This is a re-do of my story from my old profile that I can no longer get into. The old story was called "Knight in Shining..." I have redone this story with better writing, details, and development. It is much longer now. So, if you've read the old one, I would appreciate reading this one and giving me feedback on improvements or critiques. Thanks, and enjoy! :) -LD02
*****
Kasen had given up on concentrating while in this class. What was the point? He just ended up failing, anyway. At least this way he didn't get a headache from trying to focus on what Mrs. Cutte was saying while at the same time acutely aware of every minute movement of the girl two rows ahead of him and to his right. It was the perfect angle. He didn't usually have to worry about being caught, so he was able to simply sit and stare for an hour. He occasionally felt like a creep, because he watched so intently. However, after 3 years of doing this, he was fairly good at not being terribly obvious to anyone not paying much attention.
His lips twitched as he watched her head tilt to the left side as if she was trying to view her work from a different angle. He glanced at her notebook. Fuck, even her handwriting was perfect. It was girly with an edge. She always wrote in cursive, making pretty loops and dips out of mundane letters. Yet there was a sharpness to the way some letters were squared off or abrupt.
Kasen allowed his eyes to trail across her for the millionth time. From her slender pianist fingers which would fit perfectly between his, up her sweater clad arms and slender shoulders that he ached to embrace, to the graceful curve of her long neck that he wanted nothing more than to bury his face in, past the tendrilous curls of her fiery hair he had counted every day- always getting a different sum, finally landing back on the abstract view of her face he could only partially see from where he sat. It didn't matter. He had studied her face enough that he could paint it perfectly from memory. It was the face that consumed and dominated his dreams.
He had just started to let his imagination run wild when he realized she had turned. He panicked. Was she looking at him? Shit! She was. Well, was he looking back at her? Of course he was! He couldn't help it! He was memorized by her wintry blue eyes, the color of which he could never quite get right in his paintings. He could never do her justice. His breathing had stopped completely by now, and he held completely still as if she were a wooded animal that would startle at the slightest movement. When she gave him a slightly awkward smile, he seriously considered fainting.
She flicked her eyes momentarily to the girl sitting directly to Kasen's left, clearly sending an unintelligible psychic message. She looked back to him and gave him a slightly bigger, more amused, smile before turning back to her notes. The instant her eyes weren't gazing into his soul anymore, Kasen felt his heart kick back up and he allowed himself to breathe again.
"Cleanup in Kasen-land." He heard Macy Jones say beside him. He whipped his head in her direction. Apparently, his little episode hadn't escaped everyone's observation. He looked at her slightly confused. She giggled with only slight pity. "Enough with the puppy dog eyes and the drooling, loverboy. I might just vomit." He knew Macy well enough to know she was joking, and he couldn't help but grin back at her. He liked Macy. She was strong and stubborn. She was the kind of girl who could knock your head off without thinking twice about it if you deserved it, yet she was always quick to smile and slow to judge. If you landed Macy as a friend, she would be loyal forever. Luckily, the two girls were best friends. They were almost always together.
Kasen had known Macy for almost all of his life. Granted, growing up in such a small town everyone knew everyone from kindergarten, but Macy had been his neighbor for 10 years. However, last summer Macy and her family had moved to the other side of town. She never talked about it, and not many people knew, but Macy's family didn't have a lot of money. They weren't poor, necessarily, but Macy could never afford expensive clothing or even her own car during the time when everyone was getting their license and spending all of their time driving around in their new rides. It had taken Macy two years to save enough money to buy herself a used car.
Neither of her parents had gone to college when they were young, so they were left with little skill for anything that paid better than 30,000 a year for most of their lives, leaving them with zero savings. When Macy was a little girl her mother had gone back to school, and had gotten her NA license. However, just as her mom was starting to make some better money at the hospital, Mr. Jones had an accident at his construction job, falling off a two story roof and injuring his back. Of course that's how life always goes, right? So, her parents had had to find a cheaper home, as they could no longer afford the one next to Kasen's, because Mr. Jones' back had progressively gotten worse over the years until his spine was so damaged that he could no longer work.
The only reason Kasen knew all of this was because his mother and Macy's mother had gotten very drunk together about a week before they moved, some kind of goodbye party that involved only them, and Mrs. Jones had told his mom everything.
Anyone else who asked got the practiced answer about it being a smaller house but bigger yard that was closer to the school and hospital. Macy and her family were very proud people, so nobody would ever know.
Kasen and Macy had a slightly complicated relationship. They weren't friends, exactly, but they did have a level of respect and affection for each other.
*________________________*
About six years ago, when they were in sixth grade, some kids had gotten in the habit of following Macy home from school, teasing her about her weight. She wasn't fat by any definition, but she had hit puberty a bit early, giving her curvy hips and an increased chest. She had gone soft in areas that most kids were still lanky. The kids would tease her as she walked on, doing her best to ignore them.
Kasen's dad had always driven him to and from school, so he had never witnessed this, but one day he had gotten sick. Nothing serious, but enough of a problem to keep him home from school. When 3:30 rolled around, Kasen was feeling much better, and he heard them coming down the street. Looking out his window, Kasen watched Macy run into her house, head held high as the nasty kids continued laughing on the sidewalk before continuing on their way.
The next day Kasen told his dad that he didn't need a ride home, because he wanted to walk with a friend. That afternoon, he followed Macy at a distance. About two blocks from home, he noticed a few boys emerge from a side street. They immediately yelled something at Macy and began walking in a group close behind her, continuing to call her names and laugh at each other. Macy didn't react at all. She continued walking at her usual pace, ignoring them. Kasen was very impressed with her maturity, never allowing the boys to see how they affected her for a second.
Suddenly, one boy got ballsy. He skipped up to her, pinching her sides and looking back at his friends for validation. Of course they all laughed and cheered him on. Kasen waited for Macy for react. Instead, she didn't even look at him. She moved to the other side of the sidewalk and continues on, looking more proud, if anything. At her lack of a rise, the boy looked back and forth between her and his friends a couple of times before once again getting closer to her, again. Kasen had grown steadily more furious as they messed with Macy, but he had held himself back, knowing Macy didn't need him to defend her. She could do that herself- she was known for giving black eyes for far less.
However, as he watched the boys hand reach out and pinch Macy's growing breast and he heard her cry out for the first time as she tripped while trying to get away from him, falling to the ground beside the sidewalk, Kasen saw red. He easily closed the space between himself and the group, pushing one of them forcefully to the hard sidewalk before grabbing the offending boy's shoulder, spinning him, and punching him. He felt the boy's nose give way with a satisfying crunch before he fell next to Macy on the ground. Kasen didn't stop there. He put his knee between the boy's back, effectively shoving his face into the dirt, and pulling his arms far behind him at a dangerous angle.
"Apologize!" He heard himself shout. The boy stuttered, spitting blood and grass out of his mouth before yelling.
"Ow!! You're hurting me!"
"Not so funny, is it? Now you know how she felt. Now, apologize!" He yanked at the boys arm slightly, enough for the boy to scream out again, ending in muffled sob.
"AH! I'm sorry!"
