A NEW S\T\A\N\D\A\R\D; (Nervoux, SpecialK)

Jayden stared up at the ceiling from where he lay in the hospital bed, holding a bag of ice to the side of his head. His head was throbbing painfully, though it had died down a lot since the previous night. A concussion. A minor one, but still just as painful. The thought caused him to groan in annoyance and frustration, though there was a peculiar gleam of amusement remaining in his blue eyes. His scowl turned into a deviant smirk as he thought about what had happened.

Jayden walked calmly through the crowd of people in the District Square, his eyes trained on the food stand that lay ahead. It was the same food stand, with the same fat man that despised him for stealing from him everyday. Everyday he would steal, leading to many yells from the man, but Jayden was too quick for him.

But, this time Jayden wasn't there to steal anything, just show his face to him. His walk up to the stand held a confident posture, despite his permanent limp in his right leg that usually slowed down his speed. "Hey fatty, remember me?" he called out, a wide smirk appearing on his tan face.

The man turned around, much quicker than Jayden would of expected, and grabbed the front of his dirty shirt. His eyes widened in surprise, he definitely hadn't expected him to move so quickly. After all...he was so fat, or atleast he was in Jayden's eyes. Without another word from the man, he lifted his large fist and punched him right across the head, everything going black as he fell harshly to the ground.

Jayden laughed lightly under his breath, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing up. The room swayed for a moment, and his vision went black for a few quick seconds, but besides that everything was fine. The doctors had said not to leave the room, but since when did he ever listen or follow the rules?

He walked out of the room, his ice still held firmly against the large knot on the side of his head. His uneven footsteps were heard easily in the hall as he walked, his limp causing him to stumble a few times. His eyes curiously went into each room as he passed, smirks appearing on his face each time he saw something gruesome or disturbing. Those things didn't bother him that much.

Jayden stared forward, seeing that the lobby was coming up ahead, but his eyes also found someone else. He watched he passed down the hall, another hall coming from the right and intersecting into his. There was a girl wobbling down it, her hand pressed against the wall as she could barely walk in a straight line. A hangover, the sight was easy to see for him.

He smirked, guessing that she too was heading for the lobby. Jayden continued on his way, deciding that he would strike up a conversation with her when she got into the room, for besides the hungover look to her, she was very...what did Jayden always say? Oh yes, hot from where he was standing. justify]

Jayden held the bag of ice up to the side of his head, the swelling and the knot still not going down. The pain was subsiding, but it was still causing slight confusion to his thoughts. His thoughts would get jumbled up if he started to think about too many things at once, and the memories of how he even got the minor concussion were slightly foggy. He could only remember things that led up to the moment the fat man's fist made contact with his head, everything else wasn't there. He strained to remember, but someone's voice snapped him out of his attempt at remembering. It took him a few seconds to realized that the voice was coming from the girl he had just seen down the hall.

"Hey sweet face, you single?" she called out. The question caused a few chuckles to escape from Jayden's tan lips, his bright blue eyes lighting up with slight amusement. He could easily make out the slur in her speech, and noticed how she still seemed to be stumbling in a drunken way. It was easy to tell that she was hungover, for he had seen many drunk people on the streets late at night.

After the amusement began to die down, Jayden finally realized what the girl had spoken. Cautioun drifted into him slowly, and he had a confused expression. Manyg girls had said something of the sort to him, but the relationships that followed never lasted. All of them judged him by how he looked, seeing the slight handsome quality that registered on his face. But, the love and happiness always eased away when the girls saw his lifestyle. They left when they realized how he wandered the streets every night, stayed in strangers' houses, and how he had no money beause he lived in the Community Home. He and relationships just never worked out that well.

Jayden sighed under his breath, shoving the cautioun and suspicion away, the mischief gleam slowly returning to his blue eyes. "Single? Nah, I'm always taken. The girls are always falling for me" he said in a teasing tone, slinging his dreadlocks over his shoulder to make it even more dramatic. "Kidding" he added with a few laughs that followed.

He paused, letting his eyes drift over the girl. Jayden easily noticed how beautiful she was, and how she would be even prettier if she wasn't hungover or stumbling through the halls. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as he glanced away, focusing on the lobby instead of her looks.

""Do you know where the food is?" " she asked, her question actually sounding decent this time, for it wasn't as slurred. "I'm hungry as hell." Jayden snorted with amusement, the last statement for some odd reason making him very amused.

Jayden glanced around the lobby in search of an answer for her, his eyes finding something else though. His gaze landed quickly on the girl's arm, for it was a dark skin tone than the rest of her body. He could see the faint line of where it had been attached, and how it looked very different compared to her other arm. Confusion filtered in his gaze, but he decided not to ask about it, though questions were spilling freely into his mind.

"Right this way m'lady" he said, jokingly making his voice sound formal. He gestured towards an open door that led to the hospital's cafeteria. The food was usually digusting there, for he had been in the hospital many times, not always as a patient. Being a street rat, finding food wasn't so easy, and the hospital just so happened to be open. He glanced at her, making a note in his mind to ask what her name was. He had a feeling that they would be friends...maybe even more. The last thought he had to push out of his mind, for it was very unlikely for the girl to actually like him. She was probably still just confused from the previous night, whatever she had done.