A Day of Difference (Supersam)

Gabriel Landon

"Finally," I mutter to myself as I push through the thick throngs of people toward the front of the school. The day had been a long, uneventful one and quite frankly, I was glad for it to finally be over. As soon as I walk through the front doors, I'm caught off guard by the sudden shock of cold, so I pull my brother's wool coat tighter around my body. Sure, the coat is big, rough and smells like a couple of sweaty feet, but it does its job well enough, shielding me from the sharp, biting winter air.

I never particularly enjoyed winter. The fields and orchards are bare and blanketed in frost, so there's never much work to be done, which means that most of my winter months are spent sitting around, sedentary and bored. Usually, school is enough to keep me distracted, but today I feel particularly restless.

I'm almost to the end of the crowded schoolyard, when suddenly, a few people in front of me jump back a little. Surprised, I stumble a bit, hitting a few people in the process. Ignoring the scrutinizing looks a few people shoot at me, I stretch to my full height (which isn't very impressive) and attempt to try and peer over the heads of the people in front of me, curious to what the hold up is. I immediately recognize someone: a tall, lanky boy with dark hair. I never really spoke to him before, but I had seen him a couple of times in class. He was walking in a completely different direction than everyone else, which obviously startled a few people, and spotting the expressions of a few girls who were gawking after him made me laugh rather loudly; it was about time someone changed things up around here.

Word Count: 300

Note: You're post header is gorgeous; I'm totally jealous now :P By the way, since this is my first thread with Gabe, I spent a lot of time trying to decide which POV I should use, but I ultimately decided to go with first person since I have the most experience with it. I hope you're okay with that, but if not, I'll gladly change it.

Gabriel Landon

I’m not sure, but I’m fairly certain that the boy looks back in my direction, so I grin encouragingly back at him. Though, if he sees it, he doesn’t show any sign of it; he just continues walking in the same direction, heading for what looks like a back road of some sort. And judging by the scowl on his face, he doesn’t look like he’s in a particularly good mood. Perhaps it’s the boredom of the day, or the restlessness running hot in my veins, but my curiosity begins to take over. Who exactly is this guy? I can’t ever recall him speaking much in class; he always seemed so aloof and separate from everyone else. “But why?” I think to myself.

I glance around, scanning the faces of the crowd around me. No one seems to be paying much attention to him now. In fact, it’s as though everyone has already forgotten about him as they resume whatever they were doing before. I look back at the boy, who by now is almost to the side street. Someone had to give this guy a chance, right? He couldn’t possibly be all that bad. Suddenly, my mind is made up.

Without further thought, I begin walking after him, slowly at first but then speeding up to a jog, trying to catch up. As I tear through the crowd, pushing people out of my way and doing my best to keep sight of him, a troubling thought suddenly emerges from the back of my mind. “What if he actually wants to be alone?” But I quickly push the thought aside; I wasn't going to turn back now. “Hey!” I yell after him. “Hey, wait up!”

Word Count: 283

Gabriel Landon

As the crowd begins to thin out, I finally start to close in on the boy, who had by now reached the dark path at the edge of the schoolyard. I slow down to a leisurely walk, and begin to approach him. He must’ve just noticed me, for he stops walking; though he presses into the dark alleyway, almost as if trying to merge with the shadows. I’m not quite sure what to make of this, so I simply keep going. Stepping up to him, I realize that he towers over me, and I have to look up a bit in order to look him in the eye; of course, this is nothing new to me. There were very few people who weren’t taller than me.

Now face to face (or at least as close to that as I could possibly get to with my height), I open my mouth to speak...but nothing comes out. Like a ton of bricks, it hits me that I didn’t exactly think this all the way through. What the heck was I supposed to say? I suddenly realize my own stupidity. This guy was ‘the mysterious stranger’ in the back of the room in class, the guy who made girls whisper and giggle about him, all the while making every guy around envy him. Why would he want anything to do with me? I wasn’t anyone special. “Gah! I’m such an idiot!” I silently curse myself.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t stop now, so I decide to just wing it and pray that I wouldn’t make a complete fool of myself. I hesitate a moment, racking my brain trying to figure out what to say. “Ummm...hi, what’s your name?” I grin sheepishly, trying to hide the fact that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

Word Count: 300

Gabriel Landon

“And why, pray tell, should I tell you that?” the boy retorts. Almost immediately, my goofy grin falls right off my face. This was going to be much more difficult than I had originally thought.

“Er...” I hesitate, desperately trying to pull a reply out of thin air. I stare at the ground, thinking hard. A few silent, awkward moments pass, and I still haven’t come up with an answer. I let out a small sigh of exasperation; I was just going to have to answer truthfully. “I don’t know,” I respond, a little disheartened, “I guess you don’t have to.” A little ashamed, I glance back up at the boy, who is leaning casually against the ally wall. I’m a bit confused by this. What, is he tired or something? It also strikes me as a little strange that he isn’t looking at me; he appears to be studying something in the distance. I glimpse over in the direction he’s looking to try and see what he’s staring at, but there’s nothing there but an overturned trashcan with smelly garbage spilling out of it.

A broad smile spreads across my face as I slowly begin to realize what he’s trying to do. If this was his way of trying to look intimidating, he wasn’t doing a very great job of it. Suddenly, I can’t resist; I have to mess with him a bit. Stifling a laugh, I turn back to the boy, who is still refusing to look at me. “What’re you looking at?” I question him with just a hint of amusement in my voice. Nodding toward the direction of the trashcan, I add, “I don’t see anything over there.” I look back up at the boy, awaiting his reaction. A little harmless fun couldn’t possibly go wrong, right?

Word Count: 300
Note: Sorry for the wait, I had a huge essay to write last night