The first day of school after a rather uneventful summer break was just as uninspiring. It was a half-day, and nothing particular happened. 

We were given our course schedules, talked about upcoming events and our final class trip before graduation, which was almost a year from now, and so on and so forth. No one paid any attention, as it didn’t feel like school had quite begun yet. 

At some point, we were tasked with picking up our books, which were kept on the ground floor of the school, in a storage room near the library. 

In pairs, based on our seat arrangement, we were to bring our books for math, physics, biology, English, and so on, so they could then be given to everyone in our class, and we’d have to carry all these endless books home today. 

It felt rather awkward when it was Oliver’s and my turn. Every other pair had laughed and conversed with each other on the way out and back in, had carried the books in an equal, fair manner, but that wasn’t the case for us. 

In dead silence, Oliver stomped down the stairs in front of me, at a speed I could only describe as him trying to flee from me. 

"Why are you in such a hurry?" He didn't respond. 

I followed him best I could, unable to say a single word myself, only for him to carry all the books of our stack himself. 

The storage room for the course books felt almost like a cellar, and the janitor’s room all the same. It carried cleaning utensils, repair utensils, and all kinds of random things stuffed into the corners of the room. On a table, all kinds of books were displayed for each and every class, and we were to bring exactly twenty-eight books for the twelfth-grade physics course.

“You should let me help,” I mumbled, oddly averting my gaze. His muscles showed off, through the short sleeves of his black shirt, at his chest, and even his forearms. Veins protruded at his arms as he carried the books, his fingers hidden beneath the tall stack he held onto. 

My cheeks turned hot, especially when he noticed and stared right down at me. I’d already noticed as we had rushed down the stairs, but Oliver was insanely tall. Was he 1,90 meters tall, maybe even more? And to top it off, he was incredibly built, with a wide back and even broader shoulders, and a figure I couldn’t help but stare at.

His arms were huge, and the lines separating his muscles beautiful. In contrast to the tight shirt he wore, gray sweatpants decorated his legs, and that … I didn’t even need to comment on it.

I swallowed hard, saliva collecting within my mouth in masses. 

The dim, flickering light within the storage room made it all the worse when his gaze dropped onto me, as black as his eyes were, and intimidated me from above. If he noticed my stare, would he beat me up? Would he mock me, hurt me, like all the rumors said he would? 

“You’re not going to be of any help,” Oliver suddenly responded, his voice dark, but not at all hostile. It was obvious, the way his eyes flickered up and down my thin arms. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I immediately contested, feeling somehow at ease by the words that didn’t carry any anger just yet. “I’m not that weak!” 

To look him in the eye, I had to lift my chin incredibly high. One head taller than me, maybe two? Standing beside him, I felt so small, his bicep alone the size of my head. 

He didn’t smile, nor did he react much at all when I promised him I could carry half the books, but he didn’t seem all that annoyed, either. 

“Take a few, then.” It was all he said, bending his knees down to meet me closer to eye level, all so I could take some of the books he had already held onto off the stack. 

In the end, it still wasn’t fair whatsoever, with me carrying about four books and Oliver carrying everything else. But he didn’t say anything, and instead, stomped up the stairs, fleeing from me once more. Somehow, I was disappointed with his silence, as the few words he spoke intrigued me. His voice was pleasant in my ears; I liked it, and wished to hear more of it. At the same time, he scared me immensely. 

What was I thinking, sitting myself beside him? I wasn’t thinking at all! And I had to admit that, of course, when Matt came up to me after class as we left the school building, and asked me in a rushed, heated tone why I would do such a ridiculous thing. 

“You’re insane, aren’t you? Do you want that guy to make your last year a living hell?”

All Oliver had done was sleep, or pretend to do so. He hadn’t said a single word, and no one, not even the teachers, had acknowledged him. Everyone walked in a big circle of avoidance around him, didn’t talk to him, and within the few hours of the first day, he’d turned into a blind spot in our classroom. 

But he hadn’t done anything. Didn’t provoke anyone, didn’t spout any of the rumored nonsense I’d heard of, and never even went to smoke behind the school’s gym. 

After finishing our first day, he’d been the first to disappear out of the room, running off before anyone could realize he had disappeared. 

“I’m sure it won’t be that bad,” I mumbled. There was more to Oliver than those rumors, wasn’t there? At least, that’s what I wanted to believe, and little did I know what was to come.