Seasons #1

Sage

"Are you able to come to the party tonight? Its the final one before school starts again."

"No, I can't sorry. Its my dad's weekend and we're going camping." I walk next to Ava, my best friend, as we browse around Bath and Body Works at the mall.

"Ugh. I guess so. Its the last party of the summer though. Its gonna suck without you there." She rolls her eyes as she sets down a lotion bottle.

"Sorry. Dad has had this one planned since summer started. I have to go." I smile at her and walk to the checkout. I pay for our stuff and grab the bag from the cashier. "Tonight though, just you and me. We can catch a movie or something?" I say as we walk out into the main area of the mall.

"Can't. I promised my little sister I'd hang out with her."

"Oh, well some other time then." I hand her, her bags and then get into my car, she gets into hers. "See you at school tomorrow."

"See you, love ya girl!"

"Love ya, too."

***

I drive to my favorite coffee shop and find a parking spot. I park and walk inside. I go up to the counter and order my usual. A caramel frappe with extra caramel and light whip cream. As I'm waiting for my order, I look around. All the usual customers sit at tables on their phones and laptops. Then, I notice him. At a table by himself typing on a laptop. Has he been here before and I've just not noticed him? He seems out of place with his black hair and black clothing. The only color to him is his black and red backpack. I don't realize I've zoned out until the barista calls my name and hands me my drink. At this, he looks up and meets my eyes.

He looks sad. Very sad like he just lost a family member kind of sad. His eyes are such a deep blue, I could stare into them for hours. He looks away quickly and packs his laptop into his backpack. He stands up and leaves in a hurry. I frown to myself and wonder if I looked at him wrong or something. Did I?

***

"I've never seen eyes as blue as his were." I say to Ava as we walk to class the next day.

"Sounds like you thought he was cute." Ava replies laughing.

"Maybe." We walk into the classroom and I about drop my books. "Ava," I whisper. "That's him."

Ava raises her eyebrows and smiles. "He is cute." She whispers back. I smile to myself and walk to my seat.

I look over at him. He's sitting at his desk with his head down. He raises it when the teacher walks in and I look away before he notices me looking at him.

"Welcome back, my lovely students! I hope you all enjoyed your summer!" He clears his throat and sets his back down on the floor next to his desk. He pulls out a binder and sets it on the desk. "Someone new has joined our class this school year. He gestures to the boy and he smiles awkwardly. Az - Aza..?"

"Azrael." The boy says.

"Right, thanks. Sorry about that. Azrael Roquel." The teacher corrects himself. "I need to speak with you after class."

A few students snicker and whisper to each other. I sneak a look at him and he still has that same look of sadness in his eyes. Throughout the class period he answers questions but other than that he's very quiet. When the bells rings to end class, he doesn't stand up. He puts his stuff in his backpack, but doesn't stand up. I walk out and linger in the hallway to watch him stand up an walk up to the teacher's desk. I'm not a stalker, I'm juts very curious about this boy.

"Sage, are you coming?' Ava grabs my arms and pulls me with her as we walk to our lockers. "Where you watching him?"

"I just wanted to see if he was going to walk out or actually stay behind like he was told to." I reply.

"Why wouldn't he?"

"I don't know. Something just seems off about him."

"Like what? He seems shy to me."

"He seems different and like sad." I switch out my books for the next class and shut my locker.

"Sad? Now that you mentioned it, I see it." Ava agrees as she shuts her locker. "Almost like something bad has happened to him or something."

"Yeah. I want to befriend him and I don't even know why."