Sweat trickled down Jesse’s brow as he reclined on the349Please respect copyright.PENANAX5pe1XzNTp
bleachers behind him. As he watched his classmates make yet another lap around349Please respect copyright.PENANAtxnzTu3AaZ
the track, his mind was consumed by one thought:
It was fucking hot.
Jesse had been forced to transfer349Please respect copyright.PENANAZQvqrFecar
schools. It was close to graduation, he hadn’t wanted to leave, but his mom had349Please respect copyright.PENANAVMRe5NJ6LI
insisted. She told him he needed a “fresh start”. That wasn’t what he needed,349Please respect copyright.PENANA1PcKG1STfg
or wanted, but what did she care? Now here he was, sitting behind the349Please respect copyright.PENANAMhV6Z1CWad
bleachers, avoiding the P.E. teacher, and this god-awful heat.
He turned to inspect the open field349Please respect copyright.PENANAOdmRAlWqpV
to his left, and instead of green, all he saw was blue. Pale, icy blue. Jesse349Please respect copyright.PENANACdTsSEQ6wO
reeled slightly, taken aback by the sudden intrusion into his personal space.349Please respect copyright.PENANAqsCBOZDKxw
He hadn’t even heard the person approach, but here he was, sitting next to him,349Please respect copyright.PENANAi1cZE58yit
staring. Jesse takes in the boy. Everything about him seems mundane. His baggy349Please respect copyright.PENANApDeouMwUuh
clothes, his short cut, blonde hair, even the shape of his face was just…349Please respect copyright.PENANA1sM6kMzaeB
ordinary. The only striking feature on him were his eyes. Devoid of emotion,349Please respect copyright.PENANAKCDRU3NnVy
they made Jesse feel like he was looking into a deep, clear lake. One you would349Please respect copyright.PENANA8I2izQzwvL
drown in if you weren’t cautious enough.
Throughout Jesse’s pondering, the349Please respect copyright.PENANAcxwSz4koBa
boy had remained silent, and it was beginning to make Jesse uncomfortable. How349Please respect copyright.PENANAtSNAOSBsPv
could such an intense, empty gaze like that not? He didn’t want to be349Please respect copyright.PENANA9FGZzkU890
the one to break the silence. What would he even say? He dropped his gaze once349Please respect copyright.PENANATZMHZz5bvo
he realized there was no figuring out who this person was and waited for him to349Please respect copyright.PENANAHeD9Qauszv
say something. After averting his eyes from the penetrating pools of blue,349Please respect copyright.PENANAGPkQeGOvbe
Jesse shifted in his seat, folding into himself slightly, trying to make349Please respect copyright.PENANAAnkGWy4GPs
himself invisible. Why was he just staring? The silence between the two349Please respect copyright.PENANAjpJqeNc2w5
lengthened. Jesse shuffled his body slightly and looked at the ground,349Please respect copyright.PENANAEEnpusc107
uncomfortable with the kid’s overwhelming presence. He could feel his gaze.
Flicking his eyes back towards the349Please respect copyright.PENANAT4892CAkVU
boy momentarily, he catches the sight of the boy’s retreating back. His eyes349Please respect copyright.PENANAjf6cjSSimb
follow him as he gets smaller and smaller, noting that the boy was far taller349Please respect copyright.PENANAt0mrMQxeZb
than he had appeared. Far, far taller than Jesse was surely. Before long, the349Please respect copyright.PENANArr8P2QK8jI
boy was nothing more than a black speck in the distance, vanishing from sight.
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Jesse let349Please respect copyright.PENANAGAb28g32vL
out a breath, on he hadn’t realized he was holding, and tried to not let the349Please respect copyright.PENANAGZP9JFnvxv
events that had just transpired consume his thoughts.
As the final bell rang, a vast349Please respect copyright.PENANAv4m4QuQ0jM
expanse of teens flooded the hallway. Jesse was jostled slightly as he fought349Please respect copyright.PENANA2F5aXNiQ7T
his way through the sea of bodies. The sooner he emptied his bag into his349Please respect copyright.PENANATII7ULgc5o
locker, the sooner he’d be back home, in front of his computer. Today had been349Please respect copyright.PENANAK2u0a6jsYF
yet another dull day; pretending to listen to the teachers drone on and on;349Please respect copyright.PENANASx8pg3knf6
ignoring the petty cliques that had formed well before he had transferred to349Please respect copyright.PENANAr93dDuOxRc
this lame ass school; barely stomaching shitty cafeteria food. The only349Please respect copyright.PENANAGWEO4qnIVP
memorable part of the day had been the mystery boy. Jesse couldn’t get his eyes349Please respect copyright.PENANAbcM1vbNCzs
out of his head.
Having only been in this school for349Please respect copyright.PENANAT2G6XGQJap
a month, Jesse sure as hell didn’t know all the kids that went here, but he349Please respect copyright.PENANAsDdfyk4viY
couldn’t help but think that he would remember someone so off putting. He349Please respect copyright.PENANArTYpV2JMZw
shakes his head of the thought as he reaches his locker. Failing to put in his349Please respect copyright.PENANANmoaMrRyQs
code correctly the first try, he curses under his breath and spins the dial349Please respect copyright.PENANAhYLW8ZWSro
around again. Finally succeeding in opening his locker, he begins stuffing his349Please respect copyright.PENANAzejz3NRIQi
textbooks onto the top shelf, feeling rather impatient.
Just as he is about to slam the349Please respect copyright.PENANAG2f1X3t2GC
locker door, he overhears a hushed conversation two lockers down from his, and349Please respect copyright.PENANAmKt6x7fo9d
slows himself, pretending to search for something.
“…parently he just got back. I349Please respect copyright.PENANAAqffOE5g6F
don’t know what they were thinking letting that psycho back in.”
“Right?! Who knows what he’s349Please respect copyright.PENANAXe1h3WGL51
capable of?”
“I thought for sure he’d be349Please respect copyright.PENANAzk6dfEarnR
expelled this tim…”
The voices faded from ear shot as349Please respect copyright.PENANAuhiH6BWwls
the owners drifted down the hall towards the exit.
Sighing and slamming his locker349Please respect copyright.PENANAOFTxe8uwsh
shut, Jesse followed behind at a distance. He had no clue what or who they had349Please respect copyright.PENANAIkGtZLa3QK
been talking about, but his stomach was turning knots.
He made his way out the door and349Please respect copyright.PENANAYXVWwLEuGF
trudged down the road. He walked to and from school every day. It wasn’t really349Please respect copyright.PENANArtEnZVyyTk
that he had to, his mom would have happily come to pick him up if he had asked,349Please respect copyright.PENANA71FWQK7pkL
but he liked the solitude and silence of the short walk.
The driveway was empty when Jesse349Please respect copyright.PENANAMFUEWLNB4e
arrived home, telling him that his mother had not yet returned, not that he349Please respect copyright.PENANAfSz0BobAqK
expected her home anyway. She’d been coming home later since they moved.
Sighing, he slid his key into the349Please respect copyright.PENANA5SUyo1tT3W
lock, but before he was able to unlock the door, a bang from his left startled349Please respect copyright.PENANADSZRcvRXJP
him, making him flinch inward, his face scrunching up. Turning to look at where349Please respect copyright.PENANAHkLAzymbgO
the sound had come from, his eyes grew wide. The tall boy was standing on the349Please respect copyright.PENANAKZymYTIldo
porch next door, staring at him.
Again, Jesse noted just how cold349Please respect copyright.PENANAl5zkVOIJ2C
his stare was. Pale blue eyes, void of emotion, bore into his own olive-colored349Please respect copyright.PENANAYcKbtUP36R
ones. Jesse stared back, uncertainty etched across his face.
Jesse cleared his throat,349Please respect copyright.PENANAbLL0Njh5g9
hesitating a moment before speaking.
“Hi, uhmm… I’m Jesse. I moved here349Please respect copyright.PENANA7DNnekBOD8
last week. I take it you’re our neighbor?”
Jesse’s question lingered in the349Please respect copyright.PENANAQe6AkgFQI2
air as the boy continued to stare at him. Becoming even more uncomfortable with349Please respect copyright.PENANA4fDDlJ31Lo
the kid’s intense eyes fixed on him, Jesse moved to unlock the door.
“Adam.”
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Jesse349Please respect copyright.PENANA84sTuh3BMa
whipped his head back towards the boy as the screen door of the neighbor’s home349Please respect copyright.PENANAij0AmrYfmb
slammed shut. 349Please respect copyright.PENANAZwQU6UMAyS
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