reach that conclusion, but honestly. I got yelled at for tapping my paper clips against the desk too loudly.

Anyway, I was just exiting the classroom when who should I see but a sweaty, panting Niall. He was dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie that was mostly unzipped, revealing the gorgeous invisible shirt he had on underneath. I immediately searched for somewhere to place my eyes other than his bare torso and found myself looking up into his face, where I promptly wondered how someone who made my stomach all warm with the urge to throw up could have such pretty eyes. 

"Hey kitten," he breathed. He smelled like a little too much deodorant and Winterfresh gum. His blonde hair was spiked into a jagged halo; he looked like some sort of dangerous angel.