"I'm almost done, stop wiggling." He said with a laugh as he was finishing up intertwining her hair into two braids. The moment he finished she bolted to the bathroom to climb up on the sink to look at her hair. "THEY'RE PERFECT." she squealed before running back to him. He's had to have braided her hair hundreds times but each time rendered the exact same reaction. "Of course! You have to have the perfect hair for your first day of school." he replied while putting her hands through the straps on her backpack. As soon as the duo left the house Sophia grabbed his hand and begun to start pulling him forward to walk faster. She was excited to go and make some new friends along with making them feel inferior that she has braids and they don't. Sophia has always has this bright and bubbly personality who would go out of her way to make as many friends as she possibly could. The two were complete opposites but as absolutely close as could be.
"We're almost there right?" she questioned him after a taking couple steps outside the house hand still tightly latched onto his. "Yes Sophia, we're almost there." he replied with a smile even though the walk to school was at least a half hour. After a few minutes past he was faced with the same question, until finally; the elementary school was in sight. After giving him a quick contemplating glance she decides to make a break for it.. it's not that far. She releases his hand and makes her move only to be snatched up and thrown over her brother's shoulder. Sophia tried to squirming her way free but to no prevail. "Trying to escape are we?" Orion asked after setting her back on the ground in front of the playground where the other kids were playing. "Hhhmm, I don't know what you're talking about." she muttered quickly followed up with her goodbyes as she bolted onto the playground and into the crowd of children. The high school wasn't much further, only taking a couple more minutes to the entrance. As soon as he walked inside the entire place was plagued with school spirit posters, sports awards, and people. He noticed a couple people looking at him with mixed emotions. "It's just a couple more months.." he muttered to himself. He headed to the office to get his schedule and to blocking out this hell scape. He reached out to grab his schedule from the secretary and saw her visibly cringe at the sight of his hand, the tattoos seemed to have repulsed her. "Your first class is in room 102, Mathematics with Mr. Null. It's down the hall to your left." she motioned with her hand in the direction dismissively.
Orion began to head toward his first class and when he rounded the corner he felt someone bounce right off of him, a girl. He had held onto her arm to keep her from falling and then released once she steadied herself. He began to apologize before stopping himself as soon as the girl brushed the hair aside of her face, a familiar face. He had the look of seriousness mixed with confusion while he remained paused. "Lily?" he said in a surprised tone. It had been a decade but when you spent years being completely inseparable you don't forget that face. Although she looked different, almost like some fancy China doll who could shatter with just a drop. It was weird seeing the girl who could own his ass in a fight back in the day look so fragile.
Lily's life was perfect. She truly believed that. She had nothing to complain about, really. Her mom might have been a bit overbearing and her parent's marriage was a bit of a wreck, and she was pretty sure her friends were fake, but it was all fine. She's been reassured about all of that so many times that she's sure she's making it all up. Right? She wasn't really sure, but she chose to believe everything was perfect, and that meant everyone else thought her life was perfect too.
"Babe did you hear me?"
Lily turns her head, derailing her reflective train of thought to give her attention to her boyfriend, Gavin.
"I was saying that you should come to the game tonight. We're playing the sissies from Woodvale."
He chuckled, clearly amused by his lackluster insult. Lily just smiled and glanced at the clock in the hallway.
"Shit! Gav, I got math. I'll be at the game tonight. Text me later."
She gave him a quick peck on the lips and turned, rushing to her class, which was 2 floors down. She was hardly paying attention as she flew down the steps. She distractedly searched her bag as she turned a corner and ran into what felt like a brick wall. With biceps. And callused fingers. Facts she knew only because he had grabbed her arms and she grabbed his as quickly as she was falling.
"Aagh!"
She let out a slightly embarrassing shriek, before realizing she was not on the ground. She righted herself into a sturdy standing position. Lily ran her fingers through her hair, brushing it out of the way of her face.
"Shit, sorry. Are you okay?"
She sighed out, finally looking up at him.
Lily was taken aback by his shocked face. His expression wasn't what was confusing, no but his face. He was so familiar, but she couldn't put a finger on it. Then he said her name and everything came rushing back to her. She gave him a wide grin before slowly asking:
"Orion?"
She laughed in disbelief, mostly, but also happiness. She had accepted a long time ago that she would never see her childhood best friend again, so it was difficult to grasp the idea that he was standing in front of her. She looked down at his tattooed arms and chuckled.
"That's new."
Lily was about to ask him why he was here among many other questions, when Gavin's voice echoed from behind her.
"Who the hell are you?"
He says to Orion, obviously trying to keep his composure, but also showing his dominance. He slithered his arm around Lily's middle.
"Lils is this guy bothering you?"
He says, still holding her possessively and not breaking eye contact with Orion.
"Gavin, please."
She sighs out, annoyed, but trying to calm him down.
"He's an old friend. This is Orion. Orion, this is Gavin, my boyfriend."
She introduces the two, looking up at her boyfriend and giving him a small smile.
"Don't you need to be in Null's math class, Lily?"
He is unrelenting in his distrust towards Orion -- still trying to size him up -- but clearly doesn't want to do something rash in front of Lily. Lily comes to a sudden realization that she's totally late at this point, letting out a curse underneath her breath. She smiles apologetically at Orion.
"You could say that.." he replied while sliding his right hand over his arm with a bit of nervousness. It had been a decade after he up and ghosted his childhood best friend without a word. "You look-" Orion began to say before being cut off by a new and angered face.
"Lils, is this guy bothering you?" the stranger asked looking him up and down, almost sizing him up.
"Lils?" Orion muttered glancing to Lily while doing his best to suppress a laugh. If his memory served him right she never liked that nickname. He only ever called her that to taunt her, which was like playing with fire. His reaction clearly irritated what he soon learned to be her boyfriend. "Hey man, I didn't mean any harm we were just catching up." Orion spoke working on refusing the situation. Gavin had instructed Lily to go to her next class while he just stood there in front of him what seemed like him blocking his path. "See you around sometime Lils, Gavin." He said giving Gavin a slow nod of the head moving to walk past him.
He was stopped again and was given what Orion assumed to be an empty threat about staying away from his girlfriend, followed by a couple of insults. Orion just rolled his eyes, this guy is seriously exhausting. What in the world does Lily see in him? She must've really changed if this is her idea of Prince Charming? After taking a deep breath Orion replied with a bit of a smirk "Listen, Lily said we were "old friends" not "old friends with benefits" so you can drop the whole tough guy act.". If looks could kill. A teacher quickly came up to the boys telling them they were late for class and to stop arguing. Orion was confident his remark very well could've gotten him a black eye but honestly, it would've been worth it.
Orion had stepped into the classroom right as the bell rang. He scanned the room looking for a seat, it was filled with a series of tables each one having a pair of students sitting at them. He scanned the room searching for a seat. Almost every table was full besides a select few tables with only one. To his relief there was a empty table in the back, no awkward conversations, no awkward rejections, it was perfect. After taking his seat he noticed a turn back at look at him curiously. He dismissed her, she was probably just absorbing how different he was compared to her. To his dismay the girl rose to her feet and had walked over to him taking the other seat at his table.
"Orion right?" she asked him
"Yes?" he replied with a bit of confusion.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Isabella." The girl replied putting a slight emphasis on her name with a side smirk. Then quickly pushed out her chair and on her way to return to her original seat she quietly said "Maybe I'll see you around sometime."
