I'd Rather Die Than Be in Love

Somewhere In Hiding

My head quickly turned to look behind me, expecting the worse, I expected to see a teacher or even the principal. I felt my heart race fall again as I saw a tall lanky boy grinning at me, looking pleased he'd startled me.

“Shouldn't you?” I asked, glancing back over the huge field of grass.

He simply laughed and sat down next to me.

“What?” I asked, referring to his laughter.

“Well aren't you going to offer me one?” He asked.

I tossed the pack of cigarettes into his lap, he took one and put his hand out, signalling for me to hand him my lighter. I rolled my eyes and passed it to him. I got a better look at him as he stuck the cigarette into his mouth. He had long dark brown hair, it was wavy and shiny. But he had the top of it hidden under a hat, he had brown eyes and a slight stubble on his face. His most significant feature was the piercing in the middle of his lip and above his lip.

“You like what you see?” He laughed, as I realized I had zoned out staring at him.

I shook my head and took another drag, throwing my head back and puffing the smoke out above me.

“Hot” He said.

I laughed, if I was one to judge someone on appearance, I would not have expected this personality. I watched at he fiddled with the holes in his black skinny jeans, that were located just at his knees.

“Where'd you move from?” He asked.

“Philly” I said, smiling at the thought of back home. This all seemed like a dream.

He nodded in return, “Well I'm Mike” He said, sticking his hand out for me to shake it.

“Holly” I said, shaking his hand.

I finished my cigarette and put it on the ground, I looked at Mike who had already practically inhaled his. He was playing air drums and humming to himself.

“So I know why I'm not in class, but why aren't you?” I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders, “Wanna get out of here?” He asked.

“Well I don't usually skip school with strangers but I'll make an exception for you” I answered.

He stood up, stretching his arms above his head and then reached out a hand to help me up. I allowed him to pull me up, I swung my bag over shoulder and followed behind him. Mike began walking until he came to a quick halt.

“Stop” He hissed.

He held his finger up to signal me to be quiet, with a very concentrated expression. I heard heels, clip clop down the hall, getting further and further away.

“Teacher?” I asked.

“Worse” he said, “My girlfriend”.

We snuck out of school and headed to a fast food diner, my stomach rumbled as we walked through the door, earning a smirk from Mike. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about him yet, he was the kind of guy I'd usually love to punch, but for some reason that wasn't the case here. He pointed me towards a booth and as I sat down, sat opposite to me. The place was pretty empty, but the people who were here shot us looks as if to ask why we aren't in school. The waitress came round and Mike ordered, not hesitating to order the same for me.

“I didn't want to order for myself or anything” I said as sarcastically as I could.

“Trust me, you are going to love what I ordered” He said.

“So what's your story?” He asked.

"I'm sixteen, a junior, I moved here because my Dad got a job here and I have two brothers” I said.

“A junior?” He asked.

“Yes, so?” I said, more aggressively than I had originally meant.

“That makes you the same age as me, it's just you're short” He smirked.

“Shut up” I said, throwing the napkin that was sitting on the table at him.

We argued the pros and cons of being short and being crazily tall until our food came, I was surprised at how easily the conversation came to me. It was like I had know him for years, rather than just meeting under an hour ago. The waitress brought us over two plates of nachos, we had nachos in Philadelphia but there were nothing like these ones. The plates were stacked high with cheese and salsa over the top.

“I hate to say it, but you were right” I said, sitting back, looking at my empty plate.

“Nothing beats this place's nachos” He laughed.

As he took me back to school, I was pretty certain that I had managed to make a friend and without even going to class.