Lydia looked up again, staring out the classroom window. This desire to get up and move was becoming unbearable, and it was only 10am, she still had over four hours left at school. Hopefully lunch period would be open so she could do some laps around the track.

“Lydia, would you be so kind as to pay attention?” her teacher called, Lydia blushed and looked back at her Math teacher, “I know it is almost lunch, but you don’t need to make your daydreaming so obvious, please come up and help me demonstrate this next problem on the board.”

Lydia got up and followed the teachers prompting to write it out on the dry-erase board.  Getting out of her seat helped some, but she was practically bouncing on her toes the entire time.

When lunchtime finally came, Lydia wistfully stood by the exterior doors in the cafeteria, completely downtrodden that outside activities were closed today. However, Lydia had a backup option she used in just these emergencies.

Once her pensive moment passed, Lydia quietly navigated through the school to the least used stairwell. It only connected two of the three floors, and mostly seniors had classes down this way, so there was even less chance of a passerby as most seniors were on her same lunch schedule. Lydia set her stuff in a back corner on the middle platform so it would be out of the way should anyone actually use the stairs. She took off her socks and shoes to lower any noise yet still maintain traction. After a cursory stretch, Lydia proceeded to race up and down the stairs. By the 20^th flight, Lydia had developed a good rhythm and had her eyes closed, imagining she was racing over hills a world away.

Unfortunately, she was rounding the corner at the midpoint coming down, when another student who was immersed in a book, was rounding the corner going up.

The two slammed together chest to chest. His hand with the book was pinned between them, so he could not grab at the railing. Lydia’s hand was already grasping it to use momentum to turn the corner, but as they started to bounce off each other, both groped for the other person with their free hand.

The result had them hugging as they slipped down a few steps and hung there in each other’s embrace. Their faces just inches apart.

Lydia could feel her heartbeat in her cheeks and knew that she had a furious blush. As she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her heart, the scent of the outdoors wafted over here for a moment but was then gone. There was a stirring in her, the same part of her heart that longed for the wild nature, but she stuffed it down and told her to wait.

“You can let go now,” came a dulcet voice.

Lydia’s eyes snapped open, and she realized she was the only one holding on still. “Oh,” she responded meekly, letting go of the other student. “Sorry,”

“Where were you going in such a hurry?” he asked as he readjusted his belongings. Looking down he added, “in bare feet no less,”

“Oh,” she said awkwardly, stepping back onto the middle landing, “They closed off the track and I just needed to get some energy out, it’s quieter without the shoes, I didn’t want to disturb the other classes-” Lydia trailed off. He was looking at her with such a keen eye that she felt a little uncomfortable.

There was silence for a time, and just when Lydia was about to excuse herself, he asked, “I haven’t see you around before, are- are you new here?” Even his gentle tones couldn’t cover his confusion.

“Practically my entire life,” she said simply, picking up her belongings, her brow furled at his question. It didn’t sound like he was flirting.

“Are you a Rogue?”

“Excuse me?” Lydia asked, pausing, “I can run quietly, but I don’t think I am that stealthy,”

He shook his head, “I mean like ‘A Loner’,”

“That’s kinda rude, I do have friends,” Lydia responded a bit more harshly than she intended, that question struck a nerve. She began to leave, shoes still off.

His brow furled in confusion, but she did not see. “I’m sorry,” he called after her, “I was confused, I didn’t mean to upset you,” She waved a dismissive hand and left the stairwell.

Around the corner she leaned on the wall and put her socks and shoes back on. There was only as few more minutes until lunch ended anyway, so she headed off to her next class.

~~

Strangely enough, Lydia started having more contact with this other student. It could be chalked up to coincidence and now knowing his face. Regardless, Lydia was leery. However, when classes changed with the semesters, and the two of them were placed in the same class, there was only so much ‘coincidental avoidance’ she could accomplish.

This fact became instantly clear when she chose a seat clear across the classroom from him. He got up from his original seat and purposefully sat ahead of her. Twisting around he said, in his usual calming tone, “Hello Barefoot Girl, do you have an actual name?”

“Lydia,” she replied, rummaging around in her backpack pointlessly.

“Any other names?” he pried.

She shot him a sharp look, “Just Lydia.”

“Ah. Well my name is Darryl, but I’m also called Lapu,”

“Lapu?” Lydia couldn’t stop herself from asking.

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a pet name.” he said, stressing pet. “You don’t have one?”

“No, I have an aunt that, regrettably, calls me Libs,” she trailed off, wondering why it was so easy to talk to this strange student. He wouldn’t stop beaming at her.

Thankfully the teacher chose that time to gain the class’s attention.

~~

Now when the two would cross paths he would wave at her rather than just aim for eye contact. A few times approaching her at her locker.

“Lyydiiaa” he called, the melodious call making his dulcet tone sound more like honey.

“Darrryyll” she said back, copying his tone as she closed her locker. “Are you stalking me?”

The sudden, blunt question drew him up short, “No,” he said, confused for a moment. “am I bothering you?” he asked carefully, suddenly his face grew red and he scratched the back of his neck, the next bit coming out in a rapid stream, “My brother does say that I can come on a bit strong, though most people call me clingy,” Lydia wouldn’t argue there, he did keep popping up and acting like they were longtime friends. “I-I didn’t mean to-” he started to trail off, backing up, looking very much like a dejected pet.

“Look,” Lydia said firmly, stopping him in his tracks. “I didn’t mean to come across mean. I am just not used to all this–” she paused, hands floundering as she looked for a tactful word, “activity. My friends and I are really not that close, more like acquaintances really,” Lydia’s expression turned dark as she thought for a moment, she was mentally turned inward and didn’t see Darryl step forward and open his mouth a few times, unsure if he should comment. But Lydia quickly returned and continued, “I’m sure there are plenty of others who would make better friends.”

She then turned and left, using the crowds to separate herself from Darryl.

Unfortunately, as she arrived at her next class, she let out a sigh, and took her seat, waiting for the cause of her distraction to sit in the desk ahead of her.

He arrived late, apologizing to the teacher. Not so much as looking at Lydia during class. However, as he got up to leave, he left a note on her desk:

                        Lydia,

                        I am sorry.

                        But I do want to be your friend.

                        I will try not to be so annoying in the future.

                        Darryl and Lapu

At the bottom there was a little doodle of a tree and absurdly drawn dog, but for some reason the note made Lydia want to go outside and run all the more.

~~

Lydia began subconsciously searching for Darryl in the hallways and found herself attempting to be polite with her reactions to the boy. It wasn’t long until they fell back into the pattern of him following her like a duckling at school, and her pretending not to notice.

Lydia hiked her bookbag up on her shoulders, cinching the straps tight and gave her legs a hasty stretch. She had stayed a bit late talking to one of her teachers about an upcoming assignment, and she was more than ready to get out into the fresh air.

Deciding to take the long way home Lydia turned the opposite way than usual to run through the nearby community park. It was there that she saw Darryl walking along with his nose in another book.

Unsure if she had ever directly approached him before, she decided to say hello. She slowed down as she approached him, moving as quiet as she could, just before she grabbed his shoulders, he whirled and dropped low. A strange almost strangled sound that Lydia could only place as a ‘yip’ escaped his lips. His eyes were downcast, and his neck exposed.

Or she thought they were.

He was up again and absolutely his cheerful self before she had time to sort out what she saw.

“Lydia!” he beamed.

“Hey,” she said carefully, “Just thought I should say hello for a change, I pr’y should have called out first.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that!” he said, his face split wide with his grin. “Do you usually go home this way?”

“Alright! Alright!” Lydia said in mock disgust, shielding her face with her arms, “Turn down your smile, you’ll blind me! No, I live in the other direction, I just wanted to run so I took the long way, you?”

“Ahh, no, well, yes, but no? My brother usually picks me up. But his car is in the shop still so he asked if I could walk home today. His wife doesn’t usually like me coming home so far on my own.” His smile brightened, “Silly, really, I am 18.”

Lydia paused, cocking her head, “18? I thought you were younger than me, aren’t we in the same grade?”

Darryl rubbed his hand in his hair, a slight blush on his cheeks, “I was homeschooled for a time, so my grade wasn’t quite the same as everyone else’s, So I am actually in my senior year, but have a few classes of a different grade level.”

Sensing his awkward mood, Lydia reacted dismissingly, “Oh, that’s cool.” but seeing as that didn’t really help, she switched to the unfamiliar territory of joking. “You’re just going to be leaving me all alone next year, I see how it is.” and with the playful shove of her elbow, the usual Darryl completely returned.

“You sure you don’t have a second name?” Darryl asked unexpectedly as they parted ways on the far side of the park.

Lydia’s wild side was getting antsy and wanted to run again. She began hopping on her toes as she pondered his question. “Nope, I don’t even have a middle name.”

He thought that over as she headed off, just before she was too far, he called “Not even a name you’d call yourself, or a secret friend?” She just lifted her arm in response, acting as if she didn’t hear him.

There was a name once, a name from her childhood. One that made her wild side feel too real and scared her. But there was no way that’s what he meant. Afterall, that was the darker side of her.