The routine was exactly the same every day. Go to first period English, then head upstairs for French. Always, her heart beat faster as the minute hand on the clock reached the three. She would hastily scrawl whatever final thoughts she had and then hurry to pack up. She would be the third or fourth person out of the door, and she would melt with the other students commuting to their next class across the school. She would pass the library, glancing at the new paintings the art classes had done, and hurry on towards the stairs.
She would wear high heels just to be able to see his head above the field of people. Sometimes, she would be three or four people behind him on the stairs, sometimes one or two. Most days, she wouldnt get to see his bobbing head until she reached the top of the steps, and then he would already be across the floor, nearing the turn to his next class.
Some days, she stopped time before second period French. Those were the days when he was five feet away, but population was so dense, she had no hope to reach him. Everyone would freeze, and she would sigh in the strange quiet. She would hug her books to her chest and stare at the back of his head. After a minute of pointless gazing, she would let time start again, and he would be swept away with the people going up.
She had only twice stopped time for more than a minute. Those were the days when she was more near him. She would carefully step around people, making sure not to bump them out of place, and stand in front of him. She would raise her hand into the air and reach out to touch his face, and leave her fingers less than an inch away.
One of these days she actually did touch his cheek, and it seemed that something moved in his eyes. When she had gone back to her proper spot and started time, she saw that he scratched his face in the exact place she had brushed his skin.
Often, she would daydream of grabbing his hand and then stopping time, so that it was just her and him able to move. They would run out of the school together and marvel at the rain drops stopped in place, or the sharp sun rays that would poke at them.
It was in the last few weeks before winter break when she would see him every day, but with a girl. It always stung and made her eyes well up, and she did not stop time until the very last day before the holiday.
She pushed her way through the frozen people, leaving her books behind, and nearly slapped the girl who was so close to him. But she did not, because he had a smile on his face. Then she stood there for fifteen minutes, taking in every single feature on his face, finally kissing his cheek and keeping the memory of his smell on her.
"I love you," she whispered. Then she pushed her way through the immobile people and walked out of the school. She looked back, picturing his face and recalling his smell before running onto the road. Then she started time.
He found himself in a sea of statues. He wondered if he was dreaming, and then heard the sound of a door closing. He squeezed his way around people and came to one of the schools exits. He looked through the glass and saw that the cars were immobile on the road, and the wind had stopped midway through ruffling the bare tree branches. Then he saw something moving, and realised it was a girl. She ran across the schools frozen lawn and onto the road. Then he heard people talking, and turned to see that everyone was moving. Then he looked back outside when he heard a screeching noise. A car had stopped, and the girl had disappeared.
He walked back towards the crowd of people and went upstairs. His girlfriend met him at the top of the stairs and asked where he had suddenly disappeared to. He told her, his voice a bit surprised, that a girl had just been hit by a car. She laughed at him, and upon realising he was serious, tried to convince him he didnt know what he was saying. They parted to go to their respective classes, and within ten minutes of class starting, received the awful news that one of their fellow students had just been hit by a car and killed.
As he reached dazedly into his backpack for his chemistry binder, he found a piece of paper at the top of his backpack. As long as you are happy, it read. And suddenly he got the chills and found that he wasnt feeling at all well.
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