When Paths Collide

Prologue

The day school began after mid-term break was just as dreary and depressing as the first day of school.

Most of the students were hung-over from the goodness that was their week off or dreading of what controlled assessments there were to come.

Others couldn't have been bothered of what examinations were to come and couldn't have cared less on these assessments that their future career depend on. These kinds of people were laid-back, almost too laid-back but then again they had nothing weighing them down or at least that's what it looked like.

It was more than likely that these people on the inside were mentally having a stress breakdown. And among this group of people was a girl called Isabel Harris.

She walked through the school entrance with a drag in her step as if these controlled assessments were weighing her down. It wouldn't be a surprise though because in truth that's what controlled assessments do to every student.

Isabel clutched her black folder filled with a year of GCSE work...for three subjects. She was just the kind of person that didn't enjoy her work on loose file pages and only had subjects that she was told to put into her folder. But if she had it her way she's have those subjects in notebooks in her bag, not giving a care about how heavy it was.

Isabel walked passed students; people in her year, people younger and older than her but she didn't acknowledge them because apparently in secondary school it's weird to say a simple 'hello' or give a small smile. Because politeness is frowned upon apparently. So keeping her head down, Isabel made her way through the group of students catching up over the holidays. Though since she couldn't see where she was walking...

THUMP!

She had walked right into a boy, who, like her, was also not looking at where he was going. Isabel's file hit the floor and a few loose pages, which should have been put in properly lay on the floor.

"Shit, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, she dropped to the ground to pick up the fallen pages not even looking up to see who she had bumped into.

"Uh, n-no, it was my f-fault, sorry," the boy stammered as he knelt down to pick up her file. He had a very quiet voice, Isabel almost didn't hear his apology but she did and she smiled.

She glanced at the boy who gave her the folder back. His troubled blue eyes hidden behind his glasses avoided her gaze as he handed it over to her. "Thanks, for that," she chirped, grinning. It's not often that a boy would actually help a girl, they usually just call out insults, and well that was Isabel's experience anyway.

The boy gave a slight nod, turned, and disappeared into the swarm of students. Isabel shrugged and walked on. She didn't even know the boy's name but she definitely knew him from somewhere. The thought of not knowing who he was annoyed her so she pushed that thought away and strode on towards her school year's cloakroom.

Now that boy who was so generous in helping Isabel Harris and her fallen pages? That was Andrew Ward, a boy in Isabel's year. It was a bit rude she didn't get his name considering they have been in the same year together for five years, not to mention they were in the same Art class; a class of a mere thirteen students.

But of course Andrew keeps to himself and Isabel is rather oblivious. She didn't notice the stammer in his voice as he talked to her or the shake in his hands as he handed her the folder. Why in fact, Andrew was just heading to the nurse's office to get his morning medicine for his increasingly worse anxiety.

Obviously no one knows that Andrew suffers from anxiety. Though it wouldn't take a genius to figure out ever since Andrew had a serious panic attack for the first time in his life back in May. And basically, everyone has avoided social contact with him.