The Balcony

Introductions

My eyes were blurry in the morning light that peeked through a gap in the blinds. I grunted at the alarm clock next to me, as though it would shut up itself. Unfortunately, it did not.

When I was at home, my mum woke me up every morning for school. She would plonk a mug of green tea on my bedside table before going to get herself dressed for work. I missed the solidarity of having a routine; of seeing a friendly face every morning, even when I didn't feel friendly myself.
Perhaps it was my legs that creaked as I got to my feet, or maybe just the floorboards.
"Ugh." I grumbled as I witnessed my bedraggled, no makeup complexion in the tiny mirror on my wall.

Thankfully, as it was the start of the year, I had many clothing options for my first sociable day at college. I scanned the wardrobe, absorbing the range of colours and variety of styles within it. The reflection of the mirror showed a slightly chubby girl in baggy jeans and a vest that had multicoloured swirls scrawled across its front.
"That'll do." I sighed, softly closing the plastic wardrobe door.

I walked sheepishly towards the kitchen. A short, curvy girl was stood flipping what seemed to be green-ish pancakes, with a confused look on her face. She turned around when she heard the door open and smiled at me politely.
"Hi. I'm Marianne." She put out the hand that wasn't holding a pan of green mush for me to shake. I shook her tanned hands awkwardly.
"August." I replied, watching her attempt to tip the uncooked batter onto a plate.
She thrust the plate towards me. It smelt spicy, but also had a slight hint of citrus.
"Be honest, does this look edible?" She frowned, prodding the dough with her index finger.
"Depends what it is." I chuckled. It just looked like green lumps to me.
"Scrambled eggs." She smiled awkwardly. I tried not to laugh, but I couldn't help myself. She joined in with the laughter and threw the plate aside, hopelessly.
"I can already tell that I'm not going to adapt to student life very well." She giggled, shaking her head.
"Me neither." I smiled.

Conversation stopped momentarily, we just looked at eachother. I supposed it was a moment for us to take in the surroundings and situation. I had made a friend already, it seemed.
"Are you going to that big introduction thing this morning?" I asked, pointlessly. Obviously she would be going, it was compulsory.
"Yeah. I'm guessing you are too?" She nodded.
"Yep. We can walk down together in a minute. If you want." I uttered with a nervous smile. She seemed relieved at my friendliness.
"Perfect. We can go now." She replied, tying a hoodie around her waist. We walked into the hall and took the lift to ground floor where the introduction assembly was taking place.

The day was a little better than expected. After all I had made a friend who had similar culinary skills as myself. We sat in the downstairs study area for a while, discussing our courses. Marianne was studying further maths and business. In a way I was envious of her obvious academic ability, but I would never have enjoyed those subjects.
"What about you then?" She wondered.
Strangely, I felt inferior when telling Marianne my subject choices. Compared to hers, they were so simplistic and well...not academic.
"It's a combined course, music and English language." I nodded, shyly. Her eyes lit up.
"Music? Do you sing?" She gasped. I laughed slightly. The answer was yes, I sang constantly, but doesn't everyone? Regardless, that wasn't my reason for pursuing music.
"No, no. I compose music. I'm a pianist." I said. Her smile didn't lessen.
"That's so cool! I've always wanted to play an instrument like piano. I was actually thinking of finding a private music teacher to help teach me. Maybe you could?" She said hopefully.
I wasn't qualified to teach music, but I supposed that I could help her with the basics of learning to play.
"Yeah, that's fine by me." I replied. She let out a squeak of excitement, and squeezed my hand.

It was a clear night, good for watching stars, I thought. I skipped along the dull corridor, grabbing the keys to the balcony that were inside the fuse box. As I slid the door behind me and felt the fresh air on my skin, I felt a presence.

Of course he was here again.

"Come out to break the rules again, have we?" He chuckled. He had a packet of cigarettes on his lap, and one resting against his lips.
"I suppose so." I replied, leaning against the bricks once again. For some reason I felt the need to keep my eyes away from this boy.
The boy blew grey smoke into the stars. It blurred my view and tainted their beauty ever so slightly.
"Is that the only reason you come out here?" I asked, gesturing to the cigarettes. He looked down at the packet and then back at me.
"Yeah. Why else would I be out here?" He said, continuing to breathe grey fog into the sky. He suddenly rose from his seat and walked towards the edge of the balcony closest to me.
"As a matter of fact, why are you out here?" He questioned.

I felt obliged to face the boy, seeing as though he had made the effort to walk closer to me. I looked at his face properly for the first time.
There was an explosion of freckles on each of his cheeks. They went against the grungy, edgy and unkept look of his dark brown hair. He had a faint smile on his lips.
"I like night time." I replied, calmly. He rolled his eyes, and threw the cigarette out of the building. It fell for what felt like forever until it was out of sight in the dark shadows below.
"Don't give me that generic shit. Why are you really outside at night?" He smiled falsely at me.
Slightly shocked by his reply, I was silenced for a few moments.
"Well...I used to sit on the roof at home. This is the closest thing to feeling at home I can get." I sighed. However soppy it sounded, it was true.
"See? That's the answer I wanted." He smiled. It seemed genuine this time.
"Why do you care if I was lying or not?" I rolled my eyes.

"We've got to be honest with eachother, me and you, were in this shit together."