There was no way I'd be late to Mrs.Ackermans' class. That woman had problems.

I bolted out of my house. If I was going to be on time, I'd have to somehow get to my locker at 9:40, since her class started five minutes later. I ran like fucking Usain Bolt. I didn't care about my surroundings. All I cared about was getting there on time so I don't get extra work. See, this was where I made my first mistake.

I was actually pretty happy, because I was almost there, with a minute to spare. I closed my eyes, running at full speed, and then...

I crashed right into someone. The cards went flying, and I fell on my back, like the person I had bumped into. It hurt like a bitch. It felt like I had hit a car, not a person.

I slowly got up, wincing when I felt a sharp pain in my back.

"Jesus fuck... you okay?" I asked.

"Uh-huh," he panted out, "sorry."

He got up. He was around my age with strawberry blond hair, hazel eyes that squinted when he smiled, dimples, roundish teeth, and a hearing aid. Not to mention blood that trickled down his forehead and mixed with his hair.

"No, you're not," I said. He looked confused. I grabbed the cards and stuffed them back into the bag.

"Huh? Wait, you're American?" His smile widened.

I furrowed my brows. "Yeah, but that's not important right now. You're blee--"

"What part?" He said with a bright smile still slapped on his face.

This guy was testing my patience. For some reason, I felt like slapping him. "What?" I said impatiently.

"Like what state?"

"Arizona... hey, listen y--"

"What? Why would you wanna freeze up here in Newcastle when you could be enjoying a warm winter in Arizona? Is it fun there? Are you Chinese? You're pretty tall, ya know. You look like a guy from a K-pop band. Lucky you, girls must be drooling all over you. Well, it's not like I'm ugly or anything, but I'm pretty short. And annoying." Suddenly, his smile disappeared. "Oh! I'm talking too much, aren't I?"

I deadpanned.

"Hey, what time is it?" he asked.

"Uhh," I said while pulling out my phone, "It's 9:45, why?"

"Shit! I'm gonna die. I'm from the Castlebury school. It's exactly three minutes away on foot, running. We're going to go on a school trip in about 10 minutes. You go to this school, right? Guess I'll be seeing you, huh? Oh, and my name's Noel. What's yours?" His smile seemed even brighter than before.

Without saying anything, I grabbed his hands and helped him up.

"...I'm Elliot. And I'm not Chinese, I'm Korean." I looked down at him. He was like 8 inches shorter.

I had realized I was still holding his hands, so I let go, and patted his back before taking my leave.

"Bye, Elliot!!" He yelled from behind me. I made a weak attempt at waving, with my back still turned to him.

Again, my phone vibrated.

It was a text from Adrian.

It read: 'ackermans gona beat ur arse'.

Jesus Christ. It was 9:53.