Ethan's eyes open, his line of sight is met with nothing but his bedsheet, soaked in tears. “Must’ve blacked out”, alexa is half way through ATLiens, “what time is it? Half past 6? Fuck I slept over twelve hours…Alexa off!”,Ethan rolls out of bed “fucking hell it’s roasting outside” he begins to change his clothes, he wears a basic outfit, tracksuit pants and a wu tang clan t-shirt, he puts a copy of kurt cobain’s heavier than heavy biography into his bag, “might as well get to school early, maybe I can find an escape spot”

Ethan leaves his home and begins walking to school, green day playing through one of his air pods while the other is off. He reaches the gates of the school but walks around the main building, he finds a lone tree surrounded by rushes, he unplugs his air pods and sits down, he pulls his book out of his bag and opens it, he starts reading. Silence. It's peaceful, until it isn't. Click. Click. click . click. He hears a clicking noise, it's clearly a person making it, he's not dumb he knows who that person is.

What do I do? Do I talk to her? say hi? Is she anxious because I'm around? Because there's someone near her? I should say something, I should be her friend, but if it makes her this anxious maybe I shouldn't….Fuck…. yes. No .yes .no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes ahhhhhh. Fuck. fuck it I’m a friend, I’m not going to follow the crowd

Ethan shakes, he peeks his head around the tree and of course she’s there, reading going postal by terry pratchet, she's making a clicking noise with her tongue and her head keeps twitching but she's still focused on her book, despite the heat she wears a solid colour baggy hoodie,her face is marked with evidence of a smile from earlier,she looks up at him and time freezes, both of them are stuck in place, the sound of clicking continues, then Ethan looks down. “Are…you ok?” he asks before looking back up hopefully. “Wh…why are you talking to me? It's my fault, everyone's going to be mad at you…dont you know im the devil” she says softly with a hint of desperation,her voice lacking any kind of threat, she digs her fingers into her thighs again. “The devil? You don't seem like a devil to me, "Ethan smiles. Her mouth opens slightly, her fingers dig deeper into her thighs, but her eyes are locked on something, Ethan has a smile on his face, not a wide grin or anything but the corners of his mouth are raised slightly, it only lasts a second or two but she can't look away, until she does. She looks down nervously, her fingers still digging into her thigh “my name’s…my name’s Gertrude, that bruise on your face is because of me isn't it?”, a faint blush colours her cheeks.

 “Nope its because of some dick that punched me” Ethan says, before standing up and walking in front of her, sitting face to face with her, she starts pressing her thumbs to the front of her neck, Ethan slowly backs up until there's about 4 feet between them, she giggles slightly at his consideration, moving her thumbs from her throat, for a second she forgets the world around her is poison, her foot starts tapping against the floor beneath her, making little noise on the soft grass, apart from that she remains still. “But, that dick punched you because…” Ethan cuts her off before she can finish her sentence, “because he's a dick, it's what dicks do”. 

There's an awkward but beautiful silence,it lasts for about fifteen seconds, and in that time they both give themselves a break, the voices stop, this isn't peace, far from it, but it is a sense of comfort. Gertrude pulls her notebook out of her pocket and starts drawing, she keeps it tight to her chest, making sure nobody can see what she's drawing.

Wow she's actually…quiet? She's not making any noises, she's not even tapping her foot. Did she…forget I was here or something? Is she ok? I don’t want to ruin her mood so ill just stay quiet

After five minutes of drawing in silence she stops in her tracks, she looks closely at what she’s drawn, then blushes and slams her notebook shut, squeezing it against her chest, she starts to shiver and hyperventilate, but Ethan does nothing, he just sits there. Her breathing eventually regulates, her shivering hands clutch her notebook tighter if possible. “You know if anyone sees you talking to me you'll just get hit more right?”, she says, a hint of genuine concern to her voice. “Good thing nobody can see us,” he responds, with another slight smile. His smile, there was something about it, it didn't last long enough. She looks down nervously , her soft voice pleading with him, for the first time he hears a semblance of punch to her voice, “please, don't sit near me today in class…I don't want you to get hurt because of me”. “You have my word” Ethan responds.