020. The Not So Bad Guy.

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"Hey Theo! You coming to the presentation this afternoon?"

I was on my usual morning run around our college campus, and usually there wasn't a soul in sight, this side of 7:00am.

But I'd noticed two people, as I'd started to run down the hill. I'd already ran past one, and no one really spoke to him. I'd never spoken to him, but whenever he usually saw me, I was always met with silence and a hard stare. Arms folded across his chest, eyebrow slightly raised in whatever judgement he seemed to bear on me, always silent.

And as I looked around for the body to the voice that had shouted me, I could just see my friend Martin waving at me to my right.

I turned around to see the other still casually walking my way, catching me up in his large strides, and he flashed a mild smirk which put me immediately off guard.

Enough that I didn't see the usual root of the nearby tree I always jogged over, and I tripped over it, skidded and landed hard on my ass.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Martin cried, running over to me.

The other guy, simply gained on us and when he was behind us, he walked around us, staring down at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Who is that?" I asked, mildly irritated, as Martin helped me up.

"Eddie Munson." Martin said, shaking his head.

"He always stares. Never says a word, just stares." I said, as Martin nodded.

"I've heard he's not a nice guy." He said.

"How does anyone know that when he doesn't speak?" I asked.

"I think that's exactly what everyone's based it off. He doesn't speak, just stares at everyone, feels like he's judging them. Has that little raised eyebrow like he doesn't like anyone, like everyone annoys him." Martin said.

All of which I too, had noticed.

I dusted myself off, and turned around to see a patch of soil up the back of my shorts.

"Great, I look like I've shit my pants." I said, huffing.

Martin laughed and hooked his arm through mine.

"You're fine. Listen, you coming to this presentation this afternoon?" He asked, leading me inside the double doors to the dorms.

"What is it even for?" I asked.

"For our science projects." Martin said, as we walked up the first flight of stairs.

"I'm not in science." I said, as he laughed and nodded.

"I know, but you'll come along for your old pal, surely?" He said, smiling.

And as we reached floor C, he was there, casually leaning up against the wall, by the doors to the auditorium.

Martin stopped at the doors, and nodded towards them.

"It's at 1:30. You're coming right?" Martin asked, as Eddie directed his usual hard stare towards me.

Was he looking for an answer to that question too?

"Yeah, I'll just need to shower and change." I said, ignoring him.

"See you then." Martin said, with a smile.

And as I headed up the next flight of stairs, Eddie's eyes fell on my dirtied shorts, and that same small smirk tugged on his lips again.

And it immediately irritated me.

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I didn't understand any of the projects, no matter how animatedly or excitedly they talked about them.

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