As my eyes fell on the girl standing near the winder— one of her legs already over the window ledge showing her willingness to jump out of it— my mouth couldn’t help but move to voice what I was thinking.
“Rosaline? Why are you here.” I said in a loud enough voice so that she could hear it— getting her attention as she turned to spot me at the entrance of the room.
She seemed a bit confused at first— maybe towards who I was or why I knew her name— but then a look of realization overtook her face as she moved her leg away from the edge.
“Why are you here?” She said— returning the question back at me without answering mine. She moved closer to me but kept her distance in case of anything.
Upon noticing her move closer to me— my eyes couldn’t help but shift over her body once more— getting a good look at it this time, unlike the short glance before.
She was shorter than me by quite a bit— standing at around 5’4— yet with her slimmed body that seemed well-kept and trained, one wouldn’t call her petite to her face.
Her long white hair was all messy from her attempt to escape before I saw her— edges sticking up yet she tried to straighten it back out to its full length.
Then there was the part that captivated me most about her— her ocean blue eyes. There was a saying amongst people about eyes— they were the window into your soul.
This was even more so true for witches— who were able to do magic of all kinds based on the colors of one eyes. Witches believed eyes to hold magical properties— most people are just unable to tap into them normally.
And ocean blue eyes were known to be related to soothing types of magic— healing magic and so forth.
Maybe that’s why I couldn’t help but look into those eyes for as long as I did— maybe that’s why I couldn’t get them out of my mind— something about them just pulled me in and made me calm.
I was broken from my daze when her voice entered my ear— calling for my attention, “Hello?” I blinked— refocusing on her as I quickly thought up a response to what she said. A friendly smile plastered my face— the act of being social was as easy as a flip to me at this point— she only made it easier.
“Replying to a question with a question. A good way to avoid answering it.” I said with a soft chuckle— gazing up at her furrowed eyebrows.
I decided to give her an answer since she was the one here first after all, and I just entered, “Fine, I got lost and thought this place looked interesting. I’m new to town— name’s Aurora.”
She seemed less tense when I told her I was new to town— explaining my valid reasoning for how I got lost and ended up here. I could tell she still wasn’t certain about me from the way her body moved— but that was fine.
“I see well welcome to town, I’m Rosaline— but you knew that already.” She said with a small smile on her face— I couldn’t tell if it was a genuine smile or not because of how hard she was to read.
I realized she still hadn’t told me her reason for her being here, but I decided not to force her to tell me since she probably didn’t want to. Maybe she just wanted a place to escape to— just as I did.
“Well, it’s nice to officially meet you, Rosaline. I overheard your name from some others at school. You’re quite popular.” My tone was friendly— teasing even— I wanted her to ease up around me.
Yet I couldn’t tell why I cared so much about what she thought.
A soft laugh escaped her lips— echoing in the empty room and instantly catching my attention— yet she tried to hide it by playing it off as if nothing happened.
“All good things, I assume?” She said in an attempt to be friendly— but even I could tell she wasn’t used to it. I wouldn’t call her a social outcast— but she differently wasn’t the life of the party.
My thoughts lingered for a second— trying to think about how to answer that question in a way it wouldn’t be weird, yet also not insulting. Such questions were always traps.
“Just things,” I replied— not stating whether they were good or not so she didn’t have a way of knowing what I was told. It seemed my reply made her even more interesting in knowing what I was told— causing her to raise an eyebrow.
“Why don’t we get out of here, we’re getting late for class?” I suggested as I looked around the place. Not a lot of time had passed— and we differently weren’t late for class— but talking in a dusty abandoned building just felt weird.
It seemed she took my hint because she nodded and agreed to what I said, “Sure, why don’t I show you the way to the college since you’re lost?”
I couldn’t tell if she was being serious— and was just being nice— or if she was being sarcastic and knew I lied when I said I got lost. Her natural friendly tone wasn’t helping me figure it out either.
“Sure, I would love that,” I replied with a smile— just accepting her offer since we were going to be walking in the same direction anyway.
I turned and made my way out of the building— the girl seemed to hesitate for a moment which I couldn’t tell why— but quickly followed after.
As we exited the building and entered the street— we were met by darkened clouds that looked like they were going to come pouring down at any time.
‘Damn, I didn’t bring an umbrella.’ I thought to myself as I saw this— then glanced at the girl who was also looking up.
“We should hurry up before the rain starts falling,” I suggested as I started to walk down the street back the way I came from previously— my pace quickened because I didn’t want to get wet.
“The weather said it wouldn’t rain today. Those things are so useless.” She grumbled in a soft tone as she quickly followed after me— agreeing with my statment of moving before it started to pour down.
We walked in silence for a few minutes— a few long minutes— before I finally decided to break the silence by speaking up.
“So-“
“Hey-“
We both tried to speak at the same time— which only resulted in a blundering mess that was neither of us being able to speak at all.
While we were both briefly surprised, I laughed it off because I found it funny— and she had a small smile on her hidden face that she thought I couldn’t see— but I did.
I spoke first this time— telling her, “You go first.” To which she nodded.
“Thanks, I was going to ask where you moved from?” She said in reply, turning her head to face me slightly as we walked.
“Oh, uh. We move a lot because of my father’s job— he’s a lawyer. Before moving here I lived in New York for a while.” I replied to her question— hearing where I lived previously— I could see a slight flicker in her eyes.
“You lived in New York? How was it?” She asked with a hint of excitement in her voice— the first set of emotions I can tell for certain was real.
Seeing how excited she was about New York, I couldn’t help but smile— but I quickly answered so as to not seem weird. “Well, it’s kind of loud, and really lively, but it could be fun at times. Lots of things to do, and places to be.”
It seemed that while my answer was somewhat satisfactory to her— there was some sort of longing in her eyes for something more. Out of curiosity I couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you want to know?”
I can see a hint of hesitation on her face— then embarrassment when she realized how overly excited she got— but she answered my question all the same.
“Well, I’ve always wanted to go to New York, but my parents don’t want to go there. I’ve always heard about how— interesting— it is and would love to see it for myself.” She said with a voice of longing and excitement.
It was fun seeing her talk about something she really wanted to do— while I may have just met the girl a day ago, and only had an actual conversation with her for a few minutes— I couldn’t help but think how cute she was.
She reminded me of a little cat— she had a strong and emotionless front, yet deep within her was a type of passion and emotions that would make anyone interested.
I would never say that out loud though— I had a reputation to keep up— what reputation you might ask? Well, the one I’m going to make.
“That’s lovely, I’m sure you will get to see it one day. I hope it’s everything you think it is.” I said to try and cheer her passion on.
Our walk carried on in silence for a few minutes after that— she was too embarrassed to say anything in response to what I said— and I wasn’t sure what to say to keep the conversation going.
The silence ended when we finally arrived in front of the gates to the college campus— she was the first one to break it.
“Well, we’re here— see you around.” She said in a quickened voice as she quickly ran into the gate and towards the building before I could stop her.
I didn’t try to stop her— I didn’t want to keep such an awkward situation going. And I didn’t know what to say anyway. I just stood stunned for a brief moment.
Then I walked in.
