Paper Planes

9.

(Liv)

It was September, the first day of school. The weather was nice, a clear sky, but kinda chilly.

As I made my way to the little train station, I could see the tall figure of our new neighbour standing by the rails.
His name was Nathaniel, his mom had forced him and his little sister to introduce themselves to my family and the other neighbours. Since then, I had seen him around a few times, but never had the opportunity to talk to him or ask him which school he'd go to.

As I approached the train station, I took a close look at him.
His wavy, raven black hair framed his rather pale face. He was wearing a grey jean jacket, a black jersey with thin white stripes underneath, plain black jeans and a dark blue pair of run-down vans.

He briefly looked at me when I stood next to him.
"Hi", I said and smiled.
He turned his head toward me, eyes wide open, the look on his face seemed kind of shy.
"Um, hi", he said.
"You're on your way to school too, I guess?"
"Yeah." He spoke quietly, I almost couldn't understand what he was saying. He stared at the few people on the other side of the platform.
"Which school do you go to?", I asked while briefly examining his face.

It was heart-shaped, with big eyes, a straight nose with a pointy end and soft pink lips.
These features, together with his messy dark hair, gave him a somewhat young, almost childish look and they formed a very odd contrast to his sharp jawline, the extreme dark circles under his tired eyes and the high cheekbones.

He blinked a few times before answering my question.
"I go to Oceanside High. You?"
"Me too!", I answered, smiling. "If you want, I can show you around."
He raised his eyebrows.
"Oh, that would be... really nice of you, uh-"
"Liv."
"Ah, yeah... um, sorry, I forget a lot of things...", he said, without looking at me.
He pulled down his sleeves and put his hands in his pockets.
"I'm Nathaniel."
I couldn't help but chuckle.
"I know."
"Oh, right, sorry...", he mumbled with a half smile.

The train arrived and we continued to chat about school on the way there.
Nathaniel really was shy, he often looked out the window or at his hands while speaking.

At school, I showed him the most important things: classrooms, lockers, library, cafeteria, sports area etc.
He seemed very glad to have someone to show him around, thanking me multiple times, and when I left him to go to my own classroom before the first lesson, he seemed pretty lost, almost like a little child in a supermarket. Poor guy.

Down the hallway I spotted my friends.
Sol grinned as I approached them.
"What was that all about, Livvy?", Nora asked, grinning too, looking over my shoulder to where I assumed stood Nathaniel.
"He's my new neighbour. First day here, so I figured I'd show him around."
Sol laughed.
"Liv, you good soul, always taking care of everyone!", she teased.
"Oh stop it!", I laughed and poked her in the ribs.
She shrieked just as the bell rang and we made our way to the first class.