~~~~~ADRIAN~~~~~

When I walk into class on Monday, I immediately spot a familiar face across the room. Demian. I hadn't realized we had class together. I quickly found a seat on this side of the room and peered across the tables at him. He has his head turned away, but what I can see of his face is pulled into a frown. Elijah's warnings passed through my mind and I ducked my head down. I could do this. I can avoid the hot guy who just happens to be right across the room from me.

When the bell rings, Ms. Summer takes to the front of the room. She says that today we would be passing in our prompts, which I quickly pull together only to be filled with dread when she states we must pick one of our prompts to read to the class - to get to know each other. I hate public speaking. Unless I absolutely have to, I do not speak in front of groups. I bite my lip and listen as she points to the first student. We're going across the rows, starting on my side of the room. I'm so glad I'm not in the first row, but my turn would still come faster than I'd like.

I was immersed in my thoughts when I heard that familiar, rumbling voice. I lifted my head and looked back across the room at Demian, who was standing and presenting his prompt.

"My name is Demian Hale. When I was in 5th grade I broke my arm snowboarding." He lifted his left arm to show a fairly obvious scar. "My best friend had convinced me to try jumping out of a tree on my board, and it didn't go well. The most unfair thing about it was that it didn't even get me a break from doing my homework, because it was my left arm. Two years later, we tried boarding off the roof of his dad's shed. I landed it perfectly, but he broke his leg. I guess that makes us even."

As the next person began speaking, I ran his name through my mind. Demian Hale. Even his name sounded tough, and the way his rough voice pronounced it gave me shivers, and not in a bad way.

When it was my turn, I stood up too quickly and my chair fell over backwards. Great, let's add more mortification to this experience. I stared at my paper as I started speaking. "M-my name is Adrian Michaels, and I've always admired the works of Emily Dickinson. H-her writing is as powerful and moving as it is beautiful. My favorite of her poems is 'Hope is the thing with Feathers'."

The teacher thanked me for sharing and I went to sit down before remembering just in time that my chair had fallen. I rightened it and sat, burying my face in my hands while wishing I could disappear. Thankfully nobody had laughed at me - for the chair falling or for me stuttering and stumbling over my words.

~~~~DEMIAN~~~~

Adrian. That was his name. I recognized him as the one who ran into me not once, but twice, and who has narrowly missed bumping into me countless times since. I'd wondered if he was doing it intentionally, but after watching him knock his chair over I concluded he's just clumsy. He's tripping over his words and his face is dusted pink. I feel the corner of my lip starting to rise. He's actually kind of cute, now that I'm paying attention to him. I hold back a chuckle as he goes to sit on his toppled chair before recalling that it wasn't in a sitting position. His hair fell in front of his face as he bends to pick it up, and I look away as I realize that I've been watching him for what may be long enough for people to notice. It would suck to have another rumor start up about me and some random guy on campus. I doubt he'd appreciate that either, especially with how shy he seems to be. My mood soured. I wasn't the kind of guy to just sleep around, but you'd think otherwise if you listened to the whispers around campus. While the rumors about me bug me, the ones involving someone who has nothing to do with me - especially in a sexual or romantic sense - really annoy the crap out of me. It has been almost three years since my last boyfriend and I separated. Almost three years that I've been dealing with these stupid rumors.

~~~~ADRIAN~~~~~

When the bell rings I rush towards the door as quickly as possible, wanting to run away from the embarrassment I'm still feeling from my presentation. In my rush I bump into someone. The girl gives me a less-than-pleased look and I apologize while stepping back a step, only to bump into the person behind me. This is not my day. "Sorry," I whisper over my shoulder. Keeping my eyes directed in front of me, I make my way down the hall and out of the building without any further incident. Elijah is waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.

"What did you do this time?" He asks, pointing to my red face.

"I..not right now," I say quietly, gripping my books tighter. Thankfully he just nods and starts talking about his upcoming journalism project, and I welcome the distraction. By the time we're walking into maths, my face has cooled down and my mood has improved.

"So, I was thinking-"

"That's hazardous," I jokingly interject. He rolls his eyes and grins before continuing.

"My mom has to stay late today to finish some paperwork and she drove us in, so I'm stuck here until she finishes. Wanna come with me to take some photos of the football practice?"

"Sorry, I have labs until 6 tonight." I feel a bit guilty even though I know I shouldn't.

"Oops, I forgot you have late classes on Mondays! No biggie, another time yeah??"

"Sure."

~~~~~~~DEMIAN~~~~~~

He walked into me again. Well, technically he backed into me this time. I don't think he realized it was me though, since he never looked up when he said sorry. How can one guy be so prone to walking into people? He's going to get hurt one of these days if he doesn't start paying more attention to his surroundings. I make a mental note to say something about it next time I see him. I'd have said something right then, but as I came down the steps towards him his friend gave me a frightened look before they walked off. Adrian never lifted his eyes from the ground. That probably has something to do with why he runs into people.

I sighed in agitation as I headed towards my anatomy class. We're beginning to dissect pigs hearts this week. I just hope my lab partner isn't annoying to work with. A rumor has already started about how much I enjoy dissection. I do enjoy it, but not for the reasons people are saying. I have to learn the different parts of the body so I can do my job once I graduate, and dissection allows an up-close, less bloody way to look at the vital organs.

I spot him at lunch, walking alone towards the science wing. Perfect. Without his friend right there, it shouldn't be hard to say something. There are a handful of people nearby, so I'll do it quickly and hopefully it won't cause a scene. I really don't need that after the hellish time I had in anatomy today.

~~~~ADRIAN~~~~~

I nearly jump out of my skin when someone suddenly says my name from mere feet away from me. I hadn't even noticed him approaching me.

"You need to pay more attention, or you're going to get hurt someday," Demian warned in a low voice before walking off. I just stood there, gawking at where he'd been. I shivered, the hairs on the back of my neck prickling. What did he mean by that? It's been several days since I bumped into him the second time, and I thought things were fine but..that sounded ominous. I hear the distant sound of the bell ringing and realize I've just been standing there since he spoke to me. Rushing to class, I decide that I'll call Seamus when I get out for the day and see what he thinks about the situation.