soft for her ☆

the school halls are full of students discussing their plans after high school, after graduation, whether they'll be going to college or not. alistair had his back against the set of lockers, a book in his palm with his thumb pressed upon the page to keep it open. his earbuds were in his ears, music blasting to drown out the noise. his eyes were skimming the sentences, the smell of fresh crisp paper and ink filling his nostrils.

alistair looks up to see natalia coming in his direction, with this radiant smile on her face. her eyes are sparkling with pure excitement. he feels the corner of his mouth begin to quirk up, not even wasting a second as soon as he sees her. though, he breathes to calm his growing nerves inside, forcing his eyes back to his book, to hide his inner smile.

aside from a couple close friends or actually nicer teachers, alistair hates everyone else around him. especially the group projects, they are a nightmare. but every time natalia gets excited or happy about certain things, his heart flutters at the sight of her. the couple times they talked, he could just listen to her for hours and not be bored, despite his serious look most of the time.

damn it. he sighs to himself, closing his book shut and shoves it back in his bag.

he may seem tough on the outside, but he becomes the biggest nervous wreck when she's on his mind.

alistair and natalia have been good friends since the beginning of freshman year to now senior year. he was always annoyed of her, hating how much she spoke, but it bounced right off her. she'd talk about the spring festivals, her favorite movies, what she hates the most, and slowly, he found himself more and more intrigued by her.

he'll always listened. even if nobody else did.

alistair pushes himself off the lockers to start his walk to his last class. then he hears an obnoxious voice behind him. "yo, alistair!" jay aggressively slings his arm around his introverted buddy. "what are your plans for halloween? burying yourself into old cassette tapes and novels?"

alistair rolled his eyes, taking out one earbud to hang over his ear. "let me guess, we're going to some lame high school party with terrible alcohol and people groping each other." he guessed brutally honest, sliding his phone into his pocket with ease. jay chuckles as he stops in front of their class which is math.

"actually, we're planning to explore the stanley hotel, and the girls are coming and-"

"the girls? don't tell me that lauren is coming."

lauren brown. aka his annoying, popular ex girlfriend who cheated on him over some horny football quarterback for their high school team. 

"I'm good." alistair said as he walked into math class. he took his usual seat in the back, alongside jay and his other friends. he slides his bag under his desk, pulling out his essentials. the bell rings just in time as the last one or two students rush in with hope that their teacher didn't see them.

"all right, class. I hope everyone remembered that today is the test before our next chapter so if you studied, great. If you didn't, I will see you flipping burgers at mcdonald's." mr. douglas stated as he put each pile of papers onto the front row desks so the person would take one and pass behind them. 

"ah shit," jay mumbled, rubbing his tired eyes. "luke, do you have the answers?"

alistair rolls his eyes, shaking his head. 

the classroom is silent, aside from the pencils and slow page flips to the other side. alistair tapped the end of his pencil quietly on his paper, staring at the question as if it'll somehow be answered magically in his brain. his eyes glance for a split second towards natalia, who is so concentrated. her cheek is resting on her fist, her hair lazily resting all on one side. 

"mister stone," mr. douglas calls alistair's name loudly, but he didn't flinch. he just moved his eyes right to the teacher. "do you need help?"

"no, sir." he replied roughly.

"eyes on your own paper then."

⁂

while the clock seemed like it took forever to finally tick at the end of class, everyone had their tests turned in and the hallways were flooding. alistair switched his books in and out from his locker, shutting it and fixes his bag strap over his shoulders. 

"hey, ali."

alistair recognized that annoying voice right away, and he just continued walking towards the exit. It doesn't take long for lauren to keep up pace with him. "oh come on. don't tell me you're still mad. It was a mistake."

alistair turns around with a dark look in his eyes. "cheating is a choice, not a mistake. don't crawl back to me just because no one is paying attention to you." 

and with that, he left her standing alone, with a shocked look on her face.