MICAH

Age: 14

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At school, Melissa and Callie talked non-stop about the upcoming pool party. I put in a few 'sures' and 'that sounds good', but other than that I was silent.

It's not that I didn't want to participate in their conversation. Planning parties just wasn't my thing. However, my best friends couldn't accept that and dragged me into every conversation.

By the time the bell rang for lunch, I was out of the classroom in record time.

Finally, I was free! I risked a glance behind me as Callie yelled my name and tried her best to catch up. I grinned as I maneuvered around the crowd to the cafeteria.

I plopped down in my seat at our usual table just as Callie and Melissa collapsed into their seats panting for breath. I guess Melissa had joined the chase too.

"Seriously?" Melissa panted, "Why'd you put us through a full speed chase?"

"Yeah," Callie agreed while fixing her hair. "Running's torture to lazy people like me."

I couldn't help but laugh at my two wacky best friends. However, my joy was short lived when someone sat beside me. I hesitantly turned around to see it was Kevin.

"Hey ladies," he flashed us a glittering white smile.

Melissa and Callie promptly ignored him and returned their attention to their conversation.

"Uhhh... hey Liz."

I gave him a weak smile and turned to the girls who were talking about party snacks.

"Are you guys okay? You're acting a little weird," he mumbled.

"Kev, can you do something for me?" Callie asked sweetly.

"Uh, sure, what's that?"

"Shut up!"

She gave him the stink eye and took a bite of her sandwich.

"What's your problem?" he grunted.

"My problem? Do I look like I have a problem?"

"Well, yeah," he shrugged innocently.

"Kevin your presence is not exactly wanted at this table so why don't you just leave."

"Yeah, why aren't you sitting with Ashton today?" Melissa asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, something's up. What did I do?"

All three of us stared at him with annoyed expressions.

"Umm, let me see," Callie said, tapping her chin in pretend thought. "What did you do? Maybe it's the fact that you took Liz to a party as her date and then ditched her with some guy upstairs. Ring any bells?"

Kevin's eyes widened when he realized what Callie was talking about. "You're mad over that?" he asked me in disbelief.

"That?!" Melissa hissed. "It's not just that. Who knows what ideas that guy could have gotten! What if he'd tried something on her up there?! But you don't care do you?"

"Ashton wouldn't try anything like that," Kevin defended hotly and stood up. "Besides, he just wanted to talk to her."

"Oh, he did talk to her alright. He threatened her after you ran away like a coward," Melissa yelled, standing up too.

"There's a reason why I left her up there!"

"Oh, and what's that?" I asked, crossing my arms.

His gaze lowered to the floor. "I can't tell you that."

We looked at him in disappointment.

"Maybe you should just leave, Kevin," Callie stated.

He looked over at me, but I avoided his gaze. It wasn't enough that he'd left me alone with the guy who obviously hated me. Now he was refusing to explain why he did that.

"Look, I'm sorry Liz," he began, but Melissa cut him off by yanking me up.

"If you won't leave, then we will. Come on Liz," she said, putting a hand around my shoulder.

Callie gave him a dirty glare before getting up and leaving him behind.

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I continued to ignore Kevin although he was constantly following me around trying to apologize.

Ugh, couldn't he just understand that I didn't want to talk right now? He refused to give an explanation as to why he did that, so unless he decided to explain, I had nothing to say to him.

"Liz, will you just hear me out?"

"Kevin, just drop it," I sighed, trying to open my locker.

"But you're not listening to me."

"Because I don't want to," I said still struggling with my stubborn locker.

He suddenly punched the locker door and it flew open. I stood gaping at him, then quickly composed myself.

"Will you listen to me now?" he asked hopefully.

"Thanks for helping with my locker, but no."

"Please?"

"Unless you have an explanation, just drop it!" I huffed, slamming my locker shut.

A look of hurt crossed his face, but he didn't press me any more. He just walked away.

I turned back to my locker to find it locked. I spent a few more minutes trying in vain to pry it open. It remained shut. Could this day get any worse?

I punched the locker just like Kevin had done. Yeah, not my brightest idea.

I let out a hiss of pain. That hurt like hell! My hand was in splitting pain and hurt even more when I tried to move it.

Was Kevin's hand made out of metal or something? When he did it, it didn't look like he got hurt at all.

I looked up to see a boy coming over to me. His blue-green eyes warily scanned the hallway that Kevin had disappeared down.

When he turned to me, they were filled with concern.

"Are you okay?"

I motioned to my hand which felt like I'd just had a fist fight with a sledge hammer.

"You should go see the nurse," he mumbled, while taking up my books that had fallen to the ground.

I insisted that he go to class instead, but he said his class was in that direction anyways, so he didn't mind helping me out. While we walked to the nurse's office, he introduced himself as Micah.

He'd transferred here less than a month ago, which explained why I'd never seen him around the school before. He was fourteen and in Freshman year. He seemed shy, but like a very sweet boy.

The nurse gave me ice, told me I'd live and then sent me to class.

Seriously, ice was like her cure for everything. Headache? Ice. Broken arm? Ice. Crippling depression? Ice.

I was just glad my hand wasn't sprained or anything. After that, I walked out to find Micah waiting for me.

"Is your hand feeling any better?" he asked me sweetly and I smiled and nodded yes.

"By the way, I'm Elizabeth," I introduced.

"Elizabeth," he cooed. "That's a beautiful name, it fits you."

I smiled as we made our way silently to class. We passed my classroom first. He handed me my books with a sunshine smile and then continued down the hallway.

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