All We Know Is Falling: Fall With Me: Volume One Read Free Page B

dad bought me when I was eleven. I stood up and put it on.
    “Hale,” the boy said, gesturing to his chest. “Since you didn’t ask.” He stood too and I wondered if I could just charge him and get away.
    “Okay,” I nodded as the other students started leaving.
    “No,” he shook his head. “This is where you tell me your name. Then I say ‘Thank you for your help. It’s nice to meet you’. And you say ‘You too’. Then I say ‘Well of course it is. I’ve been told I’m very good company’. And you say ‘Really? I sure would like to find out for myself’.”
    No, this is where I leave. Because I don’t let myself spend time with humans. “Sorry. But I’m going to be late,” I brushed past him and went to the lunchroom.
    I got my food and picked out the empty table in the corner that no one dared go near. Humans were social creatures. I wasn’t. I picked at my hamburger that I was sure was horse meat. I don’t know why I didn’t just pop over to a fast food place and get something. It would be so much better. Plus, all that greasy food didn’t damage my body.
    But no. I just ate what I had. I did however enjoy the chocolate milk. So I sipped it and tried to do the math in my head to figure out just how many minutes were left in school. For the year. The answer was too many.
    I looked up when I heard Hale’s name being squeaked like he was Santa Clause. The excitement was ridiculous. I saw a table full of girls calling for him to sit with them. Of course. Not only was he new, but he had an English accent. That was more than what was needed to get those specific girls to drop their pants.
    Hale and I made eye contact and for a split second, I thought he would come and sit with me. But he didn’t. One of the girls tugged at his sweater and he sat down with the vultures. But that was alright. It was the way of the world and I was used to it.
    Throughout lunch I just focused on my food and tried not to look up. My hearing was advanced and unfortunately I could hear all of the fluttery giggles from that group of girls. They were asking him to say their names with his ‘sexy accent’ and he was doing it.
    Aaand I was done eating. I stood up and started walking to the tray table. I caught Hale watching me walk for a second but he quickly looked back to his girls.
    So I made my way to art class. Only two more classes and I could go home. I was the first one in the room and I went to stand by a canvas in the back of the room.
    We had a huge pallet of paint at every canvas. It laid on a table between two canvases. They were set up in rows of two. My own personal enemy. But as the students trickled in, no one took the one beside me. And all was right with the world.
    Then Hale walked in.
    I caught sight of him and I quickly looked away. Maybe if I ignored him, he’d do the same.
    And I was right.
    He took the canvas beside me, but on the other side of the classroom. He didn’t look at me and I was able to relax a little.
    I got scared when people tried talking to me. There was a little voice in my head that said if they did, then they’d see what I really was. They’d see something was wrong, that I was wrong. Not normal. Not human. Then I’d have to watch them run in fear. Or worse, not care and want to still know me. But I couldn’t let that happen.
    Class started and we were told to paint whatever we wanted as long as it was something that calmed us. I stared at the white canvas in front of me and tried deciding what to paint. I couldn’t think of a damn thing. So I started painting Hell.
    It was just barren land with the massive gates. The POV of someone who was standing at the bus stop. The pigeon was on the ground eating seeds and you could see the very edges of the bench.
    “Interesting,” I heard from my teacher. “What is it?”
    I turned and saw Mrs. Lore staring up at it. She was around four-ten and it seemed like everything was a struggle for her. Her short brown hair was pinned back