fragile

1

2013

She was only sixteen when she met him.

Mick, that is.

It was just a regular day with everyone minding their own business, but he had chosen to come up to her.

She watched him approach from her peripheral vision and she pushed down the urge to grin like a goofball.

"Uh, hey."

Mira's eyes travelled over to the guy standing next to her locker. He was the new guy; she could tell from the way he nervously glanced around and the constant tapping of his finger against his bag strap.

Her eyes were glued to his face; she couldn't help but look him over. He was very good looking.

As in, very good looking.

His blue eyes seemed to burn with a fire that she'd never seen before.

Mira offered a smile at him. "Hi."

He returned it, albeit a very crooked one showing his nerves.

"Hi, uh, sorry about this but I was wondering if you could tell me where the gym was?" He held out his timetable. "If you couldn't tell I'm kinda new here and you're the only person not staring at me like I'm some freak."

Mira raised her eyebrows in surprise. She was still reeling from the shock that a guy like him wanted to speak to her.

"Oh, sure," she said. "The gym's near my classroom anyway so I can take you there if you want."

The guy let out a relieved sigh, the nervous crooked smile vanishing. It was replaced by a million dollar winning grin at her, exposing his seemingly perfect teeth.

"If you could do that, that'd be great."

"Of course, I've got nothing better to do."

She led him down the hallway that seemed to flood with more people as they walked down.

"So, what's your name?"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't even introduce myself," she said, cringing. "I'm Mira."

"Mira," he tested, looking into the distance. A smile broke out on his face. "I like it. I'm Mick."

"Nice to meet you, Mick."

"No, it's very nice to meet you, Mira."

She found herself laughing even though it wasn't even funny.

"You're joking. In a few days, you'll have enough of me."

He raised an eyebrow. "And why's that?"

She brought her shoulders up to her ears in a casual shrug. "I can be a bit...strange? I don't know but for some reason it's either a 'you hate me or like me' kind of thing."

Mick stared at her for a moment. Whether he was judging her based on her comment, she didn't know but it made her uncomfortable either way.

She wanted him to be the person in the 'I like Mira' group and to look good in his eyes but she went and ruined it.

"Interesting," he said, eventually. "Don't worry, I'm an open-minded guy. I can tolerate all sorts of people. Trust me, I've dealt with worse so I don't mind if my very first friend is a bit of a weirdo."

Mira laughed in slight relief, the tension in her muscles slowly disappearing. "Well I'm glad to hear that! But don't say I didn't warn you."

He chuckled. "Oh, I will. Just punch me when I do though."

"I'll be sure to take you up on that offer."

"And I'll be sure to receive it like the good, humble guy I am."

After reaching her class door, she stopped and pointed to the huge gym hall located right outside the glass doors.

"And that's where you're meant to go."

Mick glanced outside before turning to Mira again. His face softened to a gentle undertone as the corner of his lips curled up into a smile.

"Thanks a lot, Mira. Honestly I owe you for this."

She shook her head, thinking about her first time walking through the rusty hinged double doors of her school.

"No, don't even worry about it. I know what it's like to be new."

She was lucky she instantly found a friend, Willow from her very first class. It made things seem hopeful and much easier, too.

Although, getting her hopes up too soon clearly backfired.

The months to come were proof of that.

As Mira waved bye to him, she found herself watching as his tall, lean figure disappeared.

And she was sure that right then, that very first day she met him, she was smitten.