Far And Away.

The sun was high in the sky as Andy walked down the sidewalk. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, the leather cool in the October wind, but it felt nice to be out. He usually took the bus to school, but this morning he decided to hoof it because he needed to think about some things. It had been a week since he had seen Flora with that little rat and it still irked him. The poor girl was walking around with a black eye and Andy still felt like Bret could have prevented it. Flora had told Andy that she had been pushed into a pit and then elbowed in the face, but Andy had seen Bret lose his temper before and he was not trusting of the little twerp.

If it had been him he would of had his arms around Flora the entire time. He probably would have nestled her between his arms, either draping them across her shoulders or holding her around her waist. He would never have let her out of his sight, not even to rock out to a band he loved, and if she had managed to get away from him, Andy would still manage to keep an eye on her. God what was he saying?! Andy shook his head, his growing black hair falling in to his eyes as he continued to walk down the sidewalk. The cracks were forming an interesting pattern and it was keeping him focused on things other than Flora.

The two of them hard barely spoken unless they were in class together and even then she hardly looked his way. Andy knew it was because he had been a jerk, but he couldn't change any of that and even if he could-it's just who he was. Flora wasn't innocent either-she had a tongue like a knife and knew exactly how to slice in to a person so that they felt like nothing. Andy finally realized that he had reached school property and so before making his grand entrance he did something he did every single day.

Pulled his cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one.


"You know those are, like, terrible for you. Right?" Someone asked from behind him and as Andy turned he groaned. Constance, standing there in her skinny jeans, white leather boots with the fur lining and her long tanned arms covered in an expensive leather jacket.

"Yeah well it'll just save me some wasted time. The sooner I leave this place, the better." He said as her as he looked over his shoulder. The girl was standing there like a puppy dog, her blue eyes all big and staring right at him.

"God. Morbid much." Constance said, smacking her gum and Andy only smirked. If she thought that was bad she ought to come to a band practice.

"What do you want Constance?" Andy asked as he snubbed out his cigarette on a nearby wall. The two of them had walked across the parking lot and Andy had expected the snobby girl to leave him and run off to bother someone else. Nope-she was matching his pace stride for stride.

"I was wondering if you knew what was wrong with your girlfriend." Constance asked, her shrill voice making his skin crawl. Andy turned around, facing the blonde full on and he could see the mischief in her blue eyes.

"Fuck off." Andy grumbled as he moved to enter the building and noticed that very few people were hanging around outside.


Constance was still following him around the corner and once Andy reached the end of his locker row, his heart fell. Flora was at her locker, but her back was to it and her books and papers were littering the floor. Frankie had her pushed up against the metal and there was a large group of about thirty teens surrounding them. Andy felt his heart stop as he caught a look at Flora's face and saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. Her eye was still slightly black, the outer skin yellow and healing. She had her arms crossed over her chest and Andy found himself charging forward.


"Come on chicken legs! Lets see what you've got!" Frankie was teasing her and Flora was trying so hard to not cry but it had proved impossible. She had walked up to her locker and immediately had been surrounded by Frankie and his goons.

"Chicken legs!"

"Look at her skinny legs!"

"Does she even eat?"

"Probably not...I think I heard her puking in the bathroom the other day after lunch."

"She's probably crazy or something."


Flora heard their words and her worst fear had come true. She had lived a simple existence-kept to herself for the most part and tried to just mind her business. But then Andy came along, called her Chicken Legs in front of the wrong people and now...this. He was just standing there, watching it all happen and as their eyes connected, Flora felt her heart break. His eyes, those blue eyes that sent shivers down her spine, were so dead as he looked at her and suddenly Flora felt a surge of anger. She pushed out, pushing Frankie away from her and she was able to break free, but would have to leave her books behind.


"Come back Chicken Legs!" Frankie called after her, but Flora didn't hear him over the sound of her own hissing voice.

"This is all your fucking fault." She said to Andy as she passed and disappeared around the corner.


It probably was his fault, but how the fuck was Andy going to fix this?

Notes